Attention all BeatBuddy Manager Online (BBMO) users, we are going to start releasing new BBMO versions as betas before they are officially on the website!
Beta versions have been tested internally but may still have bugs. We strongly recommend using a new copy of your BeatBuddy project when using a beta version of the BBMO. Simply duplicate your project folder on your computer and name it something like “BETA BeatBuddy Project”.
Go to the latest beta here, the current version is 1.5.6 (as of 8/4/2025). As of 8/26/25, 1.5.6 is live on the BBMO official site, and is no longer beta! Read more here:
As of BBMO v1.5.6, you should only use the BeatBuddy on v4.1.7 or later or any BeatBuddy 2 Firmware (Coming Soon)
Explanation of changes to BBMO in 1.5.6:
The BeatBuddy Manager Legacy uses a proprietary feature that allows “negative ticks”.
MIDI Ticks are positions in the MIDI file. There are hundreds of ticks in every measure of a MIDI File. Using Negative Ticks on the BeatBuddy Manager allowed a user to have special partial measure behaviors on the BeatBuddy. However, the BBMO was built very differently. Now we have a MIDI File Start Point to set where playback should begin for files, and we don’t make use of negative ticks.
Read more about the MIDI File Start Point in the BeatBuddy Manager Online Manual
This necessary change to the BBMO required a change to how the BeatBuddy works, it will now regard files with a partial measure + a full measure as it always did when creating content using the BeatBuddy Manager Legacy.
As far as we know, this only affects content included in our default content, and most users did not make content using negative ticks. We strongly believe the BBMO’s MIDI File Start Point behavior is overall a great improvement for customers to make their own content easily and effectively.
Version 4.1.7 on the BeatBuddy regards the BBMO’s partial measures the same way that it regarded negative ticks before.
How to fix issues with content:
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The BeatBuddy must be on v.4.1.7 for the content to work correctly.
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Duplicate a saved backup copy of your content (as made on the BeatBuddy Manager). Call it something like “BETA BeatBuddy Project”.
- If you have already loaded your content onto the BeatBuddy Manager Online, these small snippets have been cut off and/or caused silent playback on some files. You will need to start with a fresh file.
- Read more about the silent playback issue in this forum thread
- You can also use the v2.1 Default Content file on our website to test it
- If you have used the BBMO v1.5.5 to load content, it will have incorrect start points for many files, and that project can be discarded.
- If you have already loaded your content onto the BeatBuddy Manager Online, these small snippets have been cut off and/or caused silent playback on some files. You will need to start with a fresh file.
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Go to BBMO Beta website
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Click Load Project button and open your “BETA BeatBuddy Project” folder file
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Make any minor change like renaming a folder or file or even your entire project
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Hit Save
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The issues will no longer be present on the BeatBuddy in playback when written to the SD card.
- If you already had content loaded by BBMO v1.5.5 on your BeatBuddy, just Delete the SONGS folder inside your SD card using your computer. Syncing the project from the BBMO again will create the missing SONGS folder with the updated content
Find out more about the official BeatBuddy Manager Online here:
Please reserve this thread for questions about the beta process and any beta-relevant information, issues should be reported in the BeatBuddy Manager Online help and questions category, please make sure to use the full version name when reporting. The version number can be found in the footer of the BBMO site.
If you need more information on making a bug report, read more here:
Beta Changelogs
1.5.6
- Improvements and fixes to content made using the BeatBuddy Manager Legacy edition on the BeatBuddy Manager Online
- Pre-existing projects will import song part files to start at the correct time if there is empty space at the beginning of a measure, the MIDI File Start Point will set automatically
- Short partial measures that used negative MIDI tick values in the BeatBuddy Manager legacy were being ignored by the BBMO in v1.5.4, and were being positioned incorrectly in v1.5.5, v1.5.6 is importing these files correctly
- Songs playing back files silently on the BeatBuddy after editing and duplicating the file have been fixed
- Filename management improvements
- Exporting a BeatBuddy song with new name will not change the name of the song in your project
- MIDI file imports will be named in your project using the name you see in your file explorer, not their original name when created by a/your DAW (if it was edited)
- Playlist numbering issues fixed
1.5.5
- Fixed issue with files in BeatBuddy playing back silently when edited in the BBMO and loaded on the BeatBuddy. This was caused by songs that had “negative ticks” in the BeatBuddy Manager Legacy that were then imported and edited in the BBMO. Reimport unaltered content with this version to fix the issue. Note that this will not fix any content that was corrupted originally.
- Improved error logging capabilities
- Added a cancel button to build an accent pop-up dialog
- Fixed velocity dynamic range values incorrectly overlapping in drum editor
- Fixed MIDI file exporting so it doesn’t also rename the MIDI file in the BBMO on export
- Fixed renaming for folders and drumsets
- Added feature to remove empty measures at the start of an imported MIDI file. This is particularly useful if you use Logic Pro to create your MIDI files.
- Changed alphabetization feature to ignore “an”, “the”, and “a” when sorting drums or songs
- Fixed issues with resizing MIDI notes, leaving the song, and loading it again
- Fixed MIDI editor grid numbering, sizing, and shading for triplet divisions
- Added a check that each song has a main beat in existing parts before allowing saving
- Made velocity inputs safer, reset velocity if a number isn’t entered
- Fixes to UI, spelling, and spacing (mobile background got cut off, and error message became two lines)
