Hi - contemplating getting the full BB 2021 collection. Looks like some great stuff, good deal, but… I’m interested in using some more modern sounds and the collection is heavily weighted to oldies
Seems like basically the same for the Groove Monkee BB offerings (they do have some cool sounding keyboard stuff that matches up with their breakbeat BB package… but I don’t think that is BB compatible? )
if anyone is doing more ‘current’ sounds for their loops, what are you using?
in the BB collection, have you found it easy(ish) to take parts of the songs to re-purpose for other songs?
are you generally happy with the value and usability of the collection (I’m really more interested in it for creative options than playing a long with full songs, although that’s a nice option for some things)
I’m afraid I don’t have patience or skills to be creating midi drum parts, but maybe that’s a better path?
By keyboard, are you referring to piano or organ? If it’s a part of the Premium Library Content (PLC), it’s compatible with the BeatBuddy (BB).
With the user-created content, there are lots of different genres of one-press songs being shared on the forum.
I think that generally, users have identified how beats can be adapted for use in the Song Matching Tool. Regrettably, it’s supposed to be a Singular Sound curated list that has not been curated for at least a couple of years. There is at least one user that frequently responds to requests for beats with the type of beat and the BPM that might come closest to matching the song. The BB is a great erector set that can be used to literally assemble any song into a useable beat. I would also say that the default beats seem to be be the most in use. The PLC provides a greater degree of flexibility though (more parts for the erector set).
I got the 2021 premium bundle earlier this week. In hindsight I should just have purchased a few packs that I wanted but I didn’t know what I wanted until I go the bundle! I’m also happy to support the company, so I don’t regret the purchase as such. Here’s what I found:
There are loads of songs for popular artists that I like including GNR & Queen and stuff. I thought this is what I wanted, but the problem is that I’ll need to listen carefully to each one and mark on paper where the changes are supposed to be. The BB songs consists of many parts, but the parts don’t necessarily align to whatever transcription of the song you have. For example, what you might think is just another section of verse, the BB song might have this as another part. Knowing when to transition is a time consuming challenge. These ‘artist’ songs will be great if BB manage to release the autopilot function.
There are loads of other good stuff in this bundle. I’m happy to have some extra ballard and rock variations. I’m also having fun with some of the more worldly beats.
The bundle is somewhat organised. I understand that it was re-organised some time ago so I dread to think what state it used to be in! It is difficult for BB to organise it in a way that makes everyone happy. I spent and afternoon putting it in an order that makes sense to me with a sections for:
‘Styles’,
‘Artists’,
‘Looper set list’,
‘My Set 1’,
‘Other Stuff’.
You should use BB Manager to organise the songs and folders. It works but it is slooooooow! I did it in notepad but this is not supported and you need to know what you are doing.
All the stuff I’m not so interested goes in ‘Other Stuff’ so that it is still accessible but not clogging up the stuff I like.
I thought the bundle was expensive. You could find loads on the web, and extract the midi from guitar pro etc. There is loads of ways to do it. But that all takes a lot of time and can be very fiddly. I did not want this hassle.
The bundle is not a necessary purchase, but it you can spring for it you’ll surely find stuff you like.