I basically only play songs that have drums with basslines using the BeatBuddy. There are many songs that you can play with just a minimum amount of input. For instance, with Little Sister, and others, you basically let it loop, and just trigger the ending. I’m sure that interventionless full song play is on the horizon though.
So, should I be giving up on ever getting this?
I was totally going to buy one of these if this feature ever came out. A year later I’ve kind of stopped holding my breath.
The 500 midi note limit has been removed in the 1.6 beta version of the manager software and the latest beta firmware. However the 1.6 beta manager software has a number of bugs, which should be fixed in the next version - when this will be released I don’t know.
I would hold on a bit longer or just use a backing track.
My BeatBuddy sits on top of my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 waiting for the day song mode is available. In the meantime, I record backing tracks and load the wav files into my Roland GR-55 guitar synth. I don’t have plans to sell the BB but I had to move on. Whoa, this sounds all so melodramatic, doesn’t it? :rolleyes:
I haven’t played with the new firmware yet but I am hoping this suggestion will be possible once implemented. I have a very cool app on my iPad called Set List Maker. It has many features that are useful for creating and managing sets for live performance, but one in particular I find most useful which is the ability to create midi automation. This feature allows you to record midi commands against a backing track (or click track) and have them execute automatically at specific points in the track during playback. So if, with the new firmware, you can change song parts on the BB using midi you would be able to record these changes against a track representing the entire song and in effect have the whole thing run through without having to intervene at all during a performance. The beauty of this approach is that you could always add the occasional ad-hoc fill during the playback to achieve the ‘live’ feel if you wanted. Set List Maker also sends out a midi clock signal according to the tempo you specify per song and I have already managed to get the BB to sync to this.
I installed the Beta 1.6 software and Redid all the songs I regularly play with the 500 note limit gone and it has made a massive difference to the ease of use when playing. The beatbuddy team need to get this update officially released as soon as they can.
Hate to jump in here but everything you guys want to do can be done with the Beat buddy sync to a voice live 3 extreme with the ability to store and playback backing tracks plus loop everything with automation on vocal and guitar efx is pretty cool
The short answer is yes. The long answer is: you need the unreleased versions of the software and firmware, which you can get just by asking. The old system has a 500 note limit on individual song parts. Without that limit, for certain songs that you dont’ need loops, you can just make the outro part the whole song.
Once that limit is removed, I have 100+ songs ready to post, and new songs become nearly trivial to create.
Hi Fabian
Are you sure the VL3x can send out automation to the BB to control the song part changes etc. I thought it could only receive midi commands and send commands internally. And for the syncing the BB has to be the master and VL3X slave, I don’t think the VL3X can act as a slave. Perhaps I am mistaken - have you managed to get it working as you describe? Curious as I have the VL3 which I use with the app Set List Maker (mentioned previously) - in that case the order is App → BB (with midi thru set) → VL3 (for sync if looping). Cheers, Tom
Before I loaded the new beta 1.77 into the BB all I could do was sync tempo with the Vl3, but after I loaded the latest FW, the drive/harmony button hit the accent and double/ drive would be transition and it freaked , me out but im sure there’s a way to map it out on the BB, im not a computer guy, midi is still greek to me, still looking in to it, as far as the Vl3x what I’ve gathered from my limited knowledge, it will, not for sure will do some research
I can hardly wait for those 100+ songs, aashideacon! Looking forward to see what you have created! Thanks for all your efforts in advance!
Hi Fabian, I am guessing that you have both midi in and midi out plugs connected to the VL3? You only need to connect the midi out from the BB to the midi in on the VL3 so that the BB can send the midi clock that allows the VL3 to sync with it. I was also wrong in my previous post when I thought the VL3 doesn’t send out the relevant midi when you press a button on the Vl3, it does. With the new FW on the BB it is possible to effect transitions and fills using midi commands sent on the midi in cable - so that is probably why the VL3, with the VL3 midi out plugged into the BB midi in, was causing transitions, fills to happen on the BB.
I am new and green to my Beat Buddy
I D like it so far, but it would be allot easier with play through , that would be worth buying
Thankyou 
Yikes. For the price of this pedal, it seems a huge miss to not include a full song play mode.