As always, I’ve searched the forum to see if this has been answered elsewhere and it seems that only the opposite of what I’m looking for has been discussed.
To, firstly, answer a question that seems to crop up, namely, “why would you want to do this?”
I’ve been playing live with the Boss Jamstation since it’s inception. I’ve programmed a host of songs into it, all of which are complete “one press” numbers. I find this approach fine if I’ve programmed it although if you lose concentration then it’s easy to lose where you are in the song. I find the one press songs in the BB have the same restriction. I realise that this is mainly a “me” problem as opposed to a BB issue.
I’m now 6 or 7 gigs into using the BB along with midi maestro and I love the ability to transition when I like, add fills when I like and stop when when I like (nothing like keeping them on the dance floor eh?). Hopefully that answers the question nobody asked!
Having looked at the extensive songs lists herein (a big thank you to all involved for working on these) a large majority are one press. They sound great but I’d rather have a more “live” control.
So, is it possible to convert one press songs to “standard” looped songs?
I am with you. One press are really tracks in a sense….I think there are much better ways to use tracks than the BB. I have no issue with tracks, except the freedom to extend songs or if someone comes up to talk with the singer I can improvise or whatever until the patron goes back to their barstool.
tl;dr
Yes, but it is a tedious process. For example, it usually takes me 20-45 minutes to put my three versions of one-press songs together. I’ve recently worked up a couple of multi-part songs and it took me about 90-120 minutes to craft them. Much more time is required if the songs require time-stretching. Because transcribers often take poetic license with their one-press songs, my opinion (based on my experience) is that a one-press song may be a difficult candidate for conversion to a multi-part song as you will have to
a) work with somebody else’s interpretation of a song
b) if they used a MIDI source file for their one-press song, it will depend on the quality of the source file; some are plain awful while others are pretty good
c) whether or not they inadvertently introduced errors in their rendition (the one I see all of the time is the use of the B1 and F1 toms; the default and several user-created drum sets do not include those toms. If they included the MIDI source file with their zip file, it might be better to just use that file or find one on your own)
So best to start the process from a clean slate, if you will. At least this way you can hear the complete song in the context of a song with the complete instrumentation.
Making matters challenging is that the process to make multi-part songs for the BeatBuddy Manager (BBM) and the BBMO is now different so that working up versions that are backwards compatible with the BBM is no longer possible; two different sets of songs would have to be created, one for each app or pedal type (BB1 or BB2). I’m going to guess that the majority of pedal owners use and are satisfied with the BB1. That may shift once the BB2 has been around for a while.
Assuming you are conversant with using a DAW such as Logic Pro X, Cubase or Reaper, several steps are needed to convert a MIDI source file into a suitable and useable format for the BB1 or BB2. I’ve broken it down into several phases: PHASE I:
having a complete music score for a song from which to create a MIDI file from scratch or,
a solid MIDI source file that is complete and true to the original recording; the ideal MIDI source file shows the exact location of each song section and makes it easier for separating them into the various song sections; not many of them do this so it means the transcriber has to find, identify and separate each song section (intro, verses, choruses, bridge and outro). In most cases, a trial and error situation.
PHASE II:
The next series of steps involves using the DAW to adjust the velocities for each musical instrument (drums, bass and keys or other instruments) as well as transposing the bass, keys and etc. Add more effort when fade-in/fade-out are required for a song. Once that’s done, the song sections can be separated and exported to MIDI for import and testing in their respective apps.
PHASE III:
Can’t have a decent multi-part song unless it includes, Drum Fills, Transitions and Accent Hits. This requires time to preview existing fills from the default content (note, can’t use the Premium Library or Boutique content if the song is being made available to users that don’t own the commercial content). This really becomes tedious if you want to have different fills for each song section. These fills may have to have velocities adjusted as well so that they continue to fit with the rest of the song. Want to build your own fills? More time needed.
PHASE IV:
Export the song and test in the pedal. If tweaks are needed, make the adjustments in the respective app. Thankfully, the BBMO makes this process easier than the BBM.
If you would like to hear a couple of simple examples of multi-press songs, you can try a couple of mine:
Jesus of Suburbia MP v3 STAX Yamaha Piano & EPiano which can be found at this link
Guitar_Stu was very adept at building multi-part songs that didn’t require a lot of toe-dancing the pedal. They offer a lot of flexibility for adding fills and accents.
Thank you very much indeed for this comprehensive answer. I never fail to be impressed at the effort you put in here.
Looking over the post for the 1st time leaves me talked out of trying I have to say. At some point I’ll start at UG for the files and see how I get on. Gotta at least try it after the work you’ve put in to this reply.
I also prefer the “jam” versions or loop too. Having played around with midis to BB creations, it really depends on the song. If the song is complex, one-press are easier to do. If the chord structure is basically the same throughout a song, I often use 8 - 16 measures and just loop it.
What I find the trickiest is the transitions between verse/chorus and then a bridge. Sometimes I just loop the verse/chorus but sometimes there are fills or the way it runs, I just can’t find a good way to loop one part.
So, it really depends on the song structure and my own limitations of breaking things up and the time that I have.
There is a learning curve but I didn’t find it too difficult once I figured out Reaper.
Another way to approach it that might not sound as daunting. I’m assuming you have an OPB that you are happy with.
Every song has basic parts and if you are happy for the 3 verses all having the same Drums and Bass sequence, then there is your first cut. Copy out a Verse into it’s own part. Then take a Chorus and do the same, then look at what’s left and do those.
As @persist said, it’s not an easy thing to do, but I’ve found that the more you put into it, the better your outcome.
I personally go the other way, I try to build One Press songs for specific songs, and then I just use the out of the box loops for jamming, but each to their own.
I guess I’m kind of repeating what “GrahamH” has said but I use a mix of OPB and loops within BB2, depending on the song’s complexity. As a rule, I always have loops for every song’s chorus, verse, solo, bridge, outro, etc.—just in case—as “User_Name” mentioned here, sometimes a member of the audience can interrupt with some well-meaning, but totally useless, question or information! So I like to be prepared to ad lib in any given situation.
But to “Bluesnnr”’s original question—my process is to create the whole song (I use Reaper as my DAW) and then save sections as MIDI files. So I might end up with anything from 3 to 12 MIDI file-sections, which I then load into BBMO and arrange them so I can move forward, back or to a ‘fill’.
