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
and
Texas Flood v2 OPB & MP found here Texas Flood - DOP, OPB and multi-part (drums and bass)
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.