Converting midi loops from Boss DR880 to Beatbuddy

BeatBuddy General
1

I have a Boss DR880 that has 350 one and two bar loops I use for a contemporary christian mass. Is it possible to get these written into the Beatbuddy?

2

It can be done. I did something similar with the Alesis SR-16:

http://forum.mybeatbuddy.com/index.php?threads/new-product-announcement.8702/#post-39619

I have a Boss DR880, and it is on my list of projects to do. In short, here is the process:

First you are going to need a good DAW capable of recording midi.

  1. Connect your DR880 to your computer. Have it configured for midi out.
  2. Start your DAW. Set up a new blank track for recording midi. Make sure your DAW tempo and the DR-880 tempo are the same, or, better, if you can configure your DAW to slave to the DR880 start, stop and tempo, do that.
  3. Have the DAW track armed for recording.
  4. Play your DR880 drum track and record it.
  5. Check the recording to see that the measures align properly. That is, if there is a kick on beat 1, make sure the kick is really on beat 1. To do this select all notes in the recorded track and move them slightly to get that aligned. Then check to see if measure 2 still lines up. If not, there are timing differences between your DAW and the DR880. i found that Logic and the Alesis SR-16 were usually 1BPM apart. If I had the Alesis at 99 and Logic at 100, the beats aligned, for example.
  6. In regard to 5 above, you may find that you are better off quantizing notes to the nearest 1/32 or 1/64 note for each measure. That worked, too.
  7. Trim the track to be exactly 2 measures long.
  8. Check the mapping of the notes to be sure you have something in your BB kit that will match up with the drum part. That is, if you have a tom on midi 41, and you BB kit has no tom on 41, you are either going to need to edit the BB drum kit, move the notes in the track, or delete that instrument from the track. This is probably the most difficult idea to process.
  9. Export the track as a midi file. It is now ready to be imported intro the BB.
  10. Repeat 350 times.

It took me about 2 months to do the Alesis from concept to completion. That was essentially 200 patterns: an A and B of each patter; plus fills for each pattern. With the DR880, the patterns are separate, so 350 is actually the pattern count. I was also creating drum kits from the Alesis, and that probably took the greater part of the time. I suspect if I were to do just the 350 patterns, I could get that knocked out in about 2 months as well. But, to date sales of the LBDM have been less than stellar, and, although I am very grateful for those sales that I have made, it has not been enough to get me fired up about making a second deep product. Nonetheless, I will probably do it, but, at this point, I will not be starting on it until mid-August or so.

3

You could trigger your BeatBuddy sounds directly from the DR880 if you have the BB midi connecting cable. Only problem is some of the mapping of notes could be different (i.e. a low tom for example on the Boss could trigger say, a ride cymbal or even trigger nothing on the BB).

4

Thank you for the helpful replies’. I was expecting a simple “yes” but received a quick resolve and a complete step by step tutorial. Looking forward to trying both methods out. New to Beatbuddy and the forum, but looking around these forum posts it appears similar to the Fractal Audio Forum. Very friendly informative information. Can’t wait wait to dive into this little box of beats :slight_smile: Thanks again!