It seems every new beat that is added is a One Press, IE the song plays start to finish…Might as well just use MIDI backing Drumtracks and not a Beatbuddy to be honest.
I thought the idea if the beatbuddy was to have a pseudo drummer, not pre-recorded karaoke…
Anyway just my thoughts, prompted by the “new” posts listing of 300+ re-uploads all of which are One Press!
By the time the admin is done moving all of the songs over from Resources from the old forum, there will be a couple thousand songs of which the majority will most likely be in one-press format (OPB).
If it were easy to do the multi-part format, many of the content creators (myself included) would be working them up as such however, I think a lot of it depends on the quality and format of the MIDI source files which lend themselves much better to the OPB context than the multi-part format.
Some content creators have said they would wait until the admin completes the move before they posted any more song either here or to the old forum. So maybe they’ll come up with a couple of your requests. Of all the users, Guitar Stu comes closest to making multi-part songs available but I think he stated a while back that he’s too busy to honor requests.
Thanks Persist - the OP seemed a little harsh after re-reading…I am happy there are so many songs available, and in some cases a OPB would be preferable. So I wasn’t meaning to “rag” on them (One Press Songs).
I have hundreds and hundreds of MIDI files on my system (been using them for years) and I have tried extracting the drum tracks to convert over to a BB standard song, but the device does not really make it easy haha!
For example if it recognised MIDI part markers and allowed linking transitions and fills to same it would be easier, but that’s just one thing.
I have several Of Stu’s songs, well many actually as I bought his pack, I think I’ll re-investigate and see which ones I want to do that he has included midi parts for. Although iirc, I think his MIDIs are the whole songs not broken down into individual patterns for the BB.
See my new Post about the Prime app. I agree that using backing tracks is something that makes OPs on the BB seem redundant. If this OP market is important to Singular they should create some sort of IOS app that can compete. I realize the core Bb was not really made for OPs and the non-OP way of using BB is awesome and it is its own market.
Yeah good post!
Some of us OPB producers have been asking for that for years… an app that’s capable of playing .sng files.
Now, why OPB.
I started , it seems like years ago, doing non opb songs, pulling midis apart, doing intros, transitions, etc etc. personally I found it generally unsatisfying. When Guitar Stu found a way to incorporate bass, it was eye opening… now there was a better way to do covers. OPB was an extension of that.
If you pull apart the OB songs done by Persist, Phil Flood, myself and others, you might find that in some cases, they are not a note for note “move the midi into BB”. We’ve changed notes, transitions etc. we’ve made corrections to the often VERY crappy midi files out there. I guarantee you it’s lots of work. We’ve pushed the limits of the pedal. We can stretch segments, effectively changing time signatures WITHIN a song… you’re probably not even aware it’s happening. We’ve done COMPKETE albums (like Abbey Road) just for the fun of it… the pedal is just the end of the process.
The payoff for me is having many tunes at my fingertips where I don’t have to do the BB DANCE, tap dancing my way through a tune.
I guess it’s just personal preference, but for me, ease of use is very important as the MUSIC is much more important that the pedal. Call it karaoke or whatever… but I guarantee you…if it were easy to create these then EVERYONE would do it.
My two cents…
The title of the thread as well could be, “Why do I need the BB pedal anymore if I have BBM software and access to OPB songs with associated drum sets and accompaniment instruments?”.
Last night I loaded up a couple OPB songs in BBM with the associated drum sets and bass. I played it in its entirety while recording it in Audacity. From Audacity exported as an mp3 and loaded it into my tablet. My powered PA has Bluetooth and is paired to my tablet. Easy, peasy to cue up and play the mp3/OPB from a list on the tablet and play it through the BT enabled PA. Why would I want to use a hardware pedal with cables and wires and more difficult to select songs if I can put OPB content on a device which makes life a whole lot easier? Is it a different mindset on how a backing track gets played either from a “musicians device” or a simple media player?
I really did buy the BB pedal for its ability to play non-OPxx “standard” songs that have fills and transitions at the press of a footswitch on the fly which is mostly how I use it. The fills and transitions lend a bit of spontaneity/variation that the OPx song doesn’t have. I may play around with the OPx stuff more as time passes, but for now I’ll stick with “standard” pattern based songs.
I posted this bit elsewhere but it is relevant here too…TBH OP songs I probably would not use, unless it has some iconic “hooky” drum passages. If I wanted a MIDI File player there are plenty of iOS and Android Apps (not to mention laptop PC’s as well) that can do just that and play to a software drum kit/s also contained on the iOS or Android device.
I too am after BB “normal” format songs, which after all, imo, is the whole reason for having the BB in the first place!
I ahve been working with MIDI for about 25 years plus now so placing drumparts into an ending section really is quite simple (and all my drum tracks, from my personal midi files, and there are hundreds of those, have been tweaked to the “enth” degree!!)
To be brutally honest (and I am not talking those OP’s that have basses and other instruments in them, they are really clever!) creating thes songs is too easy. The real skill for mine is creating songs in the traditional (can I use that, has BB been around long enough for traditional?) BB format…I’d do far more of it, but as I am in three bands and also doing solo gigs I am very time poor!
Gorans grooves are really well done and are exactly what I want to use, and how I want to use the BB. That’s why I have every kit and every library he has provided!
YMMV and as always, jm2c!
I agree with you… I don’t use OPB songs. In fact, I can’t recall the last time I used a song that was posted here. I just don’t see the point in using the BB if it’s a OPB. I create all of my songs instead so that I can use the pedal the way it was designed. The drawback though is that I have to constantly look at notations in the song so that I know when to press what, but it does allow for much more flexibility.