Hello all-I’m new here after purchasing a BeatBuddy last week. I have played with it a bit, love it, however I’m disappointed in the “Jazz” samples. I am a solo performer and do quite a bit of Sinatra, etc, and the jazz loops are so very busy…hell, I would fire that drummer by the third song! I’m looking for the shortest and most intelligent path to assuring this SOB that less is more sometimes. Are there other drum loops available on this forum or elsewhere that I can import into my BB?
Also, I had previously read that were certain problem loops that didn’t sync up with Infinity Looper, but after updating firmware on Pigtronix and BB those glitches have been eradicated as long as the song is in 4. 3 and 5 and 7 need a change in my Infinity to “beat” from measure, and then careful looping, which I’m used to anyway after looping with Roland products for years and Line 6 and an original Lexi Jamman before that. Please share your experiences with Pigtronix with me if you have any. Many thanks in advance!
There are a few threads on here about the Infinity. In my experience, it works as expected, though I use about 1/10th it’s capabilities. Other user’s seem to prefer the subjectively easier to operate Boomerang III. From what I hear, it works just as well.
I don’t play Jazz although from what I heard sounded like the stereo typical Jazz beat. Someone else here however mentioned the lack of Jazz as well. If the BB stock Jazz beats aren’t suitable then you need to find them from elsewhere, currently I would recommend groovemonkee as they sell drum loop packs which are mapped to the BeatBuddy. You can also find midi loops elsewhere although it could take considerable effort to get them working in the BB.
Bachelor Degree In Jazz Peformance from Victoria University, NZ. - See more at: http://gorangrooves.com/session-drummer-tracks/drum-tracks-session-drummer.html#.dpuf
Hi snoopy … I also play Blues Jazz (Hammond Trio / Jimmy Smith / Joey D) and I also find the Jazz grooves totally unusable … sounds like they did a whole lot of drugs before recording … I use BB to rehearse. I have to workout what I have put into the song, with out a guitarist or sax player to make it sound full and in the groove, I also kicking bass … and drums really have groove (swing)
This is why I bought BB … the trio never rehearses
So having said that, what is the best stand alone drum software to create midi files, that is compatible BB and doesn’t cost and arm and cost an arm and a leg, this can get tricky because there are a lot of syncopated beats and push and pulled beats (off meter a bit so it swings hard … I like to hear what others are using to get the job done
Talking about Jazz, I found this product on GrooveMonkee: http://groovemonkee.com/collections/midi-loops/products/jazz-midi-drum-loops
Do you think it would be suitable to use with BB? If yes, how do I manage it?
Contact them, they can make sure they are mapped to the BB, so all you need to do is create a new song, click on the parts and import the midi files. Try it with the demo pack in the link above from groovemonkee.
Have a look here:
http://mybeatbuddy.com/forum/index.php?threads/midi-editor.1848/
And you may also find this interesting:
http://mybeatbuddy.com/forum/index.php?threads/beatbuddy-friendly-midi-editor.2004/#post-8658
Thanks, I just asked the support about the jazz grooves. Meanwhile, I’ll try with the free stuff
I tried groove monkeys free midi drum loops and they are not mapped the same as BB (General Midi)
I’m going to see if I can edit a loop segment from Groove M to see if I can get it mapped properly for BB
Thanks Psalm40 for the links
Hey Psalm40,Marcos, and B3Borne…I spoke with Russ of groove M yesterday twice on the phone after downloading the free drum loops they offer and he was EXTREMELY helpful. he actually walked me through the whole Beat Buddy manager process until I had loaded one of the Jazz samples. (BTW, the jazz samples IMHO, are much closer to what I had in mind and I’m fairly confident any jazzer would be quite pleased). He assured me that the sample will work in Beat Buddy and to contact him if I had any trouble with them. He also stated that I should let him know when I purchased anything and he would ensure that the samples I received were compatible with BB. Thanks for the support and input everyone.
Thanks Snoop for the update.
I’m going to get some of these. Surprised a bit that Gr M. did this.
Fairly reasonable pricing.
Hi snoopy … I agree their samples are way better than what is in BB … and it’s not just Jazz … BB shuffles as just about as bad as the Jazz samples. As I said in my post above that the Groove Monkey (GrM) sample aren’t mapped to general midi (GM)… so when I cut a piece out of a GrM sample and loaded it into BB the sounds were off. Did Russ tell you how to correct the mapping in GrM so it’s mapping the same as BB?
Thanks
Best I could tell from websites GorGrovs is not in the MIDI drum loops business like GrM is.
Hey B3Borne-I just spoke to GrM again this morning and it was suggested to try the samples without a fill at the end. Apparently they are easy to identify within the packs. They are also about to post a pack of samples exclusively for Beat Buddy users on their website…hopefully later today. I’ll tell ya, these folks are terrific when it comes to customer service! Also, watch for new latin samples and expanded jazz samples with the capacity to merely eliminate a beat here and there to unclutter the sample according to your taste and whim.
The jazz beats are a little hard to play with. I think it’s because when you play jazz there is alot of interplay between the musicians. Drums aren’t so cut and dry with the beats always falling where expected. More syncopation etc. I think they try to capture that to some extent but for a solo performance it doesn’t necessarily work. Sounds like you are after more straight ahead swing grooves so you can definitely feel where the downbeat is. I was disappointed with the jazz beats as well. It is one of the styles that I play alot. As far as loopers go I have the Infinity and I find that it syncs very well with the BeatBuddy. One feature that I like is that you can have 2 independent loops for say… verse - chorus. You can overdub on one loop and if you switch to the other loop without closing the first loop then it does not save that overdub which is really quite handy when you are looping on the fly and want to add a part and then have it erase on its own. Infinity has had several updates to help with the Beatbuddy. I have mine set so that when I start the beatbuddy it automatically begins to record on the looper. I can close the loop on the looper or have the whole thing stop by stopping the beatbuddy. You can also change the settings in options. You can have recording start only when you hit the switch. To me the beatbuddy acts almost like a click track and keeps everything tight. I think the looper quantizes the loop to fit the beat. The infinity does not have any internal drums or metronome and does not quantize on its own but it is very accurate as there is not alot of lag when you hit the switches. Hope this helps.
Wow … Thanks again Snoop … I’ll check that out and see if it works … the problem with using just samples with no end fill … is it nice to copy a bar or 2 (how ever long the fill is) of some of those end fills to build just a fill. Sounds like Russ is motivated to make this work with BB so I’ll wait until he gets the loops uploaded for BB and see what he’s got in the free set before I buy a set from him … and yes their set are at a reasonable price …
Is his contact phone number on his website?
Hi Nelson agree theres a LOTs of interplay … that is what Jazz is. As I stated before, for me BB is for rehearsals (by myself) so a straight ahead swing groove or shuffles would work fine for me to work out my bass lines , comps and solos … As I play in a real trio or quartet of pro players (we never rehearse as a band) the interplay is there as soon as we hit the downbeat … so I have no interest in loopers …
Hello all,
While the Groove Monkee “drum freebie” pack is mapped for gm (general midi), BeatBuddy uses a subset of the gm standard…so I’ve remapped the freebies (and all of our commercial products) to match BB 100%.
I’ll post a link to BB Freebie as soon as it’s available.
For now, we have a free pack of BB rock fills (commonly used stuff like rolls, fills, pushes…not too fancy but more like “playing to the song”) here:
http://groovemonkee.com/products/beatbuddy-fill-freebie
- For editing the loops, I highly recommend Studio One by Presonus. There’s a FULLY functional FREE version for both Mac and PC. I’ve prepared a “pitch list” (drum map per the usual DAW parlance) for Studio One and will add it to the BeatBuddy freebie. The pitch list will give you a visual representation of the BeatBuddy kit layout so you’ll know exactly where all the drum are located.
Thanks to all for the feedback and suggestions as I try to organize support for one of the coolest new products on the planet!
Hey B3,
Groove Monkee has ALWAYS provided grooves with fills at the end. When I was writing songs (trying anyway lol) and buying dozens of expensive audio loop CDs I was frustrated by how few, if any, fills those packs had.
The freebie pack is a mix of loops from our commercial packs and they have grooves with and without fills at the end. We also provide additional 1-bar grooves, typically in a folder named “fills”…those often have sub-folders by tempo, type, time signature…depending on the pack.
Here’s a bit of info about the files you’ll find in two packs (Jazz and Hard Rock):
The file name starts with the recorded tempo (e.g. 090 means 90 BPM).
Jazz examples:
122 Soft Jazz 04 (no fill at the end)
122 Soft Jazz 04a (variation with no fill at the end)
122 Soft Jazz 04 Fill 1 has a fill at the end
Hard Rock examples:
110 HT4 1 CH from the “Half-time” folder. No fill at the end. Closed hat (CH). Also available with open hat (110 HT4 1 OH) and Ride (110 HT4 1 Ride).
110 HT4 1 Ride F1 has a fill at the end (F1, F2, F3, F4, F5 are variations with fills)
There is a folder with fills organized by the same “feels” for hard rock. Within the Half-time folder, you’ll find 1-bar fills you can use with Beat Buddy. For example, 110 HT4 1 Fill 03.
Wow … thank you GrM … that’s is fantastic, I like your loops as they do groove and make sense as far as how a drummer would play them.
I am using Studio One for editing and building loops for BB and I will be buying Pro loops off you once the mapping issue is resolved.
Thanks again for making an effort to make your product work with BB … BB should be buying your loops to load into their product because the loops they have suck … IMO … hint hint.