Getting MIDI from DM1 -> Beat Buddy

BeatBuddy General
#1

Howdy, newbie to MIDI and the BeatBuddy here.

I know my bandmate has used the iPad program DM1 to create beats for a bunch of his tunes so I am trying to figure out how I would go about getting a beat from the DM1 into the BeatBuddy.

If I export as MIDI from the DM1 I get a single .mid file, but if I pull that into BeatBuddy Manager I only hear one drum (e.g. just kick instead of kick, hi-hat and snare).

Initially I thought that maybe there was just no sound in the drumset mapped to the MIDI ID the program had assigned to hi-hat and snare (and could actually use some help figuring out how to debug that), but when I tried opening my MIDI file in the Beat Builder program referenced in this forum, I saw no data at all which makes me wonder if there’s actually a deeper incompatibility.

If I open my MIDI file in Garage Band or Aria Maestosa I see three ‘tracks’ for the difference drums (kick, hat and snare) and I notice that if I open something from the midi_sources folder of the default BB content, all of the drums are in a single track.

I realize it is most likely the case that the DM1 program is doing something weird, but wanted to see if anyone here knows what the disconnect is, or has suggestions for software, tutorials etc. that could help me understand what is going on, and ultimately convert from the DM1 output to something the BeatBuddy would understand.

Here’s a MIDI output from the DM1 if anyone cares to take a look:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1mm0onw6859qmdr/test.mid?dl=0

Thanks for any advice!

#2

I joined the 3 tracks from your test file into a single track and exported to midi (test 2.mid).

Kick, snare, and hi-hat closed all play in the BeatBuddy (screen shot).

So it seems possible to export your DM1 to a midi and use a DAW to join the drum tracks into a single track, export as a midi file and then bring that midi file into the BeatBuddy Manager.
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#3

I just did a mapping of the BB notes to Roland v-drums. A couple of tips - drums are on channel 10 - the BB will ignore notes on other channels. Once you get the channel correct, you need to make sure the notes line up. Here’s my mapping but it’s drum kit-dependent:

Kick - 36
Snare - 38
Tom1 - 50
Tom2 - 48
Tom3 - 45
High hat - 46
Crash1 - 49
Crash2 - 57
Ride - 51
Bell rim - 53
Aux - 43
HH(Open)Bow - 46
HH(Closed)Bow - 42
HH(Open)Edge - 26
HH(Closed)Edge - 22
HH Pedal - 44
X Stick - 37

It’s likely that both the BB and your DM1 support additional instruments so your mappings will likely be more complex than mine above. I was limited by the number of pads in the Roland v-drum kit we are using. Also, the HH Edge notes don’t actually play anything because the BB kits don’t use those notes so I need to find a better mapping for those. An easy way to see what notes are in each kit is to open the kit in BBManager v1.6.0.1 (beta).

IIRC, Beat Builder doesn’t display channel numbers or notes so I suggest using BBManager v1.6.0.1 to work on the midi files. The other editors you mentioned should be able to show what you’ve really got coming out of the DM1.

#4

Thanks so much to you both, this was all extremely helpful!

I am still running BeatBuddy Manager 1.5, I couldn’t find a download for the beta version, can anyone point me to it? Sounds like it could really help me.

@persist, could I ask what DAW you use? I tried switching Channel Management in Aria Maestrosa to Automatic and that merged the tracks into one for me - it looks the same in Aria as the file you posted, both of which play in the BeatBuddy Manager, so yay!

Next just to figure out how to map the drum sounds. The DAW’s that I have (Aria & GB) both show me the notes on a keyboard, so my hi-hat is F#1, snare is D1, kick is C1 etc. Is the BB Manager beta the best way to figure out how that corresponds to the MIDI ID’s in the BB Drumset? That’s probably similar to what you did, Rob, where your input shows you Kick/Snare/High hat rather than C1/D1/F#1?

#5

Hi somerset. BBM 1.5 works fine unless you want to work on songs that have more than 500 midi notes or you want to include bass in your BeatBuddy.

I use Logic Pro X (LPX) but many users prefer Reaper. Both work very well although I had some trouble with the latest version of Reaper and midi (it just isn’t as Mac friendly as LPX). YMMV with either one. GB is limited in that it doesn’t export to midi although you can use GB2M (a neat little utility).

There’s a couple of midi mappings here on the forum.

#6

I thought the drum kit editor was improved in 1.6 as well. You’ll need a good drum kit editor to see all the notes in each kit. Let somerset know if 1.5 is good for that too. (I like 1.6 too much to go back to 1.5.)

#7

I don’t use the drum editor enough in the BBM to recommend it or not . . . :smiley:

#8

Thanks again, everyone! I think 1.6 does make a difference - I’ll probably try to do creating & major editing elsewhere but this will give me the beat buddy view to understand what is going wrong and test out some theories :slight_smile: All this info has been super helpful, now time to apply the elbow grease…

#9

Ok! Where do i find 1.6 ?

#10

Did you manage to sort this out? I imported your DM1 midi export into Beatbuilder.jar (free midi editor) and nothing shows at all. I imported it into LiquidRhythm and the first bar on each of the three drums was empty. I deleted the first bar, exported the midi file from LiquidRhythm and it works fine in Beadbuddy now. So do I buy DM1 or not I wonder? If you can’t import its output into BeatBuddy it’s no good to me.

#11

In DM 1 go to MIDI and set channel to 10 (not omni) After doing that, exported midi files will show perfectly in Beatbuilder.

#12

I tried that, sorry I must be missing something. When I click “Export” in DM1 there is no option in to choose the channel. That only appears when I click “MIDI” and whilst there is the option to change the channel there, it does not then allow export of the midi file as far as I can see. Whether I select omni, 10 or any other channel and then go back to “Export” it makes no difference. See images for the two separate options.
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#13

Hi! Exact like I did. And then, what happened after clicking GO? Did you try it? Here is a Screen Capture of the Workflow. I did it on a Mac, and it is the same with an iPad (export to Dropbox or Mail). But there must be a bug in in the iPad-Version: you have to set the Midi-Channel to “9” for getting “10” out of it. I exported my iPad-Midi to Dropbox, from there I loaded it to Beatbuilder - the rest is like the Mac-workflow.

#14

Many thanks for this, I have been managing to get the midi out of DM1 on MacBook Pro as per your video. But as with Somerset’s posting earlier in this thread, unless I post-process the midi file through BeatBuilder or Liquid Rhythm (which no longer works after upgrading OS to High Sierra 10.13.3) then the midi file only plays the Kick Drum when imported directly into BB Manager where the internal midi edit tool doesn’t show any other instruments. If I process through BeatBuilder then miraculously the other instruments appear and play. So I still have no decent work-flow for midi. I guess I will just have to buy Logic Pro!