Hi all
New to BB and trying to catch up with all these years of knowledge in the forum!
I have an issue with bass. I have read about note off, and, as I understand it, how it should be taken care off automatically by the latest firmware and BBManager software, but I can’t make it work.
My bass notes, using kits with non-percussion instruments, continue playing non-stop till the next note. Even though the original midi file sounds perfect, when importing to BB there are no silence or rests between them, they continue to sound until the next note. I have even tried a new file, where I make a quarter note, space the next one like three bars, and another one three or four bars far away, and even though it is a quarter note, sheet shows rests between it and the next note 2 or 3 bars down (as it should), as soon as I import it to BB, the note goes on and on until it fades away 1 or two bars later, then the next one plays, much, much longer than it should, and so on…
What am I doing wrong or missing? How do I specify where I need the bass to stop? I’ve even tried creating a note half-step up with velocity of 1, as I read somewhere else, to no avail…
I appreciate any help offered.
Thanks
Joel
Move that VEL-1 note to the the same note, not a half-step up. Also, make it a VEL-0 (if your editor allows). Should stop the note.
Thanks Joe
Thanks for the suggestion. Did that, does not work. BB receives the midi, the notes created as VEL-0 are shown as VEL-1, upon playback, the duration and sound of the original note does not change in any way, compared with when I haven’t created the VEL-0 notes.
It would be a whole lot of work if for every song I had to create duplicate VEL-0 notes for every real one, though.
I appreciate the suggestion. Maybe it works with your setup and there is something I am doing wrong. Just to be clear, I’m on a Mac, I created a simple 7 bar song in midi, created 3 bass notes, with at least three bars between them. The notes are quarter notes, the sheet music shows the rest stops where they should be. I export that to midi file, add to a new song in BBM, use a kit that notes read as non percussion. Upon playback, notes sound extremely long, they don’t stop as they should. (To this process, I added the VEL-0 notes immediately after the original notes, and in one case I left a quarter rest between, same result).
Hopefully you, or any of the BB experts here, see something missing in that process.
Thanks…
What are you using to edit MIDI?
It might help if you zip and post the MIDI file that you are having issues with.
Joe
I have used Aria Maestosa and Ableton Live Lite, same results.
I will during the next hour, thanks…
I hate to suggest yet another tool, but try Reaper. It generates absolutely exactly what I expect in bass notes.
Yes, I am leaning that the issue lies on my tools (hopefully not), but wanted to be sure before investing in something like Reaper or Logic… Have Cubase LE but have not receive Download Code for new version and ProTools First still does not work on my computer, waiting for M1/Monterey update. A re-import of the midi files to both Aria and Ableton does not show any issues with the exported midis. So I still think there is something happening in the conversion in BB. Will upload the simple midi in a few moments.
What version # of BB Manager are you using?
Phil, it is 1.6.4.1
You need the 1.66. That fixed the note offs issue on Mac. I’ll see if I have a link for it. I’ll be right back in 5-10 minutes.
BBManager-1.6.6c.zip (32.6 MB)
Caveats - This was released as a beta, but I’ve been running with no problems for years. But, that is on an Intel Mac. I have not tried this on a M1, but since you are waiting to upgrade to Monterey, I’m assuming that will be OK for you. Anyhow, when I was running 1.64, i had the stuck bass issue. This is what fixed it.
Also, I am running firmware 3.93, because firmware versions later than that screwed up features I need.
To avoid issues when you do update to Monterey or Big Sur, might as well just update to the notarized version of the BeatBuddy Manager (BBM) at When the BeatBuddy Manager (BBM) doesn’t launch (or export a project to the SD card) in newer versions of the macOS
Just to clarify, I am on Monterey. I am waiting for the Pro Tools First update that will work on M1 Monterey. My bad for not expressing myself correctly.
Thanks Phil_Flood. Will try 1.66 and report later.
Here is the zip file. Contains two midis. Pruebabajos, without the VEL-0 notes. Pruebabajos2 with the VEL-0 notes. Thanks
Basstest.zip (945 Bytes)
Thanks. The bass in both seems to play and sound as quarter notes in the notarized version of the BeatBuddy Manager (BBM).
One more thing, back to your original conversation with Joe - If you are using the “note to stop a note” method, all of your bass notes in the drum kit need to be contained in a choke group, and the polyphony for each note in the choke group needs to be set to 1. Hopefully the notarized version of 1.64 clears up your problem and your won’t need any of this other stuff.