Hi I am new to Beatbuddy and the forum so maybe this query has been answered elsewhere but here goes…I want to build my own beats for particular songs. I am not a drummer so starting from scratch probably isn’t the best way. I was thinking I could find a suitable midi file for a song online, download it, select just the drum track and break it up into individual parts for main drum loop, drum fills, transitions etc. Then i would create a new song using the beatbuddy manager. Is there any tutorials on how would be the best way to go about this? What would be the best software to use, ive been playing around with Ableton Live 9 for a few days but I cant make head nor tail of it. I would really appreciate any help or advice. Thanks!
There are several tutorials available from the forum and while they are not for Ableton they might help get you started. I will try to outline some general principles later in the week and will post them here to help you smooth the learning curve. Right now I’m watching the Chiefs and Texans 
General techniques (for transcribing drums from MIDI source files to the BeatBuddy (BB))
- The BB drums for the most part follow General MIDI standards but there are some exceptions that if you know and take into consideration as you transcribe MIDI source files into beats or songs for the BB, will save you time and frustration.
- Download and use the Ableton user manual; focus on the MIDI section (chapter 10 of the manual at this link Credits — Ableton Reference Manual Version 11 | Ableton )
- There are several files on the forum that can help you with proper placement of the MIDI drum notes; here’s one: GM1 & GM2 MIDI.pdf (19.6 KB)
- The MIDI notes for the BB Latin kit are different than the default kits.
- The premium Standard Pro drum set has a much more robust complement of drum instruments.
- The Export to MIDI . . . in the BBM is buggy so best not to use it.
- Download and use the latest (version 2) BB content; even then, recognize that you may have to season the velocities to taste (lowering some of the drum instruments velocities). I usually lower the velocities for the snare, toms and cymbals to avoid some of the harshness. To each his or her own.
- If you download Guitar Pro MIDI source files from Ultimate Guitar, you can convert them from .gp format to MIDI using freeware such as TuxGuitar. Sometimes Guitar Pro may have C-2 notes—you can delete those rather than try to figure out what they correspond to in MIDI or BB.
- Use the BeatBuddy Manager (BBM) MIDI Editor sparingly. If you use it at all, don’t use it to edit MIDI notes but rather, use it to check that there aren’t any Not supported notes and if you find any, edit them in your DAW instead of the BBM MIDI Editor.
- Don’t use periods (.) to name songs or folders as this corrupts BBM files and you could lose your work. Which brings up a point to save often.
- MIDI Note ID 47 should be lowered 2 semitones in your DAW (digital audio workstation) and MIDI Note ID 41 should be raised 2 semitones in your DAW. The takeaway is to transcribe a song to fit the kit as there are certain drum instruments that are not supported in the BBM. See Import MIDI changes note numbers - #6 by persist
- You may not find GM2 notes often but when you do, you may have to be creative on either deleting them or placing them in the best fit.
- Good idea to always scroll through the entire MIDI source file in your DAW to make sure that there are no tempo or time signature changes. When your source file has them, consider finding another one that doesn’t. You can use time stretching to tweak the MIDI source file for tempo changes but that’s the subject of much more advanced editing techniques and you can find tutorials here on the forum.
This is all I can think of for now and I’m sure that other users will chime in with more helpful tips, techniques and procedures (TTP).
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Thanks so much man, thats super, ill make a start anyway and see how I get in. Thanks so much for the super tips!