I want to make a copy of a pattern and edit the copy while the orginal stays the same

I’m sure theres an existing document on this, feel free to point me to it.

In BBManager, I want to take MySong Fill 01 and make a copy of it to MySong fill 02 and then edit it, but
I"m not getting the results I expect.

I would expect to Ctrl-C and Ctrl V, and then end up with a new file in the folder, Mysong fill 02.mid, or MySong Fill 01-copy.mid, or similar, but it doesnt seem to work that way, what am i doing wrong?

Logically, I would expect to creat Mysong main 01, and then stamp out as many copies of that as I need for Main 02, Fill 01, Fill 02, etcetera, but every time I try it, it seems to get all mixed up.

Im looking for .mid files, but I see a .bbt file, and the .mid file doesnt play the pattern its supposed to, but some previous pattern that it was copied from.

It shoulndt be this hard, I must be doing something stupid?

Right click, and export the midi file to an easily found location on your HD. Rename the exported file. Then, you can add the renamed midi file to a song in BBM and edit it using the midi editor. I, personally, would edit the file in a DAW, save it, and then bring it back into BBM.

So after I export it, can I make multiple copies of that file? Sounds like this is what I need… one main beat, and then clone out variations of it.

I guess this one of the reasons people don’t like BBManager? I’ve worked in PC supplant engineering for 20 years, I get basic file handling, but BBM doesn’t seem to follow the logic :’)

Yes, that’s essentially the process, if you want to make variations of a song section. Export, rename, edit, import.

Ok, this is working - so if I understand this, what I see in BBManager is a BBT, which I guess stands for BeatBuddy Track, and that is a separate file, or maybe a page in the BeatBuddy song file.

I learn by examining the parts of a thing and deducing how they fit together as a whole, and then I build new stuff following that pattern. So when I look at the folder structure of the BB default workspace, each song has a folder, and inside the folder are .mid files that correspond exactly to the beats I see in the songs.

I assumed that is how new things would come together, and when they didnt, I was really confused. It seems that the .mid files arent functional parts of the song, but exist outside of it, like a backup? If the difference between .bbt and .mid is documented anywhere I didnt see it.

My guess is that BBM adds some identifier of some sort to the midi file. The only real difference that I see, is that if I export a midi file from BBM it is now identified as a Singular Sound file, and is now called a .bbt.

As an aside, though, I don’t ever advise poking around inside the BB Workspace. BBM works as the OS for the BB, and the BB Workspace is essentially its system folder.