I took the plunge and ordered one of the last 50 for this production run. I’ve used and programmed a lot of MIDI drum loops over the years so this looks like an ideal way to get beats in performance with more fleibility than backing tracks.
I do have one question though: how do you set the tempo for each song? Do you bend over and turn the knob (every time)? Do you use tap tempo? Don’t you miss the accent feature? I think I would. Is a default tempo stored in the unit per song? That would be ideal for me.
I apologize if this has been covered before, I tried searching the archive but didn’t find anything relevant. Appreciate your assistance. Thanks.
The BeatBuddy songs made of an intro, verse part, chorus part, fills and outro have a static default tempo. You can bend down and change it, but if you reload the song it goes back to the default. You can change this in the manager software (currently on available for Windows) where you can upload your own beats and songs or alter the songs already in the BeatBuddy. Personally I would export the song I want to change, reimport it into a new folder and make the changes there. The new folder will be your “set list”, all BeatBuddy songs are organised in folders. You can also use the tap tempo - to make the most of the BeatBuddy you really need an external foot switch.
So it sounds like when I import my MIDI files into the manager software, I’ll set the default tempo there. That should work fine for me.
A little disappointed to hear the software is Windows only. Do we know if they are working on a Mac version? I use Parallels on my Mac so it’s not a deal breaker for me, but it’s so sloooow I really try to avoid using it when I can.
There is meant to be a standalone Mac version but no one has given a release timeframe yet. Many users are frustrated by the lack of one, as without the software they can’t use the device as intended.
The software is not a large program, try running it on Parallels and let the forum know how it goes. The other suggestion is running it under wine, detailed here: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=461&p=2266#p2118