So, when I examine some kits in Beatbuddy manager, I see that for any given midi note (drum) There are multple samples that are further defined by the velocity. Very cool.
So… for some velocity ranges there are two or three slightly different samples. Does that mean that BB randomly picks one of them to play?
If that is how it works, I’m really… REALLY impressed.
I am not certain it’s entirely random, but it’s random-ish. You don’t want the same sample played over and over as that gives what is termed the “machine gun” effect, which does sound synthetic. Having multiple variant sample per velocity range adds realism to the drums. Plus, Singular’s samples are recordings of real drums, which really helps improve the sound quality.
It seems to me that with a really, really good sample synth, you could create a vast number of amazing sounding kits. (Rather than recording it all yourself… people have already done that.) Same with the bass and keyboards, although due to the lack of midi notes, you would record chords on the keyboard.
I guess that is what folks are starting to do… you being the most serious at this point it seems.
Having examined a small handful of “songs” it apears that people are not creating parts… just one continuous midi file for the whole song. Kinda defeats the purpose of the beat buddy… If I start making custom songs, I’m going to have distinct parts so if you want to solo over a verse you can.
The other shortfall I see at the moment is that parts must be played sequentially. If your song is IVCVCBVVCVCVCCO, for example, and you want to go back to the bridge in a live moment of inspiration, you can’t. I wonder if with the Maestro they will allow those extra buttons to be assigned to specific parts in the song. THAT would be cool.
So the BB is starting to grow on me… day two of playing around coming up.
Some users have suggested that it would be useful to embed markers in a one-press MIDI that the BBM and pedal could recognize. These markers could be used to identify the song parts in a MIDI one-press file that would provide additional flexibility for users. It would also be a great improvement for rehearsal or previewing a song. Users would have a better pause and resume feature and could also jump forward or back to a marker.
As for the ongoing discussion about which is better, the default multi-part or the one-press beats/songs, the BB as a system allows that flexibility and choice.
A have a fair number of Blues tunes that are “Jam” versions. Those have an intro, a main loop, and an outro. In those songs the intro is usually several verses, then, there is the Jam where players can trade off leads, and, of course, that part can play as long as you like. It loops. When you’re ready to finish up, it goes to the outro, usually one more verses and an ending section. That’s kind of a trade off between the formats.
I think you’ll find that the jam arrangement suits most songs where you would want to take a solo. Most performers have only one ot two sections that they regularly solo over. To make this type of arrangement, look past the labels that BB gives for the song parts. Think of it this way (this song has two solos):
With that, you would need to nail the timing between parts 3 and 4. I guess out of pure laziness, I prefer having just one solo section, and it makes the timing easier.