Live Performers....easier to use BB up high or use footswitch to navigate?

BeatBuddy General
1

For any that have tried both ways…is it easier to navigate song lists and use the beat buddy with which of these methods?

  1. put the pedal up high and use a footswitch set up to use as the main pedal
  2. keep the BB on the floor and use a footswitch to navigate folders and menus

I think when you use the BB up high, you lose the ability to have extra settings on your footswitch, like “pause” and “outtro fill”. I could be wrong?

2

Definitely use the footswitch and have the BB within arms reach.

3

Thanks - Have you tried both ways and why do you like this way better?

4

I use it up high, the dual footswitch programmed, one as pause and the other as stop (outro). The start of the song on the BB itself.
Scrolling through the songs on the BB, I noticed that scrolling with the dual footswitch is not allways practical. But that may be me.

5

So how do you transition from verse to chorus parts?

6

BB is up on a stand with a Boss FS-5U on the floor for switching. On the same stand I have a TC Helicon Voicelive Play GTX with a connected Digitech Switch 3 (home built) on the floor.

Jack, I’m guessing you’re the same JackB1 from AGF(?) that has a TCH VLP(?) Using a 2X 1/4" TS to 1/8" TRS cable you can connect the BB to the AUX in of the TCH unit and eliminate the need for a mixer and just have one cable for vocals and the BB going to the PA. I run my guitar ‘thru’ the TCH VLP GTX as it goes to a separate preamp/effects pedal (Zoom AC-2).

7

Yes that’s me. I have the TCH Harmony GTX pedal. I usually plug the Beat Buddy into my powered speaker with a seperate XLR cable so I can tweak the volume to my liking.

8

Couldn’t remember which TCH pedal you had, but thought it may have been one of the bigger VoiceLive ones. The G-XT is a good pedal and easy to use.

9

If you program it that way, how do you trigger fills and transitions?

10

Mark…what do you program the footswitch to do? You only get 2 actions, correct? (for while playing).

11

I don’t use the transition at the moment, but if you program one of the switches to main you have everything you can do with the main switch, the other one as pause/unpause.

12

So you just use one beat pattern for an entire song?

13

yes, I play bass in a trio, one guitarist and a singer and me. We play covers and don’t mind that it is one pattern for the entire song. Don’t have the BB that long, about a half year, we are mostly concentrating on what we’re doing and forget pushing the buttons of the BB during a song. Maybe in the future we’ll do some more stuff like transitions, now we do pause and unpause during some songs. Still learning, but having a lot of fun doing it.

14

At present footswitch SW#1 is the same as the Main pedal on the BB, start, fill or transition, and stop. SW#2 is presently set for accent when playing and I think patch advance when stopped. I may change around the SW#2 a bit with other available settings as I don’t use what it is presently set for much.

15

I think it’s most useful to use the 2nd switch for either pause or end/fill.
I chose pause and double tap the other switch for end/fill. Wish they gave you 3 options!

16

I operated on my Mini 2 and soldierd 2 leads off the board and drilled a hole in the side of the frame. I attached the wires to the tip and sleeve part of the female and put it back together. Now I use a momentary switch in the new input and put the BB on the stand and I have all of the functions of the main pedal. I also have the double BB switch for cymbol and stop feature. All is good. Works like a dream.

17

I am amazed that you guys would not take advantage of the use of MIDI. I mean you get an IPad and a Program like OnSong, you can pull up a Drum beat on the BeatBuddy in Seconds. It makes playing so much easier, not even close to hunting a pecking looking for a beat.

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18

Couldn’t agree more re Onsong midi solution, also use this to switch presets in my HX Stomp. Looking forward to the day when I can select and start pre-recorded Aeros backing track loops via midi too.

19

I think it’s because of how complicated it is to set this up initially. It’s not easy to understand. Are there any instructions on how to set up midi commands for the Beat Buddy in your program, like OnSong or Songbook?

20

There are videos on You tube, that do a really good job of walking you through the steps to take an app like OnSong and add the midi commands and operate the BeatBuddy. I use my Beat Buddy with OnSong and control the Beatbuddy, and i can not tell enough how this changes the way you use the BeatBuddy. It;'s more work up front but well worth it.

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