I have a pair of BeatBuddies – one that is my regular gig pedal, and one that travels in a backpack as a backup. My main pedal is one of the originals, and on Friday, it started behaving badly – not fully opening drum kits (missing cymbals, for example), or stalling completely when loading songs using the “Next Song” function. At the time, I thought it might be the SD card, and, after I swapped it, it more or less behaved as expected (still failed to load cybals from time to time, but I told myself that was an optical illusion.
Then, on Saturday, in the middle of a song, it just stopped dead, and then jumped to a completely different song in another folder. It is POSSIBLE it lost power and/or rebooted, but it was an odd song for it to land on when it came back up. And I never saw the lights go out, so I’m not sure it actually lost power. The rest of my pedalboard – which is powered by same isolated power supply brick – continued to function just fine.
Worth noting that I swapped in the backup, and it ran flawlessly the rest of the night. So I think I have a problem.
Before I even ask about sending it in for repair or replacement, though, I want to reflash the firmware. Problem is, I don’t want to upset what I have going on in the other pedal, and I seem to have deleted the files for the last firmware update I did. So, two questions:
[LIST]
[]Can I get Firmware V1.9.7 somewhere on the site? Or perhaps someone has it thatvthey could send?
[]If I do a File/Export from BBM, will that re-up my firmware?
[/LIST]
I would ideally like to avoid the stress of updating the software, since 1.9.7 is working just fine for me.
Thoughts?
Joe
Attached.
File > Export from BBM will not install the f/w; it has to be reinstalled manually.
It’s more likely that you might have a problem with your SD card. My suggestion would be to format the problem card as MS DOS 32-bit and export project from BBM to your SD card (assuming the BBM has been recently sync’d with the card) and then drag the 5 firmware files to the top level of your card.
Once you’ve got your pedal updated and settings verified, check the song that burped and see if the symptoms are repeated. If any of the symptoms show up during your test, replace the old SD card with a new one. If the symptoms still show up, contact Support.
That was what I thought as well. But, when I tried my backup SD card, there still seemed to be a problem (although it seemed to be less of an issue and might have been entirely in my head). But the newer card was in it when it “crapped the bed,” so to speak. All that said, though, I will absolutely try everything you’ve suggested, because it’s still easier than shipping it back.
Thanks for the advice and the file!
Joe
After trying a new SD card and re-upping the firmware, it appears I’ve killed another one. The switch either does not register clicks or it registers them as double clicks. This is no slight against the hardware: I have been using the pedal for over a year, playing or practicing at least twice a week, and I don’t use one-press songs, so I’ve given the switch a heck of a workout, averaging about 2200 presses each week.
Time to contact Support…
Joe
Update – because nothing is easy…
I have just re-re-re-updated my firmware and the pedal SEEMS to be behaving itself. I decided to try to reflash the firmware again this morning, because the original problems I had (mostly failure to load drumsets) was not the problem I was having last night (willful disregard for the actions of my right foot). Now that I have reflashed the pedal (for the third time), it is acting like nothing ever happened, so, for the moment, so will I.
I will rehearse with it tonight and let you all know if this was a firmware or SD card problem, or if the pedal has really suffered a mechanical failure. Right now, it seems like I may have jumped the gun. I hope so – I’d hate to develop a reputation for killing drummers. 
Sorry for the spam!
Joe
Nope, it’s dead. I believe the switch is actually stuck. Have to send it back…
Joe
