Measure Indicator

BeatBuddy
#1

Hi I’m still looking to find out when to transition through the parts of songs in the premium library , I bought the complete collection and have struggled with songs that have many parts.

After trawling through YouTube and the manual I found a feature called measure marker which looks like it’s an indicator of when to transition to the next part. But it doesn’t seem to be on all parts, so when you move to a part of the song without the measure marker I no longer know when to change.

I’m a noob and just want to figure out how to use the songs in the premium library to cover the song while I play guitar. I’m not looking to do it my own way or use home made songs, for now I’m concentrating on using the songs I’ve purchased. But there are no instructions on how to map the parts with the original song on CD etc.

I’ve searched for more info on the measure marker but I can’t find any. It could be a setting I’ve missed that puts it on the screen for all the parts of the song.

I’m guessing I’m not the only person who wants to know how this works ?

Thanks,

Lee .

1 Like
#2

I’ve integrated a number of the Premium Files into my set. A lot of them take a little bit of exploration. I’ve found it’s helpful to have BB Manager or pedal working while listening to the parts. You can usually identify which parts go where. Then it’s a matter of just practicing it.

I don’t use too many “one press” tunes because often with the looper setup I need an extra measure or two in certain parts to establish the loop. Or if we want to take liberties and jam out on a part a little longer for example.

Sometimes however I’ll take parts and combine them together in GarageBand and then export back not BBManager to simplify the tap dancing, or to eliminate a press that needs to happen at the same time as a looper action. For example, on Comfortably Numb I simplified it from something like 13 parts down to 5:

  1. Intro/Verse beat (Set up loop and sing first verse
  2. Chorus->Lead all combined on 1 part
  3. Verse Beat (sing verse 2)
  4. Second Chorus
  5. Outro Solo Beat

Really though it just takes a listen through the recording to try to match up the parts. There aren’t any guides or anything for which parts map up where (although that would be awesome).

1 Like
#3

Maybe @GoranGrooves could provide some insight on how he breaks up the parts, having a mapping from his premium songs to the original track would make the premium library a lot more usable and I’d happily pay a little extra for a pdf showing how he’s mapped out the parts !

I know a lot of users like to do their own thing, but I’m not :slightly_smiling_face:

2 Likes
#4

Hey @lperry65 , I totally understand where you are coming from. Some songs are so complex that you need to hire a pro drummer to read a chart and press the pedal in all the right places :slight_smile:

Trying to strike a balance between staying true to original song structures, simplifying where possible, and having parts change in a logical manner has been very challenging overall.

Generally, BB song parts change when song sections change. Sometimes if a song has a longer section with several distinct drum parts, then BB parts may change more than once with a song section.
If a song has several sections containing a single drum part with no changes, we may just leave one BB song part for those sections. Eg. Verse1+chorus1+interlude.

We had songs that had drum parts change too often and we simplified them by joining those drum parts into longer loops, thus reducing the number of BB parts.

So, for the most part, BB parts change with song sections (Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge).

The best way to see how songs are laid out is to look at their structures within BB Manager. We tried to name the loops in a helpful way.

I look forward to the day when we have autopilot functionality realized so that we can have all premium songs work with a single press. Not sure when that will happen though.

5 Likes
#5

Thanks Goran, I’ll load up BB Manager and have a look. Hopefully I’ll get the hang of it soon and we can start using it at rehearsal :slightly_smiling_face:

#6

It would be great if there was an option on the BBMgr to “simply” a song, similar to how you can hit “simply” on ultimate guitar tabs to simplify the chords. An option that would transpose the beats/parts just like the what the posts here are saying you guys are doing. I myself love the library tunes BUT do not use them cause there are so many presses, fills etc. I get lost as to where I am when playing.

#7

Unfortunately, that sounds more like science fiction than reality. Forms of songs vary greatly and it can take a great deal of strategizing to simplify them, making them practical while keeping all parts. I don’t see a button ever doing that.
The autopilot feature is required to pull those things off and once it is available, it will make all the difference in the world to how you can use your BB.

1 Like
#8

Simply the song into what? Different people would have different ideas of what “simple” is.

#9

With all that said, I’d still be interested if anyone has used the Measure indicator and how it works :slight_smile:

#10

@GoranGrooves . But why not share a roadmap for the premium songs as I have seen requested so many times?