MIDI sync with 8 notes denominator !

BeatBuddy Feature Requests
1

SInce the BB outputs MIDI quarter sync notes it’s not very usable to use when using grooves that consist of 7/8 6/8 etc.

You have to play at least 2 bars so it evens out and that’s not always possible depending on what your musical ideas are.

I use my BB with a Boomerang 3 and when using quarter (4/4 3/4 etc) notes as denominator it works great but it would be awesome if it worked just as good when using grooves with 8 or even 16 notes as denominator.

It would help a lot if the MIDI sync was referenced to the note denominator so that when you play 4/4 the MIDI output would be quarter notes and if you play 7/8 it would output MIDI sync eight notes.

Simply put -BB should output MIDI Clock Sync related to what note denominator used in the MIDI files it plays.

2

MIDI quarter notes are the base of MIDI synchronization. Take that for granted, as any such invention as MIDI eighth notes sync will not be a good solution - any other MIDI-enabled device will hardly work with it. (Clarification: While this will work for Boomerang, it will not for Pigtronix Infinity, as if you set time sig. to 7/8 there, and BeatBuddy will pass along eighth note ticks instead of quarter ones, Pigtronix will count them as if they were quarter ones, and take it as double speed)

If you want to record, let’s say, 1 bar of 7/8 with BPM of 120 to your Boomerang and have it sync’ed (and looped) correctly, the easiest you can do is just double the time signature of the BeatBuddy song you are making to 7/4 and then halven the tempo to 60 BPM. This will do it for you.

3

Not sure I understand exactly what you mean by "double the time signature of the BeatBuddy " and how you would go about to doing it.

I mean the time signatures comes from the MIDI files don’t they ?

Please enlighten me !

4

Yes exactly, the time signature comes from the MIDI files. However, you are the one to edit them before inserting them to the BeatBuddy songs! :slight_smile:

Just about any MIDI editor can change the time signature and BPM tempo. Just build your MIDI files in such a way so the time signature denominator is always 4. Doing this will help you avoid sync problems, and, for example, will allow you to be able to loop one full bar (and not two!) in your Boomerang.

5

Yes that’s what I thought.

Surely that must be able to achieve within the BB so that when BB see/hear (in it’s mind :p) 7/8 it automatically converts it to 7/4 and double the tempo and the synced looper would see it as quarter notes :smiley:

Let’s put it on the TODO list :smiley:

6

Despite you are probably joking, this would be a pretty useful feature! :slight_smile:

7

I am not joking.

I have put a lot of thought into this actually and thought why not make all the grooves in BB perfectly syncable.

I’m glad you like the idea and it would make the BB even more awesome when it’s implemented.

Like the famous American drummer Buddy Rich said:
If you can make it 100%, why not do it !

Now go tell David all about it :smiley:

8

This same issue was already discussed like a year ago. The thing is that I feel BeatBuddy is best controlled when BPM is not very high (I’d say, less than 140-160). Fills and transitions become a bit trickier for me to trigger if tempo reaches higher values like 220 or more.

So having an automatic option to double/halven the tempo and do the reverse (halven/double) with the time signature would be extremely useful for the product.

Ah, I can only wish this was as simple as that. He is insanely busy! But I hope to discuss this very soon.

9

Pigtronix looper will work just fine with any time signature you can come up with as you can configure it to sync to measures or individual beats. Just set one of your presets to 7/8 time signature, or set it to sync on every 8th note, or 16th, or whatever your heart desires. Just because BB ticks off 1/4 notes doesn’t mean you can’t configure your MIDI device to work with half that or even twice that, 1/4 note is simply a reference point.