What exactly do I need midi wise to be able to work in BBM, or BBFFso I can retrieve and also record with my BB ON ANY DAW platform? Do I need a midi pedal such as midi master? I have Reaper and a new TASCAM DP24 that I use for recording. I’ve never used midi But for a little hooking up to a keyboard to keys module in the 90”s, and I’m not a drummer so any help would be appreciated.
Your question indicates that you are dealing with a couple levels of confusion, I’ll try to clear things ups without getting you more confused. It might help to know what you end goal is, as far as using the BB, because would help define what you might need.
If you are trying to get parts from the BB into a recorded form on a DAW, recording from the BB is probably not your best option. You could use BBM to simply export the midi parts from the .sng file, and then load those mid parts into the DAW. This would require no gear other than whatever you currently use to get a BB project onto your SD card. In my case, I use a card reader slot that is included in a USB hub attached to my Mac, but any simple card reader would suffice.
Now, if what you really want to is record the audio from your BB into a DAW, so you can build an arrangements using the sounds of the BB drums, then what you need is some sort of recording interface. In the old days of PC that would have been a sound card with a midi cable. But nowadays, you’d be looking at something like a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. You’d likely want an interface capable of recording both midi and audio and that would work. To use the midi, you would need the Singular midi breakout cable and two standard midi cables. To record the audio, you would need a pair of 1/4” TS or TRS cables.
Note that the BB itself cannot record anything. It is a playback device.
I don’t know if that helps you at all. Feel free to ask for more clarity or depth.
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Phil, I know how to count time, count a band in, dancers for line dances in. I know how to count measures. I know how to read music notation, tablature, time signatures among countless things musicians can do. i want to be able to lay out a drum track or copy something similar from the BBMO or BBFF. I appreciate your help but for you and this forum this might be solved but for me it’s not as easy as that. I want to be able to record the songs I’ve written and have them for my great grand children to be able to hear their grandpa play and sing. I dont know if this makes sense to y’all or not, but i hope so. Ph il I’d love to hear some of your music if you can send me a link. I really would like to glean what i can from all of you.
My Pastor is a fantastic drummer with a masters degree in music as a piano/drum/guitar and opera. He and iI are going to sit down with the BB2 and I’m going to take me laptop with me and show him the BBMO and BBFF websites, and hopefully he can also help me. I’ve just always had great musicians playing music with me be it when i played music with my rowdy friends or as a church musician. I owned an Alesis SR16 back 20 years ago when it was lost in a move across the yard to take care of my FIL who had Alzheimers. never unstood that either!!
Thanks
Hi Randy, with BB2, you wont need the midi breakout cable from Singular. You’ll still need 2 regular midi cables and the basic TS guitar cable.
This site has a few songs I did as a part of a songwriting summer workshop.
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Randy,
One of my favorite tools for getting a song along to a point where I can record it, is a program that’s been around for quite a while called Band-in-A-Box, from PG Music. With that, you can enter the song’s chords into a grid layout, measure by measure, and then slect various accompaniment styles to generate an arrangement. It will auto generate drums, a piano chord part and other instruments, depending upon the accompaniment style you select. You can then export the song as audio tracks to go into a DAW, or midi tracks. again depending upon the accompaniment style, and manipulate it in the DAW into a backing track ready for your vocal to be recorded on top of it. Gear-wise for this kind a set up, you’d need the audio interface and a microphone with an xlr cable to get your vocals there. Some of the tracks on my site started as Band-a-a-Box songs, although when I go out of the norm with idea and arrangements, I find myself working exclusively in the DAW. I’ve even used Band-in-a-Box to auto generate an improvised solo, which I then export as midi and edit for use in my songs.
Maybe the kids can get it for you for Christmas. 
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I’ve been watching Joe Vitales videos on the Midi Mastro and it really clicked for me. I’m going to pick up a used ones from one of the stores. The first -video really clicked with me, and I’ve known that all midi was was a clock time keeper and organizer. The second video was a lot more detailed and I’m sure I can learn it and it will serve me well. I’ve been wanting a Roland Looper for a few years, and when I get my tax refund back I’ll decide on either the Aeros or the Roland.