Looks like no midi or SD card. Smaller monochrome screen. Lower quality sound. Is it quantized? Mono vs stereo. 100 included “songs” with no ability to add more. Limit of 2 fills per song. No additional content available. No customizable settings. Here’s perhaps the biggest difference from a ggigng standpoint. No gig lists or customizable folders.
Hmmmm. They’ve taken out all the features that I like in the original! But I guess it makes sense to have a entry-level product option before someone else jumps in.
Yep. Not suitable for my needs but smart move to compete with the digitech trio. It seems that alot of users of the beatbuddy are not interested in the editing etc and just want to play along with standard patterns. It will have a larger market for those kinds of players at that price point.
I’m glad they came out with this instead of a crazier version that I would end up wanting. .
Cute, but I’m waiting for the ‘BB Maxi’ with ability to play and program a full song mode, stable midi slave sync, individual drum volumes easily editable (+ perhaps tuning and amount of reverb/ambience etc.), larger kit capacity and maybe some sort of program your own beats software. Plus, even more midi facilities would be good.
BB Maxi should also have more footswitch functions, and the main BB pedal can also be controlled by footswitch, so that the main BB can controlled by hand (eg. putting on mike/music stand or keyboard)… 
Maybe this already can be done now by having a new footswitch that incorporates a duplicate of the main BB pedal.
Love that name! It should definitely have some hardware units added to the schematic to make it possible to make the BeatBuddy a more balanced unit overall. Better support for backing tracks, better MIDI capabilites plus covering more areas.
Ah… One can only dream at this point 
When you hit start on BB Maxi, a hologram of Neil Peart and his set shows up behind you, and counts you in for the most rockin set of your life!!
Man, I would go Maxi just to get some good 3/4 time stuff, I have worn out the Waltz section of world beats.
Wish list !
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2/4 3/4
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I\d like to be able to transpose in the manager w bass lines …
I know you’re not responsible for the production of bass lines, but it would be a handy feature . -
set the manager w box-clicks to play the song entirely, or eg. add another solo, so when performing,
all the previous updating in the mgr play what has been preselected & arranged .
Okay, I took a note of it
I have been studying a few things. 1) to see if we can eliminate the clicking when a note gets choked, and 2) song autoplay.
I have a methodology for #2 that looks like it might not be too difficult to implement. Basically all you have to do is tell the current loop how many times to repeat. From there, it will determine by how you arrange your fills and main loops how to play the song. So its one variable to configure in the song creation (how many times to loop each main part), and just one other variable to keep track of during play (how many times has this main part looped). That would satisfy most songs that I’ve created, or at least allow me to adapt them to play using those rules.
Well… The firmware 
Im with aash, The clicking on the bass notes is the main issue I would like to see addressed and as much as I love the control of the pedal in changing parts either an auto play feature or increase in the midi note limit would be great. I can’t think of any other feature I want. With these two the beatbuddy would be perfect.
Programming in midi and creating songs is no drama for myself but for other users I believe an easy to work solution that is integrated with the manager would be huge, it would give the beatbuddy’s reputation a big jump and really push the number of user created songs available.
We don’t need a Maxi, we need a firmware update to work with a newly designed midi pedal with 5+ momentary footswitches and a volume/data pedal, and a mic stand mount to get the BB where we can see it, JMHO.
I’ve already bought a BeatBuddy, and I’ll gladly pay for a better accessory pedal and stand mount, but I shouldn’t have to buy another whole new unit for ANOTHER $300-500!
I agree. The BB in its current form still has a lot of potential to improve, without the need for a new model. It can be improved via:
a) Improved firmware
b) Improved BB Manager
c) A new external foot switch which:
- allows the BB to be mounted on a mic stand
- has a pedal that mirrors the functions of the BB Main Pedal
- has a volume pedal (less important)
- has a tempo up/down pedal
- has switches as in the current BB Footswitch.
I think such a new footswitch will make good business sense for the company, because it will be on every BB owners’ ‘to buy’ list.
A new Footswich, I assume; would need a Hardware update. But there will come Midi controll, so you can create your own footswitch…
Do you mean that a ‘created’ footswitch can do all that stuff without any hardware changes to the BB?
Not many of us can ‘create’ a footswitch. If the BB guys can create a good one, it will be a seller.
I mean something we can buy from BeatBuddy…
The BB guys will give a Midi CC# to every function of the BB… So you can assign the CC`s you want/need to the switches of a Midi controller. It´s realy not that difficult. And I think it´s much better than a footswitch with a collection of functions, maybe some you don´t need, other needed ones lack… So you would have to live with someone elses decisions.
Not to forget those who use BB with Looper. Those can assign a bank (or more) with commands for both, with just single presses.
I don´t think a new BB footswitch is a bad idea, but Midi is the better solution for me (and I think it is also a good one for guys waiting for a new footswitch, that maybe never will come).
And I don´t know if there would be a hardware fix required to give the TRS in more than two functions?