Hello,
I purchased a Beatbuddy for a small Church praise band, working very well for us. We play without setting up a set list, I make the settings needed for each song. Not really gotten into the software yet., so I get plenty of excercise bending over to set each song. ( prob need it). How about a wired extension where changes can be made from a clip on screen? Clip on the guitar strap or music stand?
Thanks
Like you I just pick a BB ‘song’ that fits whatever I am playing. What I did was to use the BB Manager to set up a ‘set list’ of a few favorite BB songs in a single folder and a foot switch plugged into the BB to scroll up/down through them as needed. You can buy the BB specific foot switch or it’s easy enough to make your own or something like the Digitech FS3X will work as well.
If you are using an ipad or similar for music and something like onSong or Set list maker (or anything that supports sending midi) you can set things up so that selecting a specific song in the software will set the BB to whatever pattern you want so that everything is automated. I’ve no experience of doing that but lots of people on here have.
Several of us have modded the BB (voids the warrantee) by adding a 1/4 jack that’s in parallel with the existing foot switch. The jack allows me to plug in a cheap pedal (like an expression pedal for a keyboard) with a long cord. If you couple this with a longer TRS cable for the existing BB add-on footswitches, you can locate the BB on a stand or a chair so it’s easily reachable while still having the pedals at your feet. Indicate whether or not you’re comfortable doing a little drilling and a little soldering and I can provide you with more specific directions.
Here’s a link to the thread that has a bunch of info about this if you want to do a little reading:
I set up my Onsong app with the midi commands. Very easy to do and as soon as I load the song, Beat Buddy changes. I also purchased a blue tooth midi connector for the Beat Buddy so I don’t have to have chords running all over the place. I then set up an irig blue board to start the beat buddy along with scrolling on my Onsong. It all works great and is easy to do.
Is is pretty intuitive to set up? I’ve watched onsong tutorial videos and searched YouTube but I don’t see where there is any instruction as to how to assign the onsong pages a midi location. Not sure if I’m even explaining this correctly (I’m VERY new to this MIDI stuff, as if you couldn’t tell). But I was thinking of buying a PUC+ and not sure if it’s beyond my somewhat limited scope.
I have the PUC but prefer the Yamaha wireless interface . It’s cheaper and doesn’t need batteries
Pat,
Not sure if I understand about how you want to assign the onsong pages. If you are thinking that you tie them to the BB that is not what you do. You tie the BB to the page in Onsong. If you hold your finger on the title of the song in Onsong it will bring up the midi portion of Onsong. It is there that you then program the CC controls or the program. It might seem confusing at first because when you pull up some CC controls they have words associated with them. Ignore those words, they mean nothing when you are programming to the BB.
If you go wireless go with the Yamaha. You might have to buy more than one if you can’t loop them but only if you have more than the BB you want to program. At this time I am guessing you just want to program the BB to Onsong. Make sure you get the manual for the BB midi from the BB website. It has all the Controls and Programming codes you will need.
Good luck. Let me know if you have any questions.
JJS, thanks for the response…
I bought the puc+ and using some of the info on this thread, I was able to get the BB to respond when I held my finger on the song title and, when the midi location that I typed in the editor appeared, I tapped the “test command” button. However, I was under the impression that I could get the BB to respond simply by swiping left or by using the drop-down setlist. This I haven’t been able to accomplish. Perhaps there’s a global setting that I’m missing or have incorrect?
Pat,
You should be able to swipe or just change the song, that is what I do and everything changes. Are you using songs that people posted in the forums or are you using songs that come with the BB? I had to go and disable the “Default Tempo” under the MIDI section on the BB in order for the tempo to change but everytime I change my song the BB changes. You might restore your settings and see if that helps. I also have the latest firmware. Not sure if that makes any difference or not. Can you show me what Program command you are putting in and what CC you are putting in? That might help me understand what you are doing.
I actually had to contact Onsong support to find out how to disable the auto midi command when swiping because I would sometimes accidentally horizontally swipe in a new song when I was vertically scrolling down to read lyrics. This would then cause BB to stop in a performance- not good. I remember changing a setting that when I swipe to a new song it does not auto load but rather I have to manually push the play button and thats sends the midi commands at the top of the page. So whatever I did can be reversed for your needs. The problem is i cant remember what I did. i would ask Onsong support. I know it is an easy setting and it has something to do with audio play button.
I reset my OnSong settings (Utilities [the gear button]>Tools>Reset Settings) and all is great, the BB is responding to my song selection. HOWEVER, I have two folders at the top of my Beat Buddy that I use at gigs, the first set-first song (my OnSong sets are in the exact same order as my BB folders) is typed in as: MIDI:0.0:0, the second song is MIDI:0.0:1, etc., and, when I select any of those songs it switches to that song. However, in the second folder the first song is typed in as: MIDI:0.1:0, MIDI :0.1:1, and so forth but it still switches to the corresponding song in the FIRST folder. So I’m not out of the woods yet, I just need to figure this out.
Are they the same songs in both folders? I am guessing that is ONSONG duplicating the set and assigning it the next number in rotation. I have never done what you are saying so I am not sure I can help you on that but I would like to know what you figure out in case I run into it. Glad you got it working. We were working on an acoustic set tonight with the BB and it is so nice to just switch songs and the BB is ready to go. Good luck.
Pat, are you talking the folders in your BB or the sets in your ONSONG?
The top folder in my BB is called “slow” and it’s all mellow ballads and such suitable for restaurants. The folder beneath is called “fast” and has different songs that are more up-tempo for dancing and the like. The beats have been edited to my liking from various sources and named and placed into the appropriate folder. My onsong has set lists with the same names and same songs. So MIDI:0.0:0 typed into the edit page for 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, indeed changes BB to my 50 Ways beat when I select the song BUT, the command MIDI:0.1:0 that I typed into American Girl does NOT change BB to American Girl–the first song in the second, fast, set–but changes it to 50 Ways also. And the rest of the fast folder does the same thing, selecting the 10th song in the fast setlist changes BB to the 10th song but in the slow folder. The naming protocol was described elsewhere in this forum by another member, but I re-read his or her post and that’s exactly how he says he does it. So again I’m trying different MIDI settings but to no avail. Frustrating because I’m getting close
Thinking further about my situation, an easy fix would be to put all my songs in one BB folder regardless of style. Of course, I believe this will limit me to 128 songs in that particular folder, and that will fill up quickly.
I hope you don’t mind me popping in here, but I am new at this, and I am trying to do the same thing. How do I know which number my new folder is? I have all my songs named in a folder called setlist (it appears as the top folder) - does that mean that will be the “first” folder? Otherwise known as “0”? I just loaded all my songs into OnSong, and I want to link that via PUC+ to the BB, so that the right song loads up when I turn to a new song - at the beat I have edited in the BB Manager. So, if my first song (with modified BPM) is in this set list (that sits at the top of the “songs” list) - would I just add: Midi: 0,0,0 with no other midi messages?
As you probably know, I’m FAR from an expert in this area, but what you describe is exactly all I want to do also and I’ve had some success. If you type the midi command into the edit page–I have mine immediately under the song title with no line spacing–it seems to work. And yes, the first folder in your BB is 0 and the first song in that folder is 0 as well. Literally, MIDI:0.0:0 is the command to change BB to the first song in the folder, MIDI:0.0:1 is song number 2 and so on. If this doesn’t work, go to ONSong’s settings icon, click on “Tools” and then “Reset Settings”. There you have it, the sum of my knowledge gained from numerous hours of trial and error. Now, if you want to know how to change the folder, welcome to my dilemma.
Hey guys, just out of curiosity, you are not using the same song in beat buddy for your other songs are you? I use Blues 1 for a lot of songs but change the tempo on them. If I don’t put in the tempo change they don’t change when I swipe the page.
I am hoping that by re-naming and moving my songs to my Set List - at the top of the list - I will be able to use the same beats, but with modifications, and the the first one is MIDI:0.0:0. Just got a PUC+, so I am about to try this out…
If blues 1 is the basis of the song, I would export that beat into a temporary folder and then import it back into my gig folder. Then I adjust the tempo, decide on a drum set, delete the intro and outro fills because I don’t like them (I use the “count-in” option from the BB’s setting menu), and finally change the name from Blues 1 to the actual song title before saving it.