Newbie alert

[magicbloke]

I have just received my BB so am still getting to grips with it.

I have bought the Beatles premium content. I can sort of see the sense in having the pedal transition the parts as it allows more control, but I am struggling with the timing as I am not a drummer.

Is there any way to get the parts to transition automatically so all I have to do is use the pedal to start & end the song? I have looked at old forum posts and have seen an autopilot was mentioned. Was this ever implemented?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[JoeInOttawa]

Welcome to the rabbit hole!

You’re looking for One-Press (or OPx) files. You can use a MIDI editor to cobble them together.

[magicbloke]

Thanks for your reply.

I am really new to this and I understood absolutely nothing in your post…thus the title of my thread, so I am going to have to ask you to be patient with me as there may be some incoming silly questions.

Are these OPx files readily available and, if so, where do I find them? Do I need to buy anymore hardware or software to acheive this? And finally, how difficult is it?

There are definately old posts mentioning an autopilot function that was going to be implemented.

[persist]

@magicbloke

and I understood absolutely nothing

You might want to start by browsing some of the links at

• Link (in blue font) to new user resources (click on the blue font)

[magicbloke]

Thanks…will do.

[jefgil6]

Welcome. I was like you a few years ago. I am not a tech savvy type. But researching this forum and asking questions taught me a lot. Now I am real comfortable. I do not like to do all the changes with my foot while playing the guitar either. Although many hours of practice made me pretty good at the timing of it. Then I learned to save midi file for the cover tunes I like to play, open it in the midi editor software (as Joe mentions above) and customize it to my liking… adding intro clicks, putting three blank measures at the end and then a low bongo hit on the end fourth measure to give me time to stop the song so it does not start again. I use freemidi.org for most midi file grabs. They are not all 100% accurate and some do not have drum parts in them, so pay close attention. If no drums and I am determined to play a tune, then I go to “Songsterr” and see if the drum part is tabbed. Then I write the drum part myself in the midi software. Patience and research here will be your friends. Enjoy!

[magicbloke]

Thank you. I’ll have a look.

Are these files played back through the BeatBuddy or a different device?

[jefgil6]

After customizing the drum track in the midi editor, I save the file (of course). Then I connect the BB pedal to my laptop with the USB cord that came with your BB. Download and open BB Manager Software… Support – Singular Sound. Then select NEW SONG. Right click on the icon in the section after INTRO. Sorry, I am not at home and cannot recall the name (might be main riff or something). Right click on the icon in this area and it will give you the option to add a midi file. You can also name the song here and set the proper tempo. Also make sure you load a drumset for that song (bottom left corner area). It will populate with no drumset and that will produce no drum sound.

[JoeInOttawa]

Okay, going slowly.

• The behavior you describe is what One-Press (a.k.a., OPx) song files do. The entire song in a single part.
• The behavior that you own is multiple parts, the transitions through which you drive manually
• Multi-part CAN be converted to OP, but you need a MIDI file editor. Conversion involves stringing the parts together separated by the fills you choose. It’s not simple, but it’s doable.

[magicbloke]

Thank you so much for your help

[magicbloke]

Thank you!

[Quad]

@magicbloke

Is there any way to get the parts to transition automatically so all I have to do is use the pedal to start & end the song?

This feature, Autopilot, was built years ago but has not been released. Search this forum for autopilot. It might be released soon … or not.

[magicbloke]

It seems a very popular feature. Fingers crossed they will introduce it.

Thanks.

[BrennanSingularSound]

Hey again,

I have responded with this elsewhere to your question on Autopilot

Here is our latest response on this:

Please be honest - will Beatbuddy Manager ever get updated?

Hello everyone, Regarding the original question of whether or not the BBManager will ever be updated. The answer is yes. That includes both Windows and Mac. Now to answer the question of why it is taking so long, the simple and concise explanation is that the BBManager has been programmed in such a way that it has become extremely difficult to fix. We would fix one thing, and 3 more problems would pop up, and the cycle continued over and over. Any programmers in this forum could probably r…

[AshBassMan]

I was asking these same questions and was told autopilot was on the horizon but that was many, many months ago and, in the meantime, I have abandoned my beat buddy. I suppose there is just no substitute for the real thing, playing and jamming with real people who are on the the same musical wave length and aren’t techno nerds who get off on bug fixing rather than getting on with the music.

[BrennanSingularSound]

I take some offense I am a musician not only a “nerd”!

We can only do so many things at once, our next big task will be the BBM 2 which is planned to have Autopilot from its inception. It would have been ideal to have BBM 1 with autopilot but it was no longer feasible to sink time and money into that project. Keep in mind it is an 8 year old software!

We cannot change what has already happened we can only move forward, we know nothing beats a full live band but we continue to strive to be the best alternative!

Thanks for your feedback, but remember we are people too, nerdy or not

[8buck]

Isn’t this the differentiator between beat buddy and a drum machine - the fact that you can modify the song you are playing in real time by choosing when to transition, otherwise a backing track will suffice.

Want to extend the solo, add another verse , make a mistake, you can’t do that with a midi track but you can with a real drummer and you can with beat buddy. Spend some time learning how to use the beat buddy as it’s really meant to be used and you will definitely be rewarded.

I user Guitar Pro tracks when practicing and learning songs so the beat buddy is only needed if I want to play a song live ( without a drummer or in rehearsals when the drummer doesn’t show up ). Guitar Pro songs can be exported as MIDI and I can choose which tracks are exported but I can’t see myself ever exporting the drum track to load as an OPx in the beat buddy, I might as well just use the laptop for that.

Add a MIDI controller if you want more control over the BB the MIDI Maestro or go all out and add the AEROS loop station. I use an Morning star MC6 that I’ve had for ages and it is so simple to switch between drum patterns at will, both controllers MM and the MC6 allow 6 presets ( drum patterns ) on a single screen.

[AshBassMan]

There’s nothing wrong with being a techno nerd, if that’s what you’re in too, I have a number of friends into production that are loud and proud about it. I guess that my real point is that I, along with others it seems, believed the hype that sold me the Beat Buddy as a simple rehearsal/ jamming tool in a ‘pedal’ that just required a stomp on the foot switch to propel me into a world of happy music making, NOT delving into the quagmire of midi files and syncing et cetera to get it to almost do what I purchased it for…

[magicbloke]

I have been doing alot of reading and feel I am starting to understand. Thanks for your recommendations for freemidi.org and Songsterr. They are indeed very useful.

Can you recommend a midi editor? Which one do you use?

[jefgil6]

I use “Beatbuilder”, which was created by a member of this forum (Charles) and shared on this site. Unfortunately I do not think it is still available, although persist and Joe might be better able to answer that. It is very easy to use for non-tech me and I only need drums through the BB.