Not really. Otherwise you’d be getting all the new drum kits and drum tracks for free. You paid for the basic BeatBuddy. BeatBuddy Manager Premium Edition would be a value add just like all the other things you can add on to your BeatBuddy.
I wouldn’t expect the extras like new kits, beats etc to be included. I’m referring to the Manager software. It’s what drives the BB. What you’re saying is I paid for the basic BB. Now I have to pay extra for the software to use it?
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Newer user here of the BB and Aeros. My needs are pretty simple and the BB does what I need it to do. But, I totally get the frustration about it and the Aeros. Extended recording time will make the Aeros a valuable tool for me. It is an impressive piece of gear.
I did not think I would be using the BB much since I use prerecorded backing tracks but some songs do not work well that way. The BB allows the freedom to extend songs and I’m now using it exclusively for that.
Although the BB Manager is clunky, it does not crash or act unpredictably. I am really happy about that and am looking forward to future updates.
If you think BBM is a 6/10 you’re clearly not trying to use it to create scratch beats, and are just using it to sort your songs and change preset tempos and drum sets…
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I just bought the BB last week… after reading through this forum, I’m really having buyer’s remorse… I’m not a real techy and just need it to perform… I don’t have time to figure “work arounds” etc… I don’t have years to invest just to wind up complaining on the forum… best of luck to the rest of you, but I think I’ll just go back to my Roland unit or for that matter, just use the pattern creator on my keyboard…
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You don’t need to be a techy, depending how you want to use your BB, you can have lots of fun with it like it is. You only need the BBM for making your own list of songs. You don’t need to make it complicated or building your own songs, you can use the ones that are already available.
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I think that’s an over reaction.
If you’re not technical then it’s unlikely that you would care about the more advanced applications where BB might have development issues.
If all your want to do is get some drums while you’re playing, BeatBuddy is unbeatably good.
Don’t abandon it until you’ve checked functionality for yourself.
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You can drive a lemon or a Cadillac. Why settle for less?
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Hey @DavidPackouz, what’s the chance of having some regular updates or even screen shots of the new version in progress as it develops?
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Thanks for you candid reply. I read through all of the comments above. I bought the BB at the beginning of 2020. Used it almost immediately without knowing much about how to use it and my friend (keys) and myself (bass) used it practicing some songs. Very impressive.
I’m about to dive into using the BBM for songs on upcoming gigs. It sounds like it will work, even with some obvious problems, so that is good news. I know what it’s like to dive into something like using a DAW on live recordings and trying to clean them up. That process was intense as I was told it would be. Just like anything it takes time and some work to get up to speed.
Thanks again for your response.
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Awesome response and couldn’t many other CEO’s and company exec’s take a lesson from that type of transparency. I’m a hack basement musician that started guitar late in life and I have BeatBuddy jumping through hoops and there’s STILL nothing like it on the market today. Many options but frankly nothing comes close to what David and team pulled off the size of a stomp. Short of creating my own beats it does what you need it to do. If they can create what they did for Aeros, I trust SS is working on it and I’m sure will produce something slick and current.
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Wow, been trying to fix that software since 2015? (Going on a decade) Four differen teams failed and now open source. The only place I have ever seen open source work for music related software has been in Reaper. I’ve come to settle on “it is what it is” and that it isn’t going to change during my life on this planet. When I initially purchased my BB, I gave it a 10 for product and 0 for support and in the past near decade, that hasn’t changed.
Sounds to me like BBM will never get updated successfully without moving to a different platform meaning purchacing new hardware.
I hope SS has learned something from this, I have.
v/r
Ben
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Your observations about Singular are hard to dispute, but this simply isn’t so:
Ardour, Hydrogen, Jack, OBS, Audacity, acres of LV2 plugins and instruments, FluidSynth, Mixxx, Rosegarden, LMMS, Carla, Geonkick, ZynAddSubFX.
Those are just off the top of my head.
Now, you might argue about whether you prefer some closed source alternatives, but that’s not the point, the above are all perfectly usable tools and are certainly comparable whether your personal preferences would pick them or not.
Thanks for the explanation.
I am one who purchased BB as an Indiegogo project.
I really like that Singular Sound is supporting a Niche market that no one else is really trying to support in the way that you do.
I will admit to frustration that many of us feel with the fruition of some of the features that have been talked about. Even with the frustration, I still found myself buying the Aeros and The Midi Maestro. The Aeros works very well and have been pleased with it as a Looper. Same with the Midi Maestro.
Once the Autopilot is functional on the BB, I will be putting that on back on my pedalboard.
I still choose to have some faith that you will come through. I really do want you to. Your success will mean a better sound for my solo performance act.
Sincerely,
Anton
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I bought the BB and maestro back in November for the purpose of being able to upload my own midi drum files and play my guitar to them. The only reason I did that was because it looked like all the midi stuff would be taken care of.
And then once I got it, I was expected to learn how to program midi… Because that’s the only way to get it to work. Making it no different than any synth/drum machine gear.
Also, also the metal beats that come with the BB suck. Who listens to 90’s funk metal?
Hey there,
We hope to soon make the process of song editing and MIDI file sourcing and sharing to all be intuitive. As @DavidPackouz has stated, with the redesign we plan on fixing many issues common in BBM 1.x by creating a new code foundation with a strong design (which is well underway, and we hope to share details soon!). This would make it much easier to work with midi in parts that already exist in the BB universe, meaning our content and user content. We also hope to make user creation tools that are more intuitive—even de-mystifying drum set creation!
That being said unfortunately, if you want to customize your own content, you will need to understand MIDI editing.
Can I ask, what MIDI features did you find the BB had lacking? If you can please explain what you mean by MIDI being “taken care of”, that would help us see how we could improve things for you and players like you, thanks!
Also please enlighten us and give us good metal recs right at the source.
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Hi @BrennanSingularSound. I’m surprised no one has replied here yet. Are you referring to features for the BB Manager currently being worked on or on features built in to the BB itself? I can rattle off a list for the Manager that would make my life easier as I’m sure many others could also.
Just off the top of my head in the Manager MIDI editor:
- Ability to highlight and copy sections of notes in the editor and paste them in. All copy, cut and paste features should be available in the editor, not just copy and paste song parts.
- Ability to add bars IN FRONT of existing midi notes, not just on the end.
- When playing a song section being worked in the editor the ability to play from the current cursor position, not from the start of the section should be a given. If you’re working on a section and you want to listen to changes made at the end it’s frustrating have to play it from the start to see how the changes sound.
- Ability to change the velocity of ALL notes at once of a specific instrument instead of 1 at a time. Even maybe a ‘humanise option and you can specify the range it can randomise with.
- Temporary files, they just seem to save wherever you were last saving or loading song sections from. It’d be nice to have some organisation and be able to specify where to put them. Once you save the song part occasionally they seem to disappear but quite often they just stay there. I think @Phil_Flood has spoken about the temporary files somewhat.
- When I am placing song parts in order for songs I’m working on, if I load the song part in (by creating the new ‘main part’ or intro, fill etc) I always end up with a very thin line at the very end of the part when I look at it by selecting ‘edit’. If it stays there it stops the very first beat of the next song part from playing the MIDI notes. The only way I can remove it is to go to ‘edit’ and create a bar on the end, then delete the bar again so the line disappears, then Approve the change and save the song.
I am currently on a tour for the Easter weekend so I’m not at home so I’m sure I’ll think of more when I get home to my PC (yeah I use Windows 10). I have stated many times I love the way the MIDI editor works in regards to composing drum and bass parts and I hope the new version will be along a similar vein because it’s great visually to compose. Just need to get the features on there and it would be great. I’m sure others here can add so much more than I but I know even just the features I’ve mentioned would make it very useable. 
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Based on previous feedback from Singular Sound on the forum, and unless they’ve changed their mind, they probably won’t be including a MIDI Editor in the next release.
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I’m guessing most BBM stalwarts agree with your suggestions. I like BBM but find it’s limitations tedious, yet it’s simple and works fine if you have the time and patience. I hope it doesn’t turn into a complicated monster. Ref your last bulleted point, this works the other way when the start of a beat seems to miss the first note. So I create another bar, add the first note that’s also the start of the first bar, save it, then go back in and delete the additional bar and save again.
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