[ATTACH=full]2554[/ATTACH] finally started using the BeatBuddy at a gig this week. It would be good if the problems for using with piano could be resolved soon…
I use a small high quality 1000watt Behringer powered speaker instead of a normal PA, and placed this beside the piano with the BB on top. Far from ideal position for the BB but I can just reach this to kick start and stop it with my left foot while still able to reach the knobs and see the display. In particular changing songs and tempos is a fiddle and there is no way for the BB to be on the floor underneath a piano. The Behringer speaker somehow curves the sound around so it fills the room and also I can hear without feedback. for vocals I use a TC-Helicon vocal processor, it is a very simple set up and much better quality than house or hired PA.
Ideally for the Beat Buddy we need a Bluetooth app on iPad or Android to have display and some finger controls at piano height, then the start fill transition end functions can remain on the floor on the BB itself. Or start stop fill transition functions on a remote pedal without DIY.
Until then I have to place the BB where I can adjust it, see it, and kick start it, not easy with a piano…
Add an extra footswitch to it so you can have the foot pedals on the floor but keep the BB within reach. You need to add a jack to the body of the pedal that’s connected in parallel to the main switch. Get a sustain pedal with a decent length cord and you’re good to go? Do a search for the Norbert Hack. Make sure to find the post about reversing the wires so the pedal is properly grounded.
Not sure if this will help but using setlist maker and connecting the BB through Midi helped with moving from song to song / beat to beat without touching the BB. If this may help let me know there a guy who has a video on how to set that up.
Thanks for the comments, I don’t want to open up and resolder the box, it invalidates the guarantee and technicians here in Cambodia make mistakes, not worth the risk. I have OnSong app, which also can change song and tempo. However the first step is to find and re-edit suitable rhythms, and then fix the folder and song numbers at a time when I really need to explore and change the settings. For example, you need to hard code folder 1 song 3 into ONsong… but the rhythms out of the box are not always suitable so I have to create new folders and I would like the rhythms manually available while I experiment. It is a real shame Beat Buddy does not have this all resolved.
Hi Mike OC - The Mic Mechanic is FANTASTIC! I have three TC-Helicon vocal processors, all great but the Mic Mechanic is the one I reach for almost every gig, for jazz, for rock, for lounge or chillout, it gives the professional sound that todays audience expect, without studio gear and technicians. TC-Helicon is the only and best company run BY vocalists FOR vocalists, that specialisaton means their gear is really good, out of the box, just sweet magic. I also have their Harmony M which does MIDI controlled harmony, you can just play Bohemian Rhapsody on the keys and do all the parts solo, and the Create-XT which does latest FX like hard tune, but tricky to program.
That’s OnSong which I use every gig now. But if you add a new folder or beat in BeatBuddy then OnSong will cue the WrongSong! Very fiddly to code OnSong MIDI cmmands.
Sadly I have had to stop using the BeatBuddy with piano after just one gig. Very disappointed. Grear concept but not easy to use.
Although the Yamaha piano has only 8 rhythms, no fills, no transitions, and you have to stop playing notes to end a song, it actually sounds balanced with piano and works well for the styles I play - Rock, Ballads and Jazz. I found 72 possible beats from add on collections and included styles, not one of them sounds as balanced or tailored for keyboard songs as my Yamaha, Roland, or Korg keyboard drumbeats. Hours and hours and end result, BB is not ready for use with piano.
Also the EQ for tomtoms on the Beat Buddy seems very heavy in the mid frequencies where piano chords naturally are played - around middle C for Jazz chords is a basic rule. Beat Buddy tomtoms really clutter the sound and delicious though the sounds are on headphones or maybe with guitar and bass, with piano, the fills and transitions all sound mid heavy. So presumably I need to edit a new drum kit with quieter toms or something and right now I dont have time.
i bought a load of BB beats and sounds and most of it is either too cluttered in the fills, and/or too busy in the beats, and then the add on “Basic Beats” are incomplete : Jazz Swing is missing transitions and fills if I remember, and even with “Jazz Brushes” and also the beats for that, I do not have a basic range of standard Jazz drumbeats for Sinatra, Swing, and so on. “Ballads” also do not focus on standard ballads internationally - Elton, Billy Joel, Beatles…
Thanks Persist, and also thank you for your name! Persist, I have, I have, persisted, maybe just a bit more work…
I know guitarists who have lots of pedals. I am used to gear thatalways has EQ reverb whatever else inside it, plug and play. BB is expensive and should be complete and in my view it is not ready to use at all.
From a guy who started on drums and now plays Piano and Guitar. I love the BB. Better then any other Drumming or rhythm device out there. Add the Great support you receive on this forum makes it well worth the price tag.
Gotta agree with that 100%…I won’t be using the BB to gig until I get decent transitions and fills inserted on every song. WAY too big on Toms on every fill the BB comes with for acoustic guitar performances. It’s MY show not Singular Sound’s show. Please get out of my way
Mechanically I’m loving the Beat Buddy but the rhythms are mostly too busy and fills are over the top…
There is a complete lack of versatility off the shelf. I’ve also purchased from groovemonkee and not happy with most of their content either.
On our PA system - with subwoofer - the Beat Buddy sounds great across the board. I’ve also had good luck with it on my fairly-flat-response bass cab. No shame in adding an EQ pedal to your signal chain though if your gig amp lacks bass or treble.
SingularSound has a set of gig beats that are designed to be significantly simpler than their other offerings. Have you tried those?
If you need something really simple, you can edit the loops in Beat Builder or the beta BBManager.
Sure the Default beats are not going to suit every persons style / Skill of playing. every Fill, Transition, intro and outro combination is not going to make everyone happy. that would be an impossible thing to accomplish I realized the same thing also on some default beats that I liked Jamming with on the Piano. but you do have the option of editing those busy fills or transitions in BBmanager. Sure theirs a learning process to this software but isn’t that the case with most of the software and apps that we all use.
I listened to the sound clip of what’s offered there…just more of the same IMO…BIG LOUD OVER PROCESSED toms in every rhythm. Acoustic artists want tight, clean, ‘acoustic’ rhythms for what we do. I asked in another thread for a simple “8 count cross stick snare flam” for fill…not one response because there isn’t one. Every fill has an over processed tom, many of 'em with floor toms…every alternate beat has a ride cymbal…that just doesn’t work for what I’m doing… I can stay off the alternate rhythms (the ride) but I need tight clean fills and I don’t want to program them myself.
I just want to play music and use the drum machine I paid for…there should be at least ‘some’ usable content for acoustic musicians off the shelf. Shouldn’t there be?
You could email the guys who develop the beats for Singular Sound (Goren) and the GrooveMonkey guy directly with your request. They seem to be responsive to user requests if there’s a reasonable market. They may or may not see a forum posting.
Could you simply turn off the toms in one of the existing beats? If you identify one of the stock beats that might work if only the toms weren’t there, I’ll modify it for you as a test case. If the tom-free beat works for you and it’s easy to do, then you could do it yourself for other beats.
I don’t think I can work on any of the paid-for beats as those for you because of copyright restrictions - unless we both own them.
