Purchased Drum Beats from Groove Monkee

I just purchased the Country Beats from Groove Monkee, but can’t make heads or tails on how to import it into the BB. There’s a video in their pdf file, but that video talks about creating a song and putting in all your intros, fills, main etc, etc and more etc.

Then I found a pbf file that I managed to import but has limited beats. I thought this file that I purchased had over 1000 country beats to it. What goes or what am I doing wrong?

Here’s an excerpt from their product info:
[LIST]
[]1000 Royalty Free MIDI Drum Loops for Modern Country
[
]Recorded by Nashville pro Rory Faciane
[]Tempo: 70 to 140 bpm
[
]Time Signatures: 4/4 and 6/8
[]8 measure loops with and without fills at the end
[
]Song format: intros, verse, chorus, prechorus, bridge, outros/endings and cymbal swells
[/LIST]

It has all these files in it that don’t make a lot of sense to me. This drum beat stuff is new to me and maybe I’m just too old to understand how these work. Maybe what’s in the pbf file (10 songs) is all I get ?

Please, I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining, I just want to know if I’m missing out on something. I understand that Groove Monkee has to make money on these and they can certainly help in making the BeatBuddy more desirable.

@Groove Monkee has nothing to do with the beatbuddy outside of making their midi loops compatible with the BB - so your question should be directed at them. I have never used their midi loops despite having their free demo, however I would assume that the midi loops are the building blocks for songs and you arrange them as you see fit. Usually the “songs” are in separate descriptive folders so if you have 10 folders there are 10 songs. It could be that the pfb is a demo of what you could do with the files. In the example above if each song was made up of 10 midi files then you could say that it had 100 midi loops (which it does) but that does not mean 100 songs.
The process is quite simple, create a new song, click on a part and then navigate to the midi file location and start building the song from the midi files in the specific folder. The folder is most likely compressed in a zip file so you will need to unpack the contents to another location on your computer.

Just seen this thread which may also help.
http://mybeatbuddy.com/forum/index.php?threads/grove-monkee-country-loops.5097/

Don’t worry, you are not missing out! IMHO, Beatbuddy and GM Country is a marriage made in heaven for us Roots/Americana/Country musicians.

If you just got your Beatbuddy and GM Country Loops, it is going to take a little time to get used to how it all works. The more you work with them, the easier it gets. When I first started, I was a little overwhelmed, but I kept plugging away. Just don’t give up!

Here is a tip on getting started: SIMPLIFY :slight_smile:

First, I had a gig coming up so I knew our songs were a combination to shuffles, trains, ballads and simple straight rock beats at different BPM’s. So I “auditioned” different songs from our Setlist with those 4 basic beats. From those 4 “favorite” loops I was able to get a usable set list ready for an upcoming gig.

Next, I built my songs for my set list with a very simple 2 measure hats count-in as the intro. Since it sounded the same every time, my band was able to get used to it even without a rehearsal. Each song only used one beat; no fills, no extra alternate loops, etc,. I selected the simplest sounding “verse” and built the song around that loop. I disregarded the Choruses, Bridges, Intros, Outros available in the Groovemonkee beats for the time being. I simplified in order to get up and running as soon as possible. Singing, playing guitar and running the Beatbuddy in a Gig situation takes some getting used to. For the rest of the band, hearing Beatbuddy and tracking with it takes some getting used to. The simpler the process, the better the outcome, believe me.

Finally, I selected the “Brushes” kit in Beatbuddy as the default kit. They sound really good with our Acoustic Roots Americana Band and/or Duo.

From that starting point, I have begun to branch out a little and spruce up some songs with a little more complexity, but not much. My goal has never been to be the most awesome Beatbuddy player, but to connect with an audience with our music. Beatbuddy is just one of the many tools we use to do that. Our music just needs a nice tasteful pulse with simple starts and stops. Beatbuddy brings energy and an element of sonic professionalism to what we already have. The audience doesn’t really care if there are 5 different fills, 3 transitions, etc,.

I hope this helps!

Hang in there…

Mahalo (Thank You) all for your replies. After messing around some more (hope I didn’t screw anything up), I think that I’m beginning to get the hang of this. I am not a professional nor an advanced musician, but I do diddle around with a Keyboard (Yamaha PSR 900) and the guitars which I have 2 acoustics and a Fender Stratocaster.

Don’t know much about beats, loops and all these other types of song files, but I am well versed in computers. So it doesn’t take me long to figure out how to do something with anything computer related.

I do laugh at myself because I’m like one of those people who comes out on the Tennis court all geared up looking like a Pro, but are only adequate at the game. LOL.

Why do I need 2 guitars and a Fender Stratocaster? … 2 Kayaks, 4 Tennis rackets and 6 bowling balls? Must have holes in my pockets … or in my head!

Aloha from the island of Kauai.