Just playing around with MyBeatBuddy guitar rig.
Updated the video with text annotations for foot actions.
Very nice, like it…
One of the better recent shares.
Cool demo! I have an M9, but it’s basically a studio toy and not for live performances (yet!).
A question about looping, for live play: Do people care? Do they care if you make the loop in front of them vs having made it sometime previously and just call it up? I mean, it’s cool and impressive to see it done, but if you have to spend a minute or two constructing each song before you play it–won’t they get annoyed?
For practice at home, I can see it’s very valuable to construct a loop and jam to it, but live, i just don’t know if people want to see that. I’m still wondering if people really care if I use the beatbuddy to play drums and bass to augment my guitar and singing. At some point, it becomes karaoke, but do they even care then? I truly don’t know.
Good question. I guess for more complicated songs that require bass, rhythm guitar etc… it could be annoying. I have been the most successful with my looper and MBB with simple 2 part songs bridge/chorus (on my acoustic guitar) where I simply capture the first verse loop while singing, then only retrieve that loop 1x when I play a very basic lead guitar over the verse. Hotel California is a good example of an acoustic song that allows one to do this. With this method it is an added bonus, and just a little different from an average acoustic only player, to be able to add a basic melodic lead on top of the verse. With this method there are no delays to lay down the loop. I think that unless you are a musician that understands and appreciates what you are doing by laying down tracks on the fly most people would not care if the parts were prerecorded. I think the venue makes a difference though too. In a crowded bar/restaurant most people are not really watching the guitarist like a hawk. So time extensions to the songs (by laying down loop parts) and variations to typical songs that people hear over and over again could be welcome to the ear and may be just enough to separate a typical song list from the next guy amidst the guests who are socializing. One thing for sure, for a guy who does not have time to have a band, a looper with MBB, creates hours of fun. And I agree loopers really help to build skills with timing and improvising etc… It would be interesting to hear others who have thoughts on this topic.
The beatbuddy helps with the timing of recording loops doesn’t it? Like, if you hit stop record a half second before the beat of the loop should end, does the bb compensate when it plays the loop the next time?
Yes it does quantinize just enough where I do not always need to be perfect with my timing. Sometimes, I find it difficult without MBB to loop in time. I have 3 methods if I want to loop in time w/ MBB but then do not want drums heard. 1. Now that MBB is customizable I have a very basic bass drum or high hat track in MBB that keeps me in time and so that is does not over power the guitar. 2. I built a mute button to mute MBB but it still plays in the background- so I loop my tracks with drums on then I eventually mute the drums when ready. This way I can bring drums in and out of songs without pausing or stopping MBB 3. If I do not want drums heard at all, I mute MBB from the start and then I have earphones in MBB to hear the click track as a lay down my loop and then I can build on that guitar loop w/out drums because it is in time.
I am sure some guys don’t need a synch’d tempo when looping with their loopers but for me it helps.
KT Tunstall makes quite a show out of using her looper when she is performing solo. There are several different videos on Youtube of her setting up Black Horse and the Cherry Tree.
There is also a Tutorial she has published on how she does it.