So I have a beat set up for a song. How do I save it i n the bb or do I have to load some kind of card
Is the beat a MIDI file that you found or creat d outside of the BBM or a beat that you’ve found and customized in the BBM?
If you haven’t read the QuickStart guide for the BB, you might want to do so. You can find it among the links here Helpful BeatBuddy (BB) and BeatBuddy Manager (BBM) links
It’s just a beat within the bb. No external cars
Did the links in the post from Persist help?
No. Maybe it’s not as simple as I think it should be to save a song beat that I want to be able to recall for a live performance?
Well it depends. On the BeatBuddy (BB) itself your not going to create anything. Part of the genius of BB is that the floor pedal is about one thing only, playing drums sounds. So starting there, with your content SD card installed, you go through the songs in the folders already loaded and you can probably find a BB song that will go with about any contemporary music. Have you been able to play a song on the BB from the content that came on the BB SD card? If the the SD card is not in the BB, it will not do anything. If fact the screen will say “no SD card”.
Now in BeatBuddy Manager (BBM) on your laptop or desktop computer you can edit (and create) parts (individual patterns), songs (collection of patterns) and sets (folders with songs) and then sync them with your BB pedal. BBM is a little clunky but it definitely will get the job done. Is this where you are stuck? in BBM? Have you created a beat on your computer in BBM and want to get it to your pedal so you can play it?
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Okay got it. All I want is to find a pattern (on the sd card) then save that one so I can recall it. I’ve managed to navigate through the options and found beats that work. Just haven found a way to retrieve that pattern later with the buttons.
To make it easier to save and more easily recall (find and play) a song on the BeatBuddy (BB), use the BeatBuddy Manager (BBM) to prepare a set- or gig-list. A suggested set of steps using the BBM are
- BBM: Songs > New Folder
- Name the folder (don’t use special characters such as a period in the folder name)
- Let’s say the beat you want to customize is Blues 1
- Open the Blues genre folder and select the Blues 1 beat
- BBM: File > Export > Song; a dialog box opens—save it to your desktop so it’s easy to find
- Select the new folder (it should be highlighted)
- BBM: File > Import > Song; the beat should now appear in your new folder
- Rename the beat; do not use special characters in the name such as Mrs. Robinson
- BBM: File > Save Project
- You now have a beat that you can customize by changing the Default Tempo, Default Drum Set and remove or add Drum Fill, Transition Fill and Accent Hit
- If you decide you don’t like the changes or you accidentally remove a song section and want to restore, you can use the BBM: Edit > Undo feature
- BBM: File > Save Project
- BBM: File > Export > Project to SD card (if you’ve previously exported and synchronized your project to the SD card, you’ll probably only have to synchronize it—assuming you’re not using a Mac)
I’ve zipped 6 screen shots to give you some visuals of the BBM process.
Scrren shots.zip (411.0 KB)
You might be wondering, “why not just customize the Blues 1 beat in the Blues folder.” This is the clunky part that Wade_Hathaway mentioned. The BBM should—but does not—allow users to copy and paste beats from one folder to another. Some users want to retain the original Blues 1 beat so they have a reference point to go back to and once you edit Blues 1, you will no longer have the original Blues 1 beat. That’s why you export the original beat and import it to a different folder (so you can change it).
If you use a remote foot switch with your BB, you can make the selection process easier by adjusting the pedal settings to move back and forth between folders and songs. Helpful BeatBuddy (BB) and BeatBuddy Manager (BBM) links (open the link in the last bullet)
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