Hi folks,
I’m interested in simplifying my use of the BeatBuddy.
Specifically I don’t want to have all of the folders and every song on the BeatBuddy.
I’d like to have one working folder where I have the specific songs or beats for a gig. Or, is it possible to just put what I need at the root of an SD card and have the BB recognize this?
Has anyone done this?
I’m imagining having a master SD card with everything on it, the original content, then a working sd card with only what I need for a gig.
How could I go about doing this? It would be nice to be able to create a playlist which then can be synced to the BB.
I understand the attraction of having EVERYTHING on the BB, but I sortof need simplicity.
Surely it is possible to operate with different SD cards with the various projects, but the easiest way I think, and that’s what I do, is to create a folder in Songs and put appropriate songs for a set list.
I deleted all the drumstyles I know I won’t use which leaves me plenty of room to create my own. I have different songs I do in each catagory that I set up like the “Blues”. I have one called “Swing” which is good for Jazz and Big Band sounds. I have one for “Country”, I have one named “Special Songs” that I have set up for creating backup drumbeats for my “Fingerstyle” playing which are totally different than the rest of it. So I have the different Files which I can pull up at any time. I have the original SD card stored away with all of the original drumbeats that came with the peddle. I don’t need or use all of that stuff and it just complicates what I have with everything else, so I just delete out what I don’t need. I can get them back at anytime if I need to. I do a lot of Swing so I have similar beats but at different tempos that I have readily available. I also found that I can change the tempo “On The Fly” without having to stop the song first. Didn’t know I even had it until I read something somewhere. This brings up an answer for those wanting to slow the song down at the end for some Gospel songs. Try it, it works great! You have to have one of the remote switch buttons set up for tempo in order to have this feature. I am totally enjoying my BB Pedal especially since I made a Volume/Tone Control Box to take the edge off the loud parts of the drum files and sharp Cymbals. I have some real quiet, smooth sounds like a real drummer would do on the quiet passages. The next project will be a “Drum Solo” like some of the Jazz Greats created back in the good days of the “Swing” era. That’s going to be fun to create.
I hope everyone out there is having as much fun as I am with their Beat Buddy. I wish I had this many years ago. We had machines like the “Wurlitzer Side Man”, the “Auto-Vary” which I think was also made
by “Wurlitzer” back in the 60’s. Give us a tape recorder and we were making our own backing tracks and creating “Echo Boxes”, so I guess we were just as crazy back then. I still have my old “Leslie” units that I made the conversion boxes for hooking up to guitar amps, as well as the Hammond Organs. I am having just as much fun now thanks to David Pakouz and the Beat Buddy Pedal. The BB Mini sounds like a good idea too. As you can tell, I like to talk music and everything related to it.
Sincerely, Fingerstylepicker.
Hi FSP,
So, could you plese explain a little about how you slow down your tempo reliably during a song? I have a button set for tempo, but I have trouble getting things to slow down reliably little by little. any tips? Thanks!
Not really. You just have to get the feel of it. It will be what ever you tap in. You might start by tapping the beat just a little bit slower than what’s already playing or about half the speed. It’s just trial and error until you get what you want. I haven’t really messed with it too much to tell anybody how to get what they want. Hope this helps. There is a person in the Forum that built a circuit to control a midi clock using a foot pedal to control the speed which would be ideal. I would like him to build me one because the midi side is a little over my head and I don’t know that much about it. I got along many years before they had it and never bothered to learn anything on it.
Sincerely, Fingerstylepicker.
RustyP, tap tempo, like anything else requires practice. Start out tapping to the current beat, using it as a reference so you don’t see any tempo change, then you start tapping a little slower, or faster, and you’ll get gradual changes. Sometimes it helps to strum your guitar at the tempo you want and tap to that, but I usually get confused when I try to play out of time with the beat, so I just reference the current beat as it changes.
Also, being exact with tempo is less necessary than we think. Sometimes we get too hung up on being absolutely perfect and so we tap and tap and tap until we get frustrated when tapping two or three times and getting close would have been just fine. Most people can’t detect bpm perfectly anyhow so get close and jam on, as long as everyone is playing together you’ll be fine.
Thanks Scudd and all! I think the trouble I have is that it’s difficult to be precise with the kinds of clicky buttons on the BB outboard pedal. there’s a resistance before you get the click and the response.
I’l work with it more, but I think I’m going to do the button mod which is discussed elsewhere on the forum.
I don’t see how using my outboard pedal is any worse than using a dedicated midi timeclock pedal.
An
