I have used beat buddy for some time now at home to practice. What I have found is Beat Buddy does not have any beats that are useful for Artist songs like, One OF Those Days by Eilen Jewell. If you listen to her songs, and songs such as Saint James Infirmary, cover by Arlo Guthrie, you can understand the need for simple 4/4 drum beats that don’t over power the song. When I perform live, I need beats for songs by Stevie Nicks, Eilen Jewell, Rosie Flores, and other such artist. I am not a drummer, I am a singer/guitarist and a solo artist. As such, I find that every beat on BB is too boomy. BB seems to be geared more towards bands and not solo artist. It would have been nice to have had some stock beats that are for female artist such as myself. Beat Buddy is probably a great machine for artist that have some drumming experience, but I have none. I assumed that was the main reason why people like me buy Drum machines. People like me, we download beats from the Premium Content Library, where when you download the songs the transition is smooth, and you don’t have to post a million questions to get answers. Ginger
If your complaint is about the drums being too boomy for a solo artist, and all you really need is a toned-down kit, then either the Standard Pro kit from Singular or my recently-posted mellowed out version of the regular kit should work well for you. The Standard Pro kit is free, but I can’t remember where to find it, you’ll have to search; my kit is posted in this thread:
That said, my duo uses the Beat Buddy for 50-60 shows a year, and there are lots of solo artists on this board who gig more than we do. It can be done very successfully, and my experience has been that this community is always willing to help out. Don’t give up, and if you ask for help, someone here will give it to you.
It depends a lot on how much “work” you want to do as far as “customizing” the sound for any particular song. As noted, some EQ on the drums may do the job you need done but you might be able to make adjustments you want using the editing program in the BB Manager.
I routinely revise drum pattern sounds by adding/subtracting instruments, or changing the volume in the various patterns used in a song so, for example, the chorus or last verse drums are louder and have some added instruments - handclaps or cowbells - for example. Of course, this requires changing the volume of each drum “hit” of all drums being already in the pattern plus adding the new ones. So it is some work.
Re volume, I don’t know of a way to universally increase the volume of all drums in, say, one pattern of the multiple patterns you might use in the song. As others have mentioned, a separate volume pedal could do that but it’s just another piece of gear to carry/operate.
I use the BB, the BB switch and a TC helicon harmonizer - a total of 6 switches to be aware of/use in some songs. I don’t care to add another! 
IMO the Ludwig drum set is a good one if you are trying to get a “straighter” (less reverb, etc) sound.
My 2 favorite premium kits are the Standard Pro https://library.mybeatbuddy.com/drum-sets/standard-pro-drum-set and the Vintage Ludwig https://library.mybeatbuddy.com/drum-sets/vintage-ludwig-drum-set.
Everything in the Standard Pro sounds great with perhaps the exception of the electronic snare (40) which sounds a little too artificial (almost like a machine gun) to my ears. The Vintage Ludwig has a very nice dry sound that is pleasing. Both of these kits are also available with bass (these NP kits were customized by users). IMO, they are considerably less boomy than some of the other kits. Although most users don’t want to mess with a digital audio workstation (DAW), it’s a great way to lower the velocities for those drum instruments that sound too loud or annoying.
Goran Rista is said to be reworking the default content that come with the BeatBuddy to tame some of the common issues that forum users have pointed out. Don’t know if his revisions to will address your comments but it might be worth waiting to see what he comes up with.
Thank you. I will give it a try.
It would appear that there are a lot of people who are not able to get what they want in the way of “beats” from the available drum patterns in the Singular Sound library. These people need to learn how to program using BeaBuddy Manager. Believe me, I think BBM stinks and is like using a program from the 1980’s, but it works for those who don’t have great IT skills or access to platforms such as Logic, Cubase etc etc. If you learn how to program in BBM the same time it would take for you to look around for the right patterns or use another platform to create your patterns you could have the song finished in BBM. Pull your finger out. Stop waiting for others to do it all for you. You will be so glad you did. But seriously BBM is a piece of crap and Singular Sound needs to bury it and replace it ASAP.
…and yet, people are able to use it to prep songs that support repertoires of over 100 songs – 99% of which are customized – and 50+ gigs a year.
It’s not great, no, but “piece of crap” that needs to be buried, it certainly also is not. It’s functional.
Don’t miss understand me, I use BBM as well and it is the only program I use to write patterns with and have done so for the dozens od backing I have so far written, with great final results that very closely emulate human playing, but you have to admit it is archaic in its lack of functionality and frustrating in its short comings. I have great fondness for the BeatBuddy and it’s capabilities but BBM as the “third party, get you by” system that it is needs replacement. If I want to write a section for a song where the intensity of the drums build over 16 bars on a 1/16th feel the hundreds of note placement and velocity entries necessary make you want to take a packed lunch and have a sleep. Especially with BBM’s annoying habit of completely closing if you move too quickly through the edit functions. I have had SS tech advice and have reinstalled and reinstalled BBM with no change. It’s got “bugs” that don’t go away. So, I use it, get great results but to say it’s a GOOD platform is far from a supportable statement. That’s all. Please, no one take offence to my opinion. Singular Sound, please replace BBM.
Just to be clear, your gripe is with the Midi Editor inside of BBM. BBM itself works serviceable, although it does need sorting capabilities, and copy and paste functions. But, yeah, the Midi Editor is cumbersome at best, and I don’t use it, even for the simplest of patterns.
No, no, Ron, I agree at some level, it’s not fantastic, but it does do what it’s intended to do. I am always a bit sensitive when people say stuff like “complete crap,” though, partly because it’s actually not, and partly because it scares off would-be Beat Buddy owners with an overly-negative (and, I think, unjustly so) statement. That’s all.
You did say something interesting that caught my eye, though: 3rd-party. The BBM is a Singular product. Are you talking about the MIDI Editor (which IS 3rd-party)? I personally don’t use it, but prefer Reaper for three reasons: I’d been using it as a DAW anyway; its MIDI editor is really decent if not spectacular; and I also record from my Roland Octapad (sometimes it’s just quicker to play parts in than program them).
Bonus, it’s very cheap and very stable.
So, are you commenting on BBM (I give it a solid 7.0/10) or on the MIDI Editor (no opinion)?
Joe
PS, didn’t mean to come across as harshly as I did, apologies.
All good Joe. You are right though, it is the Midi editor that I have the issue with. I wrongly grouped the BBM and Editor into one animal at which I vented my displeasure.
If a prospective purchaser should read this, please be assured the product is good and the quality of performance is great, If you are not experienced at writing midi and wish to only use prewritten patterns, then perhaps you will feel unfulfilled with the variety of what you will find available. If you are going to cut your teeth learning with the midi editor supplied with BBM, be prepared for a steep curve on the way to where you want to go. I feel the BeatBuddy is a fantastic device. Buy it, you’ll love it. If you do not have midi programming experience, " Be prepared ". Have a great day to all…
I don’t have midi editing experience other than the one within BBM, which has been traumatic. I want to start using a 3rd party, but it’s intimidating . . . so many questions . . . such as: how do I load the drumsets into the 3rd party software for the purpose of creating tracks to import into BBM?
You don’t load the drums into your editor: just set the output of the channel to the GM MIDI player, and edit away. Note that drums are on MIDI Channel 10
I normally hit around 175 shows a year. It took me a few weeks, but with the help of the forum, I have been using the BeatBuddy for almost 2 years now. It’s a game changer once you find what you want out of it.
175? That’s amazing! I thought doing 60 was pretty good.
Mississippi Gulf Coast. I have Casinos, beach side restaurants, military bars, and then I go play in Alabama, Louisiana and Florida also. There’s a lot to choose from down here as long as you’re willing to drive an hour or two.
Hi Ginger_Lee,
I’m a singer-songwriter and I too find the drums to boomy.
I wondered if you like the ‘Standard Kit Remixed for Live Use’ drumset from JoeInOttawa?
Or did you find another drumset or something else that works better?
I do think it’s a great drummachine
Thanks for making the drumset!
I guess it’s a subtle difference (I’m not a drummer)
I think the boomy sound comes more because the songs have more of a Rock feel.
Sometimes it sounds as if Animal kicks in 
The fills and outro are sometimes to heavy.
I’m going to try and delete soms of the fills, experiment with it.
I still think it’s a great drummachine
A SingerSongwriter folder would be a great idea! (wishful thinking 
)
The drum set really is just an EQ and compression of the toms, and a mild remix of the levels, but I find it’s the difference between sitting in the mix or over-exciting my subs, which is annoying. But I’m always interested in what anyone else using it thinks, and what your experience has been. So, thanks for the feedback!