Song making

[Nepali_brother]

Hi all,
i am replacing some songs intro, fills and transitions form different songs with same time signature in the BBmanager to make the current song parts and fills play the way i like.
After replacing, some parts play with a gap in the end, like the measure doubles with no sound. what am i doing wrong here please.

Here’ i am talking about replacing 4/4 song parts to 4/4 song or 6/8 song parts to 6/8 song.

Then i try to edit the new parts to fix them. it prompts to quantise the part, regardless of selecting yes or no (tried both), the fills get transformed with different kit, changing the sound completely.

Most times it automatically changes to toms and so on.
please somebody shed some light on this, I am completely new to BB manager.

However, i could then change the measure quantity back to 1 then the doubled silent measure is removed but then i end up with a worst sounding fill with toms and random kits.

shouldn’t it just be drag and drop or export/import to mix and match song parts of same time signature?

I am using Mac and both Bbmanager version and beatbuddy firmware are up to date.
please suggest @BrennanSingularSound @Phil_Flood
And thank you in advance.

i hope i have made my question clear.

[Phil_Flood]

I NEVER use the built in Midi Editor in BB Manager because of some of this weird behavior. I edit in a DAW. I use Logic Pro X, but Cubase, Reaper, Audacity, etc. work equally well. I found that the BB moves blank space at the end of a phrase to the beginning of a measure, causing 1) a gap in the phrase starting, and 2) dead space at the end of the phrase. To cure this, I make sure that the last drum hit in the part extends to the end of the measure.

Original pattern:

Fixed pattern:

Note the difference in the last note on the lowest lane.

Further, do not quantize! Don’t destroy the groove to make the software happy! After you fix a pattern in a DAW, you can view it in the built in editor, but don’t work on it there. Obviously, it is not “drag and drop” in that editor, just as nothing is copy and paste in that editor.

[Nepali_brother]

Thanks @Phil_Flood for the explaination and the graphics.
Now i know something about the BBmanager and I understand the idea of editing midi files with third party softwares which i need to start learning soon.

But the song parts and the fills only just gets messed up right after adding them in.
Isn’t it like the chicken or the egg first story?
Or am i looping the question again here?

The midi files are perfect until just before adding them into the new song. Are you suggesting me to export the files to edit in other software right after adding them into the song?

Sorry i am confused.

[Phil_Flood]

They get messed by BB Manager. They get particularly messed up if you quantize them with BB manager. What I am suggesting is that if the file is correct in a third party midi editor, meaning that it ends exactly on a bar line, when you then bring that file into BB manager, the file will be correct.

If you are taking an existing fill from a song in BB manager and then trying to edit it within the BB Manager midi editor, you are unknowingly adding unseen elements to it. The BB Manager editor is notorious for not displaying everything that is there. If BB Manager’s editor is the chicken and the midi part in it is the egg, the chicken is radioactive, and you have no idea what is hidden in its eggs.

[Nepali_brother]

Oh well… the BBmanager definetely needs an update if so then. I thought it was just me.
Thanks a bunch @Phil_Flood

[tERRY_mARTIN]

BB Manager works for me as a songwriter. Can’t get on with DAWS like Reaper, Audition, etc.

[Nepali_brother]

Hi terry, could you please share some ideas on how you work around with the automatic change of kits while editing the song parts in BBmanager if you have come accross one.

[tERRY_mARTIN]

Not sure I’ve come across what you’ve mentioned though the editor has sometimes played the kit I’m not expecting, though never in the song itself. I always assume I’ve done something wrong (I’m very forgiving). One thing I’ve found is that the first beat is sometimes missed. To get around this in edit mode I add another bar and include the missing beat (usually the first beat of the loop) and save it. I then go back and delete the new bar and save again and that missing beat will sound. If you go back in and add the extra bar back in you will find the first beat is still there despite having deleted the whole bar. I’ve also noticed that’s been done in some of the supplied kits. I hope that makes sense.