Starting on Pause

BeatBuddy General
1

Hey everyone,

Does anyone know if it is possible to start the BB on mute/pause?
I use mine with the RC300 which has to be master clock, and sends start commands as soon as the first loop is triggered.
Sometimes I’d love to be able to start a song without a beat, loop a few layers and then bring in a beat bang on time to the loops tempo.
So essentially the BB would be playing along in time while I loop but the beat is muted, then when I trigger it, the beat would come in with its fill and continue on from there.

Thanks,

Dave

2

Not sure if it would work with the hardware you have, but I send CC’s through my DAW (Cakewalk) whenever I don’t want to start with an intro. Depending on the song, I use one of several ways:

  1. I send a CC 108 with a zero value (sets the mixer volume to zero), then I send a CC 115 with a value of 127 (triggers the OUTRO). I then send a CC 108 to whatever volume I want (0-100) of the BeatBuddy and when I want the Beat Buddy to come in, I send the CC 114 with a value of 127 (Starts the playback of the BeatBuddy).
  2. I send a CC 108 with a zero value (sets the mixer volume to zero), and when the INTRO finishes, I send a CC 111 with a value of 127 (pauses the BeatBuddy). Then I set the volume of BeatBuddy to whatever I want it to be (0-100) with the CC 108. When I want the BeatBuddy to come in, I issue the second CC 111 with a value of 127 and that unpauses it starts the playing of the BeatBuddy.

This works for my needs and application, and I’m sure there are other ways. Hope this helps…

3

Hey mate,

Thanks for the reply, very thorough.
One question, are all off those CC messages being sent as one command? If yes, you don’t experience any glitches?

Another option I have occasionally tried is simply muting the channel for my BB, but my current set up doesn’t allow for that to be practical.

But if I can route things, and midi map a button, your solution might just be gold!

4

Each CC is sent as a single command, I set up a test, and sent 3 consecutive CC commands at the same timemark, and the commands were accepted without any issues. Cakewalk only permits one CC entry at a time, but they are sent at the same time. I haven’t tried sending a System Exclusive Command (SysEx), but I imagine it is possible that way. Hope it works out for you. One thing I’ve found with the BeatBuddy, trial and error has made me learn a number of tricks on how this device can work best for me. So far I haven’t “hurt” the device!

5

Hey there,

I would say your best bet is to get a volume pedal for the BeatBuddy so you can physically mute it when needed. There is no other solution I can think of to achieve this specific scenario with the BB.

6

That’s a good workaround.

Would love it if these limitations are considered and features for future releases.

7

I was hoping there was a way to mute the BB whitout a volume pedal (which I use, by the way). I guess the Midi Maestreo could send a midi command?

8

Yes, that is described above, mixer volume.

9

Indeed you can use MIDI to achieve this