Starting Over

BeatBuddy Help, Questions and Bugs
1

No, not a request for a John Lennon song file.

I just got the beat buddy. I’m still trying to wrap my head around moving data to and from my Windows 7 64bit PC and the pedal.

So far I’ve managed to load three downloaded songs onto the SD card. But now, that’s all I can access using the arrow buttons on the pedal. The factory beats are all gone, or I’ve got it so screwed up it can’t find them.

Can I get a step by step on how to wipe this card and restore to updated factory settings?

I’ve tried it with the card in the pedal, connected via USB as well as having the card inserted into the reader on my PC.

I’m doing something wrong. It’s not as intuitive as I’d thought.

2

Not clear from your post above but I hope you’re using only the BeatBuddy Manager (BBM) to manage beats and folders.

Strongly recommend not using the USB to connect the pedal to the BBM. Use the SD card.

Here’s the steps:

  • select and delete all of the files from the SD card; DO NOT FORMAT the SD card. If you’ve done so already, just make sure it’s formatted to MS-DOS (FAT-32)
  • download and install Default BeatBuddy Content Update from https://library.mybeatbuddy.com/software-download/ to your SD card
  • download and install firmware from same link
  • use the pedal to check which version of the firmware is on the pedal and see if the default beats and kits are on your SD card
  • make sure that you’ve created a bbworkspace folder using the BBM Tools > Set Workspace Location
  • follow the instructions from BBM Help > Getting Started
3

Thanks for a prompt answer. It brings to mind a few questions and confirmations, as well as a bit of history for clarification.

  • What exactly is the purpose of the USB connectivity?
  • All BB file management should be done with the SD card plugged into my PC?
  • Is firmware only resident on the SD card, or is it loaded into a ROM chip or some other internal memory in the pedal itself?
  • Do I need to create a new project anytime I want to add content to the SD card?

Firstly, I did manage to update the firmware, which I’ve left on the SD card.
All was good, until I downloaded some user created songs. I got a warning that if I wanted to export those songs to the SD card, it would be overwritten.
If I view the card while plugged into my PC, the folder structure looks like the attached. The folder “default lib” is full of empty subfolders named exactly the same as in “user lib”, which as you can see, expands to show actual content.

So wipe it clean and start over as I suspected I have to do?

4
  • back in the “old” days (well, a couple of years ago) and when the BeatBuddy first came out, not all computers had SD slot readers so the USB cable was the way to synchronize the data between the BBM and the pedal. The BBM is now no longer dependent on USB;
  • the BBM is what’s used to manage BeatBuddy songs, files and folders. You do not need to put the SD card in your computer until you’re ready to transfer the data via the BBM;
  • firmware files on the SD card are used to update the f/w that resides in the pedal’s flash memory;
  • you don’t need to create a new project when you want to add content to the SD card; some users just create new folders in the BBM and you can think of those folders as setlists or mini-projects

Not knowing what you’ve done or not done on your BBM, let’s try this:

  • using the BBM, export your 3 songs to your Desktop (you’re going to reimport them after you follow the next steps)
  • BBM > File > Open Project (on your SD card) and navigate to your project on your SD card
  • you’ll get a warning and you’ll want to copy the project to your bbworkspace on your computer; if I recall, you’ll be prompted to give it a name—do so (if you name it the same as the project on your SD card, that’s okay)
  • you should be prompted to link the project open in your BBM to your SD card—do so
  • in the BBM > Songs > New Folder; name the folder if you want and leave it hi-lited
  • BBM > File > Import > Song for each of the 3 songs to your New Folder
  • BBM > File > Save Project
  • BBM > File > Synchronize Project (if that doesn’t work BBM > File > Export > Project to SD Card
  • If it prompts you to overwrite > Yes and then link to Sync
1 Like
5

Thanks! I’ve copied all this into a word file for future reference. I’m back up and running.

6

Life is good. Thanks for letting us know.