Does anybody know if it is possible to configure one of the external buttons to let you press and hold an external pedal and stop the drums but keep a hi hat going in time? Man that would be a cool feature.
Then when you let up off the pedal it does a fill in time to bring you back to full beat.
Another cool feature would be an intensity pedal option. So, for example you could backoff on the drums a bit, but keep the same beat, then for the chorus you can up the intensity but just keep the same beat. I’m thinking of hooking up an external volume pedal to get a similar effect.
Your second feature should also work with Midi, since the volume is Midi-remoteable…
Your first idea is only working by using the transition (ATM). Just delete all Midi notes except that ones for hihat and put it in the transition. But you will go to the next song part if you are not using Midi… With Midi you can use transition and return to the used song part.
But I also think a somekind of Midi Filter would be a good idea, so you could filter different notes (e.g. all except hihat, or maybe play only the bassdrum…) and set it per song part and decide also per song part to use this filter instead the Pause-function (or controll both per Midi)
But a additional beat you could use per Song instead the pause function would also do…
Hi Ken - I’ve been using a Boss stereo volume pedal. Love the way the drums roll out in stereo. A bit tricky to get the travel correct requiring some practice (its linear not log) but it is very cool to add dynamics and even in some cases end a song with a quick heel press rather than using an outro or ‘pause’.
Michael, great idea about ending the song, or even a fade out.
I’m hoping maybe I can find a volume pedal that is digital and let’s me set presets so maybe MIDI is the way to go with that as well. I currently use MIDI to send presets to the pedal from my iPad (SetListMaker) .
I was hoping that the other behavior (holding an external pedal to drop all the drums and play only hihat like a metronome) would actually be an option for a firmware update. Right now, I hit Pause and then bring it back in hitting Pause again, but would be much cooler if when you released the pedal it behaved like a fill and did a lead in coming back to all drums back on. Where can I make suggestions like that?
I think the best way to accomplish what your after is by creating or editing the midi files that make up the song. If you haven’t done any midi editing it can be quite a learning curve but the results can be outstanding. I’ll give an example that I have done.
In Tainted Love I have the loop A is the verse loop that keeps repeating. I then trigger a fill and it plays the whole chorus including drum fills then goes back to the verse by itself. As I finish the solo I transition to Loop B and it plays a verse loop with quiet hi hats and rimshot instead of the snare. I Then transition back to the normal verse and in the transition period it only plays the hihats.
If you wanted a fade out you could program it into a midi for the outro.
These discussions suggest there are (at least) two groups of BB folks - MIDI accepting and not. I’m pretty much in the latter. I would defer to whatever the pedal provides (and quite gladly so far) and accept that there is a limit to what a mechanical drummer will provide in favor of focusing on playing. I love it when clever gifted people post their efforts to DL which I can use/not use otherwise I look for ways I can max what the pedal does now.
For instance to end Little Red Rooster I hit an outro on BB going to the IV then while lead guitarist amazes the fans I get ready to restart with a buildup crescendo intro we use to restart and end the tune. On Breathe & Time (BTW these are on the Soundclick postings via FB in my signature) I drop the volume quick, engage a 15 sec pre-recorded snip-it from the Floyd (we use the unReal Book app on our iPads which features what he calls a ‘transmogrify button’ that can be defined - in this case to play the mp3) which allows me to stop and reset BB to the intro while its silenced then kick back into the intro to start the ‘Time’ segment.
My point is - I would love to have useful musical tools like a fill ‘restart’ but I will focus on ways to work a few buttons which I can do comfortably live in the flow of playing as opposed to painstakingly crafting MIDI which still will be a machine short of human.
Cygnus49 that’s kinda the boat that I’m in. I don’t do much song programming. I have a few that are “the actual song beat” but mostly what I use is a preset beat, like Rock 1, and I just want the ability to backoff on the drums sometimes, have just a hihat hit for counts (like a real drummer might do) and have a fill come back into the beat.
So in other words, yeah, just have the pedal have those features built-in. Totally doable I believe. I hit transition, hold down an external pedal and it comes out to just hihat hits, then release my pedal and depending on where in the beat I am, it starts a fill back to the groove. That would rock!
