Does BIAB have a pedal?
No BIB does not have a pedal, because it is software, if you would compare it to the BB, you could say it does a one press song. Start is by keyboard or mouse and it plays the complete song on a computer.
The original Digitech Trio used Band in a Box, but I wouldn’t call it a BIAB pedal.
I’ve used BIAB and it’s not for me. I purchased the BB and i find it an awesome pedal. ONly problem i have is the complication of turning a midi into an sng file. I also, didn’t like the idea of having to bend over every time i wanted to change to a song at random. Set files can be done on it however, i don’t play in public i have most of my fun at a shed party somewhere. So i built myself a small stand to make the BB easier to be at my finger tips when i needed to change a beat. Cost me all but 20 bucks to build if that. Singular sound maybe you should be looking at something like this or similar to this to sell for your beatbuddy. You can buy my idea if you like it. haha
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That’s brilliant!! Chain drive MIDI.
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Haha, analog midi controller!
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I’ve searched for the tutorial but it’s not coming up anywhere. How to I get to the tutorial? Thank you.
Enjoy! Feel free to ask questions.
You can mute/unmute any track, drums included, as per bar. So stopping drums in chorus is easy in biab.
I have several “backing track” type songs… check out Fight the Power. It has 4 separate tracks, as the song has different loops for verse vs chorus vs bridge. You can switch between them, so there actually can be a bit of interactiveness with backing track type songs. I did a couple other ones including Reelin in the Years, which is one very long track for the whole song, thus. not interactive. I did Regulate with a fairly short looping WAV, with a fill that does a separate part.
Haven’t had success with long wav files so split them into new instruments. There’s a way?
What do you mean by long? As long as the wave files in the kit total less than 100mb, it should work. Normally, I do this with just one long wav file.
In short, here is the process:
- Make the wav file. It needs to be 44.1khz sample rate, 16 or 24 bit, but I always use 16 to save space.
- Remove any meta data from the wav file that causes BB Manager to not see the file. I use NCH switch, and simply convert the file from wav to wav. You can normalize the file at the same time to get consistent volume across your songs done this way.
- Determine the tempo for your wav, if you do not know it already. I use a tool called LiveBPM on the iPad.
- in a DAW, set the tempo to the tempo determined in step 3. Add the wav file to an audio track in the DAW so you can see its length.
- Create a midi track. In the midi track create a single midi note that is the length of the wav file. One long note. The location of the note is not important, but you will need to know it for later steps. I always create the note at midi 36, where a kit would expect a kick drum.
- Export the midi track created above to a a handy location on your hard drive. This will be the midi file that gets imported into BB Manger to create the .sng file.
- Create the drumset in BBM. Open the drum set maker (Drumsets>New Drumset.) Click the Browse button for 36-Bass Drum, if that is the midi location you used in step 5 (otherwise create a midi instrument at the midi number for your note), and browse to you wav file and select it. It will begin to play all the way through. Just let it happen. Do not click on it again, or you will get multiple instances playing. When it is done playing, in the Drum Set maker window where it sayd New Drumset click on New Drumset and enter an appropriate name for your kit. Then, do Drumsets>Save Drumset As, and enter the kit name. Find that kit in the drumsets list and activate it by clicking on the box in front of its name.
- Go back out to the song window. Select a location for your new song, and enter the song’s name and BPM. For the Default drumset, you will select the kit you just created.
- Depending upon how you like to do you one press songs, click on either Intro Fill, Main Loop, or Outro fill, and browse to your midi file with one note. You’ll need something in the main loop if not using main loop. Copy an “Empty” or “Null” from an existing file and put it in the Main Loop. Click on the song part containing your midi file, and you should hear the backing track playing.
- Save your song/project.
Awesome, Phil. I’ll give that a try. I usually re-export a problem wav in Audacity if it doesn’t work straight away. I’ve split WAVs into different instruments recently to include new loops. Don’t usually do one press but I have one of our songs that’s been remixed and it’d be fun to use the instrumental master. So thanks.
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Hey Phil, first of all thank you so much for sharing these steps. I’m able to follow them and littel close get this wav loop play on bb.
I’m stuck on 7th step where I added the drumset and browse the wav file. Rename the Drumset as “New Drumset Gidda”. Saved as drumset. But after this I’m unable to see the new drumset I added in the list. Any idea what m I missing here ?
I have found the missing link ! It worked and m really happy with the detailed information you shared! Thank you so much! Much love from India 
🫡
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It really makes me happy when someone so far from my country finds my advice useful, and then uses it for their music. That’s something that I really like about this Forum. Thanks for the feedback!
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Still find this the most convenient to use
You are fantastic phill. A good heart. Help me a lot
From brasil
Thanks for your input, I’m new at the Beat Buddy. Just purchased a short time ago. I picked up the premium package which I believe is quite useful. I was able to utilize several of the songs in my pending solo gig. The problem I’m having is those songs I have that aren’t included. I’m not a drummer. I try to go in and find the closest beat to fit among the many beats/songs included. It works ok but sometimes not so good. I tried creating my own beats but that is just not working for me. Is there any advise you can give a novice user in that area. TY
What songs in particular are you looking for?
There’s a song matching tool (https://songmatcher.singularsound.com) that has hundreds of songs.
You can also find hundreds if not thousands of user created songs by searching on the forum. Most of these are 1-press format, a lot of them include bass lines.
You can also ask on the forum for suggestions if either of those options prove fruitless for a song.