I have a MIDI connector and a Yamaha MD-BT01 which connects to my phone via Bluetooth
I also have an iRig MIDI 2 which connects to the phone via USB. Both work on Apple or Android devices.
Nice job Andrew. You’ve put a lot of time into this and even your website is well done. But I must also agree with others that the price tag is way too high. Phone apps just don’t sell at such high prices unfortunately.
This is something Singular Sound should have developed. They have not been able to even fully develop or finish their own phone apps (Midi Maestro controller) and users are still waiting for many features that were initially advertised for the Aeros that will probably never arrive now. I think users like myself who have owned Singular Sound products for quite some time now realize that the futur of SS is limited because they are not investing in development time and their products do not deliver what they are advertised for. (That doesn’t mean they do not offer too a great many users features that they are happy with, but I as a great many others, bought the Aeros for features that were advertised and never delivered and O have grown weary).
I would not invest 45 usd in software for my BB today. Under 10 usd I probably would although it’s a fairly high amount for a phone app that is not fully independent of hardware that is not sufficiently supported by the original manufacturer.
Maybe you should try and sell your app to SS? They could then find some way to propose it to the BB community as a paying (at a much cheaper cost) or free app to demonstrate their intention to continue development on their products…. Unfortunately if they don’t have enough ressources to develop features that were advertised on the box of their hardware, it is likely they do not have enough money to offer you much either for your work…
Best Regards
C
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I have no doubt it took a lot of time and effort to get your apps created and into the respected app stores.
For me, the price is way out of line. Especially considering what it delivers. I really am not trying to be disrespectful to you or your hard work. But I wouldn’t pay more than $5 for it because there isn’t much value added for me. I can’t even imagine what an app would have to offer for me to pay seven times that amount.
I hope SS purchases the app from you and offers it for free to their customers.
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Develope a BB Manager that does what we need and I’d pony up the cash. This looks cool but i wouldn’t use it in performance and it wouldn’t do what I expect manager should. These suggestions may sting a bit… but it’s information directly from the front line demographic target. Best of luck!
Thanks for your feedback. I appreciate you taking the time to respond so comprehensively.
Thanks for your feedback. No disrespect taken. I appreciate you letting me know you don’t see the value. Clearly there is a price/value discrepancy for some people. I do find it interesting how someone (me in this case) might see the value of putting in many hours to create something and others don’t see enough value when it comes to spending money—I guess that’s capitalism at work.
Thanks Jim. I wasn’t trying to develop a replacement BB Manager. My aim was to develop something that gives you complete remote control over the BeatBuddy. I have read many people saying they want a way to find songs and manage songs without having to go to the BB Manager and that’s what I’ve tried to create here. I personally use the app to move around the BeatBuddy very quickly and easily, jump directly to different sections of a song, work with different tempos and drum sets, all without having to load up BB Manager.
The suggestions certainly don’t sting. I appreciate hearing what people view as necessary and what they’re looking for. Thanks for taking the time to respond with your feedback.
Wow, great work @Andrew13! That’s a pretty cool idea. I’ve managed to adapt my BB to play without bending over by using the “Norbert hack” to add another foot switch and I use the midi controls in Onsong to switch songs and tempos.
Where I would potentially see use for this app (in my case) would be in practice or testing out of beats I’ve created by switching to specific song parts. Or I suppose if I ever had to create a beat on the fly with multiple parts. However, with a price tag of $45 I just don’t know that I’d find the value in it for only that use case.
Certainly not taking away from your time and effort on the project… it’s great to see someone actually innovating the Singular Sound products… maybe they could hire you! 
Good idea but considering the price and add to that having to purchase other 3rd party devices to make it work, you just priced yourself out of my market. Im also not seeing anything this will do that the beat buddy doesn’t already do. For 100 bucks I can reach down and touch my beat buddy a whole bunch of times, or I can just be smart and mount it to my mic stand.
Interested in what differentiates this app from Mid Designer2 app, which has a Beat Buddy control template, plus the ability to control lots of different midi instruments as well as allowing you to customise your own? Is it just for those who do not wish to learn how to send midi commands?
@andrew13 great work – I fully get the value of hours work you’ve put into it, but others then don’t see enough value to spend the money. £28 spend is not excessive if it fixes an issue someone has…
So, the bit I’m interested in is the Tempo change during a song in a live band situation. You don’t show that bit of the interface in the YouTube Video. Is it a slider or knob? And is it easily accessible?
Background - I play in a 4 piece band (2 vocals, 1 guitar, 1 kybd and me on bass & Sax & beatbuddy). I control BB, PA Mixer (FoH & IEM’s) I have an ipad for the PA Mixer software which I can switch between the FoH and In Ear Monitors, I control the BB using standard BB foot switches.
I have dabbled with doing Tempo changes using the time-stretch in LogicPro, but it never gives a smooth transition.
There 5 or 6 numbers we would like to play but they all have tempo shift during the song – so I would need to be able to switch up the App on the ipad, then during the specific bar/s adjust the tempo, while potentially holding a note on the bass…
I already have the BB MIDI breakout cable and CMD WIDI Master units. We use the WIDI to link two keyboards to ForeScore for the 2 vocalists.
So Long post – but can you do a video of the tempo change mid song.
I am looking at Behringer fcb1010 – someone posted a clip on the FB Group showing tempo changes, all via a foot switch…
The main difference is that BBFF understands your BeatBuddy project. It knows the song names, assigned drum kit (by name), the tempo, as well as how many sections each song has.
This is a failing of Midi Designer and even the MIDI maestro (or any software where you have to send MIDI commands). While each of those can send a MIDI command to go to section 3, they don’t know if there is a section three for the specifically loaded song, BBFF does.
While each of those can send a command to switch to drum kit #5, only BBFF knows that for your project, drum kit #5 is actually the Rock kit.
BBFF eliminates the need for mental hurdles and lets you see and interact with your BeatBuddy from your phone.
Thanks @Andy_Guerin, currently tempo is changed by entering a tempo value.
This is probably not conducive to tempo change mid song.
The iPhone app has a secret (read being developed) ability to be controlled by a bluetooth pedal (like an Airturn or iRig Blue Turn) and I use that to adjust tempo by 2bpm up and down at a time (currently hard-coded)
When do you tend to change tempo? Would it be linked to a section change ’cause that could be something fairly easy to add—linking a tempo to each section.
Ah I see simply a deeper and more complex set of programming logic. Ie it might take any kit and the program logic uses the markers which subdivide parts.
As a user of midi I send the command to go to section 3 because I know if it exists or not if I have created or studied the kit in advance. But of course if that Kit was created by others I would not know it had a section 3. But then logically I also wouldn’t logically be using such a kit anyway as I wouldn’t know what it would do.
Thanks for clarifying.
Cheers
David
One example is Take me Out - Franz Ferdinand, the tempo starts at 144, so BB tempo set at 144. The slow down happens about 45secs into the song, over 4 bars, then rest of song is at 105bpm
Currently I have programmed each of the 4 bars to reduce by 25% from 144bpm down to 105bpm, then the remaing part of the song is also time stretched in logic to 105bpm. So the ‘beat bar’ crossing the screen is still running at 144bpm but the pattern is 105bpm - I just have to remember not to look at the screen during the song as my brain will explode 
So the tempo change is 4 step changes - which just sounds weird.
The 2bpm change could work but that would be 19 pedal presses in 4 bars 
what I was hoping for was a fader that I could drag up and down - and it would tell me the tempo as i moved up or down.
Hi, I am looking for a solution to control my beat buddy & Aeros. I just purchased your app. Would you recommend a midi device to connect my phone to the beat buddy please?
Did you find a solution for tempo change mid song? I’ve made a MIDI designer layout (for my own use) that has a tempo slider on screen that only sends the value as you release your finger. I have limited tempo from 50 to 177 BPM (I think that’s a useful range - for me anyway). I’ve also put buttons for plus/minus 1 or 10 BPM and tap tempo.
Prob not as sophisticated as this app (other than tempo changes :-)… but does what I need.
Gary W
This could be done by mounting your BB to your mic stand so you don’t have to bend over and then wiring in a separate footswitch to control the BB. On my original BB I used the norbert hack, but on newer BB’s it’s a little different (took me multiple tries to get it to work the same way), but I believe people have posted on an easier method of wiring in a new footswitch.
I use a Boss FS-FU as my external footswitch. This way you can use the tempo dial directly on the BB.
Here is a copy of the email that I sent to BBFF.Rocks after I bought the app from the Apple App Store.
Dear BBFF.Rocks Support,
I just decided that it was worth the risk so, I went ahead and purchased the BBFF app from the Apple App Store to use with my iPad Pro.
Once I got my BeatBuddy Project uploaded from my computer and got the app connected to my MIDI Maestro, I discovered the following:
1.) The BBFF works great! Just exactly as described in the information displayed on the Apple App Store.
2.) The BBFF app doesn’t interfere at all with the connection to my MIDI Maestro when I switch to the OnSong app., which is also connected to the MIDI Maestro.
By the way, it was after I went to the BeatBuddy User Forum and discovered and read most if not all of the Posts relating to the BBFF app, when I decided to give it a chance and I’m so glad that I did!
Sometime this week, I will write a positive glowing Post to that same User Forum. I will also write a positive and glowing Review on the Apple App Store.
Give me a couple of days as I’ve got a busy schedule this week but, Thank You so much for all of the creative thought and effort which you put into writing the Code for the BBFF BeatBuddy Friends Forever app! I just wish that I’d known about and purchased it as soon as it was available.
On the majority of the gigs that I don’t have a live drummer on, this is going to make my use of the BeatBuddy so much slicker, faster and easier.
Kudos to you! And I agree, BBFF.Rocks!!!
PS I also shut everything down and then started everything back up like I was setting up at a gig. I didn’t have to reload my BeatBuddy Project. It was already in the app. Also, once I connected to the MIDI Maestro within the BBFF app, I checked in the OnSong app, and it was already connected without me having to do it manually like I usually do.
This is so great! Thanks again! Definitely worth more than the $32.99 price tag!
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