I’m thinking about pulling the trigger on the Aeros. I’ve been using the BeatBuddy for years (affectionately introduced as Buddy Beats on drums!)
I started recording my own backing tracks a few years ago, which is fine, but I keep coming back to good ol’ reliable Buddy Beats. Tracks are fine but rigid. The Beat Buddy allows for more spontaneity.
The Aeros seems it could be the best of both worlds: using tracks that sync up with Buddy with a bit of spontaneity, if we want to play the intro a little longer, or repeat a bridge or chorus after a solo.
Before I take the $629 plunge, what should I be aware of? What should I expect. Would love to y’all’s thoughts and experiences.
To be honest, ever since I started using the Singular Sound gear, my whole musical world has changed. I have the BeatBuddy, Aeros, and MIDI Maestro. Once I got them set up the way I wanted, everything became much easier-I’m playing a lot more now. The flexibility of this ecosystem is incredible; I can’t imagine going back to anything else. But of course, the choice is yours. Just keep in mind, most people here are real fans of this setup, so if you ask them if they like their gear, you already know what the answer will be!
Hello back, CFMD. Just like you, I love my Beatbuddy it works great for me. I just bought an Aeros and it also rocks but I am having fits trying to figure out how to advance songs on the Aeros from the BB. I am an old boomer, not all that tech-savvy, and new to MIDI. I will not give up because my world would be so sweet if there were simple instructions for a guy like me. Alas there are not
From one old Boomer to another, I hear ya. Fortunately, I’m an IT guy, so I embraced technology years ago.
I control my BeatBuddy from an iPad app called OnSong and a little bit from Stage Traxx 3. I program in all the MIDI commands into the song charts to select the folder, song and tempo. So, I hope the Aeros is the same. I used to use Quantiloop and that’s how I use to change songs on it.
Adrian, my guess is you will love an Aeros. It will be wonderful for me when I get past the initial programming. I am not using it for live looping, which I suspect is its primary and intended purpose. I am going out for hand surgery, so I am trying to put 50 guitar tracks in my Aeros, but order them up and control them with my Beatbuddy. I am confident this will work well for me and Daniel at Singular Sound support is excellent. It’s just going to be a learning process for me, and I have not seen a video yet that covers how to accomplish what I need.
Feel free to reach out. Happy to share what thimble full of knowledge I have.
I am not a looper and don’t aspire to be.
Buddy Beats lays down the rhythm which frees me up to fill other spots. We jive well.
I use backing tracks to record click tracks, cues, rhythm guitar, bass and keyboard parts I play and Superior Drummer I program. As I said, backing tracks have their place but once you hit play, you better pay attention.
I do know that you can create audio regions in your backing tracks and you can use a midi footpedal to jump around through them for added spontaneity, but at the end of the day, I just want to play and not deal with all the technical challenges.
The Aeros seems to be that middle ground. Thanks for your encouragement!!!
And thank you for sharing how much you appreciate and value the technology. As you know there are many bad reviews out there. It’s nice to hear some positive opinions from the believers
Thanks NYHC
6x6 is definitely what I am interested in.
I’ve got my OnSong and Stage Traxx 3 apps, BeatBuddy, and Headrush Gigboard connected to a CMS WIDI Thru6 BT controller. Historically, the BeatBuddy has always been my MIDI sync master.
I use OnSong to tell Buddy Beats what tempo to play at. Onsong also enables me to configure my AirTurn and Looptimus foot pedals with all the MIDI commands I need.
Both OnSong and Stage Traxx 3 can play multi-tracks, although ST3 does it much better. But OnSong is waaaay more capable of configuring foot pedals, which makes it a great choice to control the Beat Buddy.
The Looptimus is an awesome “wired” foot pedal as opposed to a bluetooth variety like AirTurn BT-200/6. With the Looptimus, I can configure up to 9 buttons (12 buttons with a Looptimus mini connected) to execute whatever MIDI I want. And I can cycle through 13 banks for various configurations.
The main difference between the Aeros and the Aeros Gold Edition is the design and feel of the footswitches. The Aeros Gold Edition features gold-colored footswitches that are virtually silent when pressed, whereas the original Aeros has silver-colored footswitches that make a noticeable clicking sound. This makes the Gold Edition quieter to operate, which can be an advantage in studio or live settings where noise from switches could be distracting. Functionally, both versions are fundamentally the same. They share the same core features, capabilities, and firmware updates-there is no difference in internal processing power, audio quality, or available features between the two. The only hardware changes are the silent switches and their gold color. The Gold Edition’s silent switches cannot be retrofitted to the original Aeros, as the internal PCB is different. In summary, there is no fundamental difference apart from the quieter operation and the gold color of the switches.
Great news (for me, anyway!) The awesome and tech-savvy Daniel at Singular Sound Support sent me instructions to program my Beat Buddy to Aeros combination. It’s actually fairly simple once you know what you are doing. I’m hoping I get as many trouble-free years from my Aeros as I did from the Beat Buddy. My hat’s off to all the engineers at Singular and especially to Daniel in support. Thanks, guys!
I started with Aeros Gold after playing with an rc-300 for a month and considering a rc-600. Wanted to take next steps after the RC-1 and Trio.
The Aeros is all about looping, on the fly, with your foot, rarely needing to bend down to operate with hands.
Meaning, the wheel can let you scroll through menu options with your foot. You can do fade in/outs. Mixed length loops. Control track volumes. All without bending over. You may have to work on your balance, but fine. “What is that? Yoga?”
No effects, no drums.
I had my own effects and then finally got a Beat Buddy. So I went the other direction: first an Aeros, then the BB.
Spontaneous jams have been fluid and awesome. I then got a foot switch for the BB so I can do the transitions with single tap , and the other button toggles half-time on/off. So again, plenty of room to change the flow as you go.
I’ve often wondered how important those quiet switches are on the Gold vs the Silver.
I had my BB and the foot-switch since 2017 and those switches on the foot-switch are louder compared to some other switches I have on other pedals. And it has not caused me a lot of grief.
