I enjoyed your post, as I had many of the same reactions years ago when I started with the BB. I want to try to address your observations point by point with my recommendations.
Agreed, but considering you address owing Cubase and possibly Superior Drummer, this is the means to your end. You can create wav files from Superior Drummer, and create your own BB kit to match the mapping in Superior Drummer. Then, you can create whatever patterns you want within Cubase, and bring them directly over to the BB without remapping.
Not necessarily. Some sounds have only 1 sample per velocity. The problem you run into is the BB maximum kit size of 100Mb. You would need to pick and choose which instruments you sample less heavily. I believe the BB chooses from within the samples set randomly. I created a a Sampler instrument in Logic Pro, and it uses a “Round Robin” system, wherein it plays the samples in order. This still sound realistic. I do not know what facilities you may have for creating an instrument within Cubase.
This was an observation I also made. My recommendation is that one either treat the BB as a “real drummer,” where the kit does not change, or that you try to create exact copies like some kind of ultimate tribute cover band. I would think with the single kit approach that you might need two kits, one with sticks and one with brushes.
Agreed. This is why you would want to create your own patterns with Cubase. The stock BB midi patterns are available for download on the Singular Web Page. You don’t need to rely on the Export Midi feature, unless you are dealing with user files or premium content.
Amen. This is why you should create your custom kit from your drums in Cubase, and edit patterns in Cubase. BB Manager is a lousy editor, but it is a very nice sequencer.
I use Onsong just for selecting the song from the BB and pulling up a lead sheet for the song. I realize Onsong can do more, but I chose not complicate the process. For example, I do not use Onsong’s scrolling feature, and I instead can scroll manually with a IK Multimedia Blue Board.
I think you are well on your way to achieving what you want.
Fills, why are they so freakin’ loud & in many cases way over the top in complexity?
IMO it’s a machine & shouldn’t be calling that much attention to itself, the main thing the audience should be focused on are the humans playing not the BB. Be subtle.
Agree 100%. I’ve been a drummer for 40 years before I switched to keys, and the quality of the drumming is high school level, especially the fills. Nothing tasteful. And don’t even get me started on the obnoxious, UN-dampend toms. I"ve had BB for a couple years and never used it on a gig. Just too much work to simulate an inexperienced drummer.
The only thing missing is how to send midi to adjust overall volume per song. But as I’ve been careful about programming & use the same kit all time maybe that’s not going to be much of a issue for me?
Ok, I haven’t read the rest of the thread, but this post is fairly offensive. My first question is, why did you buy the BB when obviously, this wasn’t the tool you wanted. It’s like telling me the screw driver you bought doesn’t work because you are using a straight slot screwdriver to take out a phillips head screw. Use the correct tool.
Second, let’s assume someone actually watched some videos about the BB and decided it was what they wanted. If this drum machine and it’s associated software is so unsophisticated, why is it the only product of it’s kind on the market? Why doesn’t someone else make one that’s better?
I know that nothing that’s designed by someone else is the way I would have done it. But then that’s obvious because I didn’t do it. If I wanted a drum machine built exactly like I thought it should be built, then I’d have to build it myself. Or, I could buy the best on the market and figure out how to make it work for me. That’s why I bought the BB.
You must be very easily offended if you take offence at someone sharing their opinions on the BB forum.
Some things are great, some things not so much & some things could be a lot better.
These are my opinions & judging by the responses (that you haven’t read) there are many who agree.
Everyone else on this thread has been offering some very positive thoughts & opinions of how to make things better. That seems to me how things work at Singular Sounds, user experience & comments are taken on board to make things better for everyone.
Your screwdriver analogy is laughable, you say I’m using the wrong tool for the job but also say it’s the only product of it’s kind on the market.
But any case opinions are as the saying goes like assholes, in everyone’s got one.
There’s a difference between constructive criticism and simply bad mouthing something. If you don’t feel the need to apologize to anyone, that’s your business.
There are other products that could be used by a solo performer that could provide them with a simple percussive element. This product is designed to be a drummer that gives structure to the song for a solo performer. It sounded like that’s not what you wanted. Thus, wrong tool.
I’m really trying to be constructive here & as I said initially this is a product with tremendous potential & I know that eventually I will have a seriously good tool to use for my duo gigs. It’s just the time it’s taking for me to get the BB to gigging standard is massive IMO.
I’ve paid a lot of money for all the extra styles, patterns, kits that Singular Sound & Groove Monkey offer for this product but straight out of the box it’s quite frankly amateur hour & that was not really what I was expecting & none of videos that I watched before purchase (& I watched a lot) indicated this.
I currently do duo gigs twice a week & a quartet gig once a week & sometimes work with my sextet & maybe I’ve been spoilt to work with some truly amazing drummers with my quartet & sextet. I’m talking about players who’ve played with the best.
In comparison a lot of the drumming on BB (& I’m talking about fills & transition parts here mainly) is too loud, over complicated & tasteless. This is my opinion.
As I’ve said i other posts in this thread, for me in a solo, duo or trio setting the drum machine (BB) should be there grooving but not calling so much attention. Of course I want some variation, breaks & fills etc. too but in order for me to achieve this to a reasonable standard, all of these patterns have to be severely edited or re- programmed.
Which brings me to the other important issue, the midi editor. It’s difficult to read when in tick mode, you cannot loop a pattern or hear the individual drum sounds & it’s very time consuming to edit. These are basic functions for a midi editor, it could & should be so much better for a product of this cost.
The other issue I find quite incredible is that the individual songs cannot have an overall programmable level assigned to them. Maybe I’m wrong but it seems to me that many other much less sophisticated machines achieve this basic function.
If you want a song to have quieter drumming, create a drum set with lower velocities. We use a different drum set for different songs, but then, I like the variety it gives to our original songs. We’re not trying to copy, or cover, anyone else’s songs, but we are trying to entertain. We obviously haven’t got a drummer behind us so there’s no reason to pretend we have, and using the same drumset for all our songs would sound pretty boring in my opinion. And the BB does have limitations, the size of each drum set comes to mind, so we work within them and are more than happy with the results.
A real drummer only has 1 kit & IMO there’s plenty of size on 1 kit to get all the sounds I could need. But that’s me, we all use the BB differently & have different ideas on how it should sound.
I’ll give you an example of how lowering the velocities does not always work to lower the overall song level, (apart from being very time consuming to edit on all parts).
In the Brazilian drumset the pandeiro 1 & 2 have very different sounds that are entirely dependent on the velocity to trigger the many sounds on one instrument. Lowering the velocities changes the parts completely. There are many other instruments where this is also the case but this instrument is one of the most noticeable.
You can of course adjust the points at which the velocities to sounds kick in or lower the overall level within the kit by db but again this is so time consuming.
Within the Brazilian patterns (that have been pretty well researched & sampled in most cases if a little sloppily played at times) changing these kick in velocity levels or reducing the instrument level by db can alter the sound greatly. I’m sure it can be done but again it’s so time consuming.
Maybe someone from Singular Sound can explain to me why it’s not possible to write into the song the overall level just like you can adjust it manually using the 1st knob on the machine? It’s just the easiest solution. One song sounds too loud in my set, write the overall volume level into it using BB Manager. Maybe I’m missing something but it seems such a basic function that would make life so much easier.
I have to agree, despite my comments, that having the capacity to save a song’s volume at a different percentage would be useful. I’ve read somewhere else that a midi command won’t remedy that (I use the Maestro).
I’m a newbie, too. Just got my BB ready to go after updating the OS and installing the purchased premium content. I knew before that getting additional content would take additional time to get into it - not only because of installing: After that you need to listen to all those rhythms and assign a drumset according to your taste.
I wasn’t sure about the packages matching my taste respectively meeting my needs. That’s why I bought only part of what seemed to be interesting to me. And I haven’t made my verdict yet. Yes, I do share part of your judgement: Some sounds seem a bit pushy to me playing solo along. But as I bought the BB for practicing and rehearsals (not gigging), it might suit my needs to have it clear and accentuated. In any case, I’m more comfortable with perc and cajon sounds than snare stuff.
My main point is: I’m not a drummer nor a percussionist. I don’t know how to set up a drum sound from the individual instruments. That’s why I bought the BeatBuddy. I’m not sure if I will enter the MIDI editing, I’d prefer to be able to just select from the purchased content to get my go-to sounds done. And I’ll see if this is possible. Yes, some fills sound a bit strange to me - they will probably be eliminated. Some fills sound a bit over the top to me, too. I may replace or pluck them like a goose later on.
But I still do not get how you can say the content wasn’t tasteful. The only thing I can tell after a few days: It’s good there were different producers of the content (I picked sounds from GM, GR and others), and some sounds remind me of young Youtube celebrities whose music I have no access to. Which isn’t a problem if all different styles are represented by someone who is experienced in them. Which is yet another thing to discuss: How much should musical styles differ by personal style, too?
Ok, I’ve done 2 gigs with the BB now & in general I’m quite happy but this is largely down to the hours & hours of editing & programming I’ve done.
One other issue that has surprised me is though is there is more noise coming from the BB than other channels.
I’ve used it with it’s own power supply & an isolated .5A supply from the non mains power block I have, a Mission engineering 529i (incidentally a fantastic piece of kit that I highly recommend) with absolutely no difference.
It also makes no difference whatsoever what SD card I use.
It’s obviously not loud enough to be an issue while you’re playing but when you stop it’s noticeable & on a break I am muting the BB’s channel on the mixer.
The other channels we use for our duo are noiseless, Wireless Rode mic, wired Audix OM7, & guitar going through an Acoustic Fly Rig (another amazing bit of kit, highly recommended for any acoustic guitarist btw) & the RC-5 looper, all totally noise free.
In some cases yes but not always.
Some sounds are not just about velocities but actually trigger different samples at different velocity levels within the same instrument.
But this is the good thing about BB, most things are possible if you are prepared to put the time in editing & programming.
They were successful, the singer appreciated the new variation in moving away from simple 4 bar rhythm loops that we were working with previously.
Of course the BB takes a bit of time getting used to & I’m not 100% yet.
Remembering what I’ve programmed can sometimes be an issue, knowing whether I’m filling, transitioning or ending at the right time is important so each song has to be learnt i the order of pressing switches.
I’m not using many fills at all at the moment, it’s more important to me to have the parts & transitions right & I’m using fills to mainly program the stops & breaks that my music needs.
I’m using one custom kit that is the Flamenco kit plus added Brazilian & Latin percussion sounds.
So it ends up sounding like what they called ‘percuteria’ in Brazil, ie a mixture of drum sounds, cajon & percussion. This suits the sound for my duo perfectly.
I’m using PDF’s made on iRealB & umported into Onsong & I understand the coding to enable Onsong to select the song on the BB now. Thanks very much to help from people in this thread.
However the widi (wireless midi) dongle I bought didn’t work for me (I tried it every which way) so I bought lightning to usb & usb to midi cables & these work well. If I switch off the ipad in the breaks sometimes Onsong won’t find the usb midi source which is annoying but the solution is to keep the ipad on. Luckily the battery on the ipad is still pretty good & will last the whole gig.
One of the things I’ve been most impressed with is how well BB communicates with my RC-5 looper through the midi. I was concerned that I’d have shell out for an Aeros looper as well. I’m so glad I didn’t have to as the Aeros is really overkill for my simple looping needs & the RC-5’s small form suits me much better.
I also didn’t need to buy the BB footswitch either as my NUX footswitch works just as well & again it’s a smaller form.
As I’ve heavily edited or completely written every midi program I’m using on the BB now & I’m only using 1 drumset variation in levels are not too much of an issue but there are a couple of songs where I would like to control the volume via midi & Onsong. Next step to is research as to how to achieve that.