Just getting used to the whole setup of Aeros plus BeatBuddy.
When I start the BB, the Aeros records after the intro. That’s fine for playing a song, but works poorly for recording a loop that meshes seamlessly and in tempo.
The short intro is not enough to get the groove to make a meshing loop.
The other way I’ve tried is to let the BB play and then press Aeros record in the last measure. Seems to work better, but Aeros displays nothing in real time until you record. I’m scanning the BB for the end of measure. Would be better if Aeros could show the measure and last bar in tempo even when stopped. Even better would be a setting/foot gesture to start/stop record aligned to the first bar of the BB and count in on the last measure.
This is not about midi. It’s about the UI and my playing…
It sounds like it’s about what’s in your Intro. There is no limit on intro lenghth. You could, for example, have an “intro” that consisted of what now appears as the intro and the first main loop. Then, have that main loop also stay and be used as the main loop. So, that could requirie editing of the midi parts in a DAW. You see, it really is about midi, actually more properly about arranging, as opposed to your playing. The key is having the BB arrangement written to work the way that you want or need it to.
That works for some use cases and it works for you. It takes time to go to a computer, edit, add to beat buddy. Probably works great in a studio setup when you’re focused on one song.
I think the feature I’m looking for is a setting on the Aeros that delays acting on midi start by some count of measures or until the drum loop part repeats (“part”?).
It gives you an easy to setup dry run that you can play to without recording and not have to worry about pressing the record button press at the critical start of the phrase.
Nah, nothing works for me, I consider it an abomination that Singular released this door stop without the features that @DavidPackouz demonstrated and promised. I want to be able to create loops, save them, load files to loop over, and adjust tempos. I think we were promised that.
You can set the song on the Aeros to have a ‘count in’ of up to 3 measures before it starts recording. Just go to ‘edit song’.
We are currently working on a setting to turn off the automatic record on the Aeros when it receives a Start command. Pressing record on the Aeros will start it at the end of the measure of the BeatBuddy. This should be completed in the next 1 or 2 weeks.
Freeform mode (non-quantized) will come next, then transferring files to the SD card, then backing track loading. Changing tempos after a recording has been made is not something we ever promised, but it’s something we really want to do – though we want to do tempo change without pitch shift, which is much harder to do. We will work on that after all the other issues and more basic features have been worked out.
David, I just received mine today and have it hooked up on the floor (not my board yet) to try and mess around with it… Although I’m sure there will be some bugs to work out and features to add/fix, It seems amazing so far… I also think alot of the struggles will have to do with learning the machine and how it interacts with BB and its commands… and what settings work best on both pedals for what we’re trying to accomplish…
That’s useful. Can you raise the limit of 3? I’d like to have it be the full 12 bars (or whatever the chosen verse length). Even 4 would be a useful improvement. This is not an intro, but a groove setter.
Could also use a setting that gets the “pattern” length from the BB (e.g., 2 bars or 4 bars) via midi and uses that. This will be useful as a default for many uses as the verse length is usually a multiple of this.
Supportive Platitudes: Hang in there. The last 20% of work to polish a product takes about the same effort as the first 80%.
I could be in error, and, if so, I apologize, but I seem to recall a video where you performed a tempo change either with the scroll wheel, or an expression pedal. Of course, this may have been some Midi Maestro demo which I am confusing with the Aeros, but I would have assumed that Midi Maestro command support would be integrated in the Aeros. Also, tempo change without pitch variance has been a common DAW feature quite a few years, so the algorithms must be out there somewhere.
Anyway, the batch 1 release of the pedal at least worked. The firmware “upgrades” seem to have crippled some features. When users complain about loop limits of under 3 minutes and the inability to save and retrieve work, something clearly has gone wrong.
The Aeros does seem promising, at 1st I was very disappointed but with the new download it was way better but still many issues like on start up it’s off BB (midi controlled) time.
I have to say having to wait for updates so I can save loops and hopefully call them up on the BB is pretty bad, wish this wasn’t released until everything was worked out.
Even when I received my BB it didn’t work (sd card was empty) I had gigs booked coming up quick with no percussionist so I used the mini BB (happy I ordered that too) but I was sweating and embarrassed that I had to constantly bend over to adjust for the next song.
I finally got the BB working with 50 saved setlist songs but it constantly freaks out and a loud whistle plays out of no where. (Jay is helping me but he’s too busy to reply quick) So the BB is a work in progress for me but I am giging with it reluctantly if I don’t have a drummer.
I will be patient and wait especially since I don’t have a choice, in the wait time I will use my old Ditto4.
@Quad thank you for the encouragement it is very much appreciated. Most definitely seems like the last 20% of the tasks take 80% of the time - it’s a process, but we’re getting there. I think the most effective thing to do as far as the count in is to allow you to start recording on the Aeros independently of the BB – this should be coming soon.
@Phil_Flood you’re thinking of the MIDI Maestro tempo control with the expression pedal. And this is why we want to build this feature into the Aeros. DAW’s have the advantage of using a full size computer’s processing power, so it is still a challenge to pack this kind of feature into the Aeros (since we didn’t want to have to charge $1k-$2k for an Aeros by including the most expensive electronics in it). But we will do our best to make it work. Regarding the firmware updates, I don’t believe that they crippled any features - there are some limitations right now, such as a 2.5 minute loop length (the song can hold up to 20 minutes of total recordings and the Aeros can store up to 3 hours), but these were present in batch 1 as well and we will be working on expanding those limitations.
@Guitartechnyc developing a complex product like the Aeros is a process, so it’s a always a question of when a product is ‘ready’ for release and everyone has a different opinion of which features are must have or just nice to have, or completely useless. We will be listening to everybody’s feedback and continually improving it for quite a while. So completely up to you to decide when it’s right for you. (Sorry to hear about that weird bug with the BB – we’ll take care of it one way or another).
Perhaps. These things can sound good on paper and behave horribly when you test against the use case. I’m trying to to get away from a synchronized tap dance (especially those that are not tied to the beat/phrase).
Any reason the count in max can’t be increased in the next version? Seems like a lot of bang for the buck, and useful in other cases as well.
I just received my new Aeros and am excited to hook up my BeatBuddy and give it a spin today!
We gig regularly as a 2-piece (Upright Bass and Electric Guitar) with our lil’ Buddy using a Boomerang 3.
Throughout the entire gig I use the Rang to do one simple thing: record and play a part, like maybe a verse or chorus or lead.
I want to be able, once the loop is recorded, to start or stop it at any time during the song. I want to be able to record and play either or both of 2 loops separately or at the same time, starting and stopping them at will.
For example, after the BeatBuddy count in, I play and record the two measure Rhythm guitar chords for the intro of the song Satisfaction by the Stones. Then, as the two measure Rhythm chords play, I record the signature Fuzz Riff along, but not on top of it. I want them to be their own track, so I can play just the Rhythm OR the Riff by themselves. I also want both tracks to play together, like for jamming on top of them for an extended outro.
This is simple on the Boomerang because it allows for 3 different recorded tracks to play at the same time or sequentiality one after the other.
Sadly there’s no way to have it play parts sequentially automatically. You can have different parts and switch between them, but you need to decide at record time if a sample is a track on a given part. So you can’t fluidly switch between playing simultaneously versus sequentially.
it is very much appreciated. Most definitely seems like the last 20% of the tasks take 80% of the time - it’s a process, but we’re getting there. I think the most effective thing to do as far as the count in is to allow you to start recording on the Aeros independently of the BB – this should be coming soon.