Totally new to this

I just upgraded from BB Mini to the BB. I know how to use the pedal quite well but I have no idea how to do the more advanced programming in the software. It does not seem user friendly and I need some help getting going. Can someone point me in the right direction? I imagine there is a steep learning curve here. I am not a sound or drum expert which makes me wonder if I am capable of navigating this. Thanks

Congrats on your upgrade! The forum here is REALLY(!!) helpful, and there are lots of Singular folks around as well (like @BrennanSingularSound). The full-fat BB is an amazingly capable device, and if you tell us what you’re trying to do, someone here will jump in to help, I’m sure.

So, whatcha trying to do?

Looking forward to helping out…

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Thank you! I haven’t had much time to play around with it. I was looking to create a set-list in the BB so that I don’t have to keep jumping around in between songs. I was also trying to figure out how to import beats made by others. I found some that I thought would be interesting to use but I have no clue how to do it. The software does not seem that user friendly but I also have never done anything like this before. Thanks!

People have complained about BeatBuddy Manager, and there are some missing features like cut and past, etc. but I find it a lot simpler to use than other packages. With a bit of time spent, the learning curve is quite quick. I add additional instruments to our songs (we write our own). We did a live Facebook feed earlier this evening (UK), which you can find on our Hedgehog Reality FB page, so you can see how we use the BeatBuddy. https://www.facebook.com/HedgehogReality

You do all of that in the BBM.

Set list:

  • Click on the folders on the one above which you want to create a setlist
  • Songs menu >> New Folder. Name it.
  • File menu >> Import >> Song. Navigate to and select the song you want to add

Tip: The BBM always adds above the selection, so, when building from scratch, I always star at the bottom of the set and work backwards.

Also note there are hotkeys in the PC version that make this quicker. Which platform are you using?

Does that help?

Joe

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here’s a tutorial I sent to user earlier today.

Well, you must have signed off. So let’s do this. We’ll with something new. Download All Right Now which Persist posted earlier today or yesterday. Then unzip the file. You will see 3 .sng files, a chord shapes document and a Chords & Lyrics document. We are going to use the v2.sng file. V.1 is drums only. v.3 adds a guitar part. V.2 is drums and bass.

The key to getting these things to work is to have the correct or at least a compatible drum kit. So first, we are going to get the kit and add it to your BB Manager.

Download this kit:

The link for the download is at the bottom part of the post. This is another .zip file, so after you download it, unzip it.

Now from BB Manager, go to File>Import>Drumset, and select the .drm file that you just unzipped.

It should get added to the bottom of you list of Drum Sets in BB Manager. Like this:

image

Click the box in front of its name. That makes it active in your BB Manager.

Now, pick out a folder where you want to put the song file. I have a folder I call Newly Added that I use for playing around with stuff like this. So from the songs tab I click the arrow in front of Newly Added and it opens with the names of the songs already in Newly Added.

image

I am going to put All Right Now at the bottom of this folder. You can see that the last song is already selected. Still in BB Manager, I go to File>Import>Song and select the v2 All Right Now.

It then gets added into the folder right above the Guitar Fingerpicking song, but that’s OK. I can move it later if I want to. Now, and this is a REAL IMPORTANT PART, I want to get that Heisenberg Kit associated with this song.

Right now it has the SUB-Std Pro kit, which should work, but I guess Persist had problems with the dynamics, so lets get the Heisenberg kit.

Click on the drop down arrow box that appears right after the already listed drum set name, Sub-Std Pro SWN…

Scroll through you list of drum kits, if you have very many, and find the Heisenber Strat and Hi Organ. It will replace the Sub Std Pro kit in the song, and “Unsaved” will appear in red letters above the song name.

In BB Manager, select File>Save Project. Unsaved goes away and the Project is now saved in your BB Workspace on the Computer.

Click on the pedal part of the virtual pedal to try it out. The song play with just drum for quite a few measures (24 or them), then the bass enters.

At this point, if you want to get it onto your pedal, you need to Synchronize the project, or, if on Mac, Export>Project to SD card. That process will take several minutes so just let it work. Afterwards, you can put the SD card in your pedal and navigate to the song in the pedal to try it out.

Good Luck.

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Thank you! I’ll work on it and get back to you!

Thank you! I’ll work through this and let you know how it goes. It’s quite the tutorial!

You can always write to support@singularsound.com for one on one assistance with the BBM!

Hello BB community!

I am totally new to this as well. I purchased a used BeatBuddy and have been playing with the stock beats. I have a gig coming up, using the song match list I have been able to match up some tunes with beats. I have never used the BB Manager and am quite intimidated by the technical aspect. My first task will be to create a gig list. It looks like the previous owner created a gig list and possibly altered some of the stock beats. Should I get it back to default? Is flashing the firmware to the latest recommended? I don’t know which firmware version is on the pedal.

btw; I wanted to start a new thread in the General Questions forum. How do you do that? seems like I can only reply to an existing???

You don’t have to delete the beats that came with your new Buddy, you can add to them. But it’s also worth looking at the previous owner’s set list to see if there’s anything on it worth saving for your own use.

The BBM is a bit archaic and has its own little idiosyncracies, but it is reasonably friendly when you jump into it. My advice is not to modify the stock beats (or even move them from their stock place), but, rather, make copies:

  1. File/Export/Song on the stock beat, and name it for the song you want to emulate.
  2. Create a new folder in BBM. Call it something informative, like “Set 1.”
  3. File/Import/Song the newly-named song.
  4. Edit parts (I use Reaper’s MIDI editing) as required and reimport the parts.
  5. When you’re done, don’t forget to re-export the edited song.

Good luck – welcome to the family!

Joe

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Hey,

Welcome to the forum!

This is likely because you have just joined, keep interacting and building your trust level to be able to post new threads.

Hi

I am totally new to BB and wonder if I can get some general advice on what would be a suitable set up. I’m looking to use BB for Drums + Bass and play live guitar and vocals. In terms of venues I’d be looking at smallish bars for the most part. Do other users have any suggestions for PA equipment and would you recommend a separate guitar amp or putting everything through the PA? Many thanks for any advice for a newb!

Welcome Doug! Everyone will probably have a different opinion on this. After a lot of experimentation, I can tell you that my favorite setup is no guitar amp - just a P.A and monitor. That said, I also use Helicon Play Acoustic and HX Stomp pedals. Both the pedals and the Beat Buddy all go directly into the P.A. with a Boss LS2 pedal switching between electric and acoustic guitars. Both the guitars go through the HX Stomp which then feeds the Helicon. The Helicon cleans up my voice and autocorrects it based on the chords I’m playing on whichever guitar I’m playing. The Stomp allows me more color than I can get from the Helicon. Its nice and compact with good control over the sound and one less big device (the amp) to worry about. But to start with, you may get by with direct input of the guitar. I should add that I wasn’t happy with the first couple of acoustic guitars I used this way. I finally found one with better pickups and that made a world of difference for the sound with this setup. But you’ll find the joy is in the journey and experimentation is part of the fun.

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