I play tuned down and I also pick whichever key sounds good for the song and works with my voice.
I like the idea of having the bass included but often it is going to be in a key that doesn’t work well for me. My DAW is Studio One. If I want to change the key of the bass lines, do I need to export the midi to my DAW and manually change all notes? Is there an easier way? Thanks.
*Update:
I used Studio one and was able to select all of the base notes at once and drag them up or down.
Sounds good in BB manager. Will load into the pedal tomorrow. This just changed the game for me.
Since you have a DAW, it might be easier to use the MIDI source file if provided and work it up from scratch in the key that works best for your vocal range. The Export to MIDI… function of the BeatBuddy Manager (BBM) has been reported as wonky by some users. Editing the bass using the BBM MIDI Editor has also been reported as affecting the bass audio quality as well as other issues.
I do it “manually” in the BB Midi Editor because I’ve gotten pretty good/fast at it. It’s (usually) pretty quick UNLESS your song has a lot of parts or a lot of bass notes (most of the songs I work with only use something like 6-12 notes). If I’m transposing UP, I start with the highest note, and move every instance of that note up the appropriate amount, repeat with the next highest note. If I’m transposing DOWN, I start with the lowest bass note (this avoids confusion between the “old” and “new” notes), repeat with next lowest note. Check your work by listening (because it’s very easy to make mistakes), save as a new song, and include the new key in the song’s name. Of course, there are other ways to accomplish this, perhaps more to your your liking - YMMV.
As to Persist’s mention of using the Editor causing bass audio quality, I’ve never had this issue - and I can’t even imagine HOW shifting MIDI data could affect audio quality - but I’ve spent a lot of hours in a state-of-the-art studio (NOT my own), and I’ve learned that when things go wrong in the digital realm, they sometimes do so in VERY unexpected (and sometimes very-hard-to-diagnose) ways. That might be partly why I like editing BB files the old-school way: As rough as the BB Editor is, it’s simple, consistent, and stable. And it’s the devil I know:)
I create additional instruments. I actually us Audacity to change the pitch. Probably a better way but it works for me. Doesn’t actually take very long to add additional bass ‘notes’. Some of our songs have a dedicated drumkit.