Has anyone had success with using Unreal Book and an iPad to control BeatBuddy?
I used Unreal Book exclusively until I got my BB. I knew NOTHING about Midi (isn’t that an acronym for a mid size car??? ;-). A good friend is neck deep in it so he walked me through setting up Midi commands and I took it from there. But when I was about 20 songs in I decided to “proof” my efforts and things didn’t work very well. After hours of frustration and going back and forth to try and fix things my friend, who does not use UB, said if you’re having problems at this point I suggest you go to another app. And that’s when I moved over to OnSong much, MUCH easier to set up and there is a “test” button you try before saving the commands. Might want to consider moving on from UB.
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Thanks for the info, very appreciated. It does seem complicated, though I contacted the creator of UB and he said it should work just fine. But like I said, complicated, at least to me. I’ve never been a midi guy. I do have OnSong. Maybe I’ll make the switch. Thanks again!
I use onsong. Works great. I select the song and have it programmed so the right beat and tempo and kit come up. There are lots of resources on how to do that in this forum.
Only downsize is I now have to replace my work iPad with a personal one due to a career change. The only time I really use the iPad is for onsong!
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I’ve used Songbook+ successfully.
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I use bandhelper. works on ISO or Android and all your devices will access your songs. And Beat Buddy works perfect.
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OnSong works very well. I mostly use Forscore now but keep both. OnSong uses its metronome to sync with the MIDI clock which is wonderful. For years I wanted Forscore to do that and they have yet to figure it out BUT finally on the forum someone explained how to send HEX code and so I can now send the MIDI program change to select the drum pattern I want AND the tempo via HEX code. I also use Forscore to send MIDI to my wife’s keyboard to select the program for her keys and also to my live drum set that uses drum triggers with an Alesis drum module. So I have a series of MIDI commands sent out on various MIDI channels. They only talk to the intended device. If you like I can send you the HEX code template.
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Stick with OnSong if it is working for you. It’s very different and a wonderful program. I just prefer to make my own charts with different fonts and colors and notes for the band and the other thing is I let Forcore turn the pages of the other band members. OnSong is odd that way, it is supposed to do that but uses a different method and I had it freeze and do odd things during a live show so I just moved on to Forscore. I still keep OnSong and it reads the same charts as Forscore so visually it looks the same. OnSong is WONDERFUL if you use it’s native formatting that will then allow you to change the key on the fly which Forscore or no other app I know will do.
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Wow, I forgot about the tempo per song needed. Not sure I could figure that out in Unreal Book. I may move everything into OnSong, but Fourscore sounds really interesting. I’m going to check into that. Thanks so much for the response!
Just know that both apps work completely different. OnSong will read pdf charts but using it’s native formatting can be very useful if it meets your needs and the tempo will sync to the metronome which can be saved in each chart. I only switched due to the page turning function for the band. My wife turns the pages on hers and all of ours change with it. (even though OnSong will do that it just never was reliable) Forscore is a bit more work to send MIDI tempo in HEX format. Being older I blow up our charts huge so I can see them from a few feet away and not appear to be staring at them. Younger players just have single page charts but I make ours big, Verse 1 Chorus, Page 2 - Verse 2 Chorus etc. You can use a foot pedal to change pages also back and forth with either app.
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I have a BeatBuddy here and will put in support for the BeatBuddy. Initially Tempo and Folder/Drum pattern support.
Here is how to dial up folders/patterns: