Using BB to play actual backing tracks - a short tutorial

[Pigy]

You said to “Put a null or blank file in the main loop”. Will that not just keep looping the blank file after the backing track has played?

[Phil_Flood]

Yes. And then you double tap to end.

[kinglerxt]

agreed a vid would help a lot on this

[Phil_Flood]

Just curious as to what parts need a vid? What don’t you follow?

Looking this over, once more, very little of what I discuss herein is done in BB Manager. Creating the wav is done in Logic, and then a tag stripping program. I use Switch. Creating the mid file is done in Logic.

[hagglelad]

Thanks very much for taking the time to share this @Phil_Flood. With the help of your guide I managed to extract a drum section from a song and have it loop continuosly.

Some notes in case it helps others:

• I used the “Piano Roll” within Logic Pro X on a Mac to create the midi track. I had to use the note “C1” which is the equivalent of midi 36.
• In BBManager I had to get the BPM set exactly right so that the wav/midi would replay at the exact right momemt. I just used trial and error until when playing the track back in BBManager it sounded good.

HTH, thanks again.

[David6]

Hi aashiedeacon - Old post but got my interest - would you still have the dropbox file please that I could have please? The link sasy not found. Thank you very much David

@BeatBuddy Karaoke: Steely Dan - Reelin in the Years Tips and Tricks

Drum kit: Dropbox - File Deleted - Simplify your life (pretty large-50megs)

So what we have here is the fully instrumented backing track of Reelin in the Years - Steely Dan.

Since you don’t want to continually loop the 4 minute wav file, the main loops is a single metronome click. Hit a fill to play the whole song, then end when it’s done.

The drum kit is just two instruments: the metronome, and the sample.
The main loop is a midi that triggers one metronome hit, and the fill is a loop that triggers the sample.
Swap out samples, and you can have any song or backing track

[aashideacon]

see if this works: https://www.dropbox.com/s/j9bigz4vfzwkzp3/Reelin.drm?dl=0

[David6]

Hi and thank you
Downloaded - will check it out tomorrow
Big thanks
David

[dallonjay]

Sorry to post in an old thread but i seem to have run into a snag. Using Reaper, everything went according to plan until i clicked play in bbm. My wav file plays perfectly at the right tempo when i added it to the drumset. However when i hit play on the virtual machine, its playback is slow. Did i miss something?

[Phil_Flood]

See Hagglelad’s post above (#12 of 16). Apparently some trial and error is needed with setting the BPM in BBManager. I did not experience that, but there are a number of different BBM versions out in the wild, including several betas.

[Wolfsuit]

Success ! Thanks Phil and others. My only problem now is that BB (using intro or main loop to play the trigger) will play the whole wave through and cant be stopped. If you want to stop it for any reason, a double tap or transition will only start it again overlapping. Only fix I can find is unplugging. Not a big problem in that you wouldn’t want to start again in a performance situation. Many thanks again!

[Phil_Flood]

There is a setting for a “triple tap” to stop. This acts as a sort of panic stop and end the song immediately. Look through the settings in the BB manual for details.

[Wolfsuit]

Mmmm, its not working with these backing songs/drumsets.

[Phil_Flood]

I’ll check it out and get back to you. Do you have the external footswitch for your BB?

[Wolfsuit]

Yes I have a footswitch. Thanks.

[Phil_Flood]

Unfortunately, I am getting the same behavior from the pedal. That’s kind of the problem with these hack methods. We’re not usually going to get full functionality when we go outside the box.

[Wolfsuit]

Thanks for looking into it. I have the main functionality now which Im grateful for. cheers.

[mmelore]

Thank you Phil. The instructions you provided are very clear but a bit more than I wish to do. I may just use an old phone and store the mp3s on it connected via blue tooth to my pa.

[Nepali_brother]

@Phil_Flood

Unfortunately, I am getting the same behavior from the pedal. That’s kind of the problem with these hack methods. We’re not usually going to get full functionality when we go outside the box.

Has anyone tried advancing to Next song via midi controller to stop the playing sound? Will it sort the issue?

[arcureo]

Hi, just checking… since this post is almost three years old, I was wondering whether some changes occured, in that procedure you posted (for playing backing tracks, that is) with any recent firmware update.
Thanks a lot.