Using BB to play actual backing tracks - a short tutorial

[Phil_Flood]

I recently was asked if it was possible to put regular backing tracks onto a BB. The purpose was to replace a Digitech JamMan Solo XT, which apparently is no longer getting Mac software support. I found a backing track process that works. Apparently this idea had been kicked around before, but I never really understood how to make it work, and I thought there was a limit on individual wav file length in the BB, significantly shorter than the 100mb kit limit. It appears that I was wrong on that count, as I have made a 50+mb, nearly 5 minute long wav into a BB song. In short, this is how it is done.

1. Create the wav file. - It has to be 44.1khz (44100), 16 or 24 bit. I have always use 16bit with good success. The file will need to be less than 100mb, but for most reasonable length songs, this is not a problem.

2. In BB Manager, create a new drum set. Add the wav file to any location in the kit. For my experiment, I used the #36 kick drum slot. But any slot works. Caution and warning - When you click on the wav to select it for placement in the drum kit, the wav will play through in its entirety. Be prepared to just let it go. Don’t click on it again, as you’ll get multiple instances playing at once. When the wav is done doing its thing. make sure the wav is shown as a percussion instrument.

3. In the Drumset Maker window, right below where is says Drumset Maker, and now should read “New Drumset,” click on New Drumset, and change the name of the the Drumset to the name of your song. Then, Save the Drumset, and, SAVE AS to a location location on your hard drive. I have all my many drum sets in a dedicated Drumsets folder.

4. In my experiment, for whatever reason, the new kit did not immediately appear in the Drumset list. I then quit BB Manager, and restarted BB Manager. After booting, I imported the drumset from the Save As location, and it was now in the list. Click the box to activate it.

5. Next, Create the BB song. You will first need to create a midi file that will trigger the note in your drumset. You will need to know the length of your wav file in minutes and seconds, or have an easy way to see the whole wav file in a DAW. I use Logic Pro X, so this is fairly simple.

Method 1 - Start a new Logic Project and add the wav to a blank audio track. You will now have a visual representation of the audio track. Create a new blank midi track. Add a note at midi 36, or whatever midi drumset location you chose for your wav. Drag the right end of that midi note to match up with the end of the wav, one long note. Select and export just the midi track. This will be your midi file for the BB .sng.

Method 2 - If you know the length of the song in minutes and seconds, you can skip adding the wav file to the Logic Project. Just create the midi track. Set the Logic clock display to minutes and seconds rather than beats and bars. Then, add a note at midi 36, or whatever midi drumset location you chose for your wav. Drag the right end of that midi note to reach the time required for the song - one long note. Select and export just the midi track. This will be your midi file for the BB .sng.

Back in BB Manager, from the songs list, create your new song. Give it the title of your song. Select your midi file as the song’s intro. Put a null or blank file in the main loop. Select the Drum Set created above as the drum kit. Save your song. You should now have a backing track that will play as a BB song.

For those of you who wish to complain that this was not what the BB was intended for, yadda yadda, the point of this was to have a backing track player with minimal gear. You can haul just the BB and no other file player, if you wish. Yes, there are other ways to do this. Plus, if you want an alternative to the OPB with better sounding instruments, not limited by BB kit limitations, this will work. However, you will NOT be able to adjust the tempo of the song. Whatever tempo the song was created at is the tempo you will have.

This may open up some new doors for some of you. Some of you will realize that you could have multi part songs created with the method, etc. Explore, experiment, enjoy. Don’t whine.

[classicrockguy]

Clever way to “trick” the BB into being a backing track player. Since I do not believe this would interfere with BB’s other capabilities, seems like songs using original BB content/function could be combined with OPBx songs and full-on backing track songs in one overall set list. Someone wanting to use all 3 approaches to build up an entire performance would have one compact and simple device to take to the gig. At my age, I really like compact and simple.

BTW, I assume loading each .wav-based song would be similar to loading a traditional BB song with a different kit than previously loaded. Meaning one would have to wait for the large .wav backing track “kit” to load for each song. Probably not a big deal but would introduce a required pause between all songs. (I tend to use 1 kit for most OPB songs which makes load times between songs almost instant.)

I bet the folks at SS never envisioned how clever and creative their customers would be.

[Phil_Flood]

The load time is not very long. The one long wav is smaller in total than most BB kits. But yes, all three techniques, OPB, traditional, and wav player could be in one set list.

[aashideacon]

here’s an article i made in 2015

BeatBuddy Karaoke: Steely Dan - Reelin in the Years

Drum kit: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0ffjs477rrr1yc8/sample.drm?dl=0 (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 f…

[Phil_Flood]

Yup, that’s what I found, and I was like, huh, why haven’t we done this? I’m guessing no one really explored it. But, then I had a guy ask me if we could hack the BB to work something like his JamMan XT Solo. Anyhow, I had never tried it because I remembered something about at 3.2mb maximum sample. But then, when I did give it a shot, it worked perfectly. My only problem came from the length of the trigger note. I thought if I had the long wav set as percussion, even a short note would trigger the whole wav. When I tried that, the wav faded out after a second or two. Then I made the midi note as long as the wav, and it worked as intended.

[Bigangbo]

Can you do a you tube video to your show process please ?

[Phil_Flood]

That’s outside my skill set. That’s why I use words.

[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.