Volume Across Songs

BeatBuddy Help, Questions and Bugs
1

Is there a way to set the same volume across all songs?
I have 25 songs and some are different volumes. Im trying to avoid bending over during a set to lower or raise the volume of my pedal.
Thank All

2

I think there are three options currently:

  1. Adjust the drum set sample volume levels within the wav files
  2. Adjust the velocities of the beats within midi files
  3. If you are selecting the song with midi commands you can also set the volume by midi command :relieved:

Fourth option would be to have a separate person to do the mixing :thinking:

3

Expression pedal and MM

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4

I have my BB off the floor and on a small ‘shelf’ that mounts to a mic stand. A two button switch on the floor controls what I need for start/stop and another function and saves wear and tear on the BB’s main footswitch. I can see the display better this way and the controls and buttons are within easy reach for volume and tempo changes.

shelf
shelf1211×705 137 KB

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5

This is a basic and fundamental function that I am absolutely amazed is not included. It would appear the pedal was never intended for musicians to actually gig with and has sort of morphed into that.

We set up the drums to be a particular volume in our PA mix, but there are particular songs that have a softer feel and we have to remember to crank it up, then back down again.

Our BB plays through a mixer, so access to the volume is next to me. But going from song to song there is enough to do without this additional burden.

To my mind this is like having to set the tempo for every song manually.

This question has been raised before but it would appear it is beyond the desire or capability of the developers. You will need to rely on manual adjustment.

6

Another vote for expression/volume pedal. I set up my BB before BBMO became available (perhaps it would be easier now), to use beats that are approximately the same volume - either as they came or with midi velocity adjustments which I made in Logic. For a few tunes requiring drums to be softer or louder, I found and/or created volume-adjusted beats.

That approach was painful up-front, but it got me close enough so that I only need the exp/vol pedal for minor adjustments when gigging.

7

I agree that it would be a super cool feature :sunglasses: Though, personally I haven’t felt the need to adjust song by song :thinking: (I’m using only the default content)

But as a programmer myself I started thinking that what would the definition be like?

  • Would it make the maximum level to be equal?
  • Or some average level?
  • And how would be the relation of velocity versus volume within the wav sample files?

I mean that if it’s the maximum, then you need just one loud hit within the song and the whole song becomes quiet :sweat_smile: Maybe some 90%/10% threshold would do the trick :thinking:

But even then threshold or average could be fooled by some tiny technical drum sounds that could make the song very loud :no_mouth:

I’d guess this should be measuring the actual volume, so the samples that are selected based on velocity :relieved:

Different option would be to set the decibel levels of all instruments etc the same, but then the many quiet things would come up front and the main beat could be lost :sweat_smile:

So I don’t think there is any solution that would fix everything by just one button press. Doing the preparation song by song in advance is I think the best option if live mixing is not an option :relieved:

Although, probably some expert has a one press fix for everything but I’m just not aware of such :sweat_smile:

8

Ha ha. I was a programmer too. Designed and developed control system HMIs and PLC programs for power stations.

My thought was just a simple overall volume adjustment against a whole song from its native velocities. Much like the volume control on the BB. Simple as that. Then you could go through your set and balance them to your taste. Just a (+) (-) bias.

:drum::cowboy_hat_face:

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9

That would be simple enough to implement yes :blush:

But if it’s done through the velocities then it might introduce clipping either to the maximum or minimum value. Which would affect the sound quality :thinking:

Better way to do would be to just add a per song volume. This could be similar to per song drumset or per song tempo :yum: And from settings user could select if the per song volume is used or just the global volume :smiling_face:

@DanielSingularSound do you know if there is such feature request or if we should create one? I think I recently saw something similar :thinking:

It was this request but that was more about song parts not the global volume level for whole song :blush:

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10

I think an easy solution is a “select all” for velocity. Lower all by x%. You could then apply for all your songs.

11

This wouldn’t work. It assumes that each sample is recorded with same loudness (db level). They are not. Particularly with usermade kits vs. singular kits, there will be a great variance. Even within Singular kits themselves, there are variances.

There is not a easy solution using just the pedal, or even a pedal and an external volume control. You would need the BB signal to be going into some sort of studio level compressor/limited that could raise and lower volume as they occur. The results would not likely be as musically pleasing as you might think. How do you do this without affecting intended dynamics? You don’t. A BB only solution would require the user to use only one drumkit, and to edit all songs to fall within a desired dynamic range using just velocity as the variable. I have tried to do this for a client. It was a pain in the neck and other places. And, the end product was not precisely what he wanted.

I think a combination of a volume pedal along with a signal boost pedal can provide a working solution provided thst the user is willing to practice each and every song in the setlist, and then to keep a notebook of the desired settings for each song. There is not a simple way out of this problem.

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12

Good point…… back to the volume pedal…lol

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13

Simple way to do this is to feed BB through e.g. HX Stomp, which can be set to lower or raise the volume of BB with a midi command. Then by using e.g. MobileSheets (or OnSong) one can send the volume change to HX Stomp while selecting the song on BB :blush:

So volume is saved per song to the app sending midi commands :yum:

My setup for HX Stomp allows four inputs and four outputs, from which BB takes two :relieved:

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14

I send a MIDI command from OnSong directly to the BB for volume changes. It is still not a perfect system though. If you play in venues where your overall volume can either be soft or loud depending the location (restaurant versus an event) the volume the BB uses is not a one size fits all. We ended up putting a volume knob on the singers mic stand and she adjusts as needed.

15

That’s a very good point. But even then mixing from stage doesn’t give best results. Best is always from the middle of the audience :relieved: But that requires more personnel so typically more expenses :sweat_smile:

If that’s not an option then some manual knob or expression/volume pedal is the second best option :blush:

But it always helps if the initial settings are as close as possible :smiling_face:

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16

I use an expression pedal from Maestro to control volume.
It’s very touchy but better than nothing.

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17

There are no existing requests for this feature. If you’d like to see it implemented, please submit a new request. Thank you!

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18

We have a drumset for each song (we’re originals) so rarely have an issue. Of course, venues can affect the sound dramatically. As it’s this time of year you might like our Christmas song. :slight_smile: Hedgehog Reality

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