MY BEAT BUDDY IS HERE!

[Adamixoye]

all great ideas! we'll have to think about implementation while still keeping it simple and easy to use.

You can pay me in content coupons and an extended warranty.

 

[Feral Feline]

I've been traveling all week and just had a chance to unpack and listen to the BB. Very impressed with the quality of the sound files. The jazz beats are really nice because no drum machine I've owned in the past has provided such nice swing samples on demand. It's a little annoying having to wait for a genre of songs to load from the SD card and I wonder if loading these onto an internal chip would have made switching instantaneous. Everything is a trade off, I suppose. That's a minor complaint. Overall I'm impressed. Won't get a chance to do a major shakedown for a while but it's nice to get a device like this up and running with minimal hassle. Most pedals are a royal pain to operate. This one is fairly intuitive.

Will you be using it at your winery gigs? If so, please upload a video when you do.

 

[sunbeast]

CONS:
---While I was NOT playing (i.e., no other instruments) I could maybe see the complaints with the sound quality. I didn't think it was bad, but I also wasn't blown away. Of course, I was using it through a medium-quality-at-best guitar amp. I didn't try headphones.

I haven't personally played with a Beat Buddy, but I can say from a fair amount of experience that a drum machine NEVER sounds good through an electric guitar amp (or electric guitar speakers especially). Too much midrange and little else, whereas most of the important parts of a drum signal are highs and lows. I have had great experience playing drum machines through bass, acoustic guitar, and keyboard/synth rigs though depending on the speakers.

 

[Adamixoye]

I haven't personally played with a Beat Buddy, but I can say from a fair amount of experience that a drum machine NEVER sounds good through an electric guitar amp (or electric guitar speakers especially). Too much midrange and little else, whereas most of the important parts of a drum signal are highs and lows. I have had great experience playing drum machines through bass, acoustic guitar, and keyboard/synth rigs though depending on the speakers.

I'll try the bass amp soon. If it sounds better, I may end up running it that way when I play guitar.

 

[Slevage]

I'd also like to figure out how to bypass the intro fills and get right to the beat. I'm sure that is doable with the software.[/QUOTE]

Having gigged with a drum machine (and sequencers)---- I like the intro feature vs. 4 clicks to start a song live.
Many of my sequences started songs in that manner. Looking down at the display lets you know what beat the fill is on, so you can count (out loud if necessary for other musicians) .... 2,3, 4 etc.

I would like to experiment with 2 measure (8 beat) outro's to give me more time to build and ending bass line on the fly (that's what I do with a live "pick up" band. Anticipating an ending with 2 measures (or maybe 4) is more musically intuitive that a 1 measure, hurry up and end it feel.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

+1 on the lead in with clicks. That's essential for recording and for a clean start by the band. Probably THE major limitation of BB.

 

[Slevage]

+1 on the lead in with clicks. That's essential for recording and for a clean start by the band. Probably THE major limitation of BB.

I don't want clicks at a live gig. In the studio you can do anything.

If you want clicks with the BB, write and "intro fill" that is just 4 clicks (or bass drum beats, or whatever); when you start the BB, you'll hear your simple "fill" then the beat. This was a work around I used to do with my Roland drum machine, but the "fill" wasted limited memory space.

 

[Adamixoye]

I don't want clicks at a live gig. In the studio you can do anything.

If you want clicks with the BB, write and "intro fill" that is just 4 clicks (or bass drum beats, or whatever); when you start the BB, you'll hear your simple "fill" then the beat. This was a work around I used to do with my Roland drum machine, but the "fill" wasted limited memory space.

I was just going to say this. I presume that writing "intro fills" as 4 clicks or whatever will be something you could do with the software (or to be more exact, create a super simple MIDI file somewhere and make it your intro fill via the software). However, it would be nice if it were something that were a menu option (i.e., "Start song: click, fill, click + fill, neither") rather than needing to edit all songs.

 

[signboy]

wow, 7 pages of thread, and the BB has only been shipped to people who don't own a video camera? We want to see some real-life noobs jamming with this thing upon unboxing.

On another note, I finally had a look at the site, and saw that it supports odd time sigs. I need one now.

 

[Adamixoye]

wow, 7 pages of thread, and the BB has only been shipped to people who don't own a video camera? We want to see some real-life noobs jamming with this thing upon unboxing.

On another note, I finally had a look at the site, and saw that it supports odd time sigs. I need one now.

True story: I never do unboxing videos, but I was doing an unboxing video that was unwittingly interrupted by members of my family, to the point of being unpostable. And I didn't feel like faking a retry.

I fully intend to do SOME sort of video or clip at some point.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

Script for unboxing video: "Here is the box. Now I'm opening it. Here is the product. Cool." [Fade to black....]

(Our unscripted reactions by real-world bassists are worth a lot more than the schlocky crap produced by bedroom wannabees that's usually the lot of Utube.)

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

BTW, I've been flipping through a bunch of the samples and playing against them. Using my studio PA system to broadcast the BB. Can't say enough praise for the quality of these samples! Wow! And hey, what do you know - I haven't sworn once at my drummer this morning!

I can see where the software will be very useful for organizing what you'd use on a gig. Otherwise it would be a painful wait for the audience while you manually flip through options. (That happened to be the modus operandi for a jazz guitarist I gigged with in the past. It was painfully unprofessional and caused WAY too much time between songs as he struggled to find the correct loop.)

Also, I hooked up my Johnson FX-020 latching double foot switch that I bought for the BB last Spring. Configuration was a snap and it works perfectly. You must have a foot switch with the BB because it's the only way to instantly pause it - not to mention getting the ability to do accent hits. I'm sure the "official" switch is great but if you own a Johnson, don't bother buying the other.

 

[ArtechnikA]

Due to the General Perversity of the Universe Principle, ATC issues in ORD shut down air travel throughout the Midwest so I'm stuck in FtWayne another day...

 

[Downunderwonder]

I was just going to say this. I presume that writing "intro fills" as 4 clicks or whatever will be something you could do with the software (or to be more exact, create a super simple MIDI file somewhere and make it your intro fill via the software). However, it would be nice if it were something that were a menu option (i.e., "Start song: click, fill, click + fill, neither") rather than needing to edit all songs.

I asked for that kind of functionality way long ago.

 

[etoncrow]

There is a metronome sample which could be utilized for click intros

 

[NickDG]

Ordered a BB last week. Lol, I know, ships in October and I paid full boat (all of you in early can go ha, ha, now!) even though I did follow the original thread in real time. Which was kinda epic, btw.

Anyway, I've been struggling along with a Digitech BP50 which also features a "drum machine" with about 30 patterns. But changing patterns, tempos, or even volume is so complicated I always had to break out the manual (which is more convoluted than the thing itself) even though I've owned this box since the 1990s and used it a lot. So I'm really looking forward to something a bit more intuitive. Although in the BP50's defense - besides the fact I'll miss it in a strange sort of way - it does have the clicks . . .

 

[Marc61]

I definitely need to get my hands on one of these.....gotta be good for developing chops in all styles

 

[Adamixoye]

There is a metronome sample which could be utilized for click intros

That's a good point--I'm a little surprised I didn't think of that. Now we just need the software.

 

[Feral Feline]

BTW, I've been flipping through a bunch of the samples and playing against them. Using my studio PA system to broadcast the BB. Can't say enough praise for the quality of these samples! Wow! And hey, what do you know - I haven't sworn once at my drummer this morning!

I can see where the software will be very useful for organizing what you'd use on a gig. Otherwise it would be a painful wait for the audience while you manually flip through options. (That happened to be the modus operandi for a jazz guitarist I gigged with in the past. It was painfully unprofessional and caused WAY too much time between songs as he struggled to find the correct loop.)

Also, I hooked up my Johnson FX-020 latching double foot switch that I bought for the BB last Spring. Configuration was a snap and it works perfectly. You must have a foot switch with the BB because it's the only way to instantly pause it - not to mention getting the ability to do accent hits. I'm sure the "official" switch is great but if you own a Johnson, don't bother buying the other.

So, you're playing around with your Johnson and your Beat Buddy...

Joe King aside, to reiterate: I hope you use the BB on your winery gigs, post vids...

 

[Adamixoye]

Ordered a BB last week. Lol, I know, ships in October and I paid full boat (all of you in early can go ha, ha, now!) even though I did follow the original thread in real time. Which was kinda epic, btw.

Well, you asked for it!