BEATBUDDY USER MANUAL FIRMWARE V2.0.
BEATBUDDY USER GUIDE FIRMWARE V2.0.4 UPDATED MANUAL REACH US! Support@singularsound.com 305 - 809 - 6698 We love to help! :-) To check the Firmware version on your BeatBuddy, press the drum set and tempo knobs down at the same time and select ‘About BeatBuddy’. Don’t have the latest firmware? Download it here: https://singularsound.
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction Understanding the BeatBuddy (BB) 2. How to Plug in Powering and connecting the pedal to everything 3. How to use Navigating content, controlling the beat, and visual display 4. Tips and Tricks Take your BB to the next level 5. BeatBuddy Manager Software Download and create content 6. Settings Functions, from defaults to the footswitch 7. MIDI Sync Everything you need to know 8. Technical Support Solutions and help 9. Technical Specifications 10.
FIRMWARE INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS • Once you have downloaded the firm ware, unzip the file. • You will see 5 files: app, app.bin, boot. bin, MLO, and MLO.bin. • Insert SD Card directly into your computer. • Drag the contents of the firmware folder directly onto the SD Card (the first window when opening the SD card drive on your computer). • If you are prompted to skip or replace certain files with identical names, click Replace.
CHANGE LOG View all firmware change logs: https://singularsound.com/firmware/ 2.04 FIRMWARE I NEW FEATURES Settings Menu Improvements New Settings Menu Help System • Look for the (?) symbol next to a menu option • Press the right arrow button to highlight • Press the Tap button to see setting option explanations Change The Font Size • (Settings > Font Size) • Default font size is now large when entering the Folder/Song selection window via the footswitch.
Use the Footswitch as the Main Pedal: Use the BeatBuddy on a tabletop (or keyboard) height. Set one of the footswitches to act like the main pedal (Settings > Footswitch > Function > Main pedal) Note: Latching footswitches can’t be used with the main pedal option. A momentary footswitch is required. All Singular Sound Footswitches manufactured after May 2015 are momentary.
New Accent Hit Options: • Global Accent Hit: A single sound triggered with any song or song part you are in (as opposed to the Default Accent Hit which is a sound set to the • Choose from all the Accent Hits available on the SD card and any WAV files added in the EFFECTS folder of the SD Card. (Settings > Footswitch > Accent hit > Source) • Accent Hit Volume: You can now adjust the accent hit volume! Accent volume can range from [-40db, + 6db], Default value is set to 0db.
Cue Fill Options: We formerly used a percentage based cue fill period system (if you have it, then you have an older version of the firmware), and some users have said that the fills sound smoother if they start on the next half beat (1/8th note), next beat (1/4 note) or next measure rather than immediately when the pedal is pressed. So we have added these options. Default is still Immediately.
MIDI Command Change: When unpausing with drum fill (by tapping the main pedal), the MIDI “Start” message is sent after the completion of the fill and the main loop begins. This means that the looper only begins playback after the fill is complete, which is a more accurate representation of what usually happens in a live performance. Technical Improvements: • Increased the Polyphony from 24 to 64 simultaneous instruments.
Bug Fixes: • Fixed Midi Note In Problem. (Under some circumstance, some MIDI note received in the MIDI in port were retransmit on the MIDI out port even if it was set to MIDI-OUT. • Added quick release to reduce “clicking” sound when removing sounds (when max polyphony is reached) • Fixed release buffer coefficient calculations. • Fixed midi merge sync bug.
1. Introduction Congratulations and thank you for purchasing your BeatBuddy! What it does BeatBuddy is the world’s first pedal drum machine that enables musicians to easily control the beat hands-free. Just by pressing a pedal, you can start a beat, insert fills, transition from verse to chorus, throw in drum breaks (pauses), trigger accent hits such as hand claps or cymbal crashes and more! It is the closest thing to having a real drummer.
Content format The BeatBuddy is a MIDI based drum machine. The beats in the songs are MIDI files. MIDI files are like musical notes on sheet music, which tell the musician what to play on an instrument. The drum sets on the BeatBuddy are collections (libraries) of WAV sound files - which are recordings of the actual drum sounds. The MIDI files trigger the WAV files in the drum sets.
Please note: Not all beats and drum sets sound good together -- it may sound strange to play jazz beats on a heavy metal drum set -- or it may sound cool! You decide. Please Note: There is one exception, and that is the Latin genre/drumset. The Latin genre is exclusively compatible with the Latin drumset, and vice-versa. We occasionally have some library content that also is mapped to the Latin drumset (e.g.
Content Organization The BeatBuddy’s beats are organized into ‘songs’, each comprising ‘song parts’ (such as verse or chorus). Each song part has a main beat loop, an accent hit and multiple fills associated with it. When transitioning between song parts, the song parts are played in order until the last song part is played, and then it goes back to the first song part. The entire combination of songs and drum sets on your BeatBuddy is called an SD Image and is all stored on the SD card.
What the BeatBuddy is Not The BeatBuddy is not a traditional drum machine: Drum machines have traditionally been used to create beats. The BeatBuddy is a performance tool, and cannot be used to create beats. New beats can be created on the many beat creation software programs available (such as Guitar Pro, Cubase, ProTools, GarageBand, Ableton, EZ Drummer, etc.) and loaded onto the BeatBuddy with the BeatBuddy Manager Software (available as a FREE download at myBeatBuddy.com/downloads).
The BeatBuddy is not a traditional effect pedal: Unlike other effects pedals, the BeatBuddy is not intended to modify your instrument’s sound. It has input jacks only in case you want to put both the BeatBuddy and your instrument into the same sound system without the need for a mixer. The beats are not changed by your instrument’s sound. No instrument needs to be plugged into the BeatBuddy for it to work normally, so the BeatBuddy can be a stand-alone tool used by any musician.
2. How to plug in. Power The BeatBuddy uses a 9V 500mA center-negative power supply. If you use a power supply of more than 9V or plug it directly into AC power you will destroy your BeatBuddy, and your warranty will NOT be valid! This would be painful for everyone - especially your BeatBuddy. Do not do this! The power supply must have a minimum of 300mA (0.3 Amps) for the BeatBuddy to turn on. More amps won’t harm your BeatBuddy.
Using your pedal board’s power supply If you would like to use your pedal board’s ‘octopus’ power supply (a single power supply that powers all of your pedals), make sure it is 9V and center negative (most are) BEFORE plugging it in! To calculate if your pedal board’s power supply has enough Amps to power the BeatBuddy, add up all of the Amps that your other pedals require (usually written on the bottom of the pedal. Remember: 1000 mA [milliAmps] = 1.0 A [Amps]) and add 0.
there isn’t enough power available. PLEASE NOTE: Plugging the BeatBuddy (a digital pedal) into the same power supply as analogue pedals (most effect pedals) can cause noise interference in the analogue pedal sound. If you experience this, please use a separate power supply for the BeatBuddy. SD Card All of the BeatBuddy’s content (beats, drum sets) are stored on the SD card. The SD card must be properly inserted into the BeatBuddy for it to work.
Sound System BeatBuddy can be used without an instrument plugged into it. It will produce sound whether an instrument is plugged into it or not. The input jacks are there in case you want to put both the BeatBuddy and your instrument sounds into the same speaker without the need for a mixer. The BeatBuddy produces ‘line-out’ level analogue sound, similar to a standard music player or computer headphones jack. You can plug the BeatBuddy into any speaker system that accepts 1/4” (6.5mm) or 1/8” (3.
stereo system is ideal (you can plug the BeatBuddy’s headphones port into the Aux input on your home stereo or guitar amplifier, if it has one). Many electric guitar amps and bass amps are not full range speakers (they clip off the higher frequencies), so they muffle the BeatBuddy’s sound. Acoustic guitar and keyboard amps are full range. If you’re not sure if your amp is full range, listen to the BeatBuddy on high quality headphones to compare.
If you have the BeatBuddy plugged into an amp, any effects on the amp will affect the sound of BeatBuddy (unless the BeatBuddy is plugged into your amp’s AUX jack, then it is fine). So if your amp’s distortion is on, the beats will sound distorted. It is highly recommended to have your amp set to a ‘clean’ neutral tone for the best sound and use other effects pedals instead of the amp’s effects.
This will also allow you to enjoy the built in effects of your main amp for your guitar without affecting the BeatBuddy’s drum sounds. One additional issue that may arise from using the same amp to play your guitar and the BeatBuddy’s beats is that on some amps, the sound of the bass drum will cause the guitar to tremolo, or waver, a bit to the beat. While some people love this effect -- if you would like to reduce it, lower the Bass (Low) setting on your amp.
3. How to use the BeatBuddy Visual Display: The BeatBuddy uses a first of it’s kind visual display to show you what is going on with the beat. It uses color codes to show what part is being played. The dark bar is the Visual Metronome. It shows where the beats is in the measure. How many movements it takes to cross the BeatBuddy’s screen depends on the time signature of the beat. If the time signature is 4/4, there are 4 beats in the measure and so there are 4 movements to cross the screen.
Visual Display: Type of footswitch: It is highly recommended you use the official BeatBuddy footswitch (sold separately), since we designed our footswitch to withstand the heavy use of a BeatBuddy performance. If you are not using a BeatBuddy footswitch, make sure that the footswitch is compatible with the BeatBuddy and that the BeatBuddy is configured to the type of footswitch you are using.
To configure the BeatBuddy to your footswitch, press the Drum Set and Tempo knobs down at the same time to enter the Settings menu. Select ‘Footswitch’ and then ‘Footswitch Detector’ and follow instructions. The BeatBuddy will save your settings, so you only have to use the ‘Footswitch Detector’ again if you use a different footswitch.
4. Tips and Tricks • Want to know which beat to use with a particular famous song? Or would you like to find a custom beat made just for that song? Look it up on the our BeatBuddy Tools page! • Navigate through settings, folder and song lists quickly by turning the Tempo knob. Pressing the Tempo knob selects an item and pressing the Drum Set knob exits the current setting or folder.
• Starting a song with a double tap will play just the outro fill and end the song… when only a single fill is required! • If the song or drum set name is too long to be displayed on the screen, you can see it scroll again by pressing the Drum Set or Tempo knob twice. • Hold the Tempo or Drum Set knob down to set the default tempo or drum set (respectively). So if you like a certain tempo or drum set for a certain song, you don’t have to adjust it every time you select that song.
• To navigate between folders hands free, set one of the footswitch buttons to song advance or song back. Pressing once when the song is stopped will go to the next or last song in the folder, holding the footswitch button down will exit or enter a folder. To select a song in the folder, press the main BeatBuddy pedal. • You can load a rimshot sound (‘ba dum tss’) or the sound of applause into the first accent hit of a song, and use it as comedic relief in a show.
If you think of a cool new tip or trick, please share it with the BeatBuddy community at myBeatBuddy.com/forum. Thanks! :-) 5. BeatBuddy Manager Extra content can be downloaded from the BeatBuddy Online Library at myBeatBuddy.com/library or from the user forum at myBeatBuddy.com/forum. BeatBuddy Manager software (available for free download at myBeatBuddy.com/ downloads) will enable you to manage BeatBuddy content.
To use the BeatBuddy Manager software with your BeatBuddy, you can either connect the BeatBuddy to your computer with the included USB cable (make sure the SD card is properly inserted in the BeatBuddy), or put the BeatBuddy’s SD card in your computer’s SD card reader. Then when you are finished, insert the SD card back in the BeatBuddy. 6. Settings To enter the Settings screen, press down on the ‘Drum Set’ and ‘Tempo’ knobs at the same time.
Tip: If you are unsure what a particular setting does, press the right arrow button (next to ‘tap’) to select the ‘?’ and press ‘tap’ to see a short explanation. Press the left arrow to exit the explanation. Settings Table of Contents: I. Sleep Mode II. Footswitch III. Main Pedal IV. Font Size V. Sobriety VI. About BeatBuddy VII. Restore Default Settings I. Sleep Mode - This puts the BeatBuddy in a low power state -- wake it up any time by pressing any knob, button or the main pedal.
II. Footswitch • Footswitch Detector - Detects the type of footswitch that is plugged into the BeatBuddy. Use this whenever using a new footswitch with the BeatBuddy or if your footswitch doesn’t seem to be working correctly (such as it only works every other press, or triggers a command on both the press and release). • 1st Footswitch Function - 1st = LEFT button, 2nd = RIGHT button.
• 1st Switch Stopped - The function that the 1st (left) switch will do when pressed while no song is playing. • No Action - Nothing happens when pressed • Accent Hit - Triggers a single sound that is set for the song part that is currently playing. If a song is not playing, it will play the accent hit of the first song part in the song.
• 1st Switch Playing - The function that the 1st (left) switch will do when pressed while a song is playing (including when it is paused). • No Action - Nothing happens when pressed • Accent Hit - Triggers a single sound that is set for the song part that is currently playing. If a song is not playing, it will play the accent hit of the first song part in the song. • Pause/Unpause - Pauses and Unpauses the beat. • Tap Tempo - Sets the Tempo beats per minute to the speed that the switch is tapped.
III. Main Pedal • Intro - What happens when a song is started. • Enable: Plays the intro fill for the song, if present • Count in: Plays one sound for each beat of one measure and then starts the first song part beat. • None: Immediately starts the first song part beat. • Outro (Double Tap) - To enable or disable the BB’s default double tap to play the outro. Some users accidentally hit the double tap, so would prefer to disable this.
• Default Tempo - When enabled, it will automatically load the saved tempo for each song. But if you know the tempo of a song you want to play but are searching for the best beat, select ‘Disable’ so the tempo doesn’t change every time you change the song. Tip: To change the default tempo of a song, press and hold down the tempo knob. • Enable/Disable • Default Drum Set - When enabled, it will automatically load the saved drum set for each song.
• Mute Pause - When enabled, mutes the beat while paused. To be used if the BeatBuddy is 'Slave', controlled by an external MIDI clock. • Enable/Disable • MIDI-Activated - Mute Pause is automatically enabled when BeatBuddy is acting as Slave in MIDI Sync • Main Pedal Unpause - What happens when the main pedal is pressed while the BeatBuddy is paused • Tap - While paused and the main pedal is tapped (pressed quickly). • Intro • Fill • Hold - While paused and the main pedal is held down.
• MIDI Messages - Please refer to our MIDI manual. • Cue Fill Period - Controls when the fill is triggered after the pedal is pressed. Please note that even when set on 'Immediately', if you press the pedal in the last half beat of the measure, it will play the fill in the next measure, because it's very unlikely that you want less than a half beat fill, so you probably pressed it too early.
• Triple Tap Stop - When enabled, allows the function of stopping the song immediately with a quick triple tap. • Enable/Disable • Release Time - Period of time over which the BeatBuddy fades out a choked sound (advanced feature). • 0ms - 250ms • Visual Metronome - Sets when the Visual Metronome (the moving bar on the screen) is active.
IV. Font Size- Sets the text size of the content and settings menu • Normal/Large/Extra Large V. Sobriety - Makes the BeatBuddy play like it's been drinking! Great for practice for those real life situations, or just to make your friends laugh :-) • • • • Sober Tipsy Drunk Wasted VI. About BeatBuddy - Unique BeatBuddy ID number and current firmware version VII.
9. Technical Specifications Dimensions: 5" long x 3.5" wide x 2.5" high (127mm x 86mm x 63mm) Power: 9v DC, 300mA, center negative Output Impedance: ~26 ohms Input Impedance: > 1Meg ohms Max Input Level: 3.
10. Warranty Your BeatBuddy comes with a full two year warranty on parts and workmanship from the date of purchase. During this period we will repair or replace (at our option) defective units free of charge. Most issues can be solved by writing to us at support@singularsound.com or call us at 305-809-6698 If we cannot help you fix the problem, we will have you send the BeatBuddy in for servicing. The warranty remains valid only if the serial number on the unit is not defaced or removed.
Thanks for reading the manual! If there is anything you don’t understand, or think that can be explained better, please contact us at Support@singularsound.com 305 - 809 - 6698 or visit the BeatBuddy Community Forum at http://forum.mybeatbuddy.
