Beat Buddy overview and review

[@lperry65]

Things you can’t do with the beat buddy, play a whole song, have a song stop at the end. Basically if you look at the premium song library which has a good selection and think we could use this in our covers band, don’t! This pedal is for guys that loop, it sounds good and has different drum kits and is in a convenient form factory for a guitarist, but is completely devoid of any of the functionality you need to just be the drummer. If your not into looping and constantly interacting with the pedal it’s a waste of money and will frustrate the crap out of you. If your a live looper and your into manually moving through all the sections of a song ( there can be lots of loops to a song) or want to “do it your own way” then you’ll probably love it. But if your looking to create a set list which it can do and then have it play songs from the premium song library for you to cover the song it doesn’t do that. There are hacks but it’s still going to need you to manually do stuff. I’m posting these comments because when I was looking I didn’t see any of this information and it would have saved me a lot of time, frustration and money, I hope this helps 🙂

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

Hello Lee! Thanks for commenting! You could play whole songs, but you have to stop the pedal manually or have it connected via midi if you want it to stop by itself. Ofcourse, the premium library brings whole songs, but you can also make them yourself in the beatbuddy editor! It’s not a hands-free drum machine, rather a companion that you have to guide, but if connected via midi, you can get countless options to not have to worry about controlling it!

[@listairgin]

Thank you so much for letting others know that this is no miracle tool. I really appreciate you commenting and letting us know about these issues. 🌠🌌🌅👍🏻

[@johnellis5820]

If you don’t want to interact, use backing tracks

[@lperry65]

@@johnellis5820 I don't like backing tracks, feels wrong. And when I bought mine SS advertised thay would be releasing the BB with auto pilot that would play the whole song, however they never released that feature!

[@tonybell9739]

I learnt absolutely nothing from this review....well done !!🥴

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

If you like wasting your time, make sure to like and subscribe🤠

[@crushedit1497]

learnt🤣

[@Keyboardman88]

I used to use two Roland CR1000 rhythm drum machines back in the 80's. I used the little square Roland foot switch to start, stop and for fills. It was quiet, no clicking or noise. I wonder if it could be adapted to the beatbuddy?

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

Singular sound has an external pedal that literally does that, however, it’s got a bit of a noise due to the springs. You can probably adapt a midi controller to that, not sure if you can adapt a footswitch from roland

[@Fremulshmat]

Hi…can you do a video showing how you integrate the beatbuddy with the loop pedal/recorder? Or maybe you have already done that….I had a quick look at your channel but I couldn’t see it. Thanks

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

Hey! As soon as i’m done with the move, sure thing!

[@garlicdawg]

does it do bass guitar...? looks like a guitar neck growing out the top of your head...

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

Yessirrrr, it does bass! And yeah, a guitar was growing out of my head, it's called instrumental synergy. I was taught how to do this by musical monks in Tibet. It's a wonderful process, really, makes you more in sync with the guitar gods and John Coltrane.

[@watson91299]

@@FrankoTorresMusic hahaha😂

[@Leslie-m9p]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@carlostriana1586]

Thanks, do you have this tutorial in spanish?

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

Saludos Carlos! Este en particular no pero tengo uno similar en el cual hablo de esto en español. Por aquí el enlace! Espero que sea de agrado kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYakcnuHdtaIoMk

[@carlostriana1586]

@@FrankoTorresMusic gracias, es que pienso comprar uno, pero quisiera tener mas informacion de lo que puedo y no puedo hacer...mil gracias de nuevo.

[@lowercentenary]

Can you for example become the drummer and jam for fun with a band using this? Using the presets I mean...

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

You can definitely do a bit with it! I’m not sure to what extent you can jam with it or trigger stuff. With 1 stomp you can do a fill or a transition and with the external you can do cymbal hits, accents and full stops. Maybe via midi you can program more sounds to jam out to a farther extent!

[@georgerose1315]

Only thing I don't like is that I can't slow down or stop the beat while playing guitar, for lack of a foot pedal.

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

You can stop it by double tapping it! As for the speed, you’d need midi for that.

[@georgerose1315]

@@FrankoTorresMusic what is midi?

[@monsterjazzlicks]

Franko - Correct me if I'm wrong, but I keep reading that you have to pay 250GBP to be able to access the full library of patterns? And that the manufacturer has deliberately pre-installed only a limited amount of accompaniments so as to force you into an after-sales corner!

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

They do sell the extra library but you can make them yourself on the software for free

[@monsterjazzlicks]

@@FrankoTorresMusic - Thanks, I took a look at the categories; however I am still really unsure about something?

[@monsterjazzlicks]

Would you be able to help with another question please Franko?

[@jaypoirier4216]

Personally I think the Areos and beatbuddy are so good I traded my headrush looperboard in for the singular sound set up. Wish I had started with the areos would have saved myself a couple hundred in trade ins. If you want to save money and frustration go this route

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

I completely agree! They work amazingly well together

[@robertmichalscheck3072]

What is Aeros?

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

The Aeros is the loop studio by Singular Sound

[@spacep0d]

The background music drives me up a wall. Gotta dip.

[@crushedit1497]

Following you ? i would get lost

[@brianmason9803]

If you are thinking of live performance in semi-loud situations the additional footswitch is fine. However, be warned, the switches make an awful noise. I would not take them into the studio for recording. Their tech man checked out my video and said that the level of noise was 'normal' for them. You can hear the clunk of the switch as well as the squeak of the spring, all amplified by the enclosure.

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

I agree, however; I’d say that’s more of a thing with the footswitch plus and the beatbuddy mini 2, which also has that same sort of button. When using those, you definitely need to be cautious with how you press them live. Honestly, I haven’t had this issue with the beatbuddy itself.

[@brianmason9803]

@@FrankoTorresMusic I agree, that main unit is fine. It's just the footswitch plus. I was shocked when their 'roadie' on customer service told me that they were 'all like that'.

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

I think it could be fixed with some rubber pads between the switch and the casing. Maybe to kind of adjust the pressure it receives? Not sure. But yeah, it does produce quite a click

[@brianmason9803]

@@FrankoTorresMusic I think I can hear a spring inside to return the switch. It would need to be changed. Also the case rings like a bell. I would need an insulating rubber inside. I could probably knock up something better in my workshop. But why should I need to when I have paid top-notch for just passive switches.

[@brianmason9803]

@@FrankoTorresMusic I don't buy a product assuming that I have to put it right before I can use it. It's not a pressure thing - just a noisy housing and heavy switch action. Any decent engineer could sort it out if Beat Buddy wanted to get it right.

[@daverheaume6596]

Hi Franko, i really wanted to hear what you were saying. I could tell you were knowledgeable, & interesting, but i couldn’t listen past 3 1/2 minutes. You don’t need any music loop behind you at all…… but especially at that level. This is the first post of yours i’ve clicked on, so maybe it’s a fluke. Either way everything other than the background music was great!

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

I appreciate you taking the time to actually give constructive criticism! As for the video style, if you see the newest content, it’s very different as this was recorded over 3 years ago :)

[@Boyerj87]

Is the drink drummer a required mention in these reviews? 🤔🤔

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

Short answer yes. Long answer Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees.

[@richardbrucemusic]

A review without a demo?

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

Hell yeeaaaahhhh, jokes aside, there’s 2 - 30 minute videos on my channel going on about the sounds on the beat buddy + tons of videos jamming to it

[@Youreout]

Can the background music; it’s very distracting!

[@Hundenminhelmer]

This was six wasted minutes in what one can use that frikn pedal to.

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

Thanks! Means a lot :D I did post another video on the beat buddy where I show the sounds in it if you wanna waste 26 minutes over there. In fact, you can also check out the other videos on my channel if you want to keep wasting your time.

[@Keyboardman88]

@@FrankoTorresMusic I think what he meant is: a lot of people, instead of doing useful demonstrations, spend a lot of time talking...not showing. I've seen far too many videos of the so called reviews...when the "reviewer apparently just likes to hear himself talk. All you need to do is be more organized.

[@thorvanleeuwen8430]

Pleeeease Quit the insane annoying background Music/noice. It takes away focus on what you are saying.

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

That was 4 years ago, if you watch the newest videos you’d realize a lot has changed since then :)

[@brianmason9803]

Still no progress on the rubbish footswitch for the plus model? So noisy it drives my audio engineer bonkers. Perhaps Beat Buddy just don't care about getting a good product.

[@FrankoTorresMusic]

The footswitch on the beatbuddy is great, at least my model feels good and isn’t much more noisy than any other pedal I own

[@brianmason9803]

@@FrankoTorresMusic I' talking about the remote switch on the BeatBuddy plus. The one on the main pedal is fine. If you have a good one, your're lucky - the one I bought last year clunked away making studio work impossible. After fifty years of making and using guitar pedals I have never come across anything like it. The aluminium case amplifies the click of the switch which is already noisy. I hope you have a better model, I told Beat Buddy about it but they have no interest in putting it right for their customers. Others will have to take the gamble and see for themselves.

[@Musecrafter]

@@brianmason9803 Solder in new switches. Should take care of the noise issue.

[@davidpetro3433]

El FS112b Behringer es el mejor footswich, el más silencioso de todos@@brianmason9803

[@TLMuse]

FWIW, two other Singular Sounds products suffer from the same noisy footswitch problem-the Aeros looper, and the MIDI Maestro MIDI controller pedal. When I first got mine, I'd heard about a noise problem, but figured I'd be able to cushion the switches or something like that. Alas, no; the noise is mainly internal to the switches. The original versions of these products had a truly BRAIN DEAD choice of switch. Singular's founder is an acoustic guitarist who demos the systems with an acoustic; how could he have let the products out the door this way? Well, in the last year or two Singular has released "Gold" versions of the Aeros and MIDI Maestro that are the same devices as the originals, but now with quiet switches. Well, fine, but what would have been the right thing to do was to offer some kind of trade-in for those of us who expected this from the beginning. They still sell the original models, which are just fine for non-acoustic musicians (where there isn't a mic recording in the same room as the device). They should have offered some kind of swap so those needing the Gold versions could trade in their original models for a credit on the order of the used price of one of these units. As of now, there does not appear to be a Gold version of the accessory dual footswitch. It is probably easier to mod than the other devices, though.