Boss RC-5 Looper & BeatBuddy Midi Synchronization

The Boss RC-5 Loop Station & The Singular Sound BeatBuddy drumpedal can be synchronized by Midi. I show you how it is done and start some funky bass-looping afterwards.

[@gorillaTOP123]

Got the RC-5 for Christmas - ordered the BMIDI 1-35 from Sweetwater for ~$16 and the Beatbuddy cable through 3rd party vendor through Amazon for ~$26 + shipping. Followed your instructions and Bam!!! I was off to the races... The Beatbuddy synced perfectly and I'm able to loop along with it. Thanks again for the insight and video showing how it is all done. Had been looking for this info for a while and wasn't able to find anything online until I landed on your post. Kudos!!! 🍿🍿🍿✝✝✝

[@jwcbronski]

Glad I coul help. Have fun!

[@JohnKenneymusic]

Great Video thanks was helpful I was wondering how to dink drum machine and looper together to work in time. Thanks again great bass playing to!

[@jinjxmusic]

Thank you for posting this. I've owned just about every looper over the years. I have an RC3 on my "aux" board and hoped the RC5 would take the best of a few worlds. I was disappointed when I was unable to really sync anything and there weren't a lot of videos or manual hints to get it right. I have another "big" board with an Alesis SR16 sync'd to a Ditto X4... and while that "mostly" works, I'd love to try this set up where I could get a more simple drum interface with the benefits of MIDI 2.0. I still have the cable - I need to get the additional cable and see if I can get this going. Thank you again for the insight.

[@jwcbronski]

Thanks for watching and good luck with your setup.

[@ralphchavez6025]

thank you for your help.

[@alvinjamesa6394]

Thank you for your help. After trying your method, I noticed that I would rather like the opposite, I mean, that the beatbuddy define the tempo. So I just invert in and out on both side and it runs fine. My preset in the beatbuddy are "master" and the looper is "slave". Moreover, if i stop the beatbuddy with the outro break, the loop stops too.

[@jwcbronski]

I tried that too but my loops sounded a little distorted or "wobbly".

[@x2mars]

Thanks!

[@lakelandschoolofmusic]

Great video! When the beat buddy and Rc 5 are synced, is there a way to start the beat buddy without recording a loop so I can listen to and play along with the beat for as long as I want to, and then loop the beat and the instrument I’m playing whenever I’m ready? I’m currently only using the RC-5, and I like to start the beat first and play along with it until I find a groove I want to loop, and then I press the record loop button on RC5. I’m wondering if I can do the same thing with best buddy and rc5. I don’t play cover songs when I play, I write and loop music spontaneously and then improvise over the loop, so it’s important that I can hear and play along with the beat first, without being in record mode, and then engage record mode when I’m ready. Thanks!

[@jwcbronski]

Yes you can do. Go into your Beat Buddy Settings -> Main Pedal -> MIDI Settings -> MIDI-In -> System Realtime and set Start & Stop to off. Now the Beat Buddy only starts & stops when you press it's main pedal.

[@lakelandschoolofmusic]

Thank you. When I do this, can I have the beat buddy going to it’s own mixer channel, and my guitar chain plugged directly into looper, and going into its own mixer channel, that way the beat buddy beat is not actually being looped, but the guitar is being looped, then I can add fills or alternate beats from the beat buddy, while my guitar loop is playing on a separate channel in sync with the beat buddy? Thanks, and sorry if that question is confusing.

[@jwcbronski]

@@lakelandschoolofmusic Yes, that's the way I do it.

[@lakelandschoolofmusic]

Awesome! Last question… do you typically end the loop by stopping your rc-5? And will stopping the RC5 trigger the outro, or do you trigger the outro by pressing the beat buddy, then trigger the stop by pressing your RC5? Either way is it pretty easy to trigger an outro and stop the loop in sync so it ends smoothly? Thanks for all your help!

[@jwcbronski]

@@lakelandschoolofmusic Yes, I trigge the outro on the beat buddy and then stop the loop on the RC-5.

[@staffa74650]

Thank you ! Your vidéo is very helpful ! I have a question please : do you have to set the boss rc5 and a the beatbuddy everytime you plug them and switch them on ? Thank you

[@jwcbronski]

Hello, yes both pedals will keep their settings when you turn them off.

[@Mrgatuso1970]

Hello . I bought the two cables and when I connected them, the two arrows or the symbol of being synchronized via MIDI do not appear next to BPM. Do I have to update the filmware of both devices? Regards, and thank you very much (google traductor)

[@kcatal1]

Hello and thank you for this video. I have the boss RC300 and the beatbuddy. The RC300 controls the beatbuddy and I would like the reverse because when I trigger the RC300 the beatbuddy automatically triggers but I would like to start a song without drum beats at the beginning. Thanks for your help

[@jwcbronski]

I don't think that you can use the RC-300 as a MIDI slave. I've tried it with the RC-5 and it basically works but the playback of the recorded loops is kind of distorted. Sounds like the playback-tempo is slighty changing. However you can go into your Beat Buddy Settings -> Main Pedal -> MIDI Settings -> MIDI-In -> System Realtime and set Start & Stop to off. Now the Beat Buddy only starts & stops when you press it's main pedal.

[@Paulmccarthy6801]

I have a 505 loop station I hooked everything up it’s all working. The only issue I’m have is my guitar volume that comes out of the looper is lower than my guitar when I record into the looper can’t figure out why. If you can think of anything please let me know thanks.

[@svenscheil902]

Hi, great video. As I tried to connect SDRUM to a looper I've learned that there are MIDI to TRS A and B versions of this adapter cable. Which one are you using?

[@BrentODell]

The official Boss adapter is the BMIDI-5-35, and that appears to be Type A.

[@jwcbronski]

@@BrentODell Yes, that's the adapter I'm using.

[@stevemay8443]

Does this work if i have a different time signature?

[@JesseFragale]

Why when I reverse this the beatbuddy doesn’t start the looper when I click the BB

[@benallmark9671]

I’m a fairly new guitar player and have already purchased the RC 1 & 5 and waiting for the headrush looperboard and the beat buddy. I’m not exactly tech savvy so I’m thinking I might cancel or return the looperboard and just use the same set up you have. I did get the looperboard used at half price but I can see me being overwhelmed by it. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[@habi986]

those are great sounding drums, do they come wiht the BB? I have a RC5 and a RC500 but find the drums on both too "stiff"

[@jwcbronski]

This ist a custom drumset I created using Superior Drummer 3 Samples.

[@mixermantim]

my pedals work together but the rc will have a tempo of 67.3 and the bb will have 67bpm. my loop always ends up getting out of snyc

[@jwcbronski]

The Rc-5 has to be the master and the BeatBuddy hast to be the slave. It doesn't work the other way around.

[@Melory378]

Thanks for the video. Can you tell me the name of the cable you connect to beat buddy?

[@jwcbronski]

Singular Sound BeatBuddy Midi Adapter

[@Melory378]

Дякую! Далі знайду!

[@jwcbronski]

@@Melory378 Gern geschehen!

[@DylanMcCurry]

Do you run the output of the rc-5 instrument into the beatbuddys input? Or do you have a dedicated speaker for the beatbuddy?

[@migbassrocha]

That's a good question, have the same doubt

[@cmooretfs]

just ordered both and have the same question, for solo shows I use a Bose L1 Pro and would love to tie the rc-5 and beatbuddy all into one channel

[@JamesDLattimer]

Anyone know if you can start the beat buddy drums first and then play and add a loop later in the song bringing drums in and out by using the beat buddy switch?

[@jwcbronski]

Go into your Beat Buddy Settings -> Main Pedal -> MIDI Settings -> MIDI-In -> System Realtime and set Start & Stop to off. Now the Beat Buddy only starts & stops when you press it's main pedal.

[@JamesDLattimer]

Thank you 🙏! 😊

[@Dobroz99]

Thank you! So can you use the beat buddy into or is that automatically cut out when you sync? Good video!

[@jwcbronski]

I'm not sure what you mean.

[@lakelandschoolofmusic]

Hi, I finally got everything set up as you showed in this video, but I’m having an issue when looping over a beatbuddy loop that is in a different time signature other than 4. I’m trying to record a loop over a flamenco rhythm in 6/4, and it’s not syncing correctly. I have the loop setting in rc5 set to “free time” and still no good. I don’t have to have the same time signature set up in RC5 do I? Seems like I need to change a setting somewhere but not sure where. Any ideas?

[@lakelandschoolofmusic]

Upon further review, I find that if I loop one full measure or any number of odd measures over a 6/4 beat, it doesn’t sync correctly, however if I loop two measures or any even number of measures it does loop correctly. I think it’s because any amount of even numbered measures is divisible by “4”, and the empty RC5 loop I’m recording into is set to 4/4. I plan on using all kinds of odd time signature beats within the near buddy to create loops with, and I really don’t want to be restrained by keeping track of how many measures of 4 I have to record to stay in sync, or have to create and switch between separate presets on the rc-5 that each have a different time signature set. I could easily enough do the latter option, however I’m not even sure if the RC 5 has all the different time signature variations that the beatbuddy has. I really wish there was a way to sync by tempo only and have the freedom to play any time signature I want. Please let me know if you find a work around. Thanks!

[@jwcbronski]

You have to set the same time signature on your RC-5. Press the Rhythm ON/OFF Switch for more than 2 seconds, then navigate to BEAT.

[@lakelandschoolofmusic]

@@jwcbronski thanks! I did it and it works good. It's a lot of bending over during sets but oh well. Thanks!

[@jwcbronski]

@@lakelandschoolofmusic These settings are saved with the individual memory patches.

[@lakelandschoolofmusic]

Yes that’s true. So I will just have to manually scroll through patches on the rc5 anytime I pull up an off time signature on the beatbuddy. Not ideal, but totally doable. Have you gotten into creating custom playlist folders in your beatbuddy? I saw where beatbuddy just released a software management website where supposedly you can upload, edit, and organize songs in you beatbuddy. I definitely want to tackle that next, creating some custom folders with setlists. Any tutorials on that topic? Love the Buddy!

[@johnnorland5177]

Hey, wait. The tutorial was good but you play great! Will you be in my band? Please?

[@jwcbronski]

Hi thanks. What kind of music do you play?

[@LazloWeedOfficial-mt8go]

@@jwcbronski kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpCbnYmua5ecb68si=KxQALLvN51LIPpnO

[@gnawbabygnaw]

I’m 2 for 2. Watched 2 videos on how to do this. Two Different things. Maybe a third will be three different discrepancies. Enough to make a preacher cuss.

[@victory6422]

Am “Super Diapointed” that you “Did not” use the mic on the looper. Horrible presentation.