Hello! I’m researching more ways to play with (drum) backing tracks (with and without a looper, something I’m really warming up to as. a practice tool for both bass and gasp guitar). Looking for simplicity, doesn’t need to be overly full featured (something like tap tempo is nice to have though). I want to have fun while practicing.
So far I’ve used, or considered:
backing tracks from YouTube (through line in or BlueTooth) - works, but not 100% ideal for me (a tempo change is searching for a new track and there is real danger of going down a YouTube rabbit hole); can loop tracks in the YouTube player but it’s not ideal
using my e-drums kit - total flexibility of course, but not sure how I would loop this (Roland TD-27, doesn’t seem to have a loop function or I’m overlooking it so would need to feed it by line out into the looper somehow and somehow control it (my M-VAVE Chocolate BT/USB midi pedal??)
some kind of drum machine or drum pedal - seems an interesting option, drums don’t have to be the highest fidelity since it’s just practice; there are so many pedals out there though, any specific recommendations? Beat Buddy came up a few times but at 300ish EUR it is also a bit on the expensive side.
I’m trying to focus as much as possible on practice so as straightforward as possible; the more that can be done with a switch, click, turn of a knob the better. Trying to stay away from apps. I have a simple Ditto looper and a very similar Lekato one so a looper is not 100% required (but I guess it integrates well).
What is the usual approach taken for playback of drum loops, either separate or together with the bass guitar? Monitors or using the fx loop of the amp (if there is one, my amp doesn’t)? I have a Boss Katana 100 that doesn’t see much use and could work in a pinch as a backing track speaker.
I’ve found a few recommendations like an Alesis drum machine here but a lot of the threads are 3-5 years old so maybe there are more up to date options. Thanks
The Ditto+ might be up your alley. It has a way to import files and plays them back integrated into the loop function. Video example here. There’d be more work in getting files/exporting to the device, but at least the distraction via Youtube rabbit hole is gone.
It depends on if you want something for bass practice or making music. For bass practice, something like a Beat Buddy will be fine. For making music, you’ll want a dedicated instrument (either hardware or software) and the options are quite different (and range from free DAW builtins to $1k+ drum sampler/sequencers and drum synths).
The latter work fine for bass practice (and are what I use) as well but are overkill just for that.
@lvl4goblin Thanks for the suggestion! That would work to get me away from YouTube! Still I’d like a bit more flexibility and even more straightforward.
Doing a bit more research and being able to change tempo, drum kit or rhythm with a simple dial is the kind of ease I’m looking for. @John_E@howard Thank you for the recommendations as well! Looking for a practice tool indeed. No expectations of recording quality drums.
It seems a drum machine, pedal or looper with drum machine is what I’m looking for. Maybe not so much an actual drum machine or drum synth, those look like fun too and that could be a distraction from practicing stringed instruments
I think people like it for its form factor and simplicity. It is indeed extremely expensive for what you get in terms of raw capability (i.e you can get much more capable drum musical instruments for less), but none fit right on your pedal board in that form factor with a UI tailored for instrument practice.
Hey @maarten yes the full sized pedal is expensive. I’ve 4 years and at least an hour a day on it.
It sounds great, real drum samples are used to make the beats and here’s the important thing. It has a dial to allow you to set the tempo.
Many of the cheaper units have tap tempo. Which is OK but if you’re working on a song at 114BPM that’s what you want not an approximation.
Don’t know if Flamma etc do a dial and readout to give you the BPM.
Also the beat Buddy 2 is smaller, much cheaper and equally as good.
Currently half price at $149. That’s a good deal vs $400 for the big pedal.
My opinion is that playing with a drum pedal every day for the last 4 years has made a huge change to my playing. Having a dedicated pedal right there vs diving into a DAW works for me.
This is such a fundamental feature that I would consider any drum machine that did not have a direct tempo control (and also sync to MIDI clock, for devices with MIDI) to be a literal toy.
Here’s our band’s current set list @maarten and my low tech solution. Plug in my bass, dial in the tempo for the song i.e. Blame Brett @158bpm, press start on the pedal and go. Less than 30 seconds and I’m practicing.
@Barney s reco on the smaller one is a good one as well.
I wanted the big one to add libraries to, etc. and was more focused on jazz then rock, as I play sax and it is invaluable for that. Now I am learning guitar and am using it a lot more than I used it for bass, it just feels better, and will most likely use it more for bass (I generally practice along with a song vs. drills for bass, but drills it is for guitar right now). Sadly, it does not work well for banjo, no drums in bluegrass
Thank you @Barney and everyone for the feedback! I definitely feel it will benefit practice in many ways.
The Beat Buddy mini 2 looks good and is more reasonably priced (seeing it for 143 EUR). No MIDI though - would you reckon that as very important? The “full” Beat Buddy has it (but gouges you for another 20 EUR for what looks to be a 50 cent MIDI cable ). I imagine it makes it easier to work with loopers if you can start/stop and keep sync, but it doesn’t feel like a dealbreaker having to use a separate pedal for looping. No experience with this though so I could be missing the point entirely.
So far it looks that either the Beat Buddy Mini 2 or the Digitech Trio+ would be the best option. The Trio+ seems a bit more versatile, has separate dials for everything from tempo to style, but is also twice the price. But it can get repetitive from what I’m seeing on YT, while at the same time making it impossible to get the exact rhythm you want since it generates them on the spot: https://www.thomann.es/intl/digitech_trio_band_creator_trio+_trio_plu.htm
Did you mean 200 €? I bought a BeatBuddy 10th Anniversary for 349 €. The Mini is 143 €.
Mine’s on my desktop, not on a pedal board. There are several reasons I spent the extra money, but the most useful one for me is the multiple outputs. I use a cable with a stereo 1/8” to dual mono 1/4” plugs connected directly to Inputs 5 & 6 on my DAI. In Gig Performer, I route those outputs to a mixer widget along with the stereo output of AmpliTube, and route the stereo output of the mixer widget to my DAI’s mains. Works great. Beats the b’geezus out of using a metronome and improves my ability to lock with a drummer (virtual at the moment, but hopefully one day with a real one).
Sorry for the confusion. 20 EUR for the MIDI cable, on top of the 349 EUR for the unit itself (and another 41 EUR for the footswitch), so if you get the complete package it will cost 410 EUR which seems expensive. Having multiple outputs certainly makes it more flexible though and the videos I´m watching do make it seem like a very user friendly device.
Ah. Got it. I didn’t need the footswitch since I was going to hand-operate mine on the desktop, and I have way more cables than I’ll ever need, so I dug one out from 1 of my 3 cable drawers.
The drum sounds are definitely better from the Beat Buddy than from what I’ve heard from Boss or Digitech, which is nice. I also like how the screen on the (full) Beat Buddy shows its state and where you are in a bar in a very intuitive way, have to check how that is on the Mini 2.
edit: also seeing that having looper and drums sync through MIDI so that the loop has a length to fit the tempo is really neat
Okay so this is cool - the “full” BeatBuddy has a library of tracks for songs that you can add. I think this is what @John_E referred to as libraries? That sounds like it immediately makes it a much more useful practice tool. Can’t find one second hand on eBay.es or the local pages so far though
Also seems a BeatBuddy 2 is around the corner, or already available in US even.
In the completely donation category, one of the bass buzzers put this together a few years ago.
I also use the beat buddy mini as practice metronome. The knobs click as you turn them so it’s very easy to reach up and dial up the tempo when working up to a speed. For me it’s worth the price on sale for tactile knob feel and drum sample quality.
Thanks Dave - grooveful.io looks good actually, just really want something hardware based. I’ve gone back to using pedals over apps, it’s maybe less flexible but for me it works better. Another the vote for the BeatBuddy then listened to YouTube demos both the Mini 2 and the regular one sound good and are very easy to use.
Do need to decide whether I want MIDI for better looper integration. Unless it’s in front of the looper I expect sync will be hard; but having it there renders a lot of the features of the pedal useless, once the loop has started. It would be the looper playing back the drums, so no fills, changing it up or moving to another part of the song. That drives up the price quite a bit though, the Mini 2 is 143 EUR and the regular one is 349 EUR (plus a MIDI capable looper, my basic ditto is not). I’m not using such a function today but I can certainly see the appeal of using a looper (really starting to enjoy that) with a good drum machine.
I’m researching more ways to play with (drum) backing tracks (with and without a looper, something I’m really warming up to as. a practice tool for both bass and gasp guitar). Looking for simplicity, doesn’t need to be overly full featured (something like tap tempo is nice to have though). I want to have fun while practicing.
). I imagine it makes it easier to work with loopers if you can start/stop and keep sync, but it doesn’t feel like a dealbreaker having to use a separate pedal for looping. No experience with this though so I could be missing the point entirely.