Axe-Fx Looper & Beatbuddy? (MIDI Sync)

S

Saul Delgado

New Member
Anyone using these two together? Is it possible to MIDI sync 'em?
I use a Beatbuddy and an Infinity Looper and it works wonders; however, It would be great if the BB could sync with the Looper on the Axe. That way I could just take my Axe FX + BB to the gigs. Anyone?
 
I have both and only recently hooked up the Beat Buddy to my VoiceLive 3 as a first step for a few acoustic gigs, but plan on setting up my AxeFXII and the beat buddy for a WAY better sounding setup...
 
Nothing yet... I used the VL3 with my BB and it worked great but I prefer the looper on the Infinity. It would be lifesaving if the Axe II's looper worked that way with the Infinity (MIDI Sync, recording starts on beat 1, both units run and stop synchronized, etc).
 
OH ya....the neglected looper block. I bought an XL over three years ago new from Fractal Audio. (cost me over $3300 bucks shipped to Canada! FAKMEGENTLY...LOL) Some of the main reasons for choosing the XL where for it's midi sync capability and built in looper. I soon discovered the looper block was not worth beans. It is not global and does not sync to midi. I thought that it would have garnered some attention with all of the frequent firmware updates. Unfortunately not. I don't use it at all and use Mobius as a vst with Ableton. Now that's a looper! It is great because I can use a VST drum machine and have the midi clock as master in Mobius sending tempo to Ableton drums and the Axe FX modulated effects etc.
Now they have moved on the Axe III and I do not see them ever making the looper block any more functional than it is now.
This is very unfortunate. The trouble with looper pedals is that it gets very costly to buy a good one with midi sync. This is changing slowly because of competition. Hopefully the next generation of pedals will routinely have midi sync capabilities for a reasonable price.
Beatbuddy is currently working on a looper pedal. I hope they make a looper/drum machine. But of course...it will probably be very pricey. If ther current drum machine was a more reasonable price...like about 50% less, I would own one. If you can get your hands on Groove Agent 2 VST and learn how to slave it to Mobius in Ableton you will reach looper Nirvana.
 
Same with the AX8. I always hoped for an improved looper block, but it never happened. I also own the infinity looper but I am missing the quantise feature and do not want to deal with an external midi master. Now I am using the footswitches of the AX8, wireless midi, small audio interface and my iPad and iphone with looper apps (Grouptheloop and Quantiloop for instance). Way more functions (eg loop A,B,C, D) than the infinity. This may be an option for you guys as well...
 
mobizoid said:
looper block was not worth beans
Click to expand...
I agree and understand your frustration entirely. Its unfortunate but true.
I think the Looper block limitations have been bashed more times than most, maybe second only to the pitch block not being polyphonic detection. There has to be a reason why it has not been vastly improved, I cant see how it could get neglected, the possibilities are massive with the processing power. I would like to have seen longer loop times possible certainly in stereo but even in mono. I would like to be able to store pre-recorded loops to be called upon with a preset/scene change.... I dont need 500 IR memory spaces or in-fact hundreds of amps. It would be nice to be able to pick and choose how you "load" the memory on the unit. So the user can decide how much memory is given to a certain use..... And then "chop and change" as you go, downloading from file (or something similar) when you feel the need to re-arrange your own piece of kit.
Hoping the III Has a vastly improved Looper....:)
 
Yeah, looper could really use some improvements.
I wish they added midi sync and also changed the Once bahavior. Once should retrigger the loop. Now it only retriggers if the loop is stopped.
 
Hi guys, am I mistaken in that the AX8 CANNOT midi sync with the Beat Buddy?
I am thinking of investing in the BB and it seemed to me that it should be able to be the midi master to sync to AX8 as slave.
I'm doing solo acoustic gigs and all I really want to do is add the BB for percussion / grooves. Of course the loops need to be in sync and I need to start / stop with one device (the BB). I don't even expect to change patches as I can get by with more than enough FX on my acoustic including a boost with one patch.
I don't really want to add the complexity of a software rig like Ableton right now.
 
Gasp100 said:
Hi guys, am I mistaken in that the AX8 CANNOT midi sync with the Beat Buddy?
I am thinking of investing in the BB and it seemed to me that it should be able to be the midi master to sync to AX8 as slave.
I'm doing solo acoustic gigs and all I really want to do is add the BB for percussion / grooves. Of course the loops need to be in sync and I need to start / stop with one device (the BB). I don't even expect to change patches as I can get by with more than enough FX on my acoustic including a boost with one patch.
I don't really want to add the complexity of a software rig like Ableton right now.
Click to expand...
The Looper is simple and was not intended to be a full replacement for something like the Infinity Looper or RC300 etc. I recommend the Infinity Looper - Pigtronix worked directly with BeatBuddy for Sync and other integrations.
 
Hi guys ! Some news about this feature ? Is it now possible to sync the beatbuddy with Fractal looper now ? I tried but did not succeed
 
Timetofly06 said:
Hi guys ! Some news about this feature ? Is it now possible to sync the beatbuddy with Fractal looper now ? I tried but did not succeed
Click to expand...
The Axe-Fx II doesn't transmit MIDI clock, rather it receives. So if you can send from another device to the Axe-Fx II it should work. I sync my Axe-Fx to Ableton Live's master tempo on occasion and it seems to work fine.
 
Hi man ! Thanks for you post.
I connected the midi cable ( out from beatbuddy FM3 input) and set the good channel. I was expecting that the FM3 general tempo would sync from the Beatbuddy BPM but no way.

So I checked the Beatbuddy signal with MidiOX. Here is the display on the attached file. Signal seems to be ok according to the beatbuddy midi settings (sync signal=always, same channel on two sides (Channel 4))
Curiously, I noticed that the channel is not filled. Maybe that the issue ?

My goal is to sync the Beatbuddy with the FM3 looper. ( I also activated the "Loop Quantize" option on the FM3 side). Does someone succeed ?


EDIT :

It works like a charm :D I found the issue from an other post ( Looper timing issue)

On my FM3, I previously assigned a hold function to the play/stop button on my FM3 in order to call back a previous menu when I was working on the layouts. On FC/Edit menu, I set the hold function to unassigned related to this buttton ( and the 2 other by the way), and it works like a charm !!!

Also, don't forget to activate the loop Quantize option in the loop block parameters. By default, it is not activated.
 

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Timetofly06 said:
Hi man ! Thanks for you post.
I connected the midi cable ( out from beatbuddy FM3 input) and set the good channel. I was expecting that the FM3 general tempo would sync from the Beatbuddy BPM but no way.

So I checked the Beatbuddy signal with MidiOX. Here is the display on the attached file. Signal seems to be ok according to the beatbuddy midi settings (sync signal=always, same channel on two sides (Channel 4))
Curiously, I noticed that the channel is not filled. Maybe that the issue ?

My goal is to sync the Beatbuddy with the FM3 looper. ( I also activated the "Loop Quantize" option on the FM3 side). Does someone succeed ?


EDIT :

It works like a charm :D I found the issue from an other post ( Looper timing issue)

On my FM3, I previously assigned a hold function to the play/stop button on my FM3 in order to call back a previous menu when I was working on the layouts. On FC/Edit menu, I set the hold function to unassigned related to this buttton ( and the 2 other by the way), and it works like a charm !!!

Also, don't forget to activate the loop Quantize option in the loop block parameters. By default, it is not activated.
Click to expand...
Hi!
I am trying to do the same thing with a Beatbuddy to my FM3 but I am not having any luck. By any chance would you be able to explain to me in layman's terms how you hooked everything up or point me in the right direction. I understand things technical but I don't have any experience with MIDI.
I have the beat buddy midi going to the "IN MIDI" of the FM3 and loop quantize "ON" but is won't sync.
Anyway that you could help would be awesome.
TIA!
 
Hi

Make sure to have the last firmware on both side.
Make sure to have the beatbuddy midi cable and insert the "out" cable connector on the FM3 'in' midi port (recheck to be sure)
You have to set the same channel on both side

On BB Midi Out :
- Midi Sync : always
- Output type : merge
- time signature : sysex

On FM3 :
- loop Quantize option in the loop block parameters.
- Again, same channel as the BB


To check : Press "Tempo" button on the FM3
If sync is ok, you'll get the same value as the BB, and if you turn the "Tempo "Button on the BB, the corresponding FM3 tempo value changes

If it doesn't work for you, use an USB Midi interface, connect it to your PC and Beatbudddy and check the correct output signa with Midi-OX software
 
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After frustration with the BeatBuddy and the built-in looper (and a couple of other standalone loopers) I but the bullet and got the Aeros and Midi Maestro. Not cheap, but it just works . . . .
 
Previously, I also make it work with a ditto x4 looper. My goal was to make the beatbuddy works with the fm3, so I spent some nights to make it work. I can certify that fm3 turbo works perfectly with a beatbuddy. First thing to check is to be sure that the beatbuddy correctly generate the midi Sync signal. Then try with an other midi Sync source signal linked to the fm3. Once it's done, there is no reason to not make it work with BB and FM3. Hope you will succeed
 
Timetofly06 said:
Hi

Make sure to have the last firmware on both side.
Make sure to have the beatbuddy midi cable and insert the "out" cable connector on the FM3 'in' midi port (recheck to be sure)
You have to set the same channel on both side

On BB Midi Out :
- Midi Sync : always
- Output type : merge
- time signature : sysex

On FM3 :
- loop Quantize option in the loop block parameters.
- Again, same channel as the BB


To check : Press "Tempo" button on the FM3
If sync is ok, you'll get the same value as the BB, and if you turn the "Tempo "Button on the BB, the corresponding FM3 tempo value changes

If it doesn't work for you, use an USB Midi interface, connect it to your PC and Beatbudddy and check the correct output signa with Midi-OX software
Click to expand...

Timetofly06 said:
Hi

Make sure to have the last firmware on both side.
Make sure to have the beatbuddy midi cable and insert the "out" cable connector on the FM3 'in' midi port (recheck to be sure)
You have to set the same channel on both side

On BB Midi Out :
- Midi Sync : always
- Output type : merge
- time signature : sysex

On FM3 :
- loop Quantize option in the loop block parameters.
- Again, same channel as the BB


To check : Press "Tempo" button on the FM3
If sync is ok, you'll get the same value as the BB, and if you turn the "Tempo "Button on the BB, the corresponding FM3 tempo value changes

If it doesn't work for you, use an USB Midi interface, connect it to your PC and Beatbudddy and check the correct output signa with Midi-OX software
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for your reply! I will setup in the morning!
 
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