Singular Sound introduces BeatBuddy, a dedicated drum machine in a straightforward pedal format.
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The idea behind this pedal is to provide guitarists, bassists and keyboardists with an easy to use drum machine that can be operated handsfree, and can be easily integrated into existing setups.
Although there are multi-effects pedals that incorporate basic drum machine functions, they don’t offer the same control and features as tabletop drum machines. This prompted the Singular Sound team to design an easy to use and operate drum machine in stompbox format.
What they developed was BeatBuddy, a compact pedal that offers real-time hands-free control of beats to complement songs, designed for solo players, singer/songwriters and music educators.
This pedal comes pre-loaded with 10 unique drum kits and includes more than 200 verse/chorus beat progressions in a variety of styles. If that is not enough, or you want to customize your beats, you can use the accompanying PC/Mac interface software to customize your beats and load up to 32GB of additional content to the pedal via the SD card.
The pedal is designed to let your feet control fills, transitions from verse to chorus, and you can even add accent hits such as cymbal crashes and hand claps to create an unprecedented live drummer effect. Other features include tempo adjustment via a knob or tap tempo, hands-free song advance and tap tempo control, MIDI sync for integration with MIDI-based devices, a headphone jack, mini USB connection and a full stereo sound.
To get the drum sound quality right, Singular Sound partnered with GoranGrooves Studio to create content using professional recording equipment, session players and high-quality drums and percussion. In addition, MIDI beats are not quantized and each drum
is multi-sampled at various dynamic levels to get natural sounding samples. Future enhancements will include new beats and drum sets in both free and premium content packages, along with a forum that will allow BeatBuddy users to upload and share their custom beats and drum sets.
BeatBuddy achieved full funding of its Indiegogo campaign target within a mere 20 hours. BeatBuddy inventor David Packouz had this to say: “This is the most successful crowd-funding launch for a music accessory product to date. The results of this campaign prove that there is a real demand for a simple, user-friendly product that sounds great and does what no other device has done before.”
This upcoming pedal is expected to have a street price of $350 when it becomes available around August. Indiegogo supporters who helped with the funding can get the pedal for just $199. This discounted price is only available to the first 2,000 and it closes on February 4, 2014.
For more information head over to My BeatBuddy.
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