SDRUM "learn" mode works quite well with proper palm muting technique & having at least some modicum of rhythm when using the touch pads. Not to mention you had it in 3/4 while attempting to program a 4/4 beat. (Sorry dude, but ya said it yourself.... You "weren't very good at this".) I've demo'd both of these out of curiosity but don't have either unit so I’m not partial one way or the other nor trying to justify a previous purchase when I say there is no "vs" here ... These are two different types of machines, both of which have their own applications, strengths, & weaknesses. It's up to the user to determine which one is right for him/her.
So...pay 3x the money for canned beats that need complete planning and forethought for using (BB). Or, pay 1/3 the money for the ability to interact with a massively powerful drum engine (SDrum) that can instantly get you the groove you're looking for (without scrolling through and auditioning endless preprog beats). (But can also have presets) {{This alone is worth the money. Have an idea? On SDrum you press a couple of pads with your hands (the strumming version is admittedly less reliable) and you've instantly got your groove. On a BB you have to scroll through the voluminous menus of pre-programmed beats to eventually get one NEAR your idea - and by then your idea is gone. }} If you like preprog - the SDrum can do that with 36 saved beats. If you like fills and crashes the SDrum can do that with the FS3X footswitch. This reviewer is tragically UNDERinformed. The use-case is the key. For carefully constructed, fully programmed, no variation, hey I'm a karaoke guy experience, the Beat Buddy is king. For catching a groove, and jamming - or instantly adding drums to a song idea - or having the ability to alter the groove elements (like cymbals, and groove intensity, and whatnot) in real time - PLUS being able to do the BB karaoke thing for 36 tunes ---- well, the SDrum is the King. (You might have to work at it, and RTFM - which the reviewer didn't do - but it's worth it.) It's criminal that Digitech got bought out and shelved when they were making such groundbreaking devices that still haven't been surpassed years later - even by the BB.
im pretty sure you only strum the bottom and high E strings, not all the low and botyom end. Maybe strumming multiple strings confuses the algorithm hence why it hasnt got a clue what you're doing. and yes, having any kind if drumming rhythm helps. its useless if you cant even make the simplest of beats
Ok three things, first off the rhythm you tapped out wasn’t a consistent speed or pattern, it essentially took a bunch of random hits and attempted to create a coherent beat which would have been near impossible even for an actual drummer to play. I appreciate you’re not a drummer but basic 4/4 timing and subdivisions are a fundamental requirement for any instrument including guitar playing also use the built in metronome if you struggle with tempo. Second you say there are no real time fills etc for the sdrum, there totally is! Just like the beat buddy there’s an additional foot switch which has three separate configurations allowing crash cymbals, fills, stops, selection of hat patterns, intensity levels and different song parts (up to three) all controllable. Third and I appreciate that sound quality is subjective and the beat buddy is considered very high quality in this regard but if you run the sdrum in stereo into a full range speaker and properly eq it. It definitely rivals any drum machine on the market for sound! I can see the beat buddy is your favourite and that’s allowed but you’ve misrepresented the sdrum here massively!
Of course the SDRUM is not nearly in the neighborhood of what you tapped because you were nowhere near a decipherable rhythm. You have to at least be "close" to the meter for the quantization to work correctly.
You must read the manual. By the way, there is a pedal to play along with the sdrum. Compare a criative pedal (sdrum) with a kind of tape record, doesn't seems too klever. Another tip: if you use a radio, you've got even better sounds that on the beatcrapybuddy.
I'm a "regular" guitar player which means I would have at the very least decent timing and do a exponentially better tapping or muting the strings to get a good pattern down. Dude it looked like you wanted to make the SDRUM look terrible. If that off sync happened to all the SRUMS sold then why are people still buying it and like it? I was hoping to get instructional insight on the pedal, what a big fat fail the vid is lol. Hey people check out this other video for the truth. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NksfYpX393k.html
After the test of Time - there is no comparison. The Beatbuddy is far superior. (I think this was the last DigiTech pedal they made which was kinda sad. After all, the Digitech RP7 was the first AWESOME multi effects unit I ever owned.
The Beat Buddy IMO...Is an Amazing Pedal for any Level guitar player, have tried others but the Beat Buddy is so easy and convenient to use, Just Love this pedal!! I do alot of Original music and now using this pedal for some of my (Jams / Recordings) Great Sounding Quality too. Here's one of several songs Instrumentals I've done using the Beat Buddy. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hoPdcVvy3Ng.html
You have to have at least a little rhythm if you’re gonna use sdrum both are great what one won’t do the other will I have both you are only limited by your music abilities and tech ability !!!!
I watched this video some time ago(a month, maybe months) I finally got it and he's right. Many, many times I try to play the drums using the strings and it's iffy. It'll play both kick and snare. So, it can be difficult "getting into it" you know, the rhythm of things. I love my digitech 350rp. Been a fan for over ten years, even bought a second one. And I'll be a fan of digitech forever. I'll just have to wait until they make the right adjustments for the Sdrum. Another issue is the lack of a proper rpm. I need to know what the bpm is and not need to guess! Lol I'll try the other pedal next.
Can the beat buddy change style and beat without falling out of time, phrase, or stopping? Any drum machine is useless without the ability to do this in my opinion. I was surprised that the company would not anticipate this very basic ability in a pedal that costs $300???? It's got all the bells and whistles, but cannot do the basic switch up of the styles while staying consistent in timing, Tempo, and phrase
you can add drum rolls when you want them with the sdrum also and pause when you want, it just takes a little while to learn all the features of it..the beat buddy is alot better sounding and has more features by far tho..
I've had the Beatbuddy for 4 years now, and I'm still very happy with it. I've expanded it, which made it even more awesome. It's like a sober drummer at the ready whenever you want. 😉
Yeah, I got the premium library stuff too, the sound is incredible! And I love the Beatbuddy's sobriety function when you're missing your drunk drummer :-D
Have you been able to get it to change style of beat without stopping or falling out of timing and phrasing? I purchased it for a while and thought that it would be able to switch beats without stopping but for some reason could not figure out how to accomplish this. I ended up returning it but I would love it if it was capable ofselecting a completely different beat and seamlessly going in and out of any you want
I don’t think he is operating the SDRUM as he should plus he has a freakin acoustic. An electric guitar would have a better input than an acoustic because of the pickups. But I must say beat buddy is way better.
I don't think it would make a difference - at the point of the pedal it is only an electrical signal, regardless of whether it originates from piezos or coils. As most piezos come with an active pre-amp, that could actually result in a bigger signal which would be easier to analyse.
Beat buddy is for people that want pre made or pre programmed music with software Sdrum is live create on the fly different show every night. In fairness the foot switch would have expanded its usefulness. It seemed like you were trying to record your drums instead of set a basic beat then change parts with the optional foot switch I.’m thinking of buying a drum machine that will sync my jamman solo xt I also don’t want it on the floor so FS is a must thanks for taking the time to make this
Very good video, thank you. I too am a guitar player and have little skill in tapping out beats. Even though the Sdrum is less expensive, in the long run, you get what you pay for and I could see myself being frustrated trying to deal with a "moody" pedal, regardless of the saving in money. I am buying the beat buddy. Thanks again
Excellent that you showed how long the digitech takes to get the beat memorized and ,"sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't' so, not good for a live gig. Yes, Beatbuddy does sound better and seems more user friendly. Thanks for a great review!
He really didn't help himself by using an acoustic guitar and being really bad at using drum pads. "I'm bad at using this pedal so they have a lot of work to do."
what I DONT like about Beatbuddy is: I set it to Rock drums ........playinG metal style and theres 12 metal beats to choose from & everytime I choose the next metal beat, it automatically swicthes my drums to Metal drums......... and wont let me continue to use Rock drums in the metal beats, so I gott amanually get it back to Rock drums each & everytime. Its Soooo very annoying.
If you use the Beat Buddy editor software you can the edit the drum set for each beat. Alternatively if you disable the default drum set in settings, the BeatBuddy won't change the drum set when you change songs.
Someone at Digitech needs to be sat down and schooled about what musicians really need. I bought the Band Trio, thinking I could use it live and it's just too limited. Nothing more than a practice tool and things like Garage Band are better, so what's the point?
Hey Brian, and anyone else, hope you get this in time. If you go to the Beatbuddy website, they're having an extended 15%-Off Cyber Monday (2018) sale all this week on all of their products. The full Beatbuddy is also normally $299, so the sale price is $254.15, & the footswitch is $41.65. They've got all sorts of extra downloadable rhythms and drum sets, including all sorts of world & latin percussion.
Beat buddy not the same tool. It can't do a custom beat in 10 seconds and be up and going. If you want to wade through menus or use preprogrammed patterns you could use the 300 dollars and get a real drum machine.
I've noticed over the last couple years that everybody under 30 on RU-vid/etc. can no longer pronounce the 't' or even as a softer 'd' sound in the middle of words that have a single or double 't' in them. But, why this is happening in America, I have no clue. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard 'button' pronounced 'buh-in' by twenty-somethings on here. What are they teaching kids in schools today? I guess I'll just have to blame the communist, liberal, sjw's. Sure, it must be related.
@@subtlemusic It's the glottal stop...a gift from England. No need to thank us. Annoying isn't it? I noticed your kids can't say "Innerned" properly. <Smirk>
With the BeatBuddy, you can go to the next song in your set list by pressing the right external footswitch. You can make complete setlists of your songs with all the settings as you like them so you don't need to bend down at all during a performance
SDRUM is kind of old school drum machine. Lot has happened in the area of beat automation in the past 15 years, and more thought can be incorporated to better its usability
Except that the sdrum was released in 2017 and the tech it uses to translate guitar scratches into kick and snare in real time is brand spanking new as well. I'll admit the adjustment settings could be viewed as old school in that they dont have too many options but that's presumably by design since it's meant to be used In live settings on stage. Beat automation has come a long way in 15 years, and this pedal is right at the forefront for something you can plug a guitar into. If you want something with more thought towards better usability you're better off with a straight up drum machine.
I'm a big percussion guy so I love checking out these new gadgets. I thought the SDrum seemed cool until I tried it. I kept encountering glitches and even when it did function properly, the sound quality with the SDrum was pretty poor. I bought the Beatbuddy about a year ago and only have good things to say about it. Sound quality is excellent and the functionality is seamless with the Beatbuddy. I'm sticking with Beatbuddy nation!
Same experience with a small MOOER Micro Drummer pedal - it doesn't help a lot, you can only STAY CALM MAZAFAKA and adjust yourself to his drumming styles and possibilities.
