Fantastic review. I was a very early adopter of BeatBuddy, and unfortunately now can't afford the aeros.... The most killer feature of BeatBuddy in my opinion is how it times fills. The fills automagically vary in number of bars in such a way as to always land correctly on the one. That small feature - which really isn't small - told me how the device had clearly been conceived by musicians with performing musicians in mind. You're right that it's way more than an overpriced drum machine.
I shouldn't have smoked, come across this product, then this review, then this comment and then have looked up what for a person makes such good stuff. Dude *what a life* you've had
I'm currently using the Beatbuddy, 3 MIDI Maestros and the Aeros. One MIDI Maestro controlling the Beatbuddy, a 2nd MIDI Maestro controlling the Aeros and the 3rd for changing patches on my Integra 7. This is by far the most capable looping system available in the known universe! I will be posting some videos as soon as I master this new setup.
@@matthewharrison7868 thanks to Singular Sound! David and the crew offer the best customer service and they keep updating the firmware to make it better. Thanks for subscribing!
For what it's worth to you, I was researching hardware loopers was equally compelled by the Aeros, stumbled on this demo and you're the first musician I've heard use it whose music I actually enjoyed. That's not to say that the other musicians weren't good, they were great, they just weren't playing anything interesting to me. It was all showy solos and technique peacocking, very little actual creativity, atmosphere, feel, soundscape and grass roots songwriting. So you've done more to sell me on this thing than any of the sanctioned, vetted and sponsored guys did. For that, I'm subscribing. PS I'm a source audio guy too and I've been using an old Roland Midi control that once belonged to the Doobie Brothers LOL. Thing is wrecked. I've been looking for one with digital readouts so I dunno, maybe I too am out 1350?
I didn't realized I was on x1.5 time speed until the Stevie Wonder part, and have to say, the first improv sounded great that way! A great mishap. The second improv, I honestly I want it to available to buy. Keep doing great stuff
Not sure if you'll see this Benn, but figured I'd shout it out in case you're reading -- a few friends of mine doing server hosting at home have taken out Comcast business lines with Gigabit down and up without too much trouble. They don't actually run businesses and have been able to just setup arbitrary LLCs to meet the requirements. You likely have a much more legitimate claim to a business line, and I'd explore that avenue. This may depend on area, but that's where I'd start looking for more upload bandwidth.
WAIT!!! What!?!?!?! You play a guitar upside down lefty!!! 🤯 I thought that was the thing of myths only. Watching you play it fluidly is breaking my brain. I realize its not a stretch to imagine that like most things it just takes practice, but I've never actually seen anyone do it.
My first ‘looper’ was a Roland Chorus echo, which was neat but I didn’t like the sound of tape hiss, so I replaced it with a Digitech Echo Plus, which had the ability to do an 8 second loop, sounded great, but the minimum loop time was too long, so I had to get a second delay for that. This was when Reagan was still President, or maybe early Bush Sr. Spent the next 30 years trying to figure out how to find a looper that could beat synch well, could do the basic things I want. I find it so amazing that there’s really just nothing but crap out there. Take Ableton’s Looper, for example. There’s no wet/dry feature. How amazingly lame. What I finally got to work was using Reaper’s ReaDelay, and Reaper’s JS volume plugin in front of it. I built a controller using TouchOSC (OSC, not MIDI, because with MIDI, you can’t zero out the feedback.) The JS volume is set to zero. When I want audio to go into ReaDelay, I shut off the JS volume. This works pretty well. I usually use 4 loopers at once. Each can have it’s own length. I still have to use a mouse to change the loop length, but that’s not so bad. In Reaper, I have a track template set up with the mapping ready to go. I’ve also been playing with the Super 8 looper that is part of REaper, and.....well.....it’s, um, okay I guess. I’m still riding it’s learning curvecoaster.
Good to see you had a good experience with the Aeros. I was scared off buying based on some early bad reviews regarding bugs in the firmware. Ive been using my beatbuddy with the boomerang 3 which works pretty well considering how old it is but an upgrade may be in order now that it looks like they’ve worked out the kinks on the Aeros.
I recently switched from the Beatbuddy and Boomerang III with the Sidecar. I now use the Beatbuddy, 3 MIDI Maestros and the Aeros. It's hands down the best looping rig available. I will be doing some videos of the gear in the near future, ...still getting used to it.
I also picked up a Headrush and had to return it after a wasted weekend trying to get it updated. I'm quite interested in this looper. Thanks for the video.
"Really nice guys!" Now that's great sarcasm guys! Rick Beato has also talked (ranted?) extensively about the people that aggressively work to get videos removed even when the videos are promoting the performer and could be introducing a whole new audience to their music. Rick recently testified before the Senate on Blockers. He's all about fair use and the end of zero tolerance to stop blocker's tactics. You need to watch Beato's, How Does a 39 Year Old Song Top the Charts Again? (Rant).
I have an FCB 1010. The firmware chip isn't soldered in as far as I've seen. I've taken the back off mine and a friend's, and they both had DIP sockets. Either way, you don't need to buy a Eureka PROM or whatever if you have firmware 2.4 or greater. As long as you have 2.4 or higher (of the official firmware) you can use FCB 1010 Manager to write a program to it using a MIDI SysEx message. I use the FCB 1010 to control clip / scene looping in Ableton for my live stream.
BRAVO; splendid performances :) Hearing you covering Stevie I was thinking you'd probably make more busking in Chicago than if you were playing at the Green Dolphin or something.
Hey Ben, would you consider ding a video on how you play the guitar. I'm a lefty and have been lucky enough to play lefthanded guitars but what is it like to approach the strings inverted. Thanks
Thank you for putting together this video! Ive been using the Beat Buddy for over a year now with a Boss Looper, and frustratingly after every loop rotation, the timing gets a little more off beat. Did you ever find that this was the case with the Aeros Loop Studio? Thanks!
Nice review, Lovely playing and sounds, glad you didn't go down the beat boxing route...nice to see something a bit different (Improvised Song #2) ***** :)
If you were integrating a guitar pedal board, but you also wanna have midi keys like a novation what would be the most ideal way to route? I’m making the assumption that a DAW would be required. Let’s say Ableton.
The morningstar mc6 is an awesome companion to the aeros especially with the current beta which adds much needed solo and mutes i was looking for when i originally bought it (i told myself this was the last piece of gear i would purchase that was promising future updates). No regrets except for the war mongering which i just found out about ughh.
i saw that same concert and had the exact same reaction, whole thing is nuts. e: since im the first comment can i ask a question?: we both play left handed but I had to stop playing with the normal string set up (upside down etc) because i found it really hard to make chords ring out or do any sort of fast picking especially on the higher strings. When you initially started playing did you find it to be a hinderance or have any people try to teach you to learn "normally" at all? it made reading notation and tabs super easy but doing anything else with that sort of configuration made me want to kill myself
I'm a Lefty as well. I tried to play right hand when I first started as I was using my dad's Eighty, TELESTAR Guitar. Playing Rhythm just felt too awkward for me, Right Hand, so then I played it flipped over Upside Down, and I could play some that Way. Then I changed the Strings to Lefty, and this Before I knew anything about INTONATION etc., but I could tell something was Off. That made start to learn how a Guitar works : Action, Intonation, Pickups. I saw a few other Lefties who played upside down and could do it well, mainly Blues Players - but that just didn't work for me. Eventually I went thru a Series of Cheap Guitars, either Converting them to Lefty, or a few Cheap Lefties, still there were issues, with them. It wasn't until I Graduated High School, that I finally got my first, Pro Lefty Guitar, a CARVIN DC SIX, if I remember the name correctly. It was Sweet. But I admire your Creativity. Go with Whatever works, For You. 😉
I've been using the BB with a Ditto X 4 for a few years connect the 2 together with the lead to hold time and it's everything I need usually with covers etc. Great theve bought out the new brushes beats as an acoustic player
Amazing, just came across your Chanel, today. If you were marking it for simplicity what would you give it out of ten? How soon can you get to grips with it? I would love to drop you a mail, I write and sing and want a looper. I was pretty amazed by the 9500 specs, and the mixing capabilities. I think it’s by TC Helicon, question do you know of it and what’s your opinion please, does this floor it?
have been sitting here watching looper videos for the past 4 days deciding what to get next and all i want is a pedal that i can pre determine the loop length in bars (so i dont have to rely on my terrible timing). i just dont know if thats possible with anything other then a daw (wanting to get away from the computer obviously) and even been looking at hardware samplers, nothings cutting the mustard
I am on the verge of ordering one, but just saw a video by the Ricky Tinez guy who claims that this looper doesn't send midi clock upon closing the first loop. Have you tried the having it as the master clock?
Hi Benn :-D I have a question, I found a problem, yesterday I tried to plug the Aeros into the Beatbuddy input, that I would try the headphone output. The problem, the sound of the drums and the Aeros loops are loudly loud. The volume of mixed sounds and Beatbuddy fluctuates. The signal is OK to the main OUT Beatbuddy outputs, I can hear it via the sound card to the stereo amplifier. Please explain why this is happening. Why is there a big problem with the Beatbuddy headphone output. The sound of the drums decreases the volume of the Aeros with each beat, so that the headphone output is unusable for eavesdropping on both mixed signals, the volume of the Aeros decreases and increases. And it has no effect when I disconnect the OUT L / R cables from the main Beatbuddy outputs. The sound is only problematic in the headphone output. Can you please check if you have the same problem with volume fluctuations in the Beatbuddy headphone output? I asked the manufacturer directly, but they haven't had enough answers yet. Thank you for the advice :-D
Curious if midi sync can be achieved with the Beatbuddy, Aeros and a multi effects such as headrush gigboard so that the time based guitar effects automatically allign with the bpm of the Beatbuddy?
As of 10/26/20, the MIDI Maestro is still a paper weight. I own all three units. The Maestro was supposed to receive the software that allowed it to work in March of 2020...no dice. Another case of “lets release the unit and fix it later”. Whats more, Singular Sound favors using the one button Beat Buddy as the master controller when paired with the Aeros. I’d rather my looper tell my drum machine what to do. Singular Sound claims it works bi-directionally, but I’ve not found that to be the case.
I don't think you have to solder the Behringer, you just change the EPROM. Or am I missing something? Also, Keith McMillen makes a great MIDI foot controller, but maybe an overkill if you only want to do looping.
This is interesting. I have been considering a looper in place of dedicated recording software. I had been using Boss BR1180cd recorders (because of their ease of use) but in time the hard drives always seem to crash and and I lose everything, plus 16 bit rate recording is not ideal anymore. Could something like this be used for idea storage, or even full song storage? I'm a bit hopeful.
I like my Aeros, but the company has serious problems. There are some basic functions like import and some midi functionality that are missing. Also, I later realized I was literally supporting a war profiteer by buying this pedal ( see the movie War Dogs).
I honestly didn't know the connection until getting yelled at about it in DMs from people this morning. That being said, the CEO having a partnership for Guitars Over Guns should be a good indication that Singular Sound's heart and profits are in the right place in 2020. Everyone deserves a second chance. 🤷♂️
Also, if anyone knows the correct format to import songs, please let me know. The manual explains the naming convention, and it must be 24-bit wav, but I keep crashing the sw when I load the song.
I have to say the drums sound fantastic. I have the boss rc10 and the drums sound awful. Love the loops. Good video! Subscribed. My Boss pedal is going on ebay!
Whoa whoa whoa....back it up. I love your somewhat cynical reviews, but perhaps you’ve missed some MAJOR flaws in the Singular Sound eco system. First off, the Midi Maestro is NOT a fully programmable MIDI footcontroller...not yet. It ships with a few basic BeatBuddy and Aeros controls and an “download new firmware” prompt. This new firmware has been promised since March....crickets. Then there are major issues with Aeros. Aeros should be able to control BeatBuddy, but instead we have to control Aeros with the Beatbuddy’s limited one foot switch (or 3 if you have the external foot switch). I think the looper should be the brain. The Aeros has limited MIDI receive messages....like criminally limited for a unit that has a sister device that is a MIDI footcontroller. Go to the forums....my complaints are mirrored by other veteran looper/MIDI nerds. The Aeros has loads of potential. I was an early investor in the BeatBuddy. I actually use it as a sound engine on an electronic drum kit, or to use with the UNO drum sequencer. But the company is not supporting the Aeros that much and has basically told us early investors of the MIDI Maestro to “wait for it to actually work”. The best looper is still the 2000 Electrix Repeater. It’s Ableton in a 4-track box. If you have one, and sent it to Condor Electronics for V2 firmware....you’re golden. The crappiest part about that box is trying to find a fast/compatible 64 MEGAbyte (not GB) CF card. The damn looper will record your crap and do live time stretch to sync it to your MIDI. Nothing (except Ableton Live) does that. Singular Sound rolls out new Led Zep sound packs for the BeatBuddy, while ignoring the folks that bought Aeros and Maestro. A pretty sh#tty business model.
I'm using the beta firmware for the Aeros and it seems to fix some of the things people were on about in the forums. I can't really attest to the MIDI Maestro delays, but I'm willing to give them some slack given the state of things since March. Compared to the Headrush looper they're still releasing functional products. I had an Electric Repeater! Although I never had it modded. Honestly it's one of those things where I'm just like...come tf on lol. I went the Octatrack and Akai Force routes as well and somehow both companies managed to make it impossible to do any functional layering. But with my setup I usually have master clock elsewhere, so I don't mind the one-way syncing that exists in its current state with the Aeros. To each their own, of course! 🙃
The Elektron Octatrack does timestretching and pitchshifting on its 8 stereo tracks with 2 effects processors on each. It has full midi control plus parameter automation. But it's big and not a pedal. Can be used with midi pedals, though. Oh and it has four outputs and four inputs. I think one big lost opportunity with these looper pedals is the lack of extra outputs. For my use, not being able to process loops further means you are stuck with static loops and that's boring. But then, I am not a guitar player. I do weird electronic sounds.
Stephen Harrell yes...and it (the 2000 Electrix Repeater) is literally 20 years old. The Aeros is supposed to “eventually” have the same functionality. But Singular Sound has been less than responsive on their promises. The MIDI Maestro was debuted in at NAMM 2018. I received my Maestro in Jan 2020...granted its C19, but coding is one of the few jobs you can do from home. The Maestro is a paper weight (I bought the Morning Star MC8). The Aeros is cool, but SO many buggy issues...like I can’t access greyed out menu items. All in all....a rushed hardware release and lagging firmware updates.
Korhan Erel I actually bought an Octatrack AND an MPC Live, thinking that I could use MIDI commands to control them via a footcontroller, live, for hands free looping. They both have a time compression/expansion algorithm, but you have to change the “sample type”. The Octatrack is designed for “hands on”. The MPC Live has been a joke until version 2.8. Its finally living up to its hardware...like the MPC 1000’s JJOS. Neither the Octatrack or MPC Live should be considered as a “looper” in this context.
A rig rundown of your looping set up would be awesome, do you use an external mixer before getting into the looper ? Is there an Fx loop on the looper itself ? Gorgeous track the last one
Can your setup reproduce an actual song like loops for intro, verses, bridge, and outro. Say, some thing like Boston’s More Than A Feeling or Paul Simon’s The Boxer or Fleetwood Mac Don’t Stop?
Hello brother I have the three. I play the beatbuddy by midi maestro star play and the looper recording but docent recording the beatbuddy on the looper any help thanks
Ben thats really crazy, because i could tell almost the same story. I had a vhs from that concert and Jacos loop performance had huuuuge impact on me too! I was 10 years old at that time and i was dreaming about to have that cool unit too.
Nice offering. I can see that the Aeros does very well along side the Beat Buddy. I am waiting as patiently as possible for the software to evolve as it is not useful for live performance in free form mode. I have the Aeros and the potential is keeping me from returning the unit but as of now it is sitting idol in my equipment arsenal.
First heard shadows and light freshman year at berklee ‘87, just after finding Pat Metheny and starting on that discovery. Such a great time in my life and so much amazement in music then period. Gonna have to pull that one out today. Thanks. Oh, and you’re a bad ass. Cheers!
Here is the Jaco clip you referred to: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AxZWvhGE7CM.html He starts off the jam with Hendrix's Third Stone from the Sun
The ZOOM gx1 is the cheapest best looperüefal you can get Whyyyyy Multi effects And bpm and tracklength setting Its sooo fucking dam important for synth music guys like me Timing the right looplength and bpm is so not comfi
