Singular Sound BeatBuddy Drum Machine Pedal Reviews

In the world of Drum Machines the Beat Buddy is (IMHO) the best of what is out there. It has a very sharp learning curve but once you get the hang of how the entire system operates it can become a very valuable tool for your performances. If you are using the Beat Buddy to help you practice at home then you will be able to use the pedal with all the Drum Beats right out of the box as it comes with an SD card full of beats from several genres of music. It's only when you get into the customization features that things get a bit tricky as you use your computer to access the "Beat Buddy Manager". All things are possible here with this pedal just put on your patience hat and don't get so discouraged that you want to return the pedal. My suggestion would be to not return it and instead figure out how it works because that's what I did and now the Beat Buddy is an essential part of my Solo Acoustic shows. The Beat Buddy pedal has changed my performances for the better. I give the pedal 5 stars because of its potential and performance.

Great tool just need time to work things out!

I've been a home guitar player for 25+ years and have never had so much doing so since I received the BeatBuddy. Wish I had one of these years ago as it has helped with my timing, enjoyment & marriage as my wife says it so much easier on the ears hearing something else besides just a guitar. Playing my guitar and BeatBuddy through a Boss Katana-100 MKII using the amps aux port and the headphone out on pedal and sounds amazing. Really looking forward to using it's extended abilities and downloading some actual song tracks to play along with in the near future. Feel like I absolutely stole this pedal with Sweetwater's holiday prices, service and warranty. I highly recommend this astounding practice tool for the home musician and more...

Fast shipping. Sweetwater has an on-line video on their site that is very informative. I use it to keep tempo and jam with on my keyboards. With a looper pedal for rhythm guitar, who needs a band.

It took some time to get used to it but after I was messing with all the different types of drums that are available I am very impressed. I would recommend this pedal to all my musical friends. Great but.

I love this one plus. You should get the singular sound foot switch it will be great for recording just practicing.

I use it in Praise and Worship at church and when I go Play and Sing at other venues. You've gotta run it through something that can REALLY handle it to be truly happy with it. I run it through a 15" 1300 watt Mackie Thump. It, guitar and vocals through a 6 channel Mackie mixer.

I just started diving into my new beat buddy. Such great fun. So inspiring and it sounds wonderful. I was completely satisfied and whatever doubts I had about the cheesiness of performing with a drum machine were dismissed immediately. It's hard to get musicians together and willing to commit to regular practices, and who want to share in your vision, so solo I will go now with my beat buddy. I will also get the Aeros to complete the setup. Shoutout to Patrick Dennis who always hooks me up and whom I have worked with for 23 years! Get one, you will not regret it.

The Beat Buddy exceeded my expectations and love the ability to customize the experience. Most realistic backup I've heard. Great tool

Love the Beat Buddy. I use it whether I'm playing guitar or trumpet. My wife and I play music together. Sometimes we use YouTube backing tracks or Irealpro both are great but having the Beat Buddy is a game changer!
It felt great to actually be in control of the music. Thanks!

I got the Regular BeatBuddy because my BeatBuddy Mini has tempo drifting issues that was not good for sharing music with others using such things as ProTools which identifies tempo drift on tracks.
As a guitarist and composer for a Rock band I had to make sure the beats had solid tempos in my rough recordings.

This thing is awesome plain and simple. It needs no review. I have the three units from Singular and they are insane.
Anthony is also awesome and the people at Sweetwater? well, they are insane as well. Singular and Sweetwater thank God for them.

I've been using the BeatBuddy Mini 2 for a couple of years now and I absolutely love it - but it is limited in functionality - even with the added Foot Switch. I finally saved up enough to buy the BIG BeatBuddy and after a little bit of learning and downloading software/firmware, it was ready to go. There is a bit of a learning curve with this drum machine. I made the mistake of accidentally deleting all the content from it but luckily Singular Sound Support has a backup folder download, so I was able to reinstall all the content. After watching a couple of videos on using the BeatBuddy Manager, I was able to create folders for my worship sets in church. This thing is going to be a game-changer in my worship sets. There are lots of different functions and settings you can go through to personalize this pedal to your liking. I also like being able to change the functions of the Foot Switch through the BeatBuddy settings.
One note about Sweetwater: I was able to find this pedal on another site for a cheaper price and Darius from SW was able to provide a refund for the difference - so awesome of this company to do this for their customers!

I was looking for a simple, great sounding drum machine. I was looking for a practice tool… really a good sounding metronome. This BeatBuddy is so much more. The drum sound quality is better than I thought. It's simple design makes my guitar practice sessions go way longer than usual. It can be a great solo gig drummer without too much complication. I am so glad I found this one. Thanks Sweetwater, and to Kenny P. For always being available for information!

This thing is awesome..incredibly versatile & comes with plenty of different beat sequences. If you're a looper get the Aeros & Midimaestro to go along with the BB & you'll be a happy camper!

I deem this purchase a success story, because of my long love affair with drum machines and DAW drum plug-ins, but alas, the drum devices never loved me back. I have owned most of the most popular (and not so popular) machines over the years and i never learned my lesson, i wasn't very good with these AND they took too much effort to master, which took away from musical spontaneity when i "just wanted a quick and dirty drum track to play with". Functionally, the BB was a perfect match for me! Electronically, it's got amazing sound and no perceivable noise. I have a 4-channel audio interface so my stereo guitar signal from my processor goes into channels 1/2 and the BB output in 3/4. Very happy with the device. It comes with a very nice editor package to allow you to assemble songs from midi "parts', but honestly the collection of songs that ship with the unit meets most of my needs. They also have a large library you can buy - but it's about 1/2 the cost of the unit do i'm thinking about that for now. Also, i got the Singular Sound foot pedal that's offers great hand's-free controls for use with recording.

LOL ... what can I say ? I lt's just too much fun. Don't know what to practice ? Pick a rhythm and a tempo and be inspired. Match the tempo to the song your learning and hear a drummer instead of a metronome. Plenty of styles/genres. I'm in a two piece band !!! Me on Guitar W/Fender amp and BeatBuddy through a Fishman loudbox mini along with my Mic.

Love this little drummer beats playing by yourself! And the stuff you can do with it is awesome.

I bought a used one it arrived in very good condition, It is really a fun pedal, if you buy the premium content it becomes very pricey but if you are lazy like me it was almost worth it.

I started off with a Boss 500 looper for drums and loops. The Boss has a steep learning curve and always requires both a lot of menu diving on the pedal and manual diving to remember how to do things if I haven't used it for a while. It has been a fairly frustrating item to master. In comparison, I took the BeatBuddy out of the box, tested it with my earphones, and off we went for a test drive with both piano and guitar. It is SO easy to use, and requires minimal manual and menu diving to use it. There is excellent documentation and lots of youtube videos, and the user forum is great. I have not been able to find resources like this for the Boss. And the BeatBuddy *sounds* great. Playing fills, second chorus parts, etc. is so easy. If you are looking for something easy to use, expandable, and with great documentation, this certainly fits the bill for me.

This is one of the few items that I purchased as soon as I saw it. This is fantastic for the solo musician who wants to record reactive drum tracks in real time while simultaneously playing guitar or other instruments. Can't find a good drummer to join your band? Conflicts with practice times? This is the answer. I did purchase the extended library of drum sounds, and was a bit disappointed in the sense that much of the library is actual drum tracks to go with specific cover songs. But if you are playing covers, then this is fantastic for you to add on. I also purchased the separate extra foot switch, but not the one manufactured by beat buddy. I don't remember who makes it, but it does not work very well. I.e. you step on it and it doesn't do the intended action. BUT you've got to get the extra foot switch because it allows you to add a symbol crash while you're playing.
This BeatBuddy is incredible. It is amazing. You can adjust the "sobriety" level of the computer playing in order to adjust how perfectly it keeps time, to give it a more humanized element.
Do NOT put this in your guitar signal path and run it through your guitar amplifier speaker. You really need to listen to their advice and run it through a flat speaker like a PA speaker. I run my beat buddy through my PA system and it sounds fantastic, when I ran it through my Marshall cab it did not sound nearly as good. Getting a good drum tone would fight against getting a good electric guitar tone. So they need to be separate, just like the manual says.
One quip: I believe the spacing on the extra foot switch buttons is similar to the aftermarket non-manufacturer footswitch I purchased. The two buttons are too close together for my size 13 shoes. When I am playing it is way way too easy to accidentally hit one or the other switch or both of them, stopping the drums immediately. I ended up turning off one of the foot switch buttons so there's only one working on the extra pedal so I will not inadvertently hit the other one. There needs to be more space between the two buttons so people with large shoes/feet cannot make mistakes. LOL.
Overall, FANTASTIC product! Thank you beatbuddy for all your hard work putting this product together and bringing it to market!

Thank you to Andrew Plassman and Exchange & Returns Team
Sweetwater Technical Support Department!
The beat buddy was delivered lighting fast, but the unit had a problem. Andrew Plassman and Exchange & Returns Team
Sweetwater Technical Support Department, helped me above and beyond in getting a replacement beat buddy pedal. The new pedal works great. It is a solid pedal with great features.

This little pedal is absolutely perfect for practice, open mic night, writing songs. I live in an area where I know noone so I am so happy to have a drumming solution for open mic night. This thing is easy to use, well built, and with 24 bit sound, sounds amazingly good. I can't believe how many different beats are in here. I've been using it since I got home from work and it's just so fun. This is exactly what my rig was missing. Highly recommend this. I can't believe there is no real competition, this is such a great idea, so cool.

I use it every time I play without a drummer. It has filled in for the bands drummer on more than one occasion.
I often do a one man performance at small venues, Church and ministry events. The learning curve on playing drums with it while playing guitar, singing vocals and using my Boss vocal harmony pedal all at once has taken a lot of practice. So don't buy it for live performances unless you plan on really practicing with it. It's real easy to get out of time mid song when commanding rolls and sequence changes. Which can cause a live performance issue that no one wants.

Totally worth it. Awesome tool to use when practicing. I personally use it for the bass but I could see many applications where it would be useful. It's like having your own personal drummer anytime you need them.

I'm a new user of the BeatBuddy (and Singular Sound Footswitch+) after using an Alesis SR-16 for years.
The SR-16 is great for "their" canned rhythms, but to program something else requires more than my three electrical engineering degrees -- hence, after a suggestion from Sweetwater to consider the BeatBuddy, I did LOTS of research on it -- it's pretty easy to use and configure -- and the "owner's forum" is most helpful with suggestions -- and if you want to spend some more $$$, there are even more "songs" (like 550+, growing everyday) available at Singular Sound.

I'm a believer (and after I'm done mix/master my 20th track for album Vol 4, I'll be getting really involved with this device

Jack (a.k.a.) Sidejack

I need to start by saying I have only used the basic function of this pedal, however it is very easy to use, sounds like a real drum set. I use it for scales, and chord rhythm. Worth the money if you want to practice with a drum set. This pedal has files it reads from a data card, which has a large song library, which I haven't used yet. These can be added to, for a cost on their website. I only have about 12 months learning so far, and am planning on using this for a long time.

Great kits and plenty of beat options. Love how easy it is to add fills on the fly. Also, hold down the pedal and roll into a new part without have to be super precise on the timing. Footswitch a must for scrolling through the sets and pausing the unit. Upgrade sound card worth every penny as well.

This piece of equipment is truly a great piece of gear. Although I am still learning all aspects of this unit, practicing along on my Nord Stage 3 has taken on a new exciting perspectives. Makes practicing a true rhythmic workout.

Sincerely,

AlanGresikMusic

Great pedal! Easy to use. Sounds great. I use midi to sync it with the Boomerang3 works great. I have kind of always turned up my nose at drum machines, still do to a certain extent, so I played a small gig and just ran it into the monitor so only I could hear it, for timing and looper sync. But I may use it through the mains in the future. Can't go rong with this Pedal

Anyone who has tried to find and use various drum machines is probably faced w what I have run into. One I am a guitarist not a recording maven or someone who can sit for ages trying to program drum DAW stuff. Not my world and too much time. I had a Trio for some time and while it tries to form rhythms to your playing, let's face it, that is very limiting unless your playing is very mediocre strumming whatnot. I sold my Trio and got the BeatBuddy, well right off be prepared to spend more on a premium package with actual song patterns worked out or you will be playing to some rather short repetitious drum loops that will soon get boring and at least with song patterns you have the chance of mutating the playing to work something else over it. All in all this is a good sounding, memory loaded device that does not require programming as there is none really. Leave it to those who can figure it out how to create drum patterns and make a file to go into the BB. That is not me. If you can get the prem package at least you have something to work with. They tell me a song type full auto play thing is being worked out which will improve it. But as far as drum machines go this is more what I need just need to find song pattern material that cam be used. Playing to a drummer or having one is a very great thing for your playing and sense of timing and creativity, it is a different world. Solo guitar just gets boring and is limiting, this is more fun and if you're like me and you just can't program drums about your best bet for something workable.

This drum machine has a lot of potential that I have not even begun to touch on yet. Great machine no problems using it. Just have to educate myself more. But this is a great opportunity to give a shout out to Reid Bright my sales rep. His customer service is just outstanding. And I have ordered a lot of different products from Sweetwater.Reid calls me a couple weeks after I receive my products and ask me how is it working out. Take note. This is how it's done. I appreciate ya Reid. Thank you and Sweetwater

This is a great tool. I never was big on practicing with a metronome, but I use this constantly. Great Drum sounds. Cool Rhythms. Very easy to use. Having a drum track helps me develop patterns in my playing that I wouldn't otherwise.

Sounds incredible, easy to use, and it works really well with the Aeros Looper. I definitely recommend purchasing the external control switch as well as the extended sound pack to make the BB even better. I could see this being used in a live application and it's perfect for songwriting and practice.

I'm only using the basic functions: choosing a built-in beat, recording out to my recorder punching fills and changes as I go, and then laying in other instruments. But the videos show that it goes deep and does a whole lot more. But worth the cost for even the basics I"m using it for.

I bought this unit because I needed a tool that I could practice guitar to and compose with that sounded like a real drummer. So far, I am really happy with it, and it is exactly what I wanted. It's also very intuitive and easy to use. I would say that if you are looking for something to write riffs to, practice scales, parts, sections, improvise over, and/or craft songs to, it is great. It also comes with an extensive library of drum sounds and styles to play with which sound pretty good. It's the best, custom, life-like metronome I could hope for and a great songwriting/solo artist tool. I also purchased the Aeros Loop Station, and while I haven't completely set them up together yet, the Beat Station integrates seemlessly and makes the Aeros a lot more user friendly to me. YMMV. Quality made gear, solid sound, and an exciting product for creative guitarists/instrumentalists.

I've tried other "drum machines," "rhythm makers." but this is the one to get. I actually figured this thing out in ten minutes. Other drum machines I felt I needed an engineering degree just to conjure up some sounds.

First of all, the drums coming out of the Beatbuddy sound human.

Actually fun to use. I practice bass guitar and it can get boring doing scales with a metronome. With BeatBuddy you'll never be bored.

And the idea of putting this into pedal form is a stroke of genius. Yes, it's $... that hurts. But for what it does and how it does it, it provides remarkable value.

The beatbuddy singular, has been a great addition to my rig. Don't know how I went this long without it!

I've had the Beat Buddy for several weeks now after having owned all types of drum machines since the 90's. There is so much packed into this little pedal that it's hard to believe. All extremely easy to use. The menus are easy to use and navigate even for those of us who normally hate menu diving. Again, this is the size of a guitar pedal. Fills are easy to do with a tap of your foot. No need for an extra pedal. Once you get used to it so is changing the complete pattern with your foot. No need for an extra pedal to stop the Beat Buddy either. I am not a guitar player but a keyboard player and I use this with my B-3 and Leslie. Sometimes I find myself playing very sparse just so I can hear every nuance of the Beat Buddy's cymbals which are beautiful. I liked it so much I purchased their flagship SD card with all the beats they have including programmed songs. You might think programmed songs are not useful beyond one tune but they're just usable beats you'll want to go back to for many different uses. Also, changing the drum sets is extremely easy and will produce a custom sound that's just right for your ears or your mood. I think the Beat Buddy might just make other drum machines obsolete. They have gone out of their way to build a better mousetrap so to speak and they have done it. Go ahead and get the full Beat Buddy and get the extra footswitch too. Just a great drummer pal in an easy to use pedal.

First, I have never written a review about anything. I've had some great stuff; amps, guitars, pedals, pickups, but nothing I felt inspired to write a review about. I'm a VERY lower intermediate level guitar player, but I love just jamming along and also making up my own riffs. Over the years I have had several drum machines. A couple of loopers, "band in a box" type pedals. All of them gave me more frustration than value in little to no time. The beat buddy is AWESOME. I purchased a 50w PA speaker to run it through. This gives it enough volume to sound like a drummer, seperated from my guitar. It sounds like a drummer, not a little toy making drum beats. The rhythms sound great. It is really a blast to play with and really very inspiring. My timing is getting much better. I purchased the additional footswith. A little pricey but glad I did. No better than I am, and I can still hit fills, and change rhytm sections and it almost sounds like I know what I'm doing. Only negative so far is figuring out the software to down load more patterns and drum kits. I am sure a phone will cure that.

It's hard to get a great sounding drum track to a have during a live performance.
I have had other pedals that do bass & drum and loop and so on. Forget them, you might get
lucky now and then but for the most part they don't work together on multiple types of songs.If
you hire a lead guitarist you want him to shine.If you want a drummer hire the best, 'Beat Buddy' is
the best sounding easy to use Drummer out there. a little more money but a great investment. How many
times have you bought something cheaper and still want to get the best. Get the best, buy it.

wife teaches at hospitals which has all transitioned to zoom, costs to license rights to stream music hit us but was doable, then they wanted to record the zoom to make it available to nurses that were on shift and unable to attend live. costs for licensing music for recorded reproduction are ridiculous. she mainly just needs a background beat to pace them through the workouts. im able to get that easily from this and its paid for. bonus... it has really made my own sanity jam sessions a lot more fun!

Just purchased BeatBuddy from Sweetwater.It arrived on a Saturday so I spent time downloading the BeatBuddy Manager then checking the default library and organizing songs from the default library, titling the songs in the tracks on the BeatBuddy and organizing a list where to find them . So I spend a day and a half learning how to use the BeatBuddy Manager. Saved the project and tried to program the card. Once finished, I put the card in the BeatBuddy and...NO sound. At that point I thought maybe the unit or card were defective so I contacted BeatBuddy support. Jay from BeatBuddy called me at 10am Monday morning and said he could solve my problem in 10 minutes. I let Jay take control of my laptop remotely and he explained what he was doing while he did it. As promised, he had my card reprogrammed and reorganized with 2 separate folders with my rock songs and a gig list, all neatly packaged. I think it only took him 10-15 minutes to do so. Jay was glad that I actually spent the time I did on the weekend learning what I did through trial and error. It appears that somehow when I tried to program the SD Card I made a few mistakes. The songs came up on the beatbuddy screen and the parts changed when using the pedal, but there was no sound. Apparently, I programmed the card without the drum sets. ANYWAY, support from BeatBuddy is superb. Todd Cotton from Sweetwater also called me and I can say Sweetwater support and follow up is excellent. I will always go to Sweetwater for my future musical needs. The only ISSUE I have with the BeatBuddy is there are no clear user instructions included. There should be a step-by-step instruction manual included, and the one you can download online does not explain how to properly use the BeatBuddy Manager and how to transfer files on the BeatBuddy. Other than that, once you learn how to do so...this thing is AWESOME.

Still working with it an learning how to use it

For me, by far the easiest drum pedal I've used. User friendly too. I recommend it 100% for practice and or solo work.

It is great to have a pedal that does so much out of the box. It has almost every genre covered, and is upgradable to suit anyone's needs,get the footswitch, icing on the cake.

Very happy with this purchase, just what I needed for practice and solo gigs. As always, very pleased with Sweetwater service and fast delivery. Also, special thanks to my sales engineer, Rob Kramer for his advice and f/up.

Nothing even comes close to the BeatBuddy in terms of sound quality, ease of use, and just plain fun. This is the king of drummer pedals and always will be.

This is an amazing drum machine. It's as close as you can get to a real drummer. The machine is intuitive. You
Can mix and match tunes and speeds. Great fills
at your command. In many of the live tunes I play
it really feels like I have a real drummer.

Never complains I don't want to do that tune. Always
shows up for practice and gigs never late. It feels real.

This drum machine is sampled sounds from a studio
drummer. It's similar to digital keyboards only better.

Buy it you won't regret it.

Used as a practice tool, this pedal just obliterates a metronome! But it’s use in live settings is what sets it apart! My drummer wasn’t at church the first Sunday I had this and I used it effectively to cover. Takes some minimal planning or you can use the included software to create your own custom beats. Additionally, there are forums and Facebook groups where users are sharing their created beats for all sorts of uses. Totally endorse!!

I needed some drum sounds that were easy to use so I could make some quick backing tracks for cord progressions, lead improvisation, and for my timing. The Beat Buddy does it all. It was simple to use and provided me with instant results. I just plugged it into my effects chain and started using it immediately. It can grow with you also, with the additional SD card and the external control, the options are limitless. This was exactly what the doctor ordered.

After reading a few really negative reviews, I must be using this device incorrectly. I have 3 of them. One in my practice room. One as a spare (which I've never used) and one I use for live performances every weekend for the past 5 years.

The device is not as good as real drummer, so don't expect it to be.

I just got mine. I have to say that I bought this one time before and thought it was too much trouble. So I returned it. Well, after much thought and research, I bought it again and went all out with the extra pedal and bluetooth connection. I am currently setting it up to work with Onsong so when I call up a song on my iPad it calls up the song with the right tempo on the Beatbuddy. This is what really sold it to me. There is a bit of a learning curve but if you read the chats and look at the youtube videos you'll see its not that bad. I am still setting my set lists up so I have not performed with it yet but I have done some rehearsals. I recommend.

Beat Buddy is the best thing you can have when you don't have a live drummer or don't want to carry a drum kit around with you. Great sounds, easy to use software with great product support and tutorials. No regrets on this purchase and, have purchased for friends as well. I don't waster anyone's time writing a product review unless I feel the product is truly worth it, as the Beat Buddy is.

The BeatBuddy is really easy to use and it sounds great. The ability to mix and match kits, styles, and parts of compositions makes this a great little drum machine for recording - goes right into my Tascam DP-32SD. Also a great practice aid. Can be at the end of a pedal chain and go through your guitar amp, or it can stand alone and go through a mixer into a PA. Syncs perfectly with the Bass Station II through the Midi connector that I also bought. When there ain't no drummer around to jam with, this little Buddy in a box is great.

Sounds great easy to use makes practice that much more fun

I love this thing. Best drum machine EVER. The best feature is the "most popular cover songs" programs. Way easier than fiddling around programming something that sounds like a real drummer. There"s always a groove on there that fits the songs I write& you can switch parts& add fills etc etc by tapping it with your foot. Truly a guitarist/songwriters dream, and it doesn"t drool all over the drum riser! Sheer genius! Thanks again, guys. Everybody should buy one of these.

I watched this for several years after they started fundraising to get into production. And then funds became available, and I bought one. I love it! Very simple to learn and operate. I was blown away by much fun it is. Recently Singular Sound gave me a deal on an upgrade with more great drum kits and hundreds of songs, and I was in heaven. And they gave me an upgrade with more stuff. Unfortunately, it has no sound output. I have e-mailed tech support and aam waiting for a reply. I have been using it for 3 years , and I can't do without it. But they determine it can't be fixed, I will be calling Reid Bright at Sweetwater to get another one!

What an incredible tool for practicing with!
I am amazed at the quality of sounds contained within this little box
The songs are great and the drum sets are excellent. On top of that you get to download your choice of specific artists songs, Eagles, Tom Petty, Beatles, Santana and more, and the drum sets to match.
Exploring new stuf daily.
Sweetwater is the best too! they go out of their way to treat their customers like gold!

I would like to say this is so awesome. Todd has been excellent helping me. Will be definitely be useing this fantastic store in all my purchases. Thank you Sweetwater and Todd Cotton. Thanks to all at Sweetwater. God Bless Star

Beat buddy beats everything

This is the best ever

I have to say that it is second time when I had to buy BeatBuddy. First time I sold it because I replaced it with Korg KR-55 Pro and I thought I would not need it. Unfortunately although Korg is great sounding unit, it is limited to 24 types of grooves. Also, I need a drum machine that would fit on my pedalboard along with my recent purchase of Zoom G3Xn.
I love Korg so much so I am going to keep it for pure songwriting purpose, it does not have any menus, it is so straightforward, it serves as 4 imput mixer with EQ and reverb, and I can record to SD card.

But BeatBuddy is great on his own. The size is just perfect for what I need, sounds really good, with optional footswitch it is easy to operate. I didn't buy Singluar footswitch because it is too big, there are two people in the USA who make much smaller and they sell them on eBay at half of the price.
What I like about BeatBuddy:
1. Compact size.
2. Can be controlled by foot, important for me as a guitarist.
3. Sound samples are of really high quality, sound great!
4. MIDI information that triggers the drum samples were recorded by live drummers and you can feel it when you play along.
5. In my previous unit that I sold some of the fills were 1 measure long and some were 2 measures long. It was a problem for me. It is easy to be fixed in the editor, if the one I just purchased has the same problem, I will fix it.
6. I purchased additional kits and songs in different styles that I will need. These are really inexpensive so I am glad the unit is expandable by all means.
7. I know that I will not have any problem to find grooves that I need. Most drum machines lack good 6/8 grooves and there are several in BeatBuddy.
I highly recommend it, there is nothing on the market right now that gets even close.

I was looking for a stomp box that would give some great options on my Synths. And Mr.Fisher was right this thing can do so much more than advertised! I am not done experimenting but the results so far are very rewarding. In my opinion the Beat Buddy is worth every penny.

Build quality is sturdy and the response time is accurate. The kits have enough variation and are great sketch pads for inspirational use. I can't than Mr.Law enough for getting this to me promptly.This thing is a secret weapon in the right hands!!

I'm 63 yrs. old , dummer'n a sack a' hammers!! I don't even like 1's OR 0's !!! But this Machine? Well she is my new best Friend!!! My BFF!!! I teared up a little when the power came on..and I swear, I could FEEL brain cells beginning to grow and multiply!! It is so easy to groove with ....maybe it's the realistic sound that gives you the feeling that I'm not alone in the room!! And my new friend is an excellent drummer!!.... ok ...little creepy....BUT seriously super simple ....just keep hittin' the buttons man ....they'll reveal their secrets, I promise man!!! Ok , the regret is starting to set in....I'm gonna plug back in and play thru it before nite-nite....dang where has beat buddy been all my life..... I LOVE YOU GUYS

The BeatBuddy could not be simpler to use live. Between single stomps, double stomps and holding the pedal down you can start and stop songs, insert smart fills (doesn't matter where in a measure you start) and transition between grooves (verse to chorus, ect.). Everything can be programmed in, and their website has very inexpensive big hit tracks you can download if you don't feel like doing it yourself. There are a myriad of drum sets and grooves from which to choose, and even more in their store. Everything goes onto a SD card in the back.

The best part about the BeatBuddy is the support. The Singular Sound guys are great and pump out awesome updates to the pedal. It has come a long way since I funded it on Kickstarter, as evidenced by the fact that you're looking at it on Sweetwater.com. This thing is super functional, intuitive, sounds great, full of features, and is backed up by a great support team. Buy with confidence!

I was a little skeptical after years of using various drum machines and loops for years on my songwriting demos, but this little unit is the real deal. Easy to use right out of the box, but to get the max out of it, there is a bit of a learning curve. A lot of the beats and fills are a bit busy for my taste, but with a little effort can be edited using the manager software. I have downloaded drum kits and a few extra beats from the website. Since its midi based, you can change beats with hi hat to ride cymbal and vise versa, drag fills from other beats, change drum kits etc. It also has been a huge inspiration in my writing and guitar practice. Great product and great service from Sweetwater and Alan Carter is always helpful with any questions I have.

Putting my drumbox aside, and taking up with the Beatbuddy was a terrifying thought at best, but after 20 years, I was due for a change. what I came to realise was the facility that set the beatBuddy apart from all other rythm units, and that is the ability for the user to log on and update his firmware (among other things) so that the range of the instrument grows over time. the drum sounds are real, and I could control the unit with my feet, leaving my hands free to play my guitar. I only truly appreciated the unit when mine got stolen, and I was thrown back in the dark ages. when the money flows in, this will be the first bit of my kit I replace.

This thing has changed my musical life.

It has made me much better at my rhythmic chops because it has a beautiful visual metronome on the screen to show me where I am in the measure so I can time my playing to the beat visually, not just by ear (which I sometimes have trouble with).

I've started to experiment with different genres of beats (there's more than 200 pre-loaded and you can download a whole lot more) and am expanding my musical horizons. My drummer is only comfortable playing classic rock -- but not the BeatBuddy!

The controls are really intuitive and fun! It's just a thrill to have the drums do whatever you want with a simple toe tap.

I hooked it up to the Boomerang III looper and now I'm a full one man band! The MIDI sync works perfectly. The looper stays rock solid in time with the beat.

And the SOUND. WOW. I have NEVER heard a drum machine sound this good. I've been playing with drum machines since the 80's and this is the first one that actually makes my music sound BETTER. That alone makes this worth way more than the listed price. There are drum machines at twice the cost of this one that don't sound half as good.

This is the best gear investment I have made in quite a long time. I love it.

Wow...just wow...!!! This thing is all they said and more. 'Nothing like it..!!

This thing is incredible. The sounds are fantastic, it is unbelievably easy to use, has great MIDI controls (I synced mine to start with my Boss looper) and tons of extra content available on the Premium Content Library (where they have frequent coupons and everything is already REALLY cheap). I haven't used the software much other than to load my Premium Content Library purchases, and I was able to do that fairly easily using the online resources.

If you need help with anything, the Singular Sound guys are great and will definitely help you out. They also take suggestions to heart and have already updated the BeatBuddy's firmware several times, so it will continue to get more awesome over time!

Very Cool....Really helps with staying on beat!! So many beats to choose from. Highly recommend for Jamming at home before gigs!!

Fun to play and practice even with or without a band. Keeps your music lively. Controls are eash to use and learn. Lots of options and free songs beats to choose.

I have been using drum machines for over 20 years, the Beat Buddy is such a breath of fresh air. I don't know of any situation you could not use this machine. Always on time and never drunk. Thanks AJ

I have never experienced anything like this thing. Wow. Any idiot can use this.

Unit is great for jamming but sounds good enough to record high quality tracks. Built like a tank. Amazing control of fills and endings via foot. Many kits and beat styles. Love it!

Great product having fun with it.

I am happy to give this 5 stars but expect a bit of a learning curve. GREAT sound; fills, intro, outtro, snares (with the highly recommended foot pedal)... Good support from Beatbuddy forum and website. You are buying into a community of users. But it takes practice to get your foot to develop muscle memory so you are tapping the fills without looking down for the pedal. The "songs" are really beat patterns that can be used with multiple "drum kits" and rhythms to fit countless performances. Buy it and welcome to the madness!

I read the reviews, considered the "baby beat", but in the end, I went for the BigBro! This box is a winner, so intuitive, easy to manipulate, right outta the cardboard. I notated rhythms and beats per minute for 30 songs over a couple of sessions. Immediate results and very impressive drum patches. I'm a keyboardist, and I've found it much more useful to place the Beat Buddy on my keyboard and handle the controls with my left hand.

Next purchase - accompanying foot switch for cut offs and other options - the Adventure continues.........

With little to no knowledge of drum machines, our worship leader has been able to fill in for the loss of our drummer to college. He was able to start using it right away, it was that easy to get started. Also I highly recommend getting the add on switch for fills. Thank you Marshall for the recommendation.

When I first heard about the BeatBuddy I was skeptical to say the least. I have experience with other drum emulation from all sorts of devices and they always were difficult to play along to and had a quality about them akin to the difference between bacon and some sort of tofu, vegan fake bacon. This pedal gives none of that feel. The drums are bold they cut through the mix even when you are playing in a live scenario. There are so many different sounds that you can get out of it and all of them can be controlled to a reasonable level. This pedal has come along to gigs that my drummer couldn't make it to and made a great showing of itself, one of the main benefits is that it lets you have the sound of drums without the hassle of a drummer (sorry guys it's sometimes a battle with you). The display that shows where in the measure you are is great in songs that have strange timing or that you want to make your own in that sort of way. It could handle being the drums at practice if your drummer can't make it themselves. Furthermore, the ability to have the sound of a drummer at a volume that any coffee house could accept makes this a great pedal for small gigs. Never before did I think "hey, you know what that local place that always has acoustic music could use a dose of something more upbeat," that is of course until I met the BeatBuddy! Absolutely great product!

I was surprised how easy the unit is to use. This drum machine is nice a portable, appears well made and the drum sound tracks sound like a real drummer. The unit has the ability to change up the drum sequence during a chorus or change in the song by pressing down once on the pedal. It takes some practice to get the timing just right and that is something I will need to practice. I reviewed the online features and realized that it will take time to figure out what does what and that will just take time. I tried to purchase at local music stores but most were not familiar with it and did not carry it in stock.Overall the unit is made of light weight medal and there are no batteries for the unit so you must have access to an outlet if you are using this for a gig. I like this unit and am well pleased

Awesome! I will recommend to my musicians friends!

A step up from my Boss DR-880. The kits sound great and being able to add fills and change up the beat for a different section of the song makes it even better.

Great, smart way to get rhythm into your act. Works for me right out of the box. Cheaper than a human drummer.

This is the best,ever.I had to wait several months to get mine,when they first came out.I've been playing guitar,harmonicas,and now drums,for years.I dropped a cd,and gave 85%of the procedes to the V.F.W.,they needed the cash for bills,was honored to help our brothers in arms.Back to my other brother,Beat Buddy.Easy to operate,sounds great,ready to jam anytime anywhere.The best deal, money wise,I've bought in years.Rock-On,Peace,Enjoy.

I've put in more practice time in the last 4 days since receiving my BB than the previous 2 months combined. I've been playing bass for nearly 30 years and one of the most important aspects of this is being lock-step with the drummer. It's simply not something you can adequately practice with a metronome. This amazing little pedal brought my creativity to a whole new level in a very short time in playing with it. Matching the fills, adjusting to the slightly different groove as I transition through the parts, experimenting with new styles I don't normally play; It's just plain FUN! Now, if you will excuse me, I hear a jam session calling my name...

I recently got the Beat Buddy and footswitch from Sweetwater. First, the customer service I received from Sweetwater was excellent!. I am not a drummer but I let my girlfriend who is and has preformed as a drummer check out the pedal. She was truly impressed. We went through the included drum sets and beats and while not all were great, many were very good. We jammed to many of them and really enjoyed first impressions of this pedal. While she is a drummer she doesn't play drums much any more and instead has been learning bass. This pedal works great to jam to. It is not just a metronome but gives you the feel of playing with a drummer. Could be also used for recording if desired. Very easy to use but has enough features that it will take a bit to use it to it's full potential. I highly recommend the optional footswitch.

So I have dealt with Rolands, and the top Alesis drum machines, but this one blows them all out of the water. The Pros: It is compact. It fits in my pedalboard and I don't have to carry an extra music stand just to sit it on top. You can program your entire set list. With the press of a button you jump to the next song in your set list, and its ready to go, including the drum kit and the tempo. It comes with software to program it. The software allows you to put together a song with different patterns, different fills, intros, outdoors, drum kit, tempo, etc. You can build a library of songs. Before the show you just pick the songs in your set list and download them to the unit. The Cons: The software to program the unit still has a few bugs (especially the Mac version), but the unit performs flawlessly. All in all, the best drum machine you can invest in.

This device does exactly what it claims to do � and it does it very well, with both simplicity and flexibility. It allows you to start and stop just the way a musician would want that to happen. I highly recommend this awesome little device!

Works as advertised. Well built, good LCD, solid foot switch. Sounds great trough a flat response speaker system. Call and ask for Nick Church. Great service and follow through. He always gets the product out the door quick.

I purchased mine during the Kick Start Program and been using it since last October. Ive owned a couple drum machines and have used a keyboard for drum tracks prior to the BB. The BB saves time programming beats with its pre loaded kits and simple to use as a foot pedal. Works great with the Pigtronix Infinity looper. Great tool for practice and solo musicians, buskers,and for any small group. I'm 59 yo, been playing since 12. I prefer playing solo now at my age. With the BB I have a drummer, the Infinity Looper for my rythm, chorus and fills, and a Digitech Element XP for octave effects for the bass lines plus other effects I'm still exploring. And it all fits on my Pedaltrain Mini. Get a BB and you'll love it.

A little pricey but easily replaces any other drum machine out there. Simple easy to use features. Highly recommend this over other drum machines.

I bought this when it was being developed in the initial stages of being funded for a very good price then waited in anticipation for the device to be built and delivered. All I can say is you need this it is awesome just watch the videos on you tube you will become a believer the first minute of using no learning curve just plug it in and play

I purchased the BeatBuddy to use as a midi drum module triggered by my Zendrum ZX2. I have used several different drum sound modules over the past 15-16 years (mostly Roland) and a handful of software packages. The amazing velocity layered kits available with the BB (and for purchase through their website) sound really, really good. And there's no perceptible latency when triggering it. Beyond that, I can customize the sounds and add my own using the software editor (I have already created a snare drag articulation for one kit and swapped the top velocity layer of a ride cymbal for a ride bell). Check out my video and you will see what a great drum sound module this pedal makes!

I am controlling it with a behringer FCB1010 with an UNO chip installed.
This lets me have tons of options.
With the FCB uno (and using ripwerx software) I can have ALL 10 buttons perform control changes.
Currently I have it setup with buttons 1-5 and 9, 10 assigned to recall up to 7 different parts.
I can jump to any of the 7 parts anytime!
I have button 6 assigned to do fills. Button 7 takes it in and out of half time. and button 8 is pause/play.
I had an old lathcing 2 button footswitch laying around and the BeatBuddy can be taught to use either latching or none latchning switches, so I have it set up, while playing, one button is a crash cymbol and the other triggers the ending loop. While paused, the buttons are set to scroll up/down through the songs.
This allows me to put the BB on a table close at hand so if need be I can adjust volume and tempo super easy.
SO FLIPPING COOL!!!!

So if you are a senior guitar enthusiast and looking for a simple and non-intimidating device to add to your jamming system, this may be the one for you. It is intuitive, sounds great, and has excellent video tutorials to help in the learning process. I highly recommend this be purchased along with the 2 button footswitch for ease of use.

Very, very nice piece of equipment. Very functional. I am not a performer but only using it to play with a jam band of sorts. The choices are unbelievable - so many styles and beats. Great sound through a pa or acoustic amp. The interface is fairly simple, I am 50 years old and figured it out quick, so imagine to anyone younger it"s really intuitive. The fact that you can assign different sounds to the foot pedal is great. Have and intro, don"t have an intro, have a countdown ... it"s really worth every penny. Get the additional foot switch pedal right away. It"s just a lot of fun.

sounds like a real drummer is backing you. the optional foot switch is a must for it to perform the best

Easy to use and get comfortable with the use. I have only had the unit for about 2 weeks and have not been live with the unit. However, it seems it will do well.

This is a great piece of gear....the basic patterns (preset) sound more realistic than any drum machine I've ever had or heard The fills are good, always come out in time and don't make the pedal sound like a machine.......th only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that in the demo with the creator, he just manually touches the pedal so soft, but it takes a bit of umph to press it down manually...but this is no big deal.
I recommend it! Oh, and another thing....it takes up hardly any space at all if you wish to use it as a desk top tool.
I am glad i purchased it.
Art S.( aka the music man)

I waited a few weeks to review my new BeatBuddy. This is the most versatile real-world drum machine in a pedal format thats ever been made. Very pleased!

Works great except the 3/4 time. You have to go to the metrerdone. That's a hassle. Wich I would have wet with TC machine.

It does as advertised. Best one that I have ever used. The only thing negative that I will say is the 6/8 that feels like 3/4 is not as good as it should be. I wished it had an actual 3/4 although the drum sound in this mode is darn good.

This is really nice... it lets me practice without the monotonous click of a metronome. It's almost like jamming with a real drummer! There are way more styles of rhythms than I will ever use, but if someday I have to play some Funk or Latin, I'll have a Beat-Buddy to practice with.

My wish would be a way to save patterns in to a "Set List" without having to hook it up to the computer. Using a combination of the buttons to save settings (and name them with a song title) into a "Set List" folder. It would make this great product a Five Star in my opinion. Keep up the great work.

I've only had my BeatBuddy for about a month and have not had a chance to play with the midi software so my review is strictly on factory setting with the new firmware update. That said, I've found my BeatBuddy extremely satisfying. It's a fabulous practice tool, though I haven't had a chance to use it at a gig or in studio. The 10 different drum kit samples are first rate. The styles and songs are great, but... The versatility of the box is just over the top. As a drummer, bassist, keboard, and guitar player, I can see an endless variety of uses for this handy little 'Stomp Box' that can also send midi clock, to sync with other midi devices. If the BeatBuddy has any major bugs, I haven't found them yet. Gadget junkies everywhere will love this item.

Great sound.

The problem is that I can't find a way to change to a new song drum track without physically stooping down and fiddling with buttons. You must purchase the extra cost footswitch

This pedal is really great but the additional foot switch is definitely an add on you must have to toggle through the presets. The only reason I didn't give this a 5 star rating is the software and directions for creating, loading and managing beats is not as clear as it could be. Seems the technoids have difficulty in translating for the less experienced users of midi files and musical software. The process for creating set lists is cumbersome to say the least, a hands on written process supplemented with the videos would be useful. I tried to convey this and was sent a link to their video that confused me in the first place, less than helpful. The developers need to target this to the technically challenged level, keep it simple! I'm never impressed by someone that can't relate to others on their level so try to think of those that don't have a clue and target that level as those that understand won't have issues but those that don't need more guidance. Great device and real drum tones, I run it through an acoustic amp which allows the full range as opposed to running it through my guitar amp. A bonus in using this is the constant tempo and fills. It makes you coordinate your playing to the metronome as you add fills and accent sounds, sing, play and manage the drums at the same time, the ultimate in multi-tasking. With live gigs in smaller venues becoming more popular, this is perfect for balancing levels to suit the environment.

I was on the fence buying the Beat Buddy.I caved and ordered it. A few reviews not so good and its about $350 with the pedal.It comes with preloaded blues drum sets but all the good stuff is on a zip file ya have to download, transfer to the BB Manager ya have to upload and the transfer the content from the SD Card to the BB Manager also.If ya ain't real PC savy its not fun. Yeah the thing sounds great but getting the Drum Set sounds its hard man.I don't know why they don't have a install CD like most stuff.I got on the BB Forum and try'n get help and nothing.So yeah the Beat buddy sounds great but the PC work involved is not easy.

I bought the Beat Buddy to use at small musical gatherings where I don't want to take my DR 880. I programmed it for pattern use instead of songs as I only play rhythym guitar and sing. It took a little bit of getting use to in programming it so wouldn't have to bend down and adjust the settings. So I programmed the same pattern with several speeds so by using the footswitch up and down, I can change pattern speeds or change patterns and speed depending on the song I am going to play by using the left [down] or right [up] buttton on the footswitch. I start the Beat Buddy by pushing the pedal it's self and when I want to pause or stop I push the left button on the footswitch. I can restart the pattern on the downbeat by pushing the left pause button again. When I get ready to stop I push the pause switch then the right stop button, that way it stops the moment I push the pause button. I still haven't learned how to make my own drum kit as it is a little challenging. In all respects it is nice to see this pedal hit the market. I recommend it to anyone needing that drummer in a pedal.

Easy to use, great tool for any musician.

As an older guitarist I like to keep things simple. This pedal is so easy to use I loose track of time. Yes you have to bend down to select your parameters, but what pedal doesn't have buttons to play with. If you have any sense of timing you will be jamming away in no time , and if don't this pedal will improve your playing . I suggest running it in stereo if possible so you get the full effect. I have one problem with the Beat Buddy. They should have enclosed the SD card. If you want to use it in a live situation ,be very careful ,the SD card can pop right out ,Gig over. Other than that , it's a blast. Jam On !

I bought this when it was a kickstarter campaign and love it! Great for practicing!

This is a neat drum machine that is basically pretty intuitive musically. You can take it out of the box, plug it in, and start playing pretty quickly....BUT that said there are a couple of little technical surprises that you should be aware of it you are a total pro; aware of all the technical little in's and out's associated with electronic music devices.

First of all, the whole thing runs off an on board SD card so if you don't have and SD drive on your computer (very few do these days) you are going to have to buy one and connect it to a usb port . They are not expensive and it's easy to do but it's a good idea to order one when you order the BeatBuddy so that you can update the firmware, backup the card, etc. without initial delay.

Second, if you plan to use MIDI there is a breakout cable that is not included and has to be purchased separately; also not expensive a good idea to order if that's in your plans but it's a separate purchase. Also most computers don't have 5 pin MIDI interfaces on board so you need to buy one of those too it you don't have one already. Not too expensive depending on how you want to do it but once again it would have been nice to know.

While learning all this, I also learned that Singular Sound support is reasonably responsive and prompt. That said, while I found a couple of good tutorials on YouTube (through Google) there is not very much detail regarding this stuff direct from Singular (e.g. it took me about an hour and a half to figure out how to update the firmware and two iterations of emails with support to understand the MIDI situation). BTW, I haven't used the BeatBuddy Manager software very much yet so i don't have much to say about it however I will say the video on the Singular website website was a good introduction for a first look.

Bottom line, the BeatBuddy is kind of cool and fun once you figure it out. I guess if you are a pro/working musician you will know all this stuff already and will not be surprised by the "extras" but if you are (like me) a old boomer returning to the fold after a decades long absence, take heed.

Bottom line, I would give it 5 stars musically but had to substract one star overall due to what I consider to be spotty documentation for non pro's.

The BeatBuddy is functional, but it is a bit tedious to access the various Beats. It also does not have the capability of entering MIDI directly into a DAW, only Audio Wave Files. Thus, l gave it an Adequate Rating.

The pedal format makes this drum machine an excellent personal practice tool. Don't see it on a professional performance setting but as an emergency alternative it would be a gig saver.

Really loaded for the money. Ive been playing with for a couple of hours and have barely touched the surface of the different features and drum effects and songs. Dropped a star because it arrived with an empty SD card and had to spend some time reloading, updating firmware etc wen I wanted to just jump in but no big deal in the end. Looking forward to exploring the libraries you can buy online as well with beats in the style of Hendrix etc.

Love this .. so great to be able to have the sound and not have to audition , deal with egos , more equipment . Solo performers this should be your best friend .

Easy to use and great sounding pedal. What is most impressive to me is the sound -- it is high quality, does not sound cheap, and it sounds like actual drums. The SD card contains many drum genres, and the fills are on point. With a midi cable, you can sync it with a looper for perfect backing tracks on the fly. I would give it 5 stars; however, it is lacking a basic feature that would allow you to pause the drums -- you have to buy an additional pedal just for that.

just got it hooked up really like the sound thru mixer learning how to use it

This pedal is pretty versatile and it has great sound when used on a flat channel like a PA or stereo. It's not meant for amp use. The foot switch addition is a nice add on as well. Especially if you don't buy the premium library.

The basic kits are decent, but the stock brushes are lacking. It sounds more like sticks attempting to be brushes than actual brushes.

The "Beat Buddy Manager" is cool, but I find it a bit daunting. If I want to use kits from a drum program, like "Superior Drummer" You will have to record the beat that you want, mix it down to a wave file, then load it to the section you want and save it to the SD card. It would be really nice if you could just change the kits and not have to replay the sections yourself.

The menu on the pedal is very user friendly and in the premium library they have a HUGE selection of songs ranging from Red Hot Chili Peppers to The Eagles. However, I don't like how the songs will have 8-10 sections. It feels like you have to push the pedal every few seconds to change from a closed hi-hat to open when it would feel better if it was just verse, chorus, bridge, etc.

All in all it's great for the price and I hope they add some cool features in the future. If not then it will probably just end up as a novelty pedal.

This drum machine has some great sounds and rhythm patters. My only wish is that there was a way to turn off the intro fills. The way I have worked around this is to mute the volume and let the machine do it's intro and pause it using the secondary pedal. I then unmute and can hit the pause pedal when I want the downbeat. There are probably ways to program this but I haven't had the time to research programming and downloading other rhythm patters yet.

The beat buddy is one of a kind foot pedal`.

It has interesting drum kits as well as programmed songs.As with any software Beat buddy Manager has a learning curve. For the most part the pedal and software is pretty self explanatory but requires some patience when syncing up with the pedal. You can add fills, intros, outros and have many stylistic performances (rock, blues, etc..)

This pedal will not replace your drummer and the charm of the natural "mistakes-human error" that is a part of music but it does give metronome performance and a fairly realistic symulation.

I'm using it as a songwriting tool....and it does a reasonable job.

Works well,easy to use. The other pedal that goes with it for an extra charge should be packaged with it for an additional fee because buy 1 pedal without the other is useless.

The drum samples sound really good. I use it in my studio to provide drum tracks while I play bass or rhythm guitar.

Can anyone tell me if you can buy a "pre loaded" Chip that has some real straight country beats like a "rim shot" etc. I am a steel player and do a lot of straight "Classic Country" songs.
Thanks,
Neil

Beat Buddy is a great drum machine! The unit itself, is very sturdily made (actually metal, not plastic) and should stand up to years of being stomped on. Controls are easily accessible and simple. Probably the best feature is the samples are actual wav. files that are midi controlled. The samples are not quantized, giving it that real feel of a drummer. Beat Buddy sounds like REAL drums! The LCD display provides all the information you need and it changes colors you indicate what its doing, i.e. fills, pause, transition fills, intro outro, etc. A visual color bar metronome on the LCD display helps keep you on the correct beat.

The optional foot pedal is an absolute necessity. The two buttons are programmable through the pedal. I use one of the buttons to scroll thru my pre-programmed set list songs, eliminating the need to bend over to use the pedal controls. When the unit is playing, the buttons will pause/ start and give an accent on cymbals or other programmed sound (or whatever you program them for). It does require some time to get used to hitting the right button at the right time, but nothing difficult.

That's the good, now the not-so-good....

(1.) Beat Buddy manager program is the weak point in my opinion. It is not very user friendly and looks like it was written by someone that still thinks DOS is the wave of the future. Everything has to be done by import, export actions. There are no point, click, drag, drop options! Lots of steps are required to arrange, manage your files and its easy to make mistakes. I've had my set list folders vanish and not be recoverable (most frustrating). I now have a backup SD card that has my current set lists in it, just in case. The manager is a stand alone program. Hopefully Singular will write a more user friendly manager program in the future. However, there are several You-Tube tutorials available the will greatly help.

(2.) The SD card does not insert fully into the pedal, protruding slightly. It can be dislodged easily and lost (another reason for a backup SD card).

(3.) Every time you swap The SD cards, you have to re-program the optional foot pedal.

(4.) It would be nice to have access to the controls without having to bend over every time to manually select functions. An optional control panel that clamps to your mic stand or music stand would be a nice option. I don't much like standing on my head with a guitar around my neck.

My evaluation? Beat Buddy it absolutely wonderful to play with. Great sounds, easy to use and well made. I give Beat Buddy 6 stars, but the manager program gets 3 stars. It does what it is suppose to, but they haven't made it easy to use. Maybe the more techie minded will fair better than I have here. So, overall, I give it 4 stars.

I do love the unit and highly recommend it. Beside, it won't hit on your girl friend, drink you beer or puke on you favorite guitar!

Love the product. It feels solid, works as advertised and sounds great. This is a must have for aspiring musicians. It's way more fun than a metronome and as a visual learner I find the flashing beat moving across the screen incredibly useful for working on timing.

So far this little box has been a hit. Easy to use right out of the box with lots of great beats pre-programed. Moving to the next level of interfacing with a PC and making my own beats. Again very easy to use. The user interface needs some upgrades but already since I have owned it there have been two upgrades so these folks are working on improving the product you can tell. Over all great pedal to add to the mix.

This is a fine piece of equipment. I use it for time training. Its certainly better than just working with a metronome or a click track. While a bit pricey I would recommend it. I hope they will be developing more tracks for downloading.

Had a real drummer years ago, since then have dabbled in TRIOs, Roland machines, Zoom built in beats- and this rules them all. I was a bit sad as there is literature out there that says it plays all of these songs, but to find out those are for an additional fee. So far the software/loader is similar to an early 2000s MP3 player loader, which is a bit sad(Katana boss process is far superior)- luckily the makers admit they are not great and turn to the help of users in the forums.
Overall great pedal- i have more to play with but really like what its doing thus far :)

I wanted to add more to solo performances but not too much. This added just what I wanted. There are a couple of drum kits that sound well with just an acoustic guitar. On the flip side you can choose a drum kit that works well with Rock or a fuller band mix.

It has a learning curve but once your past that it is pretty usable. There are more complex and flexible ways to use this pedal then how I am using it. I use it by programming MIDI of the entire song into the main section. Then I leave a number of blank bars at the end of the MIDI so I have time to press the stop button before it restarts the loop.

I have each song saved on the pedal in my set list order. At completion of my songs I just bump it down to the next song and press the start button when I am ready.

What could use some improvement is the MIDI editor in the Beatbuddy Manager Software. I use another software to create the MIDI and then import it into Beatbuddy Manager Software.

I bought a BeatBuddy to use with a vocalist for duet gigs (I play guitar). We play a variety of jazz, pop and R&B, and we like playing "in the moment", with freedom to alter arrangements mid-tune when inspired to do so.

The good news – BeatBuddy sounds good, adds nice energy to compliment our duet format, is flexible to program with the BeatBuddy Manager software (using the beats that came with it and other readily available Midi beats), and is relatively easy to learn and use. Also, I found the BeatBuddy user forum helpful in getting up to speed.

But there is one fairly serious issue with it as a gigging tool. The volume of beats varies considerably, and there is apparently no simple way to normalize it. Adjusting volume on the fly isn't a practical solution because that would require me to know what adjustments need to be made for each tune at varying volume levels (lower volume for small spaces, higher volume for larger, etc.). Also, that would require bending down to adjust the BeatBuddy (or perhaps walking over to adjust PA/amp/mixer, depending on what we are using) several times during each set. So while we can use the BeatBuddy for many of our tunes, that flaw limits its utility. It would seem relatively easy to add a normalization function or volume adjustment for individual songs to the BeatBuddy Manager, and users have made comments to that effect in the BeatBuddy forum for well over 5 years (as of the time of this review).

The upshot - it's a decent practice tool (though I think there are better, less expensive options for that), fun around the house, and ok for some gigging applications. But the volume issue would need to be addressed to earn a higher rating from me.

Sounds great, but wish there was a better list of recommended songs. Have to sort through and continue to find the right beat for songs. But, works great!

I read the reviews and bought the Beat Buddy and Two Button Footswitch. The included beats on the factory SD card are not enough to do much more than the most basic 4/4 stuff. You have to spend an extra $ to get one of the beat libraries. So, to get the full functionality of Beat Buddy, you're creeping up on spending $. There are a lot of options at that level of investment that, frankly, are much easier to program, manipulate on the fly and sound better. The only place the Beat Buddy wins is in portability.

I've plugged Beat Buddy directly in to the PA and through a Roland drum monitor, Both were just okay. I had better results using my laptop, Logic and midi. Sound cards matter. I hate to diss on a product but, because of the cost, I would not buy this again.

I bought the pedal and the extra footswitch. Then I bought the new MIDI Maestro pedal to expand it further. To use it for the stock beats that come with it or for the beats you can buy from their website, it's great. The problem comes when you want to make your own beats. Singular Sound openly admits that this is not the primary purpose of the pedal, but it is an advertised feature. They recommend using third-party software (a DAW like Logic or something) to create MIDI files and them import them using their BeatBuddy Manager software. But their software has been updated repeatedly without any new manual to explain how to work with the changes, and it just doesn't seem to work well at all. On their forum, there is a lot of dissatisfaction with their lack of commitment to the software. Again, I love the pedal, but at this point it's only useful for cover songs, not my original songs for which I need to make my own beats.

I had a few hiccups. I expected the BB to basically be an upgrade of the BB Mini, with all of the drum patterns, and more flexibility. With some help from Jay at Tech support we got there. The "Ballads" folder was not there, but is there with an updated download. The folder building process is pretty brutal and ridiculous. (The folder/setlist abilities are why I upgraded.) It all appears to work now, but it is far from user friendly. They really need a "Mini Plus" that will do songlists/folders but be simple. This should work for now. I'm glad I started on the Mini though. I would have just sent this bad boy back if I had to deal with learning it all at once. (The Mini I would give 4.5*. Easy-Peasy to use. You just can't build set-lists. Inconvenient.)

I needed a drummer that I could live with in dinner house settings. I bought SDrum and found it was fantastic at creating beats but was impossible to live with in a performance setting. BeatBuddy is exactly the opposite. It"s incredibly difficult to create your own grooves (thankfully there is a large number already created for you that you can customize). That said, once you have your songs created BeatBuddy let"s you put them in the order of your set list so you don"t have to fuss with it in front of your audience. The sounds are good and the control while performing is very good.

Its a great idea, and most of the things are great, until , if you are really greedy, you will be never be happy with the supllied MIDIs, most of which are not usable. Best thing is you can program your beats, although the MIDI editor of their own is still in crawling merely. ANyways, this can be programmed for a pretty great stuff worthy of the money.

I am not a musician or had any formal education in guitar playing so the Beat Buddy was not for me. It is a great unit for what it does but for the beginner or intermediate player, it can be a little daunting. I found ot hard to figure out when I should change from one part of the song to the next. I downloaded a collection of songs from their website but knowing when to change from part to part was too much for me to do while playing. And I purchased an entire collection, which I hope to get refunded to me since I opted to send the Beat Buddy back. It looked very easy to use in the videos I watched but like I said for someone not as skilled, it can make it harder to keep up. Good pedal, just not for me.

The transition beats are fairly similar. I wouldn't necessarily sounds better than the SDRUM, just a bit different, both sound really good. The BB has some nice features and would be ideal for someone with a specific playlist; you can actually buy songs pacs for Stevie Ray, Dire Straights, etc which is really cool. But for the weekend noodler who loves coming up with riffs for the sake of the journey - I really prefer the creative aspect of the SDRUM - hands down.

Singular Sound's BeatBuddy is 1/3 of the system they want to lock you into. Everything with this company is super overpriced for what it is, and once you have one of their products they really push you into wanting to get the other two. They have a $... looper and a midi controller unit, also overpriced.

As far as the Beatbuddy is concerned, I had mine for a bit and decided to return it for a few reasons. Firstly, it's a $... pedal and the power input jack is not sized appropriately, and you feel like you're going to break something when you plug it in. Secondly, in order to update the unit, or edit any of the drums, you need to have the capability to plug the SD card into your computer, a capability that I don't have (and at the very least costs another $... or so). Lastly, once you have the Beatbuddy, only your foot is in the door and you have to purchase additional beats and drum kits (which cost ~$... direct from the company).

Singular Sound is, in my opinion, attempting to lock customers into a roughly $... system that just doesn't represent that amount of money in the quality of their product. As it is, you can buy a Boss RC-1 or RC-3 for significantly less money, and achieve (basically) the same result by being able to have a simple drum beat and loop over it.

My sales rep was super helpful with my purchase and subsequent return. Thanks Colton!

Got my Beat Buddy and then bought the 2020 collection. All this is nearly perfect. One of the selling point is being able to get user custom songs and drum kits. This is a BIG problem area. Appears their server failed Nov 2017 and they STILL do not have a handle on it. I had no trouble finding songs but finding the correct drum kits usually means emailing someone in the forum (which is also a mess) and asking them to send it to you. All that shouldn't be necessary. I'm sure they know who paid for their 2020 package and those kits should come in the package or have them available somewhere.

It is a super solid product period. Use the canned data and you dont have a problem.

If you want to make your own drums, Good luck with what is included in their "80's" style of manager. I swear you may as well do it all with 0's and 1's. This management software like their forum has been neglected badly for 3 year and they dont seem to have a path forward.

Based on the price... I cannot recommend this product.... To have a crash 3 years ago and still not be recovered is just a bad business plan to me.

Great hardware. Beats aren"t that great and they know that because they are selling an essential beat package for $... extra.

Nice sounding. I continue to use and learn from practicing with it.

It's great for practicing and jamming along with. But it only has a limited amount of tracks in each genre. Sure you can buy more, but at this price you should have free access to more. I like Line 6's loop tracks better. You can get a nice amp and access to Line 6's tracks for the same price. The file manager is nice for creating new stuff. For that I will keep it. I wish it had more...

I have only had this a few days and then went out of town. I'm a split keyboard player. Bass with left hand and chords/lead with my right. I'm an old rock and roller and singer. A plug for the BeatBuddy company. They are very responsive.

This is incredible for many rock tunes. It truly makes you feel like you have a real drummer. However for ballards and a tune like moondance it doesn't cut it not even close or tunes like stand by me. The other thing is I had to purchase a TRS cable extra in order to pick the pedal up yo change tempo or styles of music so I didn't have to pick both pedals up at the same time.

It seems to me they could have stolen some pre programmed drum beats from the Alessis sr 18 for ballards etc. so in order for me to use this on a gig I have to bring both drum machines in order for me to play most of my tunes coordinating between two machines.
Sometimes I use a real drummer.

I've not given up. Going to continue working with their staff. The standard 60's rock tunes like mustang Sally midnight hour etc. this thing sounds awesome.

I've not seen any reviews or YouTube demo's from keyboard players. So I'm not sure this is the pedal for me. I may return it. Not sure yet. All of what I've seen is for guitar players. If I work out the bugs I may make a video.

A plug for Anthony Longono who sold it too me. Great service.

I have purchased two Beat Buddies for my hopes in Calgary and Rancho Mirage. They work great but it is very complicated to do a firmware upgrade. I have a Mac and it would be appreciated if the firmware update did not include a mix of Mac and Windows software. Its confusing. If you simplify the process it would make the experience with Beat Buddy more enjoyable.

Good sounds, but won't play a song all the way through without the user advancing each part. They promised a feature to do this in 2020, but haven't been able to deliver it. I'd look else where until they can deliver promised SW updates.

Bought this because of the big recommendations and I want the Aeros Loop Studio. BIG mistake!! The "as shipped" pedal is garbage. It is a stepping stone into a great drum pedal AFTER you give Singular Sound another $ for the SD card with the files you need.

I have not decided what I am doing yet, but I am looking for other options. Realistically, I will spend $ for a complete solution up front rather than be extorted by Singular. If I find something, this is gone - and the Aeros is gone as well.

I was going to try and use this for an acoustic trio, just for percussion on certain songs. When I received my Beatbuddy, I opened the box, plugged it in, and.........nothing. I found an adapter with the same voltage, pin out and current rating, and when I plugged it in, it came to life, and it really sounded great. I talked to Singular Sound customer service, and they promptly sent me another adapter, which worked great, until the third or fourth time I tried to use the pedal. When I plugged it in....dead....again. This time swapping adapters did not work, the pedal itself was dead. When it worked (all four times), it was great, but I can't use something this unreliable in a live setting. Glad I bought this through Sweetwater. Thanks to them and Frank Gerdts, getting my money back was not an issue!

great for messing around and then it gets worse trying to learn how to do stuff with the manual. I stopped on page nine because of all the advertisement of their other products. I have never received a product manual that has more stuff about other products than the one I need. I gave it a two because it is not a bad product and it is not really worthy of an one star. But buyer beware, I have watched at least fifty YouTube video's and they only scratch the surface of this product. Can't give it a three because it has wasted my time with other products that I was going to buy in the future but may not now. Glad SW was out of stock and I saved a little more of a headache than I have now. Can you tell how I really feel? I will keep this product but going to use a couple of words that I was not expecting.

Beatbuddy produces great sounds at the press of a pedal. This is fine for random jamming but unless you are a drummer familiar with 'transitions' it is pretty useless for whole songs, particularly those which are pre-packaged for you by Singular Sound. These songs come in far too many 'transitions' which the guitarist is supposed to fit into the song and 'stomp' at the right moment ! So, unless one knows anything about drumming the whole exercise is rather a fruitless and frustrating exercise. I wrote to Singular Sound and they admitted that they had had frequent requests for what they refer to as an 'autopilot ' - as in the ability to play whole songs without the need for guitarist tap dancing ! Apparently they are working on it but so far nothing heard ! Add to this the fact that whilst I am OK with PCs, their software editing is so complicated it could only make sense to a geeky drummer ! So, bottom line, great for random drum beats, but hopeless for whole songs unless you are a technical drummer with a degree in computing. Sorry Singular Sound, you are on the right track, but as things stand, my Beatbuddy is headed for eBay !l

A drum machine as a pedal is a great idea, the unit itself and the pedal are rugged and likely to last. But you cannot modify anything other than tempo and volume at the pedal, everything else must be done using the software and downloading it to an SD card. It's the software that turns BB into a burden, it's slow, quirky and at times does not make a lot of sense. Some people have done great things with the BB, I'm not one of them and am selling it. Your only recourse for a problem is searching the forum as the manual is little more than a quick start guide and the learning curve is steeper than you might imagine.

I got this to have drums when I play guitar, to have everything in one easy setup (being a bedroom jammer). Now I know what the instructions state (after I already purchased the item) for best results play through another system and not your guitar amp use a PA system (you don't even get ok results through the guitar amp it sounds like total garbage). Well that takes the easy setup out of the equation. Back to square one again should have just bought EZDRUMMER 2 and saved money at the same time.

The mechanics are great. Well, sort of.
Think about this. What good are three dials, each of which are also buttons, and five tap buttons, all of which are at your foot, AT YOU FOOT, beside a foot pedal. Answer: of NO USE AT ALL unless you can manipulate buttons and dials with your toes.

Second problem. The sounds are great, if you play LOUD music. But if you play ballads, soft jazz, solo guitar, dinner music, light dancing, piano bar, lounge, or anything short of a rock band, FORGET IT. It's like having a drummer whose only volume is LOUD, who bashes the skins with all his might, when what you really want is a some touch, some brushes, or at least someone who has sensitivity. Don't think you can get sensitivity by turning down the volume. That would be like having an opera singer as your backup vocals in a folk group. Ain't gonna work. Don't think that the "jazz" or "brushes" is gonna be softer. It isn't. I have had my Beat Buddy since the first delivery. I have not found one single song that I can use in my act. Not one. Not ONE. Sometimes I think I'll compromise my act, just so I can incorporate this cool instrument that I paid so much for, but, after a few more hours of hunting for a match, I give up again.

Problem 3. Are you a techie fanatic? If so, have fun. If you are a musician first, and a techie second, this might not be the right choice. I just updated the software, only to find out after three or four hours of getting incompatible messages that my update was out of date!!!! When I finally hunted down the latest update, I could not follow all the complicated instructions for installing. I gave up after two hours. Compare that to a smartphone app that automatically updates, or at worst you have to agree to the updates. The BB process is a nightmare in comparison.

My suggestion is buy a cheap casio keyboard with a rhythm section. Plug it into your amp, and you'll have far better sound, more choices, and it will be more compatible with any musical sound except hard rock. The only problem is, it won't be foot pedal activated.

Which brings me to the beauty of the Beat Buddy. Foot pedal activation is an awesome idea. If they can ever bring the sound up to snuff, I'd buy another one. In the meantime, I break out the casio.

The beats that this device comes preloaded with are really not very usable. Also, the transitions and selecting them with the pedal are really awkward. The outtros are horrible. I think they preload it with grooves that are pretty useless to get you to purchase additional grooves for $$$. A lot of the additional grooves you purchase are "song" grooves, personally I'm not looking for drum tracks for someone else's music.

I really find this device annoying to use and limited in application, and I'm not about to fork out a couple hundred $ for more unusable grooves. For $ it should have had a good library of useful beats to start with.

In short, this is a $... pedal and yet, it comes with a very incomplete library of beats and drum kits. I found most of the presets are unusable. I only use a handful.

You can but the best buddy mini for half be price, or you can spend extra money at singular sounds website. You can spend... to get the "complete package". As well, it doesn't come with the accessory pedal. You can't pause the BearBuddy mid song without it.

It's a decent pedal that is way over priced for such an incomplete product.

My recommendation to Singular Sound. Include a store credit with the purchase towards buying the kits and beats that fit each customers styles, instead of charging them a lot for presets they will probably never use.

They stopped supporting their BeatBuddy Manager several years ago. It's almost unusable. The app takes forever to load and project and is 32 bit so it takes over your computer for the duration of the SD Card or project load. If anything gets corrupted, you start over.

It was a great idea but they lost interest and it's a dustbin product that they are trying milk revenue from.

Move on. Nothing to see here.

The sound of the drums is not an issue. The reason for the one star is because after your purchase, you will need to update many things with the Beat Buddy so that you have the most up to date options available. The directions for updates, like firmware, are not clear and you will be left to trial and error. If you are very knowledgeable with computers and writing codes you will fare much better. The amount of updating needed after purchase seems unreasonable. Being transparent about this, upfront, would be the right thing to do. Also, if you use the library.mybeatbuddy.com to add drum sets, other beats etc ... just know, anything from the library requires several upgrades and updates and many other steps before you can use what you purchased and this is not explained prior to purchase, only after, do you realize that your purchase may be unusable. I have attempted to contact Singular Sound about this, so far, customer service and or assistance for these issues does not exist. I am out of the window to ask for a refund, or I would. It should not be this difficult.

Way too expensive! I opened it up ,brand new. Read all instructions. Watched a few u-tube videos. Plugged it in. Not even one minute and the screen flickers, then nothing. Unplugged it and and made sure everything was OK on my end buy plugging it into one of my BOSS pedals,everything was fine. So I tried it again and same thing. So I packed it up and sent it back to Sweetwater. For a $ pedal, it's crapp!!! Don't waist your money. Infact Sweetwater should discontinue this item.

I have used the BeatBuddy several times when either performing solo, when a drummer was not available for Sunday Worship services or just for practice.

I pulled it from a drawer in my studio to add back onto my pedal board for this weekend and it will not stay connected to a power source, VooDoo Lab or separate 9 volt adapter. The device blinks on very briefly to inform me there is "NO SD CARD", which is not accurate since it is still inside the slot and engaged.

As far as I am concerned it is a $ Paper Weight.

My first impression was poor build quality. The unit went dead after performing the recommended firmware update. It would not power on. The company position is this happens if you interrupt the firmware update by killing power or removing the sd card. I did neither. The directions to recover from this are buried deep in their forum. I HAD TO PERFROM THIS 3 TIMES BEFORE THE UNIT WOULD POWER BACK ON. Everything about the software integration is poor quality eg cut and paste files to update the firmware, the recovery file is an oddball extension that does not appear under normal search parameters. There are instructions on the forum to properly seat an sd card reader with directions that include disassembling the unit. Mine apparently also has a 9v inlet power jack problem. If the jack is oriented in a certain direction the unit powers down. Not exactly what I was expecting for $. Tech support was absolutely no help at all. If you buy this you are on your own with a very buggy unit.

This product is NOT for the novice. All the reviews you have read about how simple and easy it is to use are simply not true. I spent my entire Christmas day trying to import one song into the SD card and was unable to do so. It is that complicated. None of the file types from the premium site would export onto the SD card. It was a NIGHTMARE. Ruined my day.

Two lame 4/4 "blues" rhythms. No shuffle, train etc. not intuitive. A hassle. Has potential, but none of the rhythms
Comes even remotely close to basic things like a shuffle etc. and to try and find any rhythms is cumbersome, time consuming. You'd think the names would
Help but they're vague and inaccurate.
also, It's very difficult to make this thing "shut up" since there is NO STOP PEDAL. Allegedly, there is some convoluted series of this and then that and the other is required to just MAKE IT STOP. I just unplug it, every single time. What a hassle.

I am extremely unhappy with the Beatbuddy. I am not using this device for practicing at home or as a backing instrument for a one man band show. My sole purpose for buying this pedal was to use it for pre-production recording work. I.E. , I'm putting a demo CD together that I can then present as a rough draft to the band , not only to stave off rehearsal time, but also so they can work on the material before hand.

For $ plus with the optional foot switch and midi cable, one would think with all the array of musical beats and kits included , that BB would have incorporated ONE simple bass drum snare beat WITHOUT an intro fill or at the very least, a quick way to remove them !! Further, there is nothing intuitive about this pedal, if I am am gonna go through the hassles of programming a pedal or writing patches for it , I will simply spend for a drum machine or computer product and be done with it.

Beatbuddy, you may have fooled some musicians, but not me.
I believe that the BB is nothing more than an elaborate toy, for the bedroom jammer.

I play for crowds of 150-200 twice a week for 5-6 months each winter. I have a live drummer when I do this, but I bought the BeatBuddy for some summer gigs when my drummer isn't around. How shall I put this? Don't get the thing if you play gigs by yourself. Ask the sales rep if it will fit what you do. Yes, there are a lot of beats on it. But if you want the really good stuff, you have to go to the manufacturer's website to purchase them. It's not expensive, and the beats are really good, but I simply could not transfer what I downloaded from my MacBook Pro to the Beat Buddy. I'm a musician, not a computer engineer, but I'll keep trying. It's a good thing I'm retired and have lots of time.

Even if I could have done this, the practical use of the BeatBuddy is almost impossible (for me). It is at my feet. I am playing guitar and singing to an audience in real time. I take requests. I vary the routine almost every gig. I cannot keep reaching down (in the semi-dark in a cocktail lounge or an outdoor patio) to adjust or bring up the next song. I need to be able to operate this with my hands. So I am going to ask my electronics expert friend to drill some holes in the thing and add some kind of footswitch so I can have the BeatBuddy on a music stand within reach and operate it with my hands, and start and stop the thing with my foot.

Creating and editing your own beats and drum kits is such a convoluted, chaotic mess that it's not worth the time. That, and the overcomplicated operation and the necessity of yet an additional footswitch make this too attention-consuming for any practical use. I'm glad I managed to sell it, and a good riddance.

The idea sounds great on paper, but creating your own patterns, drum kits, etc. is far too convoluted and clumsy, and operating this in real time is a huge distraction, and in the end you get nothing you can't do far better and easier with a laptop and a decent MIDI setup. I had one of the earliest models, having supported the campaign, but I couldn't wait to sell it and turn to using serious MIDI setup instead.

Owned it for less than a week and has been nothing but problems. Doesn't read the card, and when it does, can't read the files. works ok from time to time. Waited & waited for this to come in, and has been nothing but trouble. Its a cool concept but wait till they get all these bugs out. Beat Buddy manager on PC to manage your files is in no way shape or form user friendly. Finally got files to transfer, but following the instructions on the on- line manual didnt work. Really, try it if you must but I'd wait a bit. Mine is headed back