BeatBuddy Mini 2

BeatBuddy Mini 2

Transitioning from the NUX, which has built-in drum loops (they’re serviceable, and I actually really found I like playing against the percussion backdrop), to the Fractal FM3, which doesn’t, I looked for something relatively inexpensive but flexible, that could stand in. I settled on the BeatBuddy Mini 2 (Amazon) from Singular Sound. It’s available on the Singular website as a pre-owned SKU for $111, and they’re offering a 10% discount to new customers, so the total package was a few cents over $100, which also qualified for free shipping¹.

It’s a kind of ingenious little device. The drums are actual recordings, not synthetic, and there’s 24 different genres (including Rock and Punk 😎) with multiple songs per genre (with different songs having different time signatures; you’re not limited to 4/4), lead-in intros, different verse and chorus recordings with transitions between them, and you can obviously adjust the tempo (beats per minute). Singular also offers a song matching tool. (No Tool, though. No machine can keep up with the octopus!) E.g., for Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name, you’d run Rock 11 at 89 BPM; for Bombtrack, Punk 1 at 76 BPM. Megadeth’s Symphony of Destruction is Rock 2 at 140 BPM.

My guitar teacher has a desktop box - Tascam maybe? - that he uses all the time, works well enough. This should be at least that effective.

 

¹ Which - a word to the wise, I ordered it on Thursday 4/2. I got a shipping notification on Monday 4/6, but that was just “Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item.” USPS didn’t receive it until just before noon on Tuesday 4/7 and, shipping from Florida, I’m expected to receive it on Saturday, 4/11.