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  #1  
Old 10-12-2015, 04:00 PM
Dancehallking Dancehallking is offline
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Default Anyone use BeatBuddy or Digitech Trio Pedals at home or in live setting?

anyone use either the Beatbuddy or new Digitech Trio Pedals at home or in live setting with acoustic guitar? Curious as to your thoughts and level of success for playing solo and singing with for top 40, country, rock, pop, oldies music (not blues).
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  #2  
Old 10-14-2015, 07:41 AM
coreym1970 coreym1970 is offline
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I use the BeatBuddy drummer both at home and live. My band is traditional Country music with emphasis on the pop stylings of Glen Campbell and Sammi Smith. I love it and we can get into places where a band with a full drum set cannot, and I believe it sounds better too. It definitely keeps better time than most drummers. It takes some experimentation to learn it and keep 'mistakes' from happening but for the most part it is easy to work for me. I play guitar and run the drums at the same time. If you buy one, be sure to get the pedal that goes with it. It makes life much simpler!!!
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Old 10-25-2015, 07:54 AM
8daypsalmist 8daypsalmist is offline
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I have one Inbound...

My wife and I play Farmers Markets, etc., doing Acoustic Roots Americana covers. I am hoping Beatbuddy will augment the sonic landscape of Upright Bass, Acoustic Guitar and Vocal.

Haven't been this excited about a piece of gear for a long time!
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Old 10-25-2015, 08:26 PM
Davis Webb Davis Webb is offline
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I am eager to here more about how you are using Beatbuddy. I have the Boss DR3 drum machine which does some of the same things but find it a bit daunting to use with an acoustic act.

Keep us informed!
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Old 11-01-2015, 07:23 AM
dcopper dcopper is offline
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I just bought a TRIO and have been playing around with it this weekend. I wanted to see if it would work live for my solo work. First of all let me say it is a very practical concept to be able to play a phrase and the pedal interprets the parameters, selects a style best suited (by the pedal's determination) and adds in the bass and drum parts. Unlike a drum machine, you don't have to select the time/BPM or style. That of course is a double edged sword.

I used my K&K equipped Taylor 914 to try the TRIO out. The input will work for K&K because it is a 1meg, so no worries there. You have to figure out whether you want to send the guitar signal out of the "amp" output and then to your preamp if you use one, or send both signals out the "amp" or "mixer" channel. With an acoustic I did not engage any of the guitar effects.

So being a bit "antsy" and wanting to get up and running, I plugged in, and using the additional footswitch which I highly recommend, played a phrase and then hit the first button on the fs to play back the bass and drums. Well, my first impression was that this is really cool. I could solo over the drums/bass and then come back in with the chords and lyrics. The drums and bass sound FAR BETTER if you are playing through a full range system like an acoustic amp or PA. I played through my AER 60/3, Fishman LB Performer and also into the board and QSC K8s. The K8s sounded best but all three worked fine.

So, does it work for acoustic acts? Well, yes - but I decided it is simply not for me. To my ears, the styles, while differing, start to all sound very similar. I think if I had to use it live it would be one of those distractions you have to master before playing out. Sometimes I just like to plug a guitar and mic in and go. You will need to route your guitar signal if you, like me, use a harmonizer or other vocal effects. OK, so that just really means re-organizing your pedal board.

My take on the drums is that they are just OK. For acoustic work though, I like acoustic drums, hand drums, hand percussion and the TRIO does not offer that. There is one setting I found that has a tambourine which is closest to what I wanted to hear. The bass parts are sort of "busy" I think because there is a concept of "filling" since it is a TRIO act. And again, there is no "acoustic" bass settings. When you select a GENRE and go through the styles, you are limited to what is preset and you cannot mix and match. That is not always a bad thing but limits your control.

So, my TRIO is going back. If you have a tendency to be a tinkerer and want to master all the aspects of a pedal, you will enjoy the TRIO. At its basest, it is simple to use and a great simple concept. If you could select a drum set or percussion elements and then a bass it would work far better for acoustics. I think it is a really exceptional practice tool and would be fun for those folks who play at home or otherwise practice at home. It is like a metronome that learns what you want it to learn. It is probably designed much more for an electric guitar and all the demos I saw were all by electric guitarists. My TRIO is going back simply because the styles do not give me what I want in percussion selection for acoustic works and I know it would be a bit of a distraction, worrying about settings and selections, which takes away some of the joy of just playing.

This review really is just for how the TRIO applied for me for acoustic work. You may find it to be the cat's pajamas of rhythm pedals and accompaniment. It is an incredible idea and if DigiTech could extend it into the realm of acoustic work and allow you to select the percussion and bass BEFORE it learns your phrase, it would be ideal for live work. IF you also are an electric player you may want to give this a try and you may well like the drum/bass options in the different genres.

So there you have it and I hope this helps. I read this post some time ago and started to do the research and decided to check the TRIO out. I use the TC Electronic Harmony Singer and RedEye preamps and have tried to simplify my setup not only for carry and set up time but more so I can just concentrate on playing and vocals.

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  #6  
Old 11-01-2015, 07:39 AM
Turp Turp is offline
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I have a Trio, I loaned to a friend because I need less playing distractions now.

On the advice of another friend, I learned performing works best with a looper. Create a rhythm track on the Trio then record on the looper. You can do this before performances or on the fly during.

The Trio as a practice tool is great for developing ideas or timing as I typically play solo or in a guitar duo. So the Bass and Drums helps me develop my ears some for those rare occasions I might play in a band.
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  #7  
Old 11-02-2015, 10:37 PM
Wardo Wardo is offline
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Picked up a Trio tonight. Good practice tool and a ton of fun; put a smile on face just messing around with it. From the youtube demos I thought the bass lines would be too busy but I was able to get simple progressions out of it and same with the drums. It doesn't seem to negative the sound of my guitar too much. I use a K&K on Martin dreds into a Traynor AM Custom 225 - sometimes stick a mic in front of the guitar in addition to the K&K but for this I was just using the pickup. The Trio can transition from verse to chorus and to bridge using the footswitch which is kinda cool and the fact that it learns what you play increases the fun factor insofar is you just plug it in and go. While there are more sophisticated machines available this thing is better than I expected for just playing around at home.
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  #8  
Old 12-09-2015, 09:20 AM
tomtheguitarguy tomtheguitarguy is offline
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I have and use both the BeatBuddy and the Trio live. Different tools for sure. Love being able to take requests and telling the audience "hold on a minute while I teach the band this song" and then program the Trio.

Like any other tool, you have to put some time into it and learn how to use it, it's limitations, it's pros, etc. If you do, you'll find them both very useful.

And yes, the pedal is pretty much necessary for the BeatBuddy (I use a Boss FS-5) and I picked up the pedal for the Digitech as well...

Hope this helps...
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