BR-80 - MIDI rhythm import BR-80. Bad tempo

Started by patriciogac, October 02, 2014, 05:46:51 PM

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patriciogac

Hi all. This is my first post here! I bought recently the Micro BR-80 and I´m more than happy with it, it is really versatile and it sound great when connected to speakers.
I read the manual and I realized that I could import full MIDI songs as rhythms (full master of puppets.mid from metallica for example), put it in a track, and play the other tracks myself (bass, guitars, etc)... that is really amazing because the Micro BR-80 only plays the drum parts... BUT... in songs that have 2 drums tempos (master of puppets has a fast part - a slow instrumental part - and a fast part finally) the MIDI drum is play only at one tempo, so the fast part is too slow or the fast part is too fast. I try several MIDI files and every time there is a part of the song that plays wrong...! Is there anyone that knows if this is a software / firmware error or if I just do it something wrong... or If there is a way to correct the tempo for MIDI files inside Micro BR-80 or maybe with a PC software... I will really appreciatte your help.. Best Regards from Chile (sorry my bad english)
BOSS Micro BR-80
BOSS ME-80
BOSS JS-10
Marshall MG100DFX amp
Ibanez red guitar

Brent Flash


gumtown

Maybe the BR-80 does not recognise time signature or tempo changes with in the same song.
Might be better to import a drum track as a *.wav file
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

patriciogac

Quote from: gumtown on October 02, 2014, 06:09:23 PM
Maybe the BR-80 does not recognise time signature or tempo changes with in the same song.
Might be better to import a drum track as a *.wav file
I think you are right... but the MIDI files sounds so good, and is so easy to find a song in MIDI versio to put in a track imported as a track, that it is a shame to have to do that, I think you are right and the time signature isn´t recognized properly. I tryed to contact BOSS to make him to know this but they answer me to contact Latin America support center, and that my friend was impossible. I think this is something easy to correct via firmware.... what do you think.... and If someone could be so nice and try to emulate what I´m talking about loading any MID song to understand my point please?!
BOSS Micro BR-80
BOSS ME-80
BOSS JS-10
Marshall MG100DFX amp
Ibanez red guitar

JolietJake

You could always split the midi file in 2 and record each half individually as 2 separate songs and then join them together on the PC.

patriciogac

Quote from: Colin on October 03, 2014, 01:47:46 AM
You could always split the midi file in 2 and record each half individually as 2 separate songs and then join them together on the PC.
in fact thats what Im doing.. Splitt the midi file and loaded as midi import playing one after other and midifying tempo... But that could be probably easier if one could load the single midi song and nothing else.... I think that must be easy to fix by a firmware update if Boss could fix that.... Sadly Im unable to report to support center..... Anyway try to load a midi song... Will going to be amaze the fun you can get playing over the drum of any song downloaded from internet... Like I said is a shame that the br80 play the file at bad tempo when is more that one. Any other ideas?
BOSS Micro BR-80
BOSS ME-80
BOSS JS-10
Marshall MG100DFX amp
Ibanez red guitar

jmoorejr

#6
I know this is a very old thread, but since I just got a BR-80 and I had some of the same issues with the MIDI rhythm files, I thought I would post my solution for anyone in the future looking for an answer. That's actually how I came across this thread.

When I finally got a MIDI file exported that would play properly I had some trouble with it playing completely. As it turns out, it was user error. I just didn't understand how the file was being played by the BR-80.

MIDI files are played by the rhythm section. But what the manual doesn't really tell you is that you can play the entire file, or you can let the file play for a certain number of measures. The manual says you can do this for the built-in rhythm patterns but it doesn't explicitly say the same for imported MIDI files. The assumption is that you would just play a whole MIDI file. Actually, imported MIDI files are treated just like patterns but just classified as type "SONG".

So just like a pattern, you can set a MIDI file to play a certain number of measures. Once those measures are played the MIDI file stops.

At the point where it stops you can insert another MIDI file - a completely different file. Assign that length of however many measures and then repeat the process for different parts of the song.

The key is that each time you insert a new MIDI file, that file can be given a new tempo for the measures it is active. This is how you do a tempo change within a song on the BR-80.

The suggestion of splitting the MIDI file was on the right track. The only part that was missing was to insert the separate files as described above. If there's one tempo change, and it goes back to the original tempo, then you would have 3 files; Original Tempo - Slow Tempo - Original Tempo (part 2). You just have to know the number of measures to assign to each file. Tip: Name your MIDI files corresponding to the parts to make them easier to find and manage when inserting.

You can also get creative and add feel by playing with the tempo in different sections of a song. For example, if you want to raise the energy of the chorus a bit you can push the tempo higher by as little as a 1/10th of a beat or as much as you want to give the rhythm part a more human drummer feel.

So far I'm having fun with this little unit. It has limitations for sure but it does a lot of things extremely well. I'm still amazed at having an 8 track studio, a field recorder, a guitar song practice player, and a USB audio interface that fits in my pocket.

I can't seem to get the 1.06 firmware to load - I get a header error. If 1.04 is stable I guess I won't miss it.