Guitar Gear

Summary: The BeatBuddy revolutionized practice and even solo performance by providing great backing beats with its default set of beats. But with the Premium Library SD Card 2019, entire songs and even more beats extend the usability of this already incredible drum machine in a box.

Pros: Lots of beats – probably more than you’ll ever need! Contains beats of full-length songs from a bunch of artists and genres. For songwriters like myself, all the extra beats provide a great canvas for song ideas. I LOVE the new, extra drum kits included in this set! The defaults are fine, but some kits like the Phil Collins-inspired sets provide a nice change to the original sets.

Cons: My only nit is also what’s so great about this library: There are A LOT of beats. 🙂 But as with all libraries, you’re going to cherry-pick what you’ll use. The challenge with this will be in a live setting having to go through the menus. Before I use this live, I will have to create a cheat sheet so I can get to the beats I need quickly.

Tone Bone Score: 4.75 This library makes the BeatBuddy incredibly useful to me now for both practice and finally, for my solo gigs. With the full-length cover songs in the Premium Library, which luckily for me include many songs I do in my solo gigs, I’m looking forward to using this regularly on my board!

Street Price: $199.00

When David Packouz, the inventor of the BeatBuddy, first approached me with his idea for the BeatBuddy, I jumped at the chance to review the unit upon its release. For years, I had to use my recording software like Logic or GarageBand to provide backing drum beats for practice and writing. And for practice, it was a pain in the ass.

So when I got the BeatBuddy, I literally was overcome with joy, as I could take one of my amps, lock myself in a room… well… my man-cave, and practice and write, free from a computer. It was great! But I felt that while incredibly useful, the default loops were a bit basic. Though fairly high quality in sound, there was only so much I could do. So to be completely honest, while I had plans to gig with the BeatBuddy, it remained a trusty companion in my home studio.

But I that’s changed now with the Premium Library because, as I mentioned, many of the full-length songs included on the card are songs I play in my solo gigs. I practiced with a few of them like Sting’s “It’s Probably Me,” which is done according to his version that he recorded with Eric Clapton. This is the version I play in my gigs, though I add some of the major-7th and flat-5 chords he uses on his album (sorry forgot which one). In that version, it starts out with a simple beat with a soft rim shot. Perfect lead-in to the next section (there are 7). I also explored the Elton John and Billy Joel banks and the Popular Cover songs (though I’ve only gotten through the 3rd volume – there are 11 volumes included with 10 songs each).

Not everything I do is covered, but let me tell you why I’m so excited about having all these full-length songs: I’m too freakin’ lazy to use the BeatBuddy Manager to construct full song sets on my own! 🙂 I have a day job, and I gig on the weekends and some nights during the week. I’ve tried using the software a few times to construct songs, but I just don’t have enough time to sit and edit for hours at a time. But if someone did it for me, damn! So yeah, I’m REALLY diggin’ having these full-length songs at my disposal!

But on top of that – and I haven’t even explored all the different beats – the extended set beats are much more complex than the default sets. Myself, I like complex rhythms; and no, not weird time signatures, but rhythms that have lots to offer because it allows me to attack my guitar in different ways and inspires me to explore. But when the beats are basic, it’s difficult to get inspired. It’s a whole new ball game with this the Premium Library!

Some might balk at what might appear to be a steep price to pay for the library. But having gone through the process of constructing songs with the BeatBuddy Manager software, for someone like me who doesn’t have a lot of time to tweak, this library is a godsend. And sure, you might be thinking that it’s just an SD Card, but how much have we gear sluts spent on little items? If you’re like me, you’ll get a lot of mileage from this particular “little” item!

Prior to writing this review, I spent the previous 3 hours exploring the library. I didn’t expect to spend much time with it, but I kept on discovering new things. And when I looked up, I couldn’t believe how much time had passed! So like I said, I’m going to enjoy using my BeatBuddy at gigs, and the Premium Library has now made that possible!