B-Keeper live drummer tempo sync for Live

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CaptainU
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2013 4:56 pm

B-Keeper live drummer tempo sync for Live

Post by CaptainU » Tue Jul 01, 2014 3:06 pm

Guys,
Don't know whether you've heard of B-Keeper? http://www.b-keeper.org/ it's an M4L plugin which has been around for ages. It got a small flurry of activity a few years ago and lots of people got excited at the prospect of a live drummer controlling the Ableton tempo. The M4L plugin has just the mxo externals and so wasn't written for Windows. There was a potential way around this using some other Java objects but I'm struggling with it on Windows 7. Can't quite get to that last elusive stage.

Image

I'm wondering if anyone in the Ableton community ever got it working succesfully on Windows with Live?
I think the original developer (Venetian on this forum) has moved on/doesn't have the time. It would be great if someone with M4L expertise could rewrite the (mxe) externals for this to create a Windows plugin!

Any thoughts appreciated (excluding "get a Mac" :wink: )

(For those who are interested - we're currently using "TapTempo.amxd" a tap averaging M4L device, "Blinker" to visualise the tempo on screen and a midi-assigned tap tempo pedal).

Venetian
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2007 4:55 pm
Location: London
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Re: B-Keeper live drummer tempo sync for Live

Post by Venetian » Thu Aug 14, 2014 2:13 pm

hi

I've just gone through things and ensured that there are Java classes and the bonk~ windows external (bonk~.mxe) for B-Keeper to work correctly on Windows. I've made a setup video for this:

http://youtu.be/OQF8KVgtcq4

and you would download now at

www.github.com/venetian/b-keeper

there are installation instructions there too. B-Keeper does require a slightly specialist drum setup - mic on the kick and snare - but is steady once you start using.

CaptainU
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2013 4:56 pm

Re: B-Keeper live drummer tempo sync for Live

Post by CaptainU » Thu Aug 28, 2014 7:31 am

Thanks for this. I'll give it a try. Thanks also for the video!

tom.luft
Posts: 47
Joined: Fri Dec 25, 2009 8:24 pm
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Re: B-Keeper live drummer tempo sync for Live

Post by tom.luft » Sun Mar 15, 2015 8:17 pm

Are there any informations regarding if/when a 64bit version of this great device is coming? For my 64bit windows machine I think the only thing missing is an appropriate (64bit win) bonk~ version.
Live 11.0.2
Windows 10
i7 6700k, 16GB
Scarlett 18i8

Venetian
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2007 4:55 pm
Location: London
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Re: B-Keeper live drummer tempo sync for Live

Post by Venetian » Thu Nov 05, 2015 6:00 pm

The BeatSeeker plugin has effectively updated the B-Keeper design in many ways. It only requires a single mic input and processes this to get drum hit events. It listens to the audio to suggest a tempo prior to starting. It's more responsive and reliable with a simpler setup. And 64 bit.

https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/beatsee ... our-drums/

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