Playing Beatstep as standalone??

[agduplan]

Hi,

I'm super new to the Beatstep and I have some dumb questions! 

I understand that the Beatstep can be played "standalone," but I'm wondering what this means. For example, could I connect the Beatstep to the wall for power and then also connect it directly to some speakers? Or perhaps if I connect the Beatstep to the computer, open the Midi Control Center, and then also connect it to speakers? Is that enough to play it as its own 'instrument'? That seems wrong... Pretty sure I'm missing a step.

So I'm wondering if I want to play it standalone, do I need some other piece of hardware to connect to the Beatstep via one of the outputs (CV, Gate, MIDI)? If so, which output connects to what?! What kind of hardware do folks use in their own set-ups and for what purpose(s)?

What I personally would like to do somehow is program each pad on the Beatstep to contain a sample, then use the sequencer mode on the Beatstep to play these samples in various configurations. How do I do this? I'd really like to avoid having to buy music editing software, but I understand that may be impossible. (I have Adobe Audition! lol) I would be creating the samples myself obviously. Can I somehow store these samples on the Beatstep directly or do I need to do this through some program or software? And if so, which programs/softwares are possible/compatible?

Okay, thanks for bearing with me. I appreciate any help on that! I know that's a lot of questions and don't expect to get them all answered, but I'm trying to learn about all this stuff and instruction manuals and YouTube tutorials are only making me more confused!

[AustinBru]

Hey there! I'll try to answer these to the best of my ability.

What people mean by "standalone" with regards to the Beatstep is more along the lines of: You don't need a DAW for it to act as a master for tempo sync. However, I want to be clear in that the BeatStep is a sequencing/controller device and has NO built in sounds. At a minimum you will need: USB connectivity to the BeatStep to power it. Either MIDI or CV/Gate out to some unit that will receive those signals and produce sound. And if that unit has no speakers, an audio out to your speaker set up.

People use MIDI versus CV/Gate, or vice versa for various reasons. Each have their own advantages and disadvantages, but for me it comes down to what is easiest. MIDI works well with a lot of my gear, but for analogue sometimes CV/Gate is better. The MIDI signal can be replicated/split at least 3-4 times with a simple mono splitter. I am not sure on the CV/Gate, but I think I've heard reports of people doing this.

For what you wanted to accomplish... if you have a sampler or DAW, each pad will have a MIDI note assigned to it, so select your sample and assign it to whichever MIDI CC you want. Then switch to sequencer mode, and start dialing in which notes each step will trigger (by using the rotaries). Note that there is no visual feedback so you will have to use your ears when assigning notes within the sequence.

You cannot store and samples/audio directly on the BeatStep or the BeatStep Pro for that matter. It sounds like what you really want is a hardware sampler that also has a built-in sequencer?