Live looping

[goroth]

Sounds great, but short loop time, and all those settings make my head hurt.
Hnng, love that degradation though.

[Faldoe]

Couple things.

If you're looping with a band and there is drums or rhythm involved, it is good to have a looper that allows you to re-record a botched loop, or stop it before play back so you can re-record it.

By that I mean, say you record a loop and midway you hit a bad note or mess up other wise. With the Akai head rush, you can hit the record button AGAIN while recording a loop and the recording process will start over again. This is really helpful when play with drums because you don't have to play your messed up loop.

Other loops like on the Eventime time factor allow you to hit Stop while recording and this won't play back the recorded loop, in case you messed it up.

If you want to sync multiple loops. It might be worth looking into the Jamman loops that have the Sync function.

For live looping, in terms of hardware loopers, I prefer the Akai Headrush or the Line 6 DL-4.

I currently use my laptop with Ableton live. I understand that is unreliable for lots of people, and it requires hardware and software.

I'd advise against any looper that requires to you have to hold switches to clear recorded loops or that causes loops to playback when clearing - I think the Ditto does that.

Headrush or DL-4 are you best bet.

[darthbatman]

jamman solo would probably cover what you need as you can save loops to usb and there's a time stretch function
i personally use a gibson echoplex that i got a really good deal on forever ago, it's a dinosaur but has lots of functionality especially with midi

[technicoloraudio]

I use a boomerang iii with sidecar now because it's midi syncable and has four independent loops. Before that I was using an ehx 2880 and was very satisfied, but wasn't crazy about keeping the unit itself out of harms way and keeping the big box foot controller on my board. Both had max functionality and syncability. You can get click out from ehx units if your band is into that shit.

[kbit]

I've been using the sound on sound mode on my El Capistan more than I have my Ditto. With the ditto there's an obvious break in the loop when it resets, but the El Cap is seamless. Plus you can go from pristine looping to old dirty tape machine madness. Highly recommended.

i keep thinking i want to do this but then all the secondary function settings i've had messes with the loop and i have to set everything correct as well as setting the feedback to a proper position and all that - it just becomes too much to use as an easy looper imo.

Favorite switch would come in handy here to keep all your looper settings saved at the press of a button

[cedarskies]

I've been using the sound on sound mode on my El Capistan more than I have my Ditto. With the ditto there's an obvious break in the loop when it resets, but the El Cap is seamless. Plus you can go from pristine looping to old dirty tape machine madness. Highly recommended.

i keep thinking i want to do this but then all the secondary function settings i've had messes with the loop and i have to set everything correct as well as setting the feedback to a proper position and all that - it just becomes too much to use as an easy looper imo.

Favorite switch would come in handy here to keep all your looper settings saved at the press of a button

i thought about it, but no. 250$ and having to buy a big fricking preset button for 40$? nope nope nope.

make your own favorite switch. cheap and easy and small.

http://www.ilovefuzz.com/viewtopic.php?f=151&t=19804

[fishtankdork]

I use the boss rc 300 and I can't even imagine another looper in my life. MIDI ins and outs, mic ins; whiole bunch of other uses than just guitar. I love it.

[univalve]

I use a boomerang iii with sidecar now because it's midi syncable and has four independent loops. Before that I was using an ehx 2880 and was very satisfied, but wasn't crazy about keeping the unit itself out of harms way and keeping the big box foot controller on my board. Both had max functionality and syncability. You can get click out from ehx units if your band is into that shit.

Thanks! Super interesting.

[cedarskies]

make your own favorite switch. cheap and easy and small.

http://www.ilovefuzz.com/viewtopic.php?f=151&t=19804

the thought has crossed my mind but i'm electrically retarded. i'd fudge it up and it'd cost me 30$ in parts and then i'd throw it away, and i wouldn't get the TRS cable with that either. nope.

much less than $30 in parts (if you were more electronically/diy inclined, or know somebody who is)

DPDT footswitch - $2
stereo jack - $1
1590LB enclosure - $4 (or thrift something for cheap)
8" monoprice right angle TRS cable - $3
= $10 (before shipping)

[jrmy]

O.k. - stupid question for a looping dummy. I have a PDS 20/20, and I haven't had any luck with grabbing more than a single note in a loop. If I want to grab an entire phrase, do I have to set the delay slow enough that my entire phrase falls into the gap between delays? Or am I being totally stupid about the whole thing?

[scienceman]

I'm thinking about going for a ditto x2 now. It's about the same price as the rc20xl, has a stop foot switch and is much simpler to use.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

played a show along w/ a cool dude last night who was doing some live looping w/ a mic and a boss rc30. it was rad.

i think a big thing w/ loopers is just getting used to / vibing w/ the one that u have.. if u know that sucker inside out, it will become more of an extension of your body & mind.

[echobaseone]

I find the Boss RC-20 perfect. The soft touch switches are crucial for my timing. If only it was 24 bit. I had the 2880 and couldn't get my timing right due to the clickity switches.

[Seedy]

I loved my first looper the RC-20XL and still think it sounded best. But if you're playing in a rock band and don't want to play to click you simply must use the Line 6 DL4 or M9/M13 (Had the DL4, Have the M9). The reason is the 'play once' button that lets you re-trigger as often as needed. That way you as a guitarist can play with a drummer and bass player. I love making new riffs from the loop. I have a Ditto after it in the chain, mostly to record my loop fuck-withery. There are better loopers than the Ditto but its just so small I fit it on a board on which I thought there was no more room.

But I love the M9 so much. You can put fx before or after the loop. I had Jack Vaughn http://www.jhv3.com/m-series-mods/ put in a special mod for me. I asked him if he could add a stomp at the top that I could use to make "play once" revert to "play" upon end of the loop via MIDI. And he did! Now I mess with it like a DJ would and it seamlessly goes back to playing the loop.

[sonidero]

Dosh and Kid Beyond are the best live loopers I've seen a bunch...

[youtube]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qdlVLx5q3yQ[/youtube]

[youtube]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V8mlSWWZ9zQ[/youtube]

That Kid Beyond is old now but he uses Ableton and a midi foot controller and it's rad...