Loopers:EH 2880, Digitech Jamman, electrix repeater, boss...

[nick_a]

a good friend and collaborator of mine got an rc-20. it induces this really irritating hum into the signal path. kind of high-pitched and whiny. it wasn't intuitive enough for him so he sold it and got the line 6 thing. good luck with yours...you'll probably be much better off than my friend was.

[apropos of nothing]

I'm planning on a looper soon and am kinda feeling the EH2880. Anyone here used it and can comment?

[inverseroom]

a good friend and collaborator of mine got an rc-20. it induces this really irritating hum into the signal path. kind of high-pitched and whiny. it wasn't intuitive enough for him so he sold it and got the line 6 thing. good luck with yours...you'll probably be much better off than my friend was.

Definitely defective, mine is very quiet...

[kweis7]

I tried the Jamman (new) and the RC-20xl and ended up getting the Jamman. While the quantize on the Boss made looping easy, it seemed like it would make me lazy. I was right, I think, as using the jamman to make loops that groove is really good rhythm training, especially at tempo extremes. No training wheels for me please. That being said , I have not used the Jamman all that much at gigs, mostly as a practice tool. It is a great practice tool.

I did do duo gig with me on geetar/looper and a drummer. That was cool and worked pretty well. I'd actually like to do that some more as it required a LOT of concentration and felt like I could get into some new/different spaces musically.

The thing I don't like about the Jamman is that it is impossible to record multiple loops live and switch back and forth during a performance without reaching down to mess with buttons. That ends up limiting what you can do form wise, which is why I don't use it all that much. I just can't bring myself to use prerecorded material. When I use the looper I make all loops on the spot.

Have you all checked out Keller Williams? He is coming here to do a show; I saw him previously and he exceeded my expectations considerably. Great act and excellent guitar player. Good vibes too.

The larger boss and some of the others sound like better live performance tools as you can record multiple loops live and switch between them. I guess if I was willing to use premade loops the jamman might make it to a gig more often. Maybe I'll sell it and get something else.

[kayagum]

I'm planning on a looper soon and am kinda feeling the EH2880. Anyone here used it and can comment?

I wrote a brief blurb earlier in the thread. What additional info do you want to know?

[apropos of nothing]

My want is ability to synch to MIDI, which is the big reason I'm leaning toward the 2880. So I guess my question is on that front, is there any competition?

I also kinda like the RC-50, but of course it doesn't synch to MIDI happily, and it also looks a little over-featured/interfaced which I think might drive me nuts.

Comments?

[kayagum]

If you don't need a floor controller, you can check out the Roland SP404 (or SP303 or SP202):

http://www.zzounds.com/item--ROLSP404

I have used the SP202 and SP303 extensively for my live theater gigs, and they've been great. I didn't use the MIDI, but the implementation seems straight forward in the manual. It only has a MIDI in (no out or through).

[comfortstarr]

FYI

Before getting the RC-20xl I wrote to Boomerang asking if they had anything new coming out. This is what I got back:

"We will be releasing a new looper, the Rang(TM) III, AND a stereo
chorus/delay pedal in late Jan 07.

The effects pedal has 11 presets and an expression pedal jack for real time control of parameters. The looper will have true stereo recording, vastly improved audio specs, long record time, 6 loops, multi level undo redo, multiple loops can play synched or unsynched, and a slew of "utility" features such as auto fade out, metronome, etc.

We will insure that the pedal is easy to operate and as intuitive as the current one, but it will be deeper if you want to explore the new functions.

It will be about half the size of the Rang(TM) Plus which lists for $599. Right now it looks like the list price will be about $539. There will be no MIDI or USB connectivity, and no permanent storage of loops."

Sounds cool, but no midi sync. The EH thing looks really fun too, especially with the foot controller (but, as with the Boomerang and the RC-50, it's a bit cash).

[apropos of nothing]

If you don't need a floor controller, you can check out the Roland SP404 (or SP303 or SP202):

http://www.zzounds.com/item--ROLSP404

I have used the SP202 and SP303 extensively for my live theater gigs, and they've been great. I didn't use the MIDI, but the implementation seems straight forward in the manual. It only has a MIDI in (no out or through).

That's an interesting recommendation, and one I hadn't considered. How friendly do you find them for real-time live manipulation. Obviously they're not looper pedals, but can one use them similarly?

[Brian Brock]

Hey loopers, any ideas on this?

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... 334#349334

[kayagum]

If you don't need a floor controller, you can check out the Roland SP404 (or SP303 or SP202):

http://www.zzounds.com/item--ROLSP404

I have used the SP202 and SP303 extensively for my live theater gigs, and they've been great. I didn't use the MIDI, but the implementation seems straight forward in the manual. It only has a MIDI in (no out or through).

That's an interesting recommendation, and one I hadn't considered. How friendly do you find them for real-time live manipulation. Obviously they're not looper pedals, but can one use them similarly?

They're stupid easy to use, and bulletproof. (I've done multiple theater shows with them- never a failure, gotta love flash memory). The lit pads and buttons are lifesavers on a dark stage or in a dark booth.

The SP202 can sometimes click at the loop mark, but the SP303 that I currently use is clean.

From a manipulation standpoint, you'll have to have it at table level to use it. I've seen people "rack" up their stuff on sturdy metal music sheet stands.

[WillMorgan]

Yay a new boomerang at last!

I have had a boomerang for about three years and love it. I bought an RC-50 last week though, primarily because of the higher fidelity, but also because i thought there might be something in the feature set i can use.

Learning the RC-50 has been and is going to take me a while, the boomerang was more jump in and play... but, i have yet to learn to use two loops with it very effectively, and it seems like i should be able to use three on the RC-50 shortly as each of the three phrases has a dedicated button.

I've seen Keller Williams live ( uses a jam man, see http://www.kellerwilliams.net/internal. ... .gear.html ) , he's great, i do what he does for sound i think, i run vocal mics, guitar and bass amp outs, etc.. into my PA, then i take an aux tap from those channels to the sampler(s)... then the sampler output goes into the PA on a new channel so i can adjust levels and record each channel independantly.

My first little snag, the 'rang has a highly adjustable 1/4 input that worked great for line level. The RC-50 will only take line level through it's mini jack aux, so i have to adapt down from the aux out 1/4 to a mini jack which seems like it might be susceptible to noise onstage. I only record in mono so i'm going to see if i can use a hi-z transformer in reverse to feed the RC-50 Mic input from my board to get a balanced connection for this potentially long cable run.

The RC-50's higher sound quality is a pleasure. If i end up using the permanent 99 patches X 3 phrase memory i guess i won't mind so much missing out on the new 'rang, at least for a while!

For an example of what i do... The song 'no drunk funk' on my myspace page was recorded entirely in one pass. When i'd run out of made up lyrics I kept the rhythm guitar sample going and guitar solo'd over the top of that for a while. To mix the song i cut and pasted the soloing bits up front to shorten and pretty the song up.

See hear: http://www.myspace.com/willmo

[apropos of nothing]

If you don't need a floor controller, you can check out the Roland SP404 (or SP303 or SP202):

http://www.zzounds.com/item--ROLSP404

I have used the SP202 and SP303 extensively for my live theater gigs, and they've been great. I didn't use the MIDI, but the implementation seems straight forward in the manual. It only has a MIDI in (no out or through).

That's an interesting recommendation, and one I hadn't considered. How friendly do you find them for real-time live manipulation. Obviously they're not looper pedals, but can one use them similarly?

They're stupid easy to use, and bulletproof. (I've done multiple theater shows with them- never a failure, gotta love flash memory). The lit pads and buttons are lifesavers on a dark stage or in a dark booth.

The SP202 can sometimes click at the loop mark, but the SP303 that I currently use is clean.

From a manipulation standpoint, you'll have to have it at table level to use it. I've seen people "rack" up their stuff on sturdy metal music sheet stands.

Durnit. This all calls for a trip to banjoscammer.

[inverseroom]

Hey loopers, any ideas on this?

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... 334#349334

Ha ha, wild! I bet he's right about it being the same PCB...

[syrupcore]

I have an Akai Headrush and a bunch of delays pedals going up to 5 seconds each. I love them. the only problem with the headrush is that it's buttons are really really loud so if you're doing anything with a mic, the click of the pedal gets into the loop. I wind up turning down the mic, entering the loop, turning up the mic...

I do most of my loopy stuff with audiomulch or Ambiloop though. Ambiloop is free and completely great. It's essentially 8 DL4s with full midi control and a few EDP functions like insert/multiply. It also has a rudimentary loop editor, tap tempo function and a metronome that you can turn off after a single pass. I keep wanting to get some nicer hardware looper but ambiloop pretty much does all that I want so it's hard to justify. plus the authors are super swell fellers.

The looperlative looks lovely. There was a blip a couple years ago about electrix reforming to put out a repeater 2 but it appears to not have worked out.

ambiloop.