Revolutionize Your Live Performance: Transition Tracks flawlessly with a Looper
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- čas přidán 1. 04. 2022
- Are you struggling to make your live music flow? Changing from one track to another can be easier if you use a midi synchronised looper. In this video I give a brief introduction to the RC202, some of its pros and cons, and advice for how you can use it for smooth transitions in a DAWless setup.
I am in no way sponsored by Boss, Roland or any other manufacturer - these are just my own opinions.
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Tip: to get the track volumes on the big dials, one can select equalizer as the track effect, leave it flat, the dial will then work as a volume/gain function.
Wow, thats a brilliant bit of information - thanks!
Probably the best explanation of this device I’ve seen
Thanks - hope it was useful.✨🪐
had this looper two years ago, changing volume was tricky, so i decided to put volume of track1/track2 on 2 Midi sliders, works perfect
That's another great idea. I need to do an update video with all these cool tips you guys have shared. 🙏
I just tried this out and it worked like a charm - thanks 🪐✨
@@MikeRenouf glad it worked!
Please make a vid of the midi vol trick. Would you ever want the 505 or is 202 enough? Cheers
@@GullySyde28 I did a quick one, let me know if you need something more in-depth.
czcams.com/video/7nr9poziBTM/video.html
I think the 202 is fine for my needs - it just lets me create transitions between tracks using my other gear. The 505 seems really great but it would take up too much space and has more tracks than I need personally.
Thanks for watching and commenting ✨🪐
Thanks for this. Very helpful.
Another suggestion to do a smooth transition between tracks or track / live signal: The Fade-out function does a good job here, setting it up is shown on 6:43 So when you stop a track it fades (Fdo) out for the defined time (Fdt).
Awesome tip. I will try this! Thanks for the insight.
Great demo, I've been considering adding one of these, either this one or the one with the 4 thingys. Now I want one even more! ❤🔥
The RC-505? Yeah, looks really nice. It's a bit overkill for my needs but it seems like a great piece of kit.
Thanks for stopping by again 👍
Very helpful... I think I could benefit of this RC-202. I also had some difficulties to make some good transition while doing a live set. Thanks!
Glad you found this interesting.😁 Thanks for the comment. 👍
1st like is me 👍👍👍👍👍👍Keep growing growing growing and infinite growing 😊☺🙏🙏🙏
Thanks! Really nice to get positive comments. 👍
Α tip about volumes : when you select the track (thru the track button) you can use the selector dial to change the volume of the channel😊
Yeah - this is how I've generally done it. I recently wired up a midi- controller though and that made it even easier! I ran through how I did this in another video. Thanks for the suggestion! 👍
Interesting video.
I was curious about how the 202 played its audio; I didn’t see audio out cables so are you playing 202 audio through a computer (off screen connected to a separate audio interface) or did I miss something?
Good eyes! The 202 can act as an interface itself. In my video i set it up to send audio to my computer via USB. Thanks for watching! ✨🪐
Great demonstration, I've read on various forums that there are sync issues with this device when in slave. Looking at the midi cables here, it looks like you have it in slave mode here. Do you have any problems with that? cheers.
Hi, this video was made some time ago - i do tend to use the looper as the master clock unit these days - it can struggle a bit if its the slave!
🔥 ❤
Cheers Barry!
I do something similar with the Octatrack. Also there are some DJ mixers (mostly digital) that have a looping feature as well.
I'd love to play with some Elektron gear one day. Thanks for checking out the video 👍. ✨🪐
THE fact that the once the live loop is recorded, it starts to play itself with the actual sound from the TR8s, doesn't that double or like increase the volume? is there any setting to stop the live audio from TR8s going out from the output of the BOSS WHEN WE STOP RECORDING THE LOOP and like when the loop starts to play itself from the BOSS?
Hi there! You're dead right, the sound doubles-up and sometimes you get a weird phasing effect if the looper and the drum machine are very slightly out of sync. For this reason when I use the looper most of the time I tend to use it for just my Novation Circuit synthesizers, and not for looping the drum machine. I don't think there is a way to automatically cut the input volume when the loop starts to playback - you would have to do this manually. Thanks for watching and commenting! ✨🪐
You are correct; there is a doubling-up of sound when loop playback starts if your instruments are still running. You are able to set the playback of loops to fade in automatically once they're recorded - which would give time for turning down other instruments, but this is not an automatic function.
hi! i'd like to use this in a vinyl setup, am I right to assume that you've got this running synced via MIDI? If so, do you have any input as to how well the looping works when unquantized?
Hey! Yeah I always use it midi synced, but you can have it completely unquantised.
I've had a lot of questions and great suggestions from viewers about this unit so I think I need to address them all in another video!
@@MikeRenouf Ok yeah, I am a bit worried about it not performing quite so well unquantized, so I found something called the Voyager 1 Beat Xtractor, which generates a MIDI clock from an audio signal. I am a complete noob when it comes to MIDI, and I cannot find a comprehensive tutorial on how the RC 202 is set up exactly, so maybe you could tell me if it would it be possible to send a signal from my mixer into this device and send a MIDI clock at the same time, so that the RC 202 then uses that clock to quantize the audio signal it receives? I'm assuming that it would work but really out of my depth here.
Would also appreciate any update video you make that adresses questions like these!
I just tried it unquantised and it seems to react really quickly. Will post a video shortly ✨🪐
does it have "backspin" effect, assignable to fader or big knob?
Thanks for watching. Yeah, there's a vinyl scratch effect you can assign. I played about with it a little in the video:
czcams.com/video/ZOFJlrA7BB0/video.html
does it record also unquantised? or can it record only quantised, like the rc-505 mk2 does?
You can record unquantised if you turn off midi sync👍
thx
is it possible to nudge speed of sample plaback, e.g. by a midi-controller, so to adjust to the mix?
I'll have to check the manual and come back to you! ✨🪐
OK - so unfortunately I don't think it's possible. I haven't seen that function in the manual anywhere. The whole unit is midi-synced though, so unless you really want to manually mix, there's no need.
Hi Mike, if you didn't have the 202 how would you mix between tracks on the TR? 🙏🏻
I can think of a couple of solutions. Using a software looper (e.g. within Ableton) could achieve the same kind of results at the 202. If you want to stay hardware-only though that wouldn't be an option.
The TR8S does allow for changes of kit and pattern very easily while in the middle of playing, without stuttering or stopping. Therefore If you set the machine up so that each pattern uses a dedicated kit, and then make subtle changes between them, it could sound relatively seamless. e.g. if pattern1 and pattern2 use the same kick drum and hihat, but they have different shaker sounds and different basslines, then you're able to evolve your set. This requires a bit of forward planning, but it's achievable.
Alternatively you could use other pieces of gear to keep the flow of the session going while you change settings on the TR8S. e.g. fade out or mute the drums and build up a polysynth melody while you swap kits and then fade the TR8S back in.
Just some ideas to consider. ✨🪐
@@MikeRenouf nice one Mike, I was thinking possibly have 2 tracks on pattern 8 01 and 8 03 then on 8 02 use the new kick and HC/SD/and a couple of the others from the new pattern, then the rest from the previous 🤷🏼♂️ , not sure how that would work though if the tempo is slightly different but I guess I'll find out soon.
@@chriswilson6118 If you've got tempo differences between patterns that would be challenging - however tempo changes would be tough to mix using a separate looper at any rate.
@@MikeRenouf oh ok Mike , thanks . I'm not planning on trying any song changes yet, but it does appear to be on my mind. I need to produce better ones and get them better first .
Hey Mike very useful video,
Can I ask what do you do if using Rc202 as midi clock, and then once you've finished your transition and want to load a new loop, and stop the loop the midi stops,
How do you do this without stopping all of the midi ? Thanks
If the 202 is my master clock, i start everything running with the Rhythm start/stop button. This makes all the rest of my setup start too. I only use this button at the beginning and end of a set.
When I want to record a loop, clear a loop or stop one, the midi clock keeps going regardless.
If you are using the 202 and it doesnt behave like this it might be that the general settings menu of the looper requires some changes. I set mine up a couple of years ago, so I cant remember exactly what alterations I made, but if you are struggling I can make a video - let me know.
@@MikeRenouf thank you for the quick response,
that sounds like a better way of doing things.
I will have a look and see if I can find that in the settings.
Like you say in the video the settings are confusing 😂
@@Ldnlenzadventures Definitely confusing! I took a good hour or so to read the manual and step by step made the unit behave the way I wanted - and haven't changed much since that time. 👍
@@MikeRenouf I've read the pdf but I couldn't find the option you suggested, have spent hours trying now.
So many options so few buttons 😂
There's a setting under 'Rhythm' in the pdf. 'specifying how the rhythm sound will stop'. Mine is set to 'OFF'
This means the Rhythm sound plays regardless of the looper function. You will need to turn the volume of the rhythm down to zero if you dont want to hear the looper's onboard rhythm sounds, but you need it running to use the kind of techniques I am using.
Hope this helps.
can volume of each track be faded in live performance with an external midi controller, by midi assignment?
Yes! I just managed to do exactly that with a Novation Launchcontrol ✨🪐
Sorry if this is a daft question but I’m not that knowledgeable about loopers. With it getting a midi clock, does it wait to start recording at the beginning of a bar and stop at the end, regardless of when you hit the button, or do you have to time it? I want to record pad sounds then change the patch on the synth to play over the top.
If it's midi synced then you can press record any time, and the looper will wait till beginning of a bar or beginning of a beat (you can choose) before recording. Likewise with the end of the recording. It gives perfect loops. I had a cheap non-midi looper before the 202 and that was really tough to use in this setting. The midi sync is excellent for live jams.
@@MikeRenouf Brilliant mate, that sounds perfect. I’ve only used cheap loopers with guitar and they did my head in lol
@@Yosser70 thanks for watching and commenting. Glad I could help! ✨🪐
Another question if that’s ok. Can you run more than one synth into it and have them come out of different outputs? I use a Roland Mx1 mixer and its channel effects, so separate outputs would be very useful.
how can loop length be set (e.g. bars, time)?
Quantize to the measure start location only for recording.
Quantize to the measure start location for recording/overdubbing/playback.
Quantize to the measure start location for recording.
Quantize to the beat location for overdubbing and for playback.
You can also record unquantized if it's not midi-synced.
Can you use an expression pedal to control the volume of one or both tracks? I suspect you can use a midi foot controller that has 2 foot pedals so you can control the volume of each track individually or any other attributes that are midi assignable. One thing the 202 has over the 505 is a headphone jack. rofl. Not sure why the 505 doesn't have one but that's super stupid. Also, it doesn't have a 3.5 mm aux in. Really? It does have 32 bit floating resolution instead of 16 bit but I think the sound quality on the 202 is good enough. The nice thing about the aux in is I can plug in my mobile device and make a little backing track in a few seconds with an app like FL Studio or weird sounds from the Moog Filtatron app. Really, the possibilities for that kind of thing are endless.
Top tier ideas! Thanks for sharing this info!
Yeah I really feel like a lot of hardware musicians/modular fans sleep on units like the 202. It's crazy powerful. ✨🪐