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Compact looper with midi sync advice

Aloe

Aloe

Apr 10, 2016
3,513
1
4,684
Ukraine
#1
Hi,

I have a Ditto (the small one) and the most thing I miss in it is MIDI sync. We have another looper in band and we would like to sync them with MIDI (we need clock sync, not sure of start/stop sync).

I've looked through some loopers online, there are several models from Boss, Pigtronix and TC that have the MIDI in port, but all of them are huge.

I know there is JamMan and JamSync, but that's two devices. Am I overlooking something more compact?

Thanks
 
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#3
Aloe said:
Hi,

I have a Ditto (the small one) and the most thing I miss in it is MIDI sync. We have another looper in band and we would like to sync them with MIDI (we need clock sync, not sure of start/stop sync).

I've looked through some loopers online, there are several models from Boss, Pigtronix and TC that have the MIDI in port, but all of them are huge.

I know there is JamMan and JamSync, but that's two devices. Am I overlooking something more compact?

Thanks
Click to expand...

You have correctly diagnosed a hole in the market. A compact looper with MIDI control does not exist to the best of my knowledge, but it should.
 
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#4
Aloe said:
Hi,

I have a Ditto (the small one) and the most thing I miss in it is MIDI sync. We have another looper in band and we would like to sync them with MIDI (we need clock sync, not sure of start/stop sync).

I've looked through some loopers online, there are several models from Boss, Pigtronix and TC that have the MIDI in port, but all of them are huge.

I know there is JamMan and JamSync, but that's two devices. Am I overlooking something more compact?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Funnily enough, I was pondering the same thought the other evening.
The Jamman can have an external Midi clock attached to it, but it's a bit of a bodge and it's a 2 box solution. The TC Electronic Ditto X4 has Midi and that's not small either.
 
#5
GMC said:
Funnily enough, I was pondering the same thought the other evening.
The Jamman can have an external Midi clock attached to it, but it's a bit of a bodge and it's a 2 box solution. The TC Electronic Ditto X4 has Midi and that's not small either.
Click to expand...

There's also Pigtronix Infinity (also huge and requires a separate footswitch for undo) and Boss RC-300 (more bulky than all my pedals total, including wireless and DI). And a tabletop RC-202, but I think I'd prefer a pedal.

I also was thinking about looper on my phone or something like this, but this will need even more devices: phone, MIDI and audio interface, footswitch and an additional charger or even two. And that seems to be even more complicated.

Oh, yes, there is also Eventide H9, it has the MIDI port and the looper function, but not really sure if it will fit my use case.
 
#7
The Pigtronix is the only looper on the market that will sync your loops to an external midiclock. The Boss RC 300 can only be master clock but no slave and the ditto x4 uses midi only for control messages. There is no other alternative to the Pigtronix than learning to loop really really tight - which can actually be done as long as you don't want to run 1-bar loops over like 128 bars from two devices.
 
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#8
Rambazamba said:
The Pigtronix is the only looper on the market that will sync your loops to an external midiclock. The Boss RC 300 can only be master clock but no slave and the ditto x4 uses midi only for control messages. There is no other alternative to the Pigtronix than learning to loop really really tight - which can actually be done as long as you don't want to run 1-bar loops over like 128 bars from two devices.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the Boomerang series can do this as well, but it's bigger and even more expensive than the Infinity.
 
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#12
Aloe said:
19" rack loopers enter the "compact loopers" thread.

actually, both pigtronix and boomerang are in similar price range. but boomerang is larger (but not larger than a RC-300, I believe).
Click to expand...

Similar, yes, but the 'Rang is $40 more street, in addition to being larger. Also, its accessory (the Sidecar), while it does a lot more, is much more expensive than an aux footswitch for the Infinity.
 
#13
Adamixoye said:
Similar, yes, but the 'Rang is $40 more street, in addition to being larger. Also, its accessory (the Sidecar), while it does a lot more, is much more expensive than an aux footswitch for the Infinity.
Click to expand...

Well, actually if the 'Rang can undo/redo without the Sidecar, this could be cheaper for my use case. If not -- I'd better consider Pigtronix. But anyway, here both are much more expensive and it's really up to finding a good deal, so thanks for mentioning both.
 
Last edited:
#16
GMC said:
I don't think it's got Midi clock sync either. Not sure the Strymon Time line does either.
Click to expand...

The Eventide syncs to MIDI clock, but overall it's much less intuitive than the Infinity.
 
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#19
Rambazamba said:
The Pigtronix is the only looper on the market that will sync your loops to an external midiclock. The Boss RC 300 can only be master clock but no slave and the ditto x4 uses midi only for control messages. There is no other alternative to the Pigtronix than learning to loop really really tight - which can actually be done as long as you don't want to run 1-bar loops over like 128 bars from two devices.
Click to expand...

It's not just a clock sync. I had an Arturia Beatstep connected, and changing the pitch of a step would alter the pitch of the loop. It's an interesting hack to experiment with, if you have the gear for it.

I'd be interested in a compact looper with a MIDI clock sync. I don't know of one, yet.
 
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#20
I have the looper, but need the MIDI pedal. I have found the Tempode online and maybe one other, but I have no experience with them. Does anyone use this pedal or recommend another? Sorry to tangent a bit from the OP question.
 

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