Compact looper with midi sync advice

[jaymelewis]

I use Ableton Live for this - it has a looper plugin built in, plus endless possibilities for clip launching. It takes the looper pedal into an infinite universe of opportunities

 

[Aloe]

I use Ableton Live for this - it has a looper plugin built in, plus endless possibilities for clip launching. It takes the looper pedal into an infinite universe of opportunities

and Ableton Link is great.

do you use a bluetooth pedal for controlling the looper or something like this?

can one control one track's looper with one pedal and other's with another at once?

 

[nnavarro]

I put this chart together when I was looking for a looper a little while ago. As @Adamixoye said earlier, there seems to be a hole in the market. @jaymelewis I've got to give that a try!

 

[stambroker]

I put this chart together when I was looking for a looper a little while ago. As @Adamixoye said earlier, there seems to be a hole in the market. @jaymelewis I've got to give that a try!View attachment 2876469

wow, awesome resource, thanks Nathan!! I plan on buying a Boss RC-202 for my synth setup, but I'd love to sync my bass loops with my drum machine + synth loops too. May have to pick up a TC Ditto x4, has anyone tried any of those fancy big EHX loopers on a pedalboard set up?

 

[jaymelewis]

and Ableton Link is great.

do you use a bluetooth pedal for controlling the looper or something like this?

can one control one track's looper with one pedal and other's with another at once?

You can use any foot-controller MIDI controller, as everything in Ableton is MIDI Mappable. I personally use the Line 6 FBV.

And yes, you can control any aspect of any loop you want. It's however you program it.

I put this chart together when I was looking for a looper a little while ago. As @Adamixoye said earlier, there seems to be a hole in the market. @jaymelewis I've got to give that a try!View attachment 2876469

@nathannavarro I just set up an Ableton file that has 2 independent loopers for my bass, a looper for my vocal mic, and I've got a keyboard for VST's and a KORG Padkontrol - and then I add a layers of bus production with an APC-40. And I use the effects send/return on the amp so that there's no latency on the way in; I'm only monitoring the playback. Possibilities are endless with Ableton

 

[Adamixoye]

I put this chart together when I was looking for a looper a little while ago. As @Adamixoye said earlier, there seems to be a hole in the market. @jaymelewis I've got to give that a try!View attachment 2876469

This sort of confirms why I'm a fan of the Infinity - the red X's are things I don't care about, but at least some of the green checks are must-haves for me, MIDI being one of those. I am curious where you got those prices, though...

 

[monsterthompson]

You can use any foot-controller MIDI controller, as everything in Ableton is MIDI Mappable. I personally use the Line 6 FBV.

And yes, you can control any aspect of any loop you want. It's however you program it.



@nathannavarro I just set up an Ableton file that has 2 independent loopers for my bass, a looper for my vocal mic, and I've got a keyboard for VST's and a KORG Padkontrol - and then I add a layers of bus production with an APC-40. And I use the effects send/return on the amp so that there's no latency on the way in; I'm only monitoring the playback. Possibilities are endless with Ableton

Are you only using Ableton as a looper, or are you running other synths and samples? My main concerns with running the Ableton looper are the interface routing and the buffer size. If the in-the-box signal isn't your final signal, you'd need to arrange a way to re-amp the signal. Additionally, if you're running a signal in, then you'd need a buffer size, and the smaller the buffer, the more CPU strain, making it harder to run other tracks in the same device. Conversely, increasing the buffer size creates more latency.

I'm curious how you're running your rig. Obviously, there's more than one way to rig a signal path, and each has pros and cons.

 

[jaymelewis]

Are you only using Ableton as a looper, or are you running other synths and samples? My main concerns with running the Ableton looper are the interface routing and the buffer size. If the in-the-box signal isn't your final signal, you'd need to arrange a way to re-amp the signal. Additionally, if you're running a signal in, then you'd need a buffer size, and the smaller the buffer, the more CPU strain, making it harder to run other tracks in the same device. Conversely, increasing the buffer size creates more latency.

I'm curious how you're running your rig. Obviously, there's more than one way to rig a signal path, and each has pros and cons.

Depends on how large the session gets - but I can keep my buffer pretty low even with a few VSTs. There's no latency issue for the bass though - I use the effects send/return so I'm monitoring my bass direct from the amp; only the looper comes back through the return. If you're just using it for bass loop and playback, there's no latency at all

 

[nnavarro]

This sort of confirms why I'm a fan of the Infinity - the red X's are things I don't care about, but at least some of the green checks are must-haves for me, MIDI being one of those. I am curious where you got those prices, though...

Yeah, MIDI was a checklist feature for me too. For prices, I did a quick google search for each pedal and took what looked like MAP.

 

[Adamixoye]

Yeah, MIDI was a checklist feature for me too. For prices, I did a quick google search for each pedal and took what looked like MAP.

Huh, okay. I believe most of them, except I thought MAP on the Infinity was more like $449.

 

[nnavarro]

Huh, okay. I believe most of them, except I thought MAP on the Infinity was more like $449.

Yeah, sometimes MAP can get Invalid Link Removed. It's a slippery slope.

 

[Aloe]

I use Ableton Live for this - it has a looper plugin built in, plus endless possibilities for clip launching. It takes the looper pedal into an infinite universe of opportunities

Thanks for sharing this. I've installed the Ableton trial and experimenting with it.

I kinda like the looper in Live, but it has some limitations, I cannot get past yet (or I'm just not used to Live yet). The most annoying is only one undo-redo, but I believe this can be worked around in multi-channel.

What's the ideal workflow of using multi-track looper in Ableton Live? That is: to accomplish things like: undo latest 2 takes, play along and redo all them, then record one more, then undo all three (leaving the first one) and so on. What's the Ableton way to go -- dragging looper to clips on the same track or different tracks for different channels for one instrument?

 

[Aloe]

Yeah, I've seen more that one undo-redo in only one looper yet (two-button ui: play/stop/undo and record/play/redo; all other advanced loopers seem to use multi-channel). If it's a useful way for this workflow in Live, that would be very interesting as well.

 

[jaymelewis]

Thanks for sharing this. I've installed the Ableton trial and experimenting with it.

I kinda like the looper in Live, but it has some limitations, I cannot get past yet (or I'm just not used to Live yet). The most annoying is only one undo-redo, but I believe this can be worked around in multi-channel.

What's the ideal workflow of using multi-track looper in Ableton Live? That is: to accomplish things like: undo latest 2 takes, play along and redo all them, then record one more, then undo all three (leaving the first one) and so on. What's the Ableton way to go -- dragging looper to clips on the same track or different tracks for different channels for one instrument?

I like to have them pulled up on different channels, and rather than undoing (for layering, not mistakes) I just pull the fader down on that channel or mute it. Or run it through effects - or effect the whole mix.

 

[Adamixoye]

"Compact"
Electro-Harmonix

 

[sunbeast]

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.

The Boomerang can indeed do both Undo/Redo without the external Sidecar. Basically you can configure at any time four additional "bonus features" like undo/redo/reverse/copy/etc on the pedal itself with three loops, or you can add a 4th loop and select any two of those "features". I think the Boomerang is the ideal live looper, its main weakness is that it has no internal permanent storage for your loops disappear when you unplug from power.

 

[Bassheart365]

I have the Boomerang III and the Boss RC-300. The RC-300 does it/has it all. But it is too big for me to take to gigs. That's why I got the Boomerang III, which is the best for live bass looping given its small size, IMO.

 

[monsterthompson]

The RC-300 does it/has it all.

Except you can't midi-slave the Boss to an external clock. Pretty big shortcoming on a device like that, IMHO. Everybody finds a different way to work with a tool, though.

 

[Bassheart365]

Except you can't midi-slave the Boss to an external clock. Pretty big shortcoming on a device like that, IMHO. Everybody finds a different way to work with a tool, though.
View attachment 2884291

Yes I don't need that feature. I use my looper mainly for bass solos in live situations. That's why my tool of choice is the Boomerang III. I mainly use the RC-300 has a song writing tool in my home studio. I do use midi slave with a drum machine (Arturia Drumbrute) master though.

 

[Adamixoye]

Except you can't midi-slave the Boss to an external clock. Pretty big shortcoming on a device like that, IMHO. Everybody finds a different way to work with a tool, though.
View attachment 2884291

This is definitely one of those design decisions that I don't understand at all.