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Dumb Looper Question

Tom Henrich

Tom Henrich

Dec 22, 2023
65
35
59
Queens, New York
#1
What's up all ? Dumb question about looper pedals that I can't find an answer for. What signal does a looper process, store and output ? For example, say I have the looper first in the pedal chain with a fuzz pedal right behind it. Would the output be the clean bass tone or would the loop go into the fuzz and now I'd have a fuzzy loop ? Kick off the fuzz and return to a clean loop ?

The reason that I ask is because I have yet another brilliant idea. "Recording" a loop from my Roland GR20 into the looper and kicking it on / off when needed. This will allow me to play entirely different bassline while a synth is going on.

My setup is Bass -> Morley A/B Switch
A -> pedals -> Amp A
B -> Sonuus B2M -> Roland ->Amp B

It works perfect for me. Click the Morley once to have the synth's voice doing what I'm playing on bass. Click again for just bass. Of course I can also switch it to just have the synth going.

I'm not going to get into MIDI samplers, sequencers, etc. to trigger things. I just want to know where to put the looper. To the front of the Morley where the looper can be used for the bass AND synth or would the looper have to be dedicated to the synth ?

Thanks for any guidance.
 
#3
Killing Floor said:
If it’s a single in and out looper it records its input. Some loopers have an effects loop though.
What looper?
Click to expand...

So what it hears, it records and plays ? I kind of thought that would be the case.

I've just started looking into them so I don't have one particular looper that I'm set on. I'll probably get one of those cheap ones out of China to start with. I don't want anything complicated. Just pre-record the synth pattern and then step on it at the proper times.
 
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#4
Tom Henrich said:
So what it hears, it records and plays ? I kind of thought that would be the case.

I've just started looking into them so I don't have one particular looper that I'm set on. I'll probably get one of those cheap ones out of China to start with. I don't want anything complicated. Just pre-record the synth pattern and then step on it at the proper times.
Click to expand...
You can put it anywhere in your chain.
 
#7
I do a lot of live looping... I run my looper last in the signal chain.

IMG_0355.jpeg
 
Last edited:
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#8
A looper is a phrase sampler and can only record its input. Do you want to record the synth line with all the effects and then play bass over that with different effects? Or do you want both signals feeding into an effects chain?

I can put a looper (module) in multiple places and there is (to me) value in having it in both places, but, generally, you would want the looper at the end. And you want one so you probably want it there.
 
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#10
Killing Floor said:
It can’t. Unless it has an effects loop. Some do.
Click to expand...
That's what I thought. Forget any effects loop on the looper. In order for a looper to play a processed signal it has to be behind or after a fuzz, chorus, etc..

That being the case, what if your setup was Bass -> Looper -> Amp ? If the looper is able to see the bass, then I should be able to put the looper before the Sonuus on my board. If not the it appears that I'll be building a 2nd board.

Morley "B" -> Sonuus -> Roland -> Looper. I may as well throw another Dyna Comp in there somewhere. LOL.
 
#11
Phe said:
It records everything before it in the signal chain. The cheap ones don't usually have memory slots, so you can probably only store one loop in it (although it can be pretty long, like 5-10 minutes).
Click to expand...
Now that makes sense !! Right now I'm good with having one loop. Then again 2 months ago I was going to sell the Roland because I thought that the Sonuus would have been uselesss. LOL. I don't foresee a need to loop my bass. Unless I was going to loop a bass line so that I could play the Roland in real time. Just writing that made me feel like I need a shower. LOL.
 
#12
TOOL460002 said:
A looper is a phrase sampler and can only record its input. Do you want to record the synth line with all the effects and then play bass over that with different effects? Or do you want both signals feeding into an effects chain?

I can put a looper (module) in multiple places and there is (to me) value in having it in both places, but, generally, you would want the looper at the end. And you want one so you probably want it there.
Click to expand...
I'm looking to record one synth riff that I can engage / disengage as needed. If I can have it as Bass -> Looper -> Sonuus -> Roland, could activate the loop and leave it continuously running if I wanted. The whole "B" section (Roland) is activated by engaging the Morley.
 
#13
You'd need to put the looper after the synth in order for it to "hear" the synth, and thus be able to loop anything you play on it. You said you run the Roland to an amp? If so, put the looper after the synth, but before the amp. Then you can record the phrase, and turn it on/off as desired.
 
#14
sloppy_phil said:
You'd need to put the looper after the synth in order for it to "hear" the synth, and thus be able to loop anything you play on it. You said you run the Roland to an amp? If so, put the looper after the synth, but before the amp. Then you can record the phrase, and turn it on/off as desired.
Click to expand...
And you sir have given me what I needed to know. I got the part that the looper needed to be at the end of a chain for it to capture the bass with any active effects in it. I thought that the looper would need something between the bass and looper. But I wasn't certain because the Sonuus converter has nothing in front of it and it flawlessly translates into MIDI and into the Roland. It appears that I'll be putting a 2nd pedal board together for the Roland. LOL
 
#15
It seems you have got your answer, anyway...
This is my pedalboard:

upload_2024-2-8_11-0-58.png


The looper is the DigiTech in the bottom left corner, at the end of the chain (actually the very end is a H/LPF, the black pedal in the top left corner).
I engage the octaver (which include a fuzz), the envelope filter and the chorus and play the "synth line" into the looper; then I start the looper to play back the synth line, disengage the three effects above, engage the preamp and play the bass line on top of the synth line.
 
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#16
As stated, think of the looper as like a tape recorder. It records what it “hears”. The great thing you can do with a looper is play a bass line, record it in a loop, then play with pedals AFTER the loop to hear how that would sound with some compression or chorus or fuzz etc. You can really dial it in without having to stop playing to adjust the knobs.

Secondary function (wait, 3rd?) is you can record a loop at a sound check, and then walk to front of house to see how your bass is sounding in different parts of the room.

And of course, you can run loops to overlay keys, guitar, and bass as a 1-man band on the spot.
 
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#20
Tom Henrich said:
One for bass and one for the synth ?
Click to expand...

I have a Pigtronix infinity looper that has a mode where each of it's stereo input can be set to record 2 loops independently. I haven't really tried it that way. I think the Boomerang loopers can sync to another Boomerang looper via MIDI , if you need to quantize the two loops.

But maybe you do not even need these high end loopers and just be good at timing your loops. Each brand has it's own idiosyncrasies. Maybe just 2 TC Ditto's or older Boss RC-2s
 
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