This is not DIY but I am currently thinking about trying out some looping station for live performances since I have the feeling I could get a lot out of my currently still very limited setup.
The idea is that I can run multiple sequencers and mix them as usual but also be able to record a short audio signal and play that on top of it. This way I could “freeze” some nice audio signals and then reuse the modules to alter the sound etc.
Does anyone have some recommendation for a loop station which integrates nicely into a modular synth setup?
It seems like the Boss RC-505 MKII loop station would be a good choice, but it’s 485 EUR and I still don’t fully understand how it will integrate into a sequencer setup. Maybe I should just go ahead and try out but I am sure at least one of you have some experience with such things
I found a nice video which shows the 505 together with a minimalistic modular setup. I still need to wrap my head around how to make this work nicely with multiple sequencers I guess I’ll need a way to route audio conveniently to be able to record loops while still being able to play multiple tracks from the modular as well.
Again, any kind of setup recommendations are highly welcome
So I have been looking into this kind of thing for quite some times, as I wanted to be able to sync my loop (from a bass/guitar) with the rest of my setup. There is not unique or very easy to do it is waht I found.
I tried this boss approach but it is very manual didnt work for me as it was killing the live aspect…
I am using the mpc now, it has a live looper and that works but it is a bit of a price just to get this function.
Maybe @YMNK has a solution for you. He seems to be using some sort of looper in his music video.
Hey !
So yes, I use a Digitech Jamman. I pre-record a blank .wav with the perfect tempo and bar length.
I did it by just exporting blank audio from any DAW, like Ableton Live but I must admit I wrote a little program who does that now; and voilà !
The thing is, because the timing is right, you will be always on sync with your machines. You can start the loop anytime.
But there’s cons :
you can never stop & restart the loop because restarting it give you 99,99% chance to restart it not in a perfect sync.
you have to prepare your tempo & bars length before to perform. This is OK for me since my live set is written before the show but it might not fit for a more “improvised” setup.
careful with letting the loop play for ever … it might get out of sync after a long run for a mathematical reason …
Digital audio is working with sample rate (for instance 44100). Sample rate is number of time your sound will be sampled in one second.
If the equation
60/tempo * number of quarters per bar (assuming you’re in 2/4,3/4 or 4/4) * number of bar * sampleRate
doesn’t give you a number without a comma, then your loop could get out of sync after few minutes.
This is because the blank loop length will be an approximation of what it should be.
Anyway !
I am also thinking about programming my own loop station with a Daisy DSP soon to get some extra features I don’t get with the Jamman (controlling stop and erase by MIDI for instance). This might be a nice project to share.
I ended up buying a used Boss RC-505 for like 300 Euro and started to experiment with it. Seems like it can work out but I need to get used to it. Almost to time to make music in the past months, so much work
