Re: RC-50 Features

[Dirk Wilbert <dwilbert@rhein-zeitung.de>]

Hello Paul,
> Hey:
>  
> I have an Boss RC-50 on order and have been thinking about how to use 
> it prior to its (hopeful) arrival in May.
>  
> Their terminology is confusing me. They have pedals marked 'patch up' 
> and 'patch down'. I'm assuming this is the 'loop up/down', correct? 
> Also, does anyone know how the next loop (patch) functions? i.e. does 
> it play the last loop til completion and jump to the next?
I think this is basically loop (or loops) up/down - I tested the RC50 at 
Musikmesse Frankfurt but I'm not quite sure if I remember it the right 
way...
A patch in Roland/Boss terminology is kind of "something stored in 
memory" - the roland synthesizers store "sounds" as patches, including 
all parameters like sample, filter envelope, effects, controllers etc.
I think a stored patch in the RC-50 includes the three loops, the 
settings like "single or multiple", drumbeat settings and so on.

> There's 3 stereo loops and I'm trying to design how I'd use the three 
> loops (as opposed to pure overdubbing that I had done in the past 
> using different instruments-i.e. percussion, drums, etc.). It appears 
> that I could use one of the 'phrases' (to use Boss's terminology) to 
> laydown drums and/or percussion. Another for, say, bass. The third for 
> various guitar or keyboard backing. I'm also assuming the 
> loops/phrases are set at the same loop length (?).
You could use the three loops the way you mentioned first in multiple 
mode. I assume this couldn't be done with different looop lengths. In 
single mode you need different  loop lenghts if you want to use it for 
building complete song structures as the different parts of a song will 
not all have the same lenghts.
>  
> The device also makes statements re: MIDI clocking. What I read, I'm 
> understanding it can be sync'ed to an external clock but can it 
> generate clocking to sync a rhythm device to match tempo with the RC-50?
Yes, that's what I've read, too.
>  
> Anyhow, I'm trying to map its functionality to an EDP's (which I once 
> had).
>  
As I'm just starting to deal with loop devices/software (by now: Mobius) 
I can't really compare the RC-50 and the EDP. I've only read the EDP 
manual to get into Mobius and think that the approach to looping is 
quite different... Maybe one could say the RC-50 is kind of a loop 
sampler and the EDP a very comfortable loop delay ?!
For instance, I don't know if you can control something like feedback 
with the RC-50.
> Thanks for your advice/comments.
>  
> Regards, Paul

Greetings from Germany,
Dirk