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Hi folks ok, I think this news should make it to the cover page of "Looper's Delight Weekly Magazine" ;-) I was just about to write a mail on all the things I hate about the RC-50... then I decided to focus on what works instead... and look what I have discovered :-) Last night, I was jamming with the RC-50 for 2,5 hours. Then, just before I went to bed, I had an idea... so I checked again and found out: THE RC-50 IS CAPABLE OF PERFORMING LOOP DECAY (DELAY FEEDBACK)!!! So, it is really a dream come true. Just when you gave up on a lot of features (tempo shift...) - there you have it: an affordable looper around 500 bucks with three independent, great-sounding stereo loops - and capable of loop decay! You don't believe me? Listen to it yourself, I put a DEMO EXAMPLE ON LD (Audio Looping Examples) =========================================== http://www.loopers-delight.com/files/index.php?direction=&order=&directory=Audio_-_Looping_Examples&; I've tried to make it "ambient-friendly" for you guys! ;-) So, let's walk through the demo first... EXAMPLE WALK-THROUGH (RC-50 Loop Decay Example) ==================== - What you hear first is a "static" loop (RC-50 terminology: "phrase") in PLAYBACK mode, without any loop decay. - Soon you hear a second loop that is featuring loop decay. - After a while, the first loop fades out and fades in again. - The second loop now is playing back without loop decay. - Finally, a third loop comes in with loop decay. This is all done with only a keyboard, a mixer and the RC-50 - and nothing else!! :-) So, now you wonder how it is done? Ok... THE "MAGIC" BEHIND LOOP DECAY ON RC-50 ====================================== So, what's the "magic" behind the loop decay? Before the RC-50 came out, people were speculating that FADE OUT might be useable for this. Then it turned out that FADE OUT just worked on LOOP STOP, so it was useless for a cyclic feedback. Thus, many people turned away from the RC-50... A wonderful feature on the RC-50 is the OVERDUB MODE called REPLACE. Usually, the OVERDUB MODE is set to OVERDUB. Using the OVERDUB MODE button, you can toggle between OVERDUB/REPLACE/PUNCH-IN. REPLACE basically is an "overwrite" mode, so it really replaces the old loop. However, while overwriting, it also plays back the old loop at the same time! (I know something like that is possible also with the EDP. Since I'm not so familiar with the terminology, I'd rather not quote anything). So, in order to achieve loop decay, we put the RC-50 in REPLACE mode. Then, we not only record the new loop but also mix some of the old loop to it. The amount of the old loop you re-record along with the new loop determines the feedback level. Here, it also comes handy that there are additional SUB OUTs besides the MAIN OUTs on the RC-50. To avoid feedback (not "delay" feedback but the one that makes your speakers explode ;-) you also need to make sure that the INPUTs sound is not routed back to the feedback chain. So, let's see how this works exactly... SETTING UP THE RC-50 FOR LOOP DECAY =================================== So, I'm assuming that you bring basic familiarity with gear, common sense and full responsibility for what you are doing... ;-) First of all, what do you need? You need: the RC-50, your instrument, a mixer and a bunch of cables. You ROUTE CABLES like this: - your instrument > mixer - RC-50 SUB OUTs > mixer - mixer out (or mixer sub-group-send/aux-sends) > RC-50 INPUT - (monitor your sound output according to your setup) Before you mess up anything, let's MUTE the INPUT OUTS (yes, that's how they are called in the manual: "input output", nice ;-) On the RC-50, use the USB/SYSTEM button to set the INPUT OUTs. Since I was paranoid, I've set it all to MUTE. The idea is simply to avoid a feedback chain that is getting louder and LOUDER and LOOUUUDEER and LOOOUUUDDDEEERR... If you use the SUB OUTs for the feedback chain, I guess setting INPUT OUTs to MAIN (instead of MAIN+SUB) should be ok. Try all this at your own risk!! Ok, let's now PREPARE RC-50 PATCH SETTIINGS for a nice example: - Go to an empty PATCH (patch=a set of three phrases / phrases=loops) - Set it to MULTI MODE - Turn off LOOP SYNC (unless you want all three phrases the same length...) - Turn the GUIDE VOLUME up and down again until it's really OFF - Perform the following PATCH SETTINGS: - set FADE IN time (as desired, i.e. 30) - set FADE OUT time (as desired, i.e. 100) - Perform the following PHRASE SETTINGS for each PHRASE1/2/3: - Set TEMPO SYNC ON (don't worry, just don't touch "tap tempo"!) - Set PHRASE START to FADE IN (on first try, leave on IMMEDIATE or LOOP) - Set PHRASE END to FADE OUT (on first try, leave on IMMEDIATE or LOOP) Now, press the OVERDUB MODE button until the red light for REPLACE appears. OK, RECORD your first PHRASE and go to OVERDUB. You should now be in REPLACE mode. Stay in REPLACE mode... you should experience your first loop decay with the RC-50 :-)) To ADJUST FEEDBACK LEVEL of the loop decay, play around & trim the gain level on the mixer for the RC-50 SUB OUTs. When the fader is set to "100%", the delay feedback should be 100% (no decay). Now the fader should control the feedback level properly. You can also go to PLAYBACK with your PHRASE when your satisfied (or bored ;-) with your loop decay. Then you might move to the next PHRASE. Also note that, depending on how you route your PHRASES to MAIN/SUB OUTs, the REPLACE (+feedback mix) will also record the other phrases. This might affect the overall volume mix. A nice side effect: you can use this feature also to do BOUNCE ALL TRACKS (Phrase1-3+Input) to a PHRASE. In fact, the possibilities are endless: you could RESAMPLE your loop, routing it through some additional effects... OVERALL ======= Yes, overall, there are still some really HORRIBLE bugs/features/lack thereof (barbling tempo shift, switching patches seems to have "hiccups", midi features could be better...). Nevertheless, I think this example demonstrates that the RC-50 has quite a bit of depth that still remains to be explored. OK, folks, now go out and get yourself an RC-50 - with loop decay :-)) Best regards Buzap PS: @Kim Flint/others: If it is useful to others, I would like to put this tutorial + my first review to LD web page. How should I proceed - can Kim/someone help? -- "Feel free" – 10 GB Mailbox, 100 FreeSMS/Monat ... Jetzt GMX TopMail testen: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/topmail