Re: A multi channel looper

[Mark McGlinchey <markmcglinchey@gmail.com>]

Unfortunatly Ace I don't have any experience with the EDP to do comparisons but I can tell you my impressions of the rang III.

The first thing I noticed when I got it was it is much smaller than I expected which some people find a huge plus, for me it's no big deal but could be handy on occasion for throwing in a back pack. I find the sound quality to be very good, very little noise, even when boosting the incoming signal, and it replicates what I am playing absolutely fine (I too use amps, in my case Twin Reverbs).

The pedals are well separated but in truth I find the 2nd bonus button a little awkward, it is placed in the top right and I have to use the tip of my toe to press it, it would be fine if I sat down playing but standing up and with my big clown feet it took a little getting used to. The buttons do have an audible click when pressed but again it isn't a problem for me as I play quite loud. I do however wish there were more bonus buttons. I find stack, erase, undo and redo are core features that I want to have at all times. Add to that the fact that loop four is also a "bonus" option and the need for more buttons becomes more obvious. The reverse/fade/reverse solo and octave features are cool but I don't use them as often as I would due to the limited real estate for bonus buttons. As for the loop 4 thing I never use it as currently only serial play and master play for 2 of the loops is implemented and I find that without being able to play even the 3 other loops simultaneously I personally have no use for a 4th.

The build quality is very sturdy so I don't expect any problems there.

All in all, I think it is a great unit at the price point even now without the full implementation. When the full implementation is released I expect I will find a marked increase in the flexibility of it but I am not holding my breath on that yet. Strangely I get the feeling that were the software to have the full feature set I would find the bonus button situation even more frustrating as I will know the possibilities of the unit but still have to work around what features I can use and when.

Hope that helps a bit,

Mark.

On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 7:06 PM, Ace Ovil <aovil@wfubmc.edu> wrote:

Mark,

I would love to pick your brain on the rang 3. I’m currently debating on whether to get a second working echoplex to run them in stereo or sell the one working EDP I have to buy the rang 3. I am ashamed to say I am not tech savvy enough to even attempt something like ableton or another software solution. When it comes to computers, I can only describe myself as functionally illiterate. I write patient reports on them , get e-mail and browse the web. I’m perfectly content with that even though my sweetwater sales rep has been trying to get me to do that for at least two years now (they can be pushy you know).

 

I seem to change my mind on the subject every day. On the one hand, I have spent tons of time learning and getting proficient with the echoplex and don’t want to admit the technology may be getting outdated (please don’t all flame me at once). On the other hand, the rang seems on paper to do everything I need, runs in stereo, has more recording time etc.  

 

Not carrying a rack to gigs once or twice a week would also be a major bonus for my lazy ass. LOL

I do a “one man band” type thing with multiple instruments. My setup is similar to Arthur Lee Land (hand drums, bass, guitars etc.) except I mic amps rather than use modelling into the board. I also have a turntable and scratch mixer plugged into the board which I use as a percussion instrument either inside the loop or against it and a sax I solo with occasionally because I won’t admit I’m just not very good at it LOL.  Long story short, I have so much gear to carry by myself that I have found myself wondering if I should just hire someone else to do it and hand over the check from the bars to them for their effort. Lame right?

 

What I want to do is  run the stereo effects loop of my mixer through a stereo looper so I can start experimenting with expressing myself through sweeping and panning with a pedal and also so I can place different instruments in different parts of the PA mix. I think that would really expand my sound options and I wish I had set up this way to begin with.

 

Obviously the Rang option is the cheaper and lighter way to go stereo.

Do you have experience with both the EDP and the Rang?

What sort of functionality do you think  I would lose by doing this?

Of course, advice from any of you other mythical gods of looping would be greatly appreciated.

Ace

 

From: Mark McGlinchey [mailto:markmcglinchey@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 1:36 PM

To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com

Subject: Re: A multi channel looper

 

I agree, I am loving my Rang III but everytime I use it I find a point where I want to use some of the as of yet unreleased full feature set. Very annoying, I can't complain though I was aware of what the implications of buying a pre-prod model were when I did it.

On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 6:11 PM, Ace Ovil <aovil@wfubmc.edu> wrote:

Yes, that would work great, but I think a multiply function was pretty important to him if I recall. I’m not sure about the twenty but I know the RC-2 will not do this because I have one. I think the Rc-20’s cannot either, but I could be wrong on this. For me, that would be a deal breaker and it’s the main reason I sold my otherwise awesome 2880.

If there is anything I have learned from pouring money into this bottomless pit of looping gear over the last few years, it is to get what you want right off the bat because you will end up spending more money in the long run if you don’t. For me at least, it is a  pretty bad disease.  

Once I get a piece of gear that can’t do what I envision musically, all I think about when I’m playing is “it sure would be nice if it could do X”.  I don’t feel the same way about other instruments though, I can live with a guitar, bass,  sax or drum kit  that doesn’t have “quite the right tone” I envision but as soon as a  looper limits my creativity I get annoyed with it,

Maybe I’m just a glass half empty kind of guy but would any of you agree with this?

Ace

 

From: scott hansen [mailto:evanpeewee@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 12:34 PM
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: A multi channel looper

 

i'm not sure i would call it a multi-channel looper,
but when i had my original boss RC-20 (the one w/ the 4 min of looping time, the xl has 16 min), it has an input for instrument (your choice-i used a guitar) & it has a microphone input. there was an input level for each (mic & instr).

whether this would be considered "mutli-channel" i don't know. i never did use the mic option, i just used it for guitar.  but i think the idea for it is solo performer (or band) could record guitar/voice things (or anything w/ microphone) and then layer on top, etc. so if you just needed it to supplement live stuff, guitar/voice (or keyboards) it would probably work. and it does reverse nice and easy. the original one like i had (the 4 min recording time) you can get pretty cheap and try it out. i think i got mine a yr ago for 150$, so they're in that range or cheaper now.... obviously if you need lots of recording time, the rc20xl is newer, & last i checked them, they were still going a bit higher-they were out of my price range when i was looking....
i know a few people i've seen in past use one was kaki king, john scofield, i'm sure there are more out there...
some thoughts. good luck,
s---
www.myspace.com/scotthansen