RE: naiive asks about Boss RC-20

[SRice <srice44@yahoo.com>]

I use the mighty Boss RC-20, so I'll try answering this, though
I think the answers will be true for other loop devices as
well.

The way the RC-20 works is you hit the Record/Overdub pedal,
and it records whatever signal(music) is going in.  It keeps on
recording until you hit the Rec/ODub pedal again.  Then it
immediately repeats what was recorded, over and over,
indefinitely.  There is no decay, and no provision for a pause
between repetitions.  If you want a specific number of 
repetitions of your loop, you'll have to count them as you
perform.

In order to add a silent delay between the sounds, you would
need to record it into the loop.  Eg. hit the Rec/ODub pedal,
record sounds, either stop making any sound or mute the signal
for the desired 'delay', then hit the Rec/ODub pedal again.

Once you have recorded sound/silence in a track, the Rec/ODub
pedal will layer new sounds on top of the first.  All of this
together is your loop, and the RC-20 can play only one loop
at a time.  It does have the capability to store 11 loops, but
they must be played independently.  If you are starting from
scratch in a live performance, the multiple loops won't do
you any good, though you might consider a low level pre-
recorded drone, such as an organ chord, as background.

The 5.5 min recording time is available to a single loop.


Yours in rhythm,
Steve

--------------------------------------------------------------
   Date:
        Wed, 12 Jun 2002 10:27:08 -0700

   From:
        "W. L. Altman" <waltman@mta.ca>

     To:
        Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com

Subject:
        naiive asks about Boss RC-20



You folks seem pretty high-end, so I'm going to sound pretty
dopey.
But I want desperately to find an effect that will give me a
very
long delay with a long ( adjustable) decay time.


With my dream tool I could:
- Set a long delay time (10 seconds for the piece I'm working
out
now, but in the future the longer the better).
- set the number of repeats of each layer - the idea being that
material will pass in and out of the texture for a
pre-determined
duration.
- set the decay rate or curve.  So (for example) I could have
my
analog signal continually overdubbing, repeating every 10
seconds,
repeating 10 times and I could set the loops to either keep a
consistent volume through the 10 reps and then drop out,
leaving
later material still repeating  - OR i could set a certain
decay
curve so that the earlier material fades to zero while new
material
is always predominant.

Oh and this is all real-time.  No bringing saved loops to the
gig.

Anyway, I've played with a Jamman with extra 32" memory and
although
it doesn't have all the features I am keeping my eye out for
one.

The features of the BOSS RC-20 seem interesting at the price to
me.
Fiddling with dials during performance is not necesarilly a
problem
since this is for a vocalist seated in front of the toys.
So for those with experience with the RC-20:  Can I loop
indefinate #
of loops up to the 5:30 limit?  If it plays  only ten loops,
are
these played real-time, simultaneously, and can I record the
10th
loop while the previous 9 are playing?  Do any of these
questions
make sense?

For the piece I'm working on, I could make ten reps work since
i have
other effects going on.  Tempo, quantizing, etc are of not a
concern.
I will not use this as a practicing tool.  Also I imagine that
with a
looper as opposed to an echo-style delay unit, I won't get ANY
decay,
but for me that's better than having a decay that I can't
finely
adjust.

OK.  So if anyone has advice on the BOSS, or wants to suggest a
similarly (or lower - ) priced alternative for my proposed
purposes,
I'd be greatly grateful!





__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com