KP3 + FCB1010

[Rainer Straschill <moinsound@googlemail.com>]

Andy said:
> I'm choosing between the EH 2880, Roland RC-50 and the KP3.

So you're looking for a weapon and choosing between a spiked club, a
sniper rifle and an ICBM with nuclear warhead? ;)
The three are different beasts, with regard to their feature set as
well as to their user interface. So it might help if you tell us what
you want to do, what kind of music you're doing and which workflow
you're envisioning.

About you KP3-specific questions: according to the manual, the only
functions which send and receive MIDI data are as follows:
Touch pad X-axis Control change (#12)
Touch pad Y-axis Control change (#13)
Touch pad on/off Control change (#92)
LEVEL Slider Control change (#93)
FX DEPTH knob Control change (#94)
HOLD button Control change (#95)
SAMPLE BANK A button note on/off (#36)
SAMPLE BANK B button note on/off (#37)
SAMPLE BANK C button note on/off (#38)
SAMPLE BANK D button note on/off (#39)

That means no, it can't be done. With those being the only functions
controllable by MIDI, this makes the KP3 unusable as a foot-operated
looper, as you can't trigger recording via MIDI. The same is basically
true for the 2880, but you can use the dedicated foot controller.
There's another thing which the KP3 can't do which the other two can,
and that is do a simple overdub onto one of the loops. And finally,
the KP3 only allows you to record loops in a preset tempo with a
length of 1,2,4,8, or 16 beats.
You can think of the KP3's looping functions as a fourtrack recorder
with four endless cassettes (the different lengths) and a speed dial
(the bpm setting). You can record to each track indivdually and mute
and set levels, plus you can bounce tracks like with a fourtrack - but
you can't overdub onto an already existing loop.

Having said that: first of all, look through the archives for that
link Luis Angulo posted recently of that Beardyman performance using
four KP3s to see what it can do. And then, tell us what you want to do
with your looper...

Yours,

             Rainer