flameboy87 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Hey all, I am a bit of a midi noob so I am trying to get my head around a few things. I have an RC 50 loopstation and would like to sync this up to my guitarists loopstation. Is it possible to use my loopstation as a slave to control the guitarists loopstation or vice versa. Also, is it possible to contol midi without the use of a laptop? I only want midi to control the tempo so we are synced properly. Colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elephantgrey Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 It depends on which loopstation your guitarist has. The RC50 can sync its tempo via a midi cable (without a pc etc), I use mine in the middle of the midi signal chain betweenmy my drum machine (korg electribe ESX) and delay (eventde timefactor). Chain goes ESX > RC50 > timefactor. Look up the RC50's manual (either paper version or google for pdf from the roland/boss website), it should help you out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 It's a shame drummers don't have MIDI in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elephantgrey Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 [quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1391329484' post='2355725'] It's a shame drummers don't have MIDI in. [/quote] This and general bad luck with them being unreliable is why i now use a drum machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flameboy87 Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 Haha, luckily enough I don't have a drummer issue. I'm just trying to find a simple way to get myself and the guitarist tighter at looping, and it would be a shame to loose all the features the boss rc 50 has and go for the digitech solo xt (this seems to be the only looper I know that has sync technology without using midi) . I don't really understand Midi and how it works so trying to get my head around it at the moment. Should any looper with midi in be able to stay the same tempo as the rc 50? Or is it only possible with certain loopers? Cheers for all your feedback so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elephantgrey Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 [quote name='flameboy87' timestamp='1391381054' post='2356619'] Should any looper with midi in be able to stay the same tempo as the rc 50? Or is it only possible with certain loopers? [/quote] Yes, you should be able to sync any pedal with midi. All you will need is a midi cable between the two of you. I have had thoughts of getting a second looper for the start of my audio chain (my RC50 being near at the end), but have found that most with midi are too big/expencive for what would be a second looper on my board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flameboy87 Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 Ya can understand why its hard to justify a second looper, its just a pity that all the smaller loopers don't seem to have midi. If you don't mind me asking, why do you want a 2nd loop pedal[size=4] at the beginning of your effects? [/size] Also, if I ran a midi cable from the Midi Out of my RC 50 to my guitarist loop pedal (Midi in) does that mean I am the only one who can control the tempo? is there any way we can both control the tempo depending on who is looping first within a song? Thanks again btw, learning loads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elephantgrey Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 [quote name='flameboy87' timestamp='1391454202' post='2357363'] Ya can understand why its hard to justify a second looper, its just a pity that all the smaller loopers don't seem to have midi. If you don't mind me asking, why do you want a 2nd loop pedal at the beginning of your effects? [/quote] I like the idea of being able to record a loop, and then apply/mess about with different effects on that loop, and then rerecord the loop onto my rc50 at the end of my chain. [quote name='flameboy87' timestamp='1391454202' post='2357363'] Also, if I ran a midi cable from the Midi Out of my RC 50 to my guitarist loop pedal (Midi in) does that mean I am the only one who can control the tempo? is there any way we can both control the tempo depending on who is looping first within a song? [/quote] I dont know if this is posible. You might be able to wire them both up into eachother (your out> his in and vice versa).The RC50 only starts receving tempo over midi when you get a start message, so presumably if you had two of them wired together in a loop whichever starts playing should set the tempo. I havnt tried this, and am not by my pedals right now so i cant look about at setting, but that might be worth a try. Also, before you both walk into practice and start wireing up midi for the first time, it might be worth meeting up and trying to get them to sync up before hand. It can take a little time to read through manuals and scroll through menues when first setting up the pedals (after they should remember your settings for the next time you wire the two together). This can be anoying with other band members forced to sit and watch you play about with pedals and not practicing songs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flameboy87 Posted February 5, 2014 Author Share Posted February 5, 2014 I think I'm going to have to put this one to the guys at Roland and see if its possible to hook up two pedals like that. I can't see why it wouldn't work, if the rc 50 sends the start message to the other like any other midi connection. [quote]I dont know if this is posible. You might be able to wire them both up into eachother (your out> his in and vice versa).[/quote] Are you saying it might also be possible to sync both ways? and then my rc 50 would be able to both send and receive at the same time? If that's true then all my problem would really be solved as long as the guitarist gets a loop station with midi in and out [quote]I like the idea of being able to record a loop, and then apply/mess about with different effects on that loop, and then rerecord the loop onto my rc50 at the end of my chain.[/quote] Interesting idea you have for the loopers, but why don't you get on to Tom at Cog effects and see if he can make you a pedal that will create effects loops and allow you switch your loopstation to pre effetcs and post effects or something like that. Would end up a hell of a lot cheaper haha and you would only have to record once Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 MIDI is a fairly simple thing, especially if it's just for tempo. MIDI OUT will send to MIDI IN or THRU. You can have both boxes connected IN - OUT & vice versa & set whichever parameters you want to control. If you want to sync with something that doesn't have MIDI, then it's easy to fit a simple kit to have a MIDI clock (unless it's a human). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elephantgrey Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Any update on if you managed to sync the two loopers yet? Ive got a RC50 midi type question, so i thought id tac it onto this one. After talking in this thread i went back to look at my midi setup, i actualy have my midi going electribe>timefactor>RC50, but im not sure that really makes a diference (im pretty sure the RC50 has a thru mode). At the moment, when my RC50 receves a start message (me starting the drum pattern on the electribe), it syncs midi, but also starts recording on the selected phrase, regardless of if [AUTO REC] is pressed on or off. This means that i ve set teh volume on phrase 1 to 0, and i either select that to not record at the start of teh song, or i use another phrase to start recording from that point. This means i essensualy loose a phrase. Does anyone know a way to disable this auto-[AUTO REC] when i receve a midi start message on the RC50? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elephantgrey Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Thought id make another post here, as i just found [url="http://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3367.0"]this[/url] Thread on a diferent website. [quote name='Threeleggedyoyo''] [color=#000000][font=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Interestingly, I've noticed that if you hook the in and out to the same device (say, a drum machine) this mode will sometimes use the clock of whichever unit is activated first, which is cool.[/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]However, this doesn't seem to work with everything I've tried it with. I need to experiment more here, but basically YMMV.[/size][/font][/color] [/quote] Whilst most of the thread is about not being able to use RC50 as a slave due to no start message from other effect, it should work with another loop pedal, and does work with a drum machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flameboy87 Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Wow that's really interesting. I haven't tested it out yet. I was looking in to the idea before the guitarist bought a looper to see what we would be looking for. I'm going to see if I can borrow a looper with midi from a friend and hopefully it will work. Would I be right to presume that the first person to loop would be the master? And would changing patches then reset the midi clock? Guess I'll just have to try it out When I do I'll see if I have the same issue as you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flameboy87 Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Oh and thanks for the post xgsjx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elephantgrey Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 (edited) You shoul both just be able to change patches at any time, and as far as i can tell, the one to first start a loop will then set the tempo for the other one until all loops stop. Edit: if your guitarist is still to buy a looper, bear in mind that the RC300 doesnt work as a midi slave at all, except to another RC300. Edited February 13, 2014 by elephantgrey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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