#164

I read it as you want to loop, and to start recording a new loop with just one tap, without going into overdub? I could see the use for that too. So, I googled a little out of curiosity, without finding much, but my impression is that a simple one-button looper probably wont’ work. You would probably have better chances to look at loopers with more pedals and more ability for having custom settings. Adding external footswitches etc might add some functionality.

#165

yes, precisely. the Search Engine didn’t yield much in the way of discovery for me either. a one-switch looper would be preferable (mainly due to its economy), but I don’t know of any that operate quite in this way (no overdub/monophonic, length of footswitch activation = sample length). what customizable loop pedals would you recommend that could achieve this desired functionality?

#166

I don’t know that much. I only have simple loopers myself, and don’t really know much about the more advanced Boss, Headrush, Jamman, Boomerang - models. How does the Korg Kaoss Pad 3 work? The RC-505? I came across this: http://ipadloops.com/looperverse-looping-app-and-pedal/

(The word “overwrite” seems to be a good one to include in searches. )

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#167

I don’t think that will work. IIRC to record a new loop you first have to long press the rec button then start a new recording. Not that quick.

@qwoned I think you need to search for loopers with a replace mode.

#168

Would MIDI interface and Max MSP/Pure Data work? That’d be pretty easy to build if you can’t find something that works out of the box.

#169

Does it have to be pure hardware (I know this thread is for hardware loopers…).

The new Audio Damage Enso looper for iPad with a midi controller/foot pedal would do exactly what you want.

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#170

I don’t have an iPad, unfortunately. It seems like the RC-202/505 has something close with their “replace mode”—thanks @papernoise—though not quite (i.e. it doesn’t interrupt the anterior loop, one has to record a new loop while the previous one is already playing-back). I could try PureData, as @rycolos suggests, though I don’t have any practical experience with it (yet!). Perhaps trigger the sampler-looper (with an audio input) on/off via expression pedal? Still, hardware solution would be optimal—if anyone knows of/finds anything, do share! Thanks for the suggestions so far!

#171

Not sure that would work, but since you don’t need overdubs, what about the 1010 bitbox/blackbox?

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#173

Don’t know if this helps. Found this diagram here that explains Ableton Live’s looper, but it seems pretty general for how loopers are set up. If programming your own looper maybe the diagram can visualize the steps needed?

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Found here: https://www.beatlabacademy.com/ableton-looper-cheat-sheet/

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#174

I was checking out the documentation to the ditto x4, which I have but never use.
It has mode switches to shift some of the functions around.
The first switch lets you set the looper to record on press and overdub on second press. No clicks inbetween. It also has 2 loops and a discrete stop/clear button.

I am linking the manual so you can read it.
http://cdn-downloads.tcelectronic.com/media/5642044/ditto-x4-looper_m_en.pdf

These loopers are usually about 200$ used. I am hoping that is in your budget.
L>

#175

The only unit I’ve been able to find thus far that satisfies the above criteria—record, playback, immediate overwrite/replace upon hitting record again—is the Echoplex EDP, particularly in its SUSTAIN mode (as seen here) which allows variable length samples that aren’t relegated to typical ‘glitch’-duration. I thought maybe to look at early ‘looper’ units, since the desired task is so primitive. The Digitech PDS-8000 is another possible (and less expensive) candidate with its INFINITE REPEAT+HOLD function, though I’m not entirely sure how one overwrites.

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#176

I received an Organelle yesterday. I’m not really planning to go into PureData-programming but it seems like a perfect unit to host a simple looper-patch that just switches between record/playback. You would just connect a footswitch on the back.

I hadn’t really thought about it that way, but since Organelle being a computer can take on any role/any patch. It might actually (in my situation, being a gear-hoarder) pay for itself by letting me unload stuff/pedals I rarely use.

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Need a looper: Replace Digitakt with ______?
#177

Indeed! Here are the organelle factory patches tagged ‘looper’. More floating around on patchstorage and the C&G forum.

https://www.critterandguitari.com/tags/looper

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#178

Just saw this:

There’s a video if you scroll down a bit. At a first glance it ticks a lot of boxes. Price is not super-cheap and it has a touch-screen though.

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#179

Continuing this from Need a looper: Replace Digitakt with ______?

Posting it here, because it’s a more general thought and not directly an answer to the other topic OP’s question

Right now I don’t think there’s anything that ticks all my boxes when it comes to looping.

I find the Octatrack pretty unusable for looping, except if you don’t use overdubbing
The Blackbox seems cool if you want to sample loops on the fly and/or mostly use existing loops, but don’t need to overdub or do any of the classic guitar pedal looper tricks.
The Boss RC-505 does 5 tracks (also asynchronous), but lacks pitch shifiting, you can’t adjust start/stop points, looks bad and is entirely made of plastic. The EHX 45000 has 4 tracks but they can’t be asynchronous, etc.
In the end, it might be best to just get multiple units of simpler one/two track loopers.
I’m recently using the Eventide Timefactor as a looper and it’s pretty cool. You can adjust start/stop points, pitch shift with various quantization options also in reverse and it’s pretty straightforward to use. The only major gripe I have with it is that to go into reverse mode – something I use a lot – you have to pass through all the pitch shifting options in between. In its simplest configuration (octaves) when you are playing at 1x speed you need to go through 0.5x, 0.25x 0 (stopped) -0.25 and -0.5. The pitch shifting is immediate and real-time, it doesn’t wait for the next loop iteration, so any change you make is immediately audible, which isn’t desirable in most cases and especially problematic with drones and long sustained sounds.

If I’d find a looper like the Timefactor, but with a dedicated reverse switch, I’d totally get it!

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#180

Could you trigger it straight to -1 with midi? Timefactor looper is lots of fun indeed!

#181

Feel like i’m potentially stating the obvious here, but i haven’t messed around with other loopers since i got MLR on norns. Such an amazing piece of gear. Setting patterns is super fun. Super nice to send clock to ableton.

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#182

That is indeed a good idea. Haven’t really thought about that. In general I like devices to be self-sufficent and am not a huge fan of adding “dongles” to it. I wonder if there’s a small MIDI footpedal that I could use for that…

Lucky you :smiley:

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#183

The Timefactor can have a dedicated reverse switch. One option (which I haven’t tested yet) is to get/build an auxiliary footswitch, which you can assign the functions of, reverse being one of them I believe.

There’s also the reverse play mode on the Timefactor itself. The Xnob becomes your play mode selection in looper mode. If you go full clockwise there’s a mode called [AP:RVDIR], which functions just like the regular continuous looping mode, but the play footswitch now immediately reverses direction rather than playing the loop from its start point. If I recall correctly, one caveat is this behavior happens when you’re initially recording a loop as well, so you might need to switch to this mode mid performance if you want to avoid that.

I’ve only had the Timefactor for a couple months but it’s quickly become my favorite looping pedal I’ve tried and the main element of my current live sample rig. It has some quirks that I can see turning off a lot of people (low amount of high-quality loop time being the main one), but I really like how playable the interface is and I enjoy having to react to it’s quirks.

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#184

Have you looked at the Boomerang?