I'm seeing these all over the place, now. Floor pedals with LONG recording times in them, sometimes with multiple loops, overdubbing, even some with MIDI clock...

A solo guitarist plays the first verse and chorus (or just the head, for the jazzers!) while he sings over the top. He then hits the pedal for the loop, and he solos over the top of the accompaniment that just got recorded. Or he can sing a second V/C or head and add in another rhythm part, or even a bass line, THEN solo over the top...

I even saw KT Tunstall do her hit "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" entirely live using a looper, including percussion parts, everything... even her background vocals. Check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYEU91d8ngc

Pretty cool, and a LOT of guitarists in my area are using these, now.

Remind you of anything? That we USED to have?

Roland Space Echo !
Check out:
keller williams too. NOT the real estate people!

Saw a singer-guitarist on Mackinac Island last spring using a Boss RC-20 sampler loop station. It was amazing how he could jump between sections of a song and play rhythm at times and lead at others. I see Boss has a larger and smaller edition of that loop station. They have also reissued the Space Echo (RE-20). I think this would be a useful effect for OMB, just can't quite figure out how to use it.

I've been trying to take a good look at this http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?ObjectId=772

Three independent loops, lock to MIDI clock, stereo...

It's amazing that, just at the time when arrangers DROP this feature, guitarists pick up and run with it, and suddenly it's cool...!

Still not sure what I'm talking about? Think Roland... Think Chord Sequencer

These things, at least for the first pass, are pretty much EXACTLY the same as a Chord Seq. Record your accompaniment the first time through, then you play two handed (just like a guitarist!) over the top of it. Stop it at any time, change it at any time, and wow! You can actually CHANGE what the loop does in realtime, WHILE you play the solo!

It's pretty scary when guitarists can fathom what a great musical tool these can be, but arranger players (and manufacturers) could care less...

Still, stay tuned. I think I am going to get one of these to try, and see if I can use it as a faux Chord Sequencer on my G70. If it locks to MIDI clock and stays in sync, I might die happy!

Those of us that can play a secondary instrument, but don't want to give up the interactivity of arrangers could ALL use something like this, and, of course, don't get me started about playing solos with TWO hands!

Wish me luck...

Awwww......(too bad)
to Quote the ROLAND SITE:

"Ultra-long recording time (up to 49 min., mono)"

What good is MONO in a keyboard player's world?


Seriously - those loopers are so much fun, and so much better than the chord sequencer. You overdub, and overdub till you have the whole band with you ! (LIVE!)

Wouldn't the audience really think your faking it if you use something like this...they already know there is no band playing with you. Things like this might confuse them even more. Its bad enough arranger players get a bad rap.

Diki, keep us informed. I think this is a great effect and could free me from some of my SMFs.

Diki, we've had the 50 since it was first introduced around a year ago, and had the smaller memory predecessors available earlier. My son actually uses the thing to perform. He lays down a bass line and plays over that with guitar, uke, octive bass...whatever.This is in a cofee-house situation and is more of an oddity for him at this time.

When I'm in a guitar playing mood, I fool with it...it's fun. I got it for Logan to fool with, so any technical questions will need to be "passed on". The English performer KT Tungstal(sp?) uses the earlier one very effectively in her stage show.

Ah, big boys and their toys!

"Big Boy" Russ

Sorry, Diki, re-read your post and see you already knew of KT and her use of the looper.

R.

And up to 25 minutes STEREO.... That's three loops about eight minutes long. Sufficient for just about ANY song, I'd say...

And as for 'faking' it, c'mon, you're kidding me, aren't you? You don't for one minute think your audience thinks you are playing everything NOW, do you?

I've been thinking a bit about some tricks you could do with this that go beyond what arrangers can do, at the moment... You could, for instance, lay down a bass and drums (and guitar, maybe) loop the first time, mute those on your arranger while the loop takes over, and then be able to add the ACC parts from ANY variation over the top of it, reassemble the style, if you will. Can't do that, now...

If you have multiple arrangers, and you can get them all to lock up, you could combine say the guitar parts of one arranger, with the drums and bass of another. Or if you have a WS or loop sampler, you could combine elements of it's loopy goodness with the more traditional elements from an arranger.

One of the things that drives me crazy is the gymnastics an arranger section goes through if you are in Pianostyle Mode and you start throwing a bunch of passing chords and altered harmonizations at it. Just make the first pass with straight ahead changes, go to the loop, and then jazz your little heart out... no more glitches!

I could record my guitarist's harmony on the first pass, and he could add a second harmony the next verse!

And of course, to get back to John's point... Every time I play my trombone, the audience already sees me stop playing the arranger. I have HAD to use SMF's since I moved on from my G1000. It will be nice to go back to arranger play, and as a bonus, now I can add the trombone part TO the loop if I wish. SWEET!

Right now, I don't see any confusion on the faces of any audience that I've seen watching a guitarist with one of these things, so why would our already confused audiences be any MORE so?!