I think what he was thinking in the original post is three things:
Recording started by audio. In that case, the record button only prepares to record but audio is the final trigger.
He wants the loop to automatically end recording at the end of the 4th bar beyond the start.
Implied but not stated: Stay synchronized to the host clock.
The LP3 plugin allows 3 but not 1 and 2. I’m thinking about whether or not to implement 1 and 2. They aren’t two difficult to code, but the question is whether these features would confuse or help most people.
I’m not sure I’d ever use 1. Maybe it’s just that I’m bad with tempo, and I need a few bars to get the timing right. I usually start my loops in the middle of playing. That being said, I’m not a live looper, I just do it for playing over chord changes at home.
When I make guitar loops, I don’t like that either with because I don’t want every loop to have a guitar note on the 1st beat.
But I just thought about an convenient use of that function that’s interesting with the Dwarf : looping drums. Indeed, it’s very tricky to have the 1st beat well recorded when you press the footswitch.
I realise my original post was not clear enough and potentially misleading, sorry about that.
Indeed what i meant was spotted by @funkypou here:
Basically what i’d need is somewhat described in the RC-2 manual available here, (the quantize graph in page 34 should give an idea)
I want to start the recording by pressing the switch and when i am done playing the phrase, pressing the switch to stop the recording and immediately playback the just recorded phrase, so the bars are determined by the length of the recorded phrase.
Now the quantize function helped getting the end of the phrase right, if this make sense.
The boss had the long press switch to stop the loop and double press to undo the overdub (or vice-versa now i can’t remember).
Points 1 and 2 mentioned by @looperlative are still valid and they would be both good to have too though.
As i learnt from you guys (thanks) a sync with the internal clock is required for all of these options.
@NinU You can already do this with the LP3. If I read page 34 correctly, it doesn’t adjust the first tap that starts the record, but it does synchronize the ending tap.
On the LP3, it will also start the loop at the tap. If you use any of the sync modes, the loop keep recording until the second tap and then the loop will continue to record until it reaches the next integer multiple of the measure length. There is really nothing magical happening in the RC-2. I’m already offering the functionality.
I often record a short drum loop on track 1 and I use track 2 to make a loop with guitar and bass that is a multiple of the drum loop (self sync). The problem is that very often, even with perfect timing, I end up with a blank measure added to my 2nd loop. I was wondering if there was a bug but it’s just because if you tap a few milliseconds after the beat, you get a whole extra measure.
Maybe you could make a poll but I’m not sure that’s the most convenient behavior. I would prefer the recording to end at the closest beat, even if it’s before the tap. I think that’s also the way the Boss loopers work. That may even be related to @NinU’s issue.
Generally, when you do a synchronized record, you want to get your ending tap in early. If you are only recording 1 measure, you can can do 2 record taps in a row.
Now that I understand the issue, I can have the job done but I don’t find it very intuitive. I know you are concerned about not confusing users. I happened to be confused about why I had an extra blank measure in my loop when my footswitch timing was perfect.
I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to tell you how to develop your software and I can get used to this functioning. But I’m curious about how intuitive it is felt by other users.
I know I agree it’s very basic loop station boss made it for entry level users and low price target.
I realise how difficult it is to explain things properly especially when it come to looping.
loops are dangerous in many fronts
your stuff look a lot more sophisticated and cool I have to say!
I was testing a bit LP3
Looks really close to what i am looking for and i love the dynamic coloured led and the switch multi-function (double press, long press and so on)
What would the best configuration to operate with only 2 footswitches on the same page?
I have tried so far:
foot B → loop
foot C → play/stop
EDIT: Record mode set to: self sync
I am really close but there does no seem to be a way to reset the whole loop
Do you suggest something else?
B : Definitely the loop button as it is the most useful and powerful one.
C : I would put one of the track buttons because 2 tracks allow you to have loops with different length.
But I would miss the undo with multiple levels, which is an awesome feature I haven’t seen on the other loopers I have tried. I use the Chocolate MIDI controller for the LP3 so I have 4 buttons, which is more convenient though I miss the visual feedback on the Dwarf.
A long press on the loop button when playing is stopped erases all tracks. Have you seen you have a link to the manual on the information page of the plugin ?
ok. i just realised that i had to stop the loop before long pressing the loop switch in order to be able to delete the whole loop. I must’ve been half-sleeping yesterday night when i was testing.
I bought LP3 . case closed. happy days
Thanks. I would also appreciate if other users gave their feedback of this particular functioning because some may have a different experience and opinion than mine.
I think in these discussions “intuitive” is often synonymous to “this is what I’m used to”. The behavior of keeping the record/overdub active until the end of the bar / master loop is consistent with what I’m used to. I understand your use case though, and a nice benefit of a software-based approach is that alternate modes can be implemented and distributed with relatively low cost for the manufacturer.
. case closed. happy days 