I am experimenting with trying to loop very different sound textures while looping (currently I use ALO looper for that). For combinations of different guitar sounds its fairly easy just creating a switch on the audio in, and then having different routing flows before arriving at the looper.
However, for guitar synth type sounds (based on the AudioToCv plugin) that seems much harder, because each sound typically requires a minimum of 6 plugins chained together - and therefore having these (groups of >=6 plugins) in parallel would make (a) a very untidy pedalboard but also (b) have potential cpu issues.
I thought snapshots might help with this, and they do, but not in conjunction with the looper. Because the looper itself becomes part of the snapshot - (e.g loops 1 and 2 activated, loops 3-6 unactivated). A snapshot records the settings of all the plugins on the board, but that includes the looper (its “state” is recorded through its “settings”). So if I wanted to change from a square wave to a sine wave with a few vcf changes also via a snapshot, then when that snapshot is selected, then the state of the looper will also reset, which is precisely what I dont want.
My question: is there any way of excluding a plugin from a snapshot (or snapshotting generally - e.g just its setting at snapshot “init” is saved, and is not reloaded during change of snapshots)?
Or if that is not possible, is it possible to do some kind of CV macro which can simultaneously change the presets on a number of different plugins all at once?
Hi @steve,
You raised an important question here. A workaround could be using the LP3 because it can save loops and you can load them in another snapshot or pedalboard.
I was thinking about something like that too but you can’t assign presets to CV.
You know. This is one that has bothered me as well. It would be nice to have preset settings on all my pedals leading up to the LP3, but not including it. What I have learned in this process working with MOD is that the plugin architects don’t put any thought to looping devices. This is not surprising, but fortunately, MOD has been a great partner and have over time altered the environment to be more looper friendly.
I might be wrong (citation ) but in some cases I solved this problem saving snapshots before insert the plugin that has to be unaffected ( or delete it and insert again after a new snapshot is saved). In the LP3 it works, not with ALO or sooper looper. Make me know if I was only lucky or is the same for you.
Hi looperlative - after reading your comment - I had a go again at using LP3. It is lovely in terms of UI and also the automatic overdubbing - but for me the problem I’ve always had, not just with yours, but with all loopers, is foot control - and why the ALO solved that - by its use of hosttempo+arming+audiothreshold+barlimits as a way of triggering and ending the primary loop.
But then it just occured to me - might there not be a way of writing a very simple midi utility plugin which could do more or less the same for lp3 (and would just involve hacking a metronome) and be separate from LP3.
The utility would need 2 controls:
Nbars (Number of Bars To Record)
BtnCountIn (Triggers a 4,3,2,1 countdown - maybe with different sound to ordinary metronome
When BtnCountIn is pressed, it goes 4,3,2,1 then sends a midi cc which could trigger lp3 record, then counts (Nbars *4) beats and when that number of beats is completed, sends another midi cc msg to end the loop recording.
In a couple of weeks time I might have enough spare time to try this myself. But are there any complications that I might have overlooked?
The LP3 plugin already supports host tempo. You must use that if you want to stay in sync. Which means that any simulated button press that will happen after 4 bars needs to happen early or you will accidentally end up with 5 bars. When using sync of any kind, you can close out the loop early because it will be synchronized with the clock. I again recommend having Record transition to Overdub.
I really wanted to like this feature but most of the time, I forget to stop the overdub and add unwanted things to my loop. In this situation, “undo” erases the whole loop, not just the junk added on the overdub. So I guess the “Record to Play” mode is safer for me.
) but in some cases I solved this problem saving snapshots before insert the plugin that has to be unaffected ( or delete it and insert again after a new snapshot is saved). In the LP3 it works, not with ALO or sooper looper. Make me know if I was only lucky or is the same for you.