anyone use a Looper for practice?

[drmlabs]

Thinking of getting a looper (Jamman or ?) to use while practicing. Anyone use a looper that way? Any on-line info I could check out about using one? I'm a total looper-newbie.
thanks
Dan

[Moe45673]

My RC-20XL is used purely for that. It's an indispensable practise tool.

My Practise Rig:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/moe45673/PractiseRig.jpg

I bought mine two years ago, if I had to do it again I'd get an RC-2, which does everything I use the RC-20XL for.

[ronin32]

I use a Boss RC20XL.

What I do is I will load a song or riff I'm trying to learn. Plug into my Fender Frontman 25R amp that has headphone jack, what I like about the Boss is that it can slow down the tempo of the track and not chage the pitch. I dont know about the Jamman, but that is cool because it has the memory card slot.

[les_patlaw]

I hope a ton of people chime in on this one. I'm looking for a practice tool.
The RC-2 looks good to me at the moment, but I'd like to hear some opinions of someone with looping experience. I like that "drums" can be added with the RC-2, so I won't just be playing with a click track (like I do now with my metronome). The Boomerrang looks great too, but the RC-2 seems to have more features.
So, which looper is the best practice tool?

[TheGrooveking]

I use the Digitech JamMan for such things. I have found that there are times when I may go some months not being in a band and that if I don't play with a metronome or a drum machine my timing gets a little sloppy. So to keep my timing tuned, I tried to always play with drum track, plus with the looper I can practice over chord changes.

TheGrooveking

[Dana]

I recently bought the Digitech JamMan. I'm really diggin it. Here's another thread where I posted about it.


http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=205774&highlight=jamman

[theHoss]

I use an RC2 strictly for that. Works great!

[fr8_trane]

I went thru this process about 2 months ago and ended up with the jamman. The features blow the RC20 out of the water as a practice tool. With up to 2 GB available memory you can store cd's full of jammtracks or drum loops taken directly from cd or from your PC via USB. Hell, plug a mike in the back and you can record an entire band practice (haven't tried that yet). Plus its time stretching feature is better than the Boss which only gives 25% reduction.

[drmlabs]

good ideas so far, thanks.
Yes, I need to practice on my timing too, so some kind of click/drum track is needed. I tend to get sloppy if I'm not playing with my band.
Its looking like the Jamman is what I need.

[Smakutus]

Boomerang...

Jeff

[chi chi wah]

Plus its time stretching feature is better than the Boss which only gives 25% reduction.

Can you just confirm what you mean by its "time stretching feature" ? Is this were you record a phrase and can then play it back much slower but still at the same pitch ? And the Boss can only slow a phrase down by 25% ?

[BillyK]

RC20XL is what I use.

It's the most important "pedal" I own. It's great.

[Creamy]

great practice tool. Boss RC20XL. I wish they made these 20 years ago, when I first started, and I am glad I have one now. I've not used it live, but I use it practicing and sometimes when jamming with others.

[entraind]

I've been using my Boomerang for 5-6 years now and it's an awesome practice tool and very easy to use. I tried out the RC-20 when it came out and liked the sound quality on the 'rang better. But I think they've upgraded the RC-20 since then...The RC-2 looks really cool, I'm definitely going to be checking it out in the near future....

[ModTourMan]

I own a JamMan and find using it is a good way to keep my timing sharp. The on board metronome has some interesting beats (my conventional metronome gets boring quick). However, the best practice tool I have found is my Boss drum machine. It's a bit pricey, and I'll probably never take full advantage if the programmable features, but the 500 or so presets (including bass sims) give me great variety for keeping my timing and creativity sharp.

[ronin32]

I own a JamMan and find using it is a good way to keep my timing sharp. The on board metronome has some interesting beats (my conventional metronome gets boring quick). However, the best practice tool I have found is my Boss drum machine. It's a bit pricey, and I'll probably never take full advantage if the programmable features, but the 500 or so presets (including bass sims) give me great variety for keeping my timing and creativity sharp.

Which drum machine do you have? After about 5 min of my metronome's electric clicking, I'm going crazy.

[aarondavis]

Every person serious about practicing should have a drum machine AND a loop recording device. My home rig has a Boss Loop Station XL in the signal path at all times. It's there each time I want to try particular parts and how they work together. If I'm working on a jazz piece, I put the chord changes in to work the head and solos. It's a must!! I also have the loop function on the Line 6 DL4 and my Zvex Lofi Loop Junky (sounds like crap, it's supposed to... but it's an amazing pedal, is probably the smallest looping device available). The Lofi is used for living room practice sessions and vacation hotel practice (sometime even some lobby jazz:) ).

As for my drum machine, I have a cheap Zoom that is fully programmable with dozens of great percussion and drum sounds. Also, recently I've been playing along with a midi program called Easy Drummer (sp?). It has AMAZINGLY recorded drum sounds with truly life like sounds. This is my favorite, but the Zoom is really easy to simply turn on.

Around half of my practice time at home is spent with a drum beat, one way or the other. :AOK Get with it!!

[moody07747]

The new Boss RC2 is the number one pedal on my board for playing alone, right after that comes an MP3 player.

the jam-man and RC20 are nice but big, same with the RC50 with a huge price. I would say if you have the money, go with the digitech

The digitech has a memory card feature so you can put lots of loops into it.
The RC20 and RC2 have the same record time which is good enough for me.

[sotto]

I have about 6 hours of Band in a Box jazz standards (one tune per loop) on my Digitech Jamman. You can improvise/record yourself silly, and the Jamman doesn't complain about playing the same tune over and over 50 times if you want. Plus, the BIAB files are free on the web (Google BIAB Real Book).

[Old Pucker]

Akai Headrush.

An oldie but a goodie - and indispensable for practicing!

[aarondavis]

I have about 6 hours of Band in a Box jazz standards (one tune per loop) on my Digitech Jamman. You can improvise/record yourself silly, and the Jamman doesn't complain about playing the same tune over and over 50 times if you want. Plus, the BIAB files are free on the web (Google BIAB Real Book).

Man, cool suggestion regarding the Band in a Box files. At first "google" couldn't find any for free... but I'll keep looking. :D

[cbpickin]

+1 for the RC-2. It is a great practice tool. It also has been helping to stimulate some new writing ideas. I had the RC-20XL but I returned because the RC-2 looked like it could do everything I wanted in a single-sized Boss pedal and it can.

[Dana]

I have about 6 hours of Band in a Box jazz standards (one tune per loop) on my Digitech Jamman. You can improvise/record yourself silly, and the Jamman doesn't complain about playing the same tune over and over 50 times if you want. Plus, the BIAB files are free on the web (Google BIAB Real Book).

Were you able to upload them directly to the JamMan from the computer? I tried this with some .mp3 files I had but it wouldn't work. I ended up having to record them in real time audio via the aux imput into the JamMan, then I could transfer them to the computer.
As far as I can tell this is the only way to do it. If you figured out how to simply drag and drop files from the computer to the JamMan please let me know. Thanks.

Dana

[j_hotch]

I use my Boomerang + and an old, wind-up metronome when I practice. I usually capture rhythm loops, or sometimes bass line loops using the Whammy II to shift down an octave, and then vamp on top of them.

[ModTourMan]

Which drum machine do you have? After about 5 min of my metronome's electric clicking, I'm going crazy.

Boss DR880

[sotto]

Man, cool suggestion regarding the Band in a Box files. At first "google" couldn't find any for free... but I'll keep looking. :D

I just Googled "BIAB Real Book" again, and the first thing that comes up is this:

http://phillipsmusic.net/realbook.htm

Click on "The Real Book" right there at the top of the page for realbook.zip. Unzip it, and play the files back using BIAB. Record the playbacks you want on the Jamman. Have fun!

[JRenn]

I have a JamMan and only have very limited knowledge of how to use it. I have no clue how to do all that downloading from computer stuff, but even without that knowledge this thing is an indispensible tool. Yeah, not only does it help with timing, like others mentioned, but it also takes my ideas and stores them for a time when I would have forgotten them. I have entire songs in bits and pieces on that thing, and having them to go back and layer over makes self-production a bit easier, too. Highly recommended.

[whitenoise]

I just got the Boss xl20 a few months ago, and I like it a lot. I looked at the RC-2, but I actually liked having the double foot switches. either way, jam man, rc-20 or rc-2, they are a great training tool.
it helps with putting together solos. Lay down a riff, loop it, then jam out/write/practice your solo. it also aids with getting your timing "dead on"

[Mincer]

i have been using a DL4 as well as a Digital Echoplex Pro, not only for practice but for live improvisations and manipulations of loops...fun!!

[K-man]

I have about 6 hours of Band in a Box jazz standards (one tune per loop) on my Digitech Jamman. You can improvise/record yourself silly, and the Jamman doesn't complain about playing the same tune over and over 50 times if you want. Plus, the BIAB files are free on the web (Google BIAB Real Book).

Thanks for that! I have been working on entering standards but getting the intros and repeats right drives me nuts.

[sotto]

Thanks for that! I have been working on entering standards but getting the intros and repeats right drives me nuts.

On Realbook.zip, all that is done for you. And, of course, you can change the instrumentation to suit you in BIAB. For example, I prefer the fretless bass on everything. If you're a teacher, or know one, you can even get the mega-version of BIAB from Academic Software (see their website) at a whopping discount.

[aarondavis]

On Realbook.zip, all that is done for you. And, of course, you can change the instrumentation to suit you in BIAB. For example, I prefer the fretless bass on everything. If you're a teacher, or know one, you can even get the mega-version of BIAB from Academic Software (see their website) at a whopping discount.

OK!

I'd never heard of the BIAB software, so I didn't understand that you needed the actual BIAB software to begin with. Well for $100, thats a pretty cheap band! I'm going to check into it more. How does it sound? Does it sound kinda robotic, digitized and "keyboardy"? :)

[yannis]

Can the Jamman isolate vocals and guitar ???? It says on the digitech site "play with or w/o vocals "

Furthermore... can i use it as a recording tool? ie put a mic on it...record on the flash card? Or should i just get a mic with minijack and plug it on my PC?