How are you looping and what's keeping time behind you?

[imjustadrummer]

I'm realizing a looper (for chords/rhythm) would be cool with some kind of drum track/machine behind it on the pa. What are you guys using for this type of stuff that's not crazily expensive, but still sounds good?

[Moe45673]

The Boss RC-50 has an output jack for the click track, so you can headphone it to your drummer.

[Wilbo26]

I don't think a drum machine would need headphones.

The RC-2 has a built in drum machine, I imagine its fairly cheesy and not very versatile though. I've read the RC-50 has trouble with MIDI synching, try before you buy.

Might want to check out the Riffbox from Backline:

http://www.backline-eng.com/page3.html

Its got some pretty powerful MIDI capabilities that might work for you. That might be the cheapest bet. Still not that cheap, but certainly cheaper than an EDP. Maybe the EHX loopers, 16 second delay (discontinued) or 2880 both do midi sync, 2880 is expensive, especially since you need the foot controller to use it properly.

[U65_RN]

I am running MIDI cable from Roland drum machine into old Lexicon Jamman with 32 second upgrade. Loops stay synched to drum machine.

Are there any newer loopers with MIDI In?

[Backline]

RiffBox sends MIDI clock messages which can be used to synchronize an external drum machine to your loop playback. Check out the clip:

http://st27.startlogic.com/~backline/Uploads/Loop6.mp3

This clip uses a relatively low cost Alesis SR-16 drum machine.

Here is the new link:
http://www.backline-eng.com/RiffBox.html

[Mincer]

to stay in perfect time, you'd need a looper with midi sync. unfortunately there aren't many out there. the boss RC-50 claims to have this, but it is really buggy and it drifts over time. the echoplex has this, and it works, but it is expensive and pretty rare these days. is this for playing with a band? solo gigs?

[imjustadrummer]

this is just for personal practice/woodshedding...
I get the point about having two loops... they could quickly get out of sync!?! hadn't thought of that...
I was looking at something like the zvex lo-fi over a drum machine, but you'd still have that sync issue...