Well I had originally been interested in the sp-555 but then I read the complaints about only 15sec loop time and then the transfer to pad function causing all the music to stop. Both might be things I can deal with but I wanted to know if the sp-404 has similar looping capture abilities? I've tried reading the manual but can't really tell. Someone mentioned the boss rc-50 and maybe this is more like what I need but that only does 3 tracks.

I just want to be able to record some loops and then be able to trigger each loop independently. Footswitch start and stop record would be nice. And the more live capable the better. I'm still trying to learn all of what's out there. Thanks!

I think you would be happier with a dedicated looping pedal. If you're looking to record loops on the fly, and just keep adding overdubs (like a dedicated looping pedal can do), the 404 is not what you need. You would need to record a loop, possibly trim it slightly with the 404, then set the play back settings (loop, gate etc) before you could get it playing back as a loop. If you wanted to record all your loops ahead of time, and then just have them ready to be triggered with the push of a button, the 404 would work.

It can play loops like a champion, but it takes a short amount of time to get the loops ready to go, so it's not the best for live loop applications. Let us know if you have more specific questions.

^^^ Yes. There's a specific guitar pedal that can do exactly what you want. Sadly, I don't remember anything about what it's called or who made it. I've seen it in use once by a band call Mainframe Theory maybe they still exist and you can look it up. It's probably pretty expensive, and it may operate in conjunction with computer, but it's f'in sweet.

The Boss loopstation pedal is nice, but I don't think you can independently trigger loops, you can only overdub.

Heres an overview of a few looping pedals.

http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/loo ... y-06/20084

they are all like 400 dollars, but would be cool to mess with.

I have a Loop Pedal Boss RC-2
its great for what it does.
Just learn to walk before running if you get it.

I have the RC50 loopstation

It ginves you 3 tracks, on which you can overdub for as long as you like and you can trigger them indepedently of course.

Its ace, it has midi in and out and you can sync drum machines and your sp to the loops you make on the fly.

Yeah, I've always wanted one really bad for like live looping beatboxing and drumming along with samplers and stuff but they cost so much, when I can get a cracked version of ableton live and do the same on my macbook. But I don't like using ableton for some reason so I kinda out of luck.

my solo guitar player roomate has the boss one and its pretty awesome, you can store loops and overdub on the fly
but unless you need to be able to improvise on making the loops i think the 404 would provide better results with more options after looping, yo or you could have a friend be looping and tweaking your guitar - i jammed with this band like that once - it was sick

so how long of a loop can the 404 record? the sp-555 seems really cool but with only 15sec of loop time it seems kinda limited. and maybe I'm misunderstanding something but that loop recorder on the sp-555 is the only way to get samples onto the sp-555 right? unless you did some sort of file transfer via USB or something.

i don't really want a looping pedal because you can usually only trigger one loop/layer at a time. but thanks for that excellent link and all the other tips!

the 555 has a semi-looper or what i mean is you can record 15 minutes of audio and do it again and again while stacking it (endlessly i believe): however if you wish to put that loop to a pad the music must stop. and this is why it's not a true looper. for more info on that check here http://www.loopers-delight.com/loop.html

now a 404 is not a looper at all, not unless you prercord all of your loops. when you have prerecorded your loops you can run a session in which your samples can loop endlessly BUT you must record all sounds/loops into the machine first. a 404 plus one the rc series would cost less than a 555 and could ultimately do the same thing as a 555 without the limitation of stopping the music. an rc IS a looper. also an rc-50 has three tracks not three overdubs total. each track can be overdubbed endlessly. the 555 only has one looping track(unless i'm wrong about that).

Yeah, the rc-50 seems to be the way to go it's all I've ever seen beatboxers and guitarists use that loop live so it must being doing something right.

the Roland MC-09 has a 4 track looper, which syncs to MIDI. each track only allows 6 seconds though (this is actually longer than it seems, and is great for 1 or 2 bar loops). you can resample across the tracks with different effects, etc

i only mention it as an option because they show up quite cheap on eBay, and they have some quite useful functions such as the looping. it also has an autochop, pitch control of samples, etc

http://www.sonicstate.com/synth/roland_mc09.cfm

Thanks for all the great info. You peeps are way more helpful than HC.

jbl - would you mind explaining how a setup with a 404 and an rc would work? would you use the rc to record your loop and then while that loop is still playing on the rc, sample that loop via the 404 to a pad? then start that loop you just recorded on the 404, stop the rc loop, make a new rc loop, and then put that loop onto another pad on the 404? then those two loops could be independently triggered via 2 different pads. but I guess this assumes the 404 can sample and play a loop/pad at the same time.

in case you can't tell, I have no experience sampling or looping.
I also feel like I'm blurring the distinction between sampling and looping. I do have an sp-555 where I work that I've been playing with so I'm trying to learn more.

can the sp-555 play samples that are longer than 15sec? or is this the max for sampling and looping?

Thanks again

i use the 404 and an RC20xl (which has one track of loops--not 3 like the RC50--which can be stored in 11 banks). the 'sample time' on the RC20 is 16 minutes. don't know the sample time on 404, but haven't faced a problem yet.

i record some stuff to the looper, trigger it w/ my feet, record loops and such (usually beats, bass) to the 404, trigger with the hands.

i do a 'one man band' / songwriter thing, so this set up allows me to have some things pre-recorded and other things available to record (ie: on the looper, or as an overdub on the looper), and mess around w/ the arrangements etc live.

have not tried 404-to-looper recording yet. just occurred to me. why haven't i tried this? am i drunk?

by the way, its minus 28 C here right now. fuuuck.

Jbl is right, SP-555 can overdub endlessly (well, that's theoretical because you can always run out of memory, but I doubt it will happen by overdubbing). It has indeed only one track which you can overdub to in loop capture, but that's basically enough for the live performance stuff it was meant for. It ís somewhat too bad that it isn't a real live looper, but it's not a limitation that will prevent you from using loop capture in a live situation.

"can the sp-555 play samples that are longer than 15sec? or is this the max for sampling and looping? "

Yes, no problem at all. You can copy much longer samples onto the SP-555 through normal sampling. There's several ways you can get samples in, through USB (assign the SP-555 as your PC sound card for example and sample directly), through copying samples with the wave converter software to a Compact Flash card, but you can also simply play music from mp3s or CDs through line in or USB and just mess with what's coming into the device live.

There's quite some things you can do with it.

"by the way, its minus 28 C here right now. fuuuck."

Damn, that's cold! A well it's probably going to be another very rainy day here tomorrow, so it's not like it's much better over here.