Bryan R. Tyler
Elrickophile
I posted a thread like this over at TalkBass.com, but since no one here has mentioned this looper here before, I figured I'd repost it here.
If you've ever checked out any of my sound or video clips,
you probably know that I was very big into my Boss RC-20XL...I used it for just about everything. I was finding the one usable loop very limiting though, so I made a big investment and went for the Looperlative LP-1 -a rackmount looper with eight separate stereo loops (nearly all the loopers out there have just one loop, and it's mono) to work with controllable with a MIDI pedalboard or any other MIDI device.
http://www.looperlative.com/images/lp1_image_small.JPG
http://www.looperlative.com
I've had it for a little over a month now. There's almost nothing this box can't do. The things it can't do it will eventually do: for anyone that hasn't heard of it, the LP-1 was created by technician/musician Bob Amstadt and he gave the LP-1 an ethernet port so that the software can be updated via a network connection whenever he makes an upgrade. There is a forum on the Looperlative site where all of the LP-1 owners can make suggestions, ask questions, point out any bugs, etc. and Bob takes these suggestions and does his best to implement all of them. He has been updating the software about twice a month now, each time bringing new, interesting features. The LP-1 is a constantly evolving machine- it gets better all the time.
Along with the eight stereo tracks you can record with (and on top of each track you can add innumerable layers of loops), here are some other cool features:
1. start or stop any number of the tracks at once or at the end of a phrase
2. make syncronized and unsyncronized loops at the same time
3. reverse tracks, play them at half speed, scramble them, or double, triple or quadruple their lengths
4. set up tracks to play and then at the end of a phrase, switch to a differnt set of tracks (great for making different song parts) with a single press of a pedal
5. bounce tracks on the fly
There's a ton of other stuff I'm not mentioning- basically, my needs for this looper don't even scratch the surface of what it can do. You can program your MIDI board and expression pedals to do everything, and each button press can control up to eight functions at once with a single press. For example, let's say I have two tracks playing at once. I could program one button to stop or delete the second track at the end of a phrase and go back to play the first track and alter it to play in reverse, at half speed, at quadruple the length all with one button press.
The audio quality is also fantastic. I've been waiting for a DI to arrive to record some stuff- when it finally did a couple days ago, I was extremely impressed with the audio quality from it. It's also small and light, and fits in a very shallow rack case. Like the Echoplex, it doesn't have the storage for saving loops after the unit shuts down, so once you turn off the unit, the loops are not savable. But, you CAN record the loops with a secondary device and input them into the Looperlative and record and loop with them that way. Bob is even looking into a memory system that is somehow MIDI based. I've found that I do not miss having the save patches that the Boss pedal gave me at all. The LP-1 really is more of a live musical tool than a sampler. That said, it's also great for recording because of the sound quality, and as the loops can stay on as long as the unit is on, you can record your loops to perfection, and when it's time to record, just do the button presses with your feet without having to play. But there's no fun in that
Steve Lawson used it to record all of his latest album, so you can listen to that for some ideas of what it can do. If you want to hear any particular examples, I can make some quick demos as well, now that I can actually record with it
It is a pricey box- $1500 plus the cost of whatever MIDI device you use, but I am EXTREMELY happy with it and it is beyond worth the money. I'm extremely glad I didn't go for an Echoplex a few months ago like I had planned. This does far more than eight RC-20XLs in a row can do. I forsee this becoming THE dominant high-end looper out there.
If you've ever checked out any of my sound or video clips,
you probably know that I was very big into my Boss RC-20XL...I used it for just about everything. I was finding the one usable loop very limiting though, so I made a big investment and went for the Looperlative LP-1 -a rackmount looper with eight separate stereo loops (nearly all the loopers out there have just one loop, and it's mono) to work with controllable with a MIDI pedalboard or any other MIDI device.
http://www.looperlative.com/images/lp1_image_small.JPG
http://www.looperlative.com
I've had it for a little over a month now. There's almost nothing this box can't do. The things it can't do it will eventually do: for anyone that hasn't heard of it, the LP-1 was created by technician/musician Bob Amstadt and he gave the LP-1 an ethernet port so that the software can be updated via a network connection whenever he makes an upgrade. There is a forum on the Looperlative site where all of the LP-1 owners can make suggestions, ask questions, point out any bugs, etc. and Bob takes these suggestions and does his best to implement all of them. He has been updating the software about twice a month now, each time bringing new, interesting features. The LP-1 is a constantly evolving machine- it gets better all the time.
Along with the eight stereo tracks you can record with (and on top of each track you can add innumerable layers of loops), here are some other cool features:
1. start or stop any number of the tracks at once or at the end of a phrase
2. make syncronized and unsyncronized loops at the same time
3. reverse tracks, play them at half speed, scramble them, or double, triple or quadruple their lengths
4. set up tracks to play and then at the end of a phrase, switch to a differnt set of tracks (great for making different song parts) with a single press of a pedal
5. bounce tracks on the fly
There's a ton of other stuff I'm not mentioning- basically, my needs for this looper don't even scratch the surface of what it can do. You can program your MIDI board and expression pedals to do everything, and each button press can control up to eight functions at once with a single press. For example, let's say I have two tracks playing at once. I could program one button to stop or delete the second track at the end of a phrase and go back to play the first track and alter it to play in reverse, at half speed, at quadruple the length all with one button press.
The audio quality is also fantastic. I've been waiting for a DI to arrive to record some stuff- when it finally did a couple days ago, I was extremely impressed with the audio quality from it. It's also small and light, and fits in a very shallow rack case. Like the Echoplex, it doesn't have the storage for saving loops after the unit shuts down, so once you turn off the unit, the loops are not savable. But, you CAN record the loops with a secondary device and input them into the Looperlative and record and loop with them that way. Bob is even looking into a memory system that is somehow MIDI based. I've found that I do not miss having the save patches that the Boss pedal gave me at all. The LP-1 really is more of a live musical tool than a sampler. That said, it's also great for recording because of the sound quality, and as the loops can stay on as long as the unit is on, you can record your loops to perfection, and when it's time to record, just do the button presses with your feet without having to play. But there's no fun in that
Steve Lawson used it to record all of his latest album, so you can listen to that for some ideas of what it can do. If you want to hear any particular examples, I can make some quick demos as well, now that I can actually record with it
It is a pricey box- $1500 plus the cost of whatever MIDI device you use, but I am EXTREMELY happy with it and it is beyond worth the money. I'm extremely glad I didn't go for an Echoplex a few months ago like I had planned. This does far more than eight RC-20XLs in a row can do. I forsee this becoming THE dominant high-end looper out there.
