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Looper's Delight
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The latency problems I'm encountering with the
RC-50 are not the glitch problem that others seem to call latency. What I'm
experiencing is a slight "behind" effect of the recorded phrases in relation to
a sequencer or drum machine that is slaving to the rc-50 (although the same
effect happens when recording with the guide track). It seems to happen when the
unit is in either record or overdub, and disappears when in playback. This
effect destroys any groove feeling. It's not much-perhaps 8 to 12 ms- but it's
too much for me! I was getting the same thing with my EDP too, which is one of
the reasons I wanted to try the rc-50. If I run the midi clock through my
fadermaster, which has a midi delay feature, then into the drum machine, and set
the midi delay to about 10 ms it brings things back into the pocket, but then
you have to keep resetting this delay when you want to either record a new loop
or overdub again or it compounds the problem (obviously too complicated a
"work-around" to be useful as the idea is to make looping easier so as to
concentrate on playing music.
As far as slaving the unit
to the drum machine - it's hopeless. My old JAMMAN can do it rock solid- why not
this rc-50. It's unusable as a slave. If you don't believe me, try recording the
drum track from the master machine you're trying to sync to, then try to play
them in sync.
As far as I'm concerned,
unless they fix these two problems- especially the "behindness" or latency in
the recording and overdubbing, this unit is not for those who want to be in
sync. And according to the folks at Roland support, there is no software fix in
the works that they know about- not even one for the dreaded glitch that others
seem concerned about-- which is unfortunate, because there are so many other
great things about this unit. I found the EDP controls too convoluted for my
needs. Too many switches to push just to start a loop.(in sync).
Is there a machine out
there that can loop in sync- in the pocket- without some ridiculous new problem
to contend with?
Very disappointed. Back to
the EDP but not happy about that. Maybe I'll go back to my Lexicon PCM-42 cause
at least I can groove with it. Except that it only has 20 seconds. The Jamman
only 32.
Shit. I thought I was
upgrading, but if you can't stay in sync with these new units, all the other
bells and whistles are just that.
Hope this is useful and
not too depressing.
Gary Townsend
looping since tape
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