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RC-50 Impressions
I had an RC-50 here for a couple of days, enough for a rough evaluation.
sure most of this is old news
one thing...I now have greater admiration for anyone who can make this
box work for them.
Note: in RC50-speak, each patch has 3 loops which are called "Phrases"
Negatives first:-
1) Sound quality is a bit disappointing. My guitar distorted on playback
without having
lit the overload LED. With more time, maybe I would have sorted the
levels better,
but certainly no headroom. Microphone input seems equivalent to that
on a cheap mixer.
My very subjective impression was that Boss/Roland had saved a few
pennies on the
analog chips (which I've noticed before on their products).
2) Playback volume for phrases is meant to match dry volume at a setting
of 100.
It doesn't, seemed to match at about 85.
3) Midi implementation is a horrible joke.
4) No quick way to clear all 3 phrases. ( probably a workaround by
shifting to new patch).
5) Difficult to find things in the manual, even after reading it through.
6) The famous "gap at the beginning of the first repeat" can be got rid
of by following
the steps described in the manual. Hidden in the appendix. ...but
when I recorded
a second phrase I often heard it return.
7) Before reading the manual, I had a play with it. First there was the
pre-recorded stuff,
then the drum machine, and when those had been avoided, it is
actually possible to
start looping.
8) A lot of features are only accessible by menu.
9) Not possible to make 3 unsynced loops.
10) Shortest loop, 1.5s
11) Reverse produces clicks. Glitchy, but not in a nice way.
12) Manual describes the onboard drum machine as "ultra-high quality" and
" a match for a dedicated unit". That's just 2 outright lies.
13) Overall, the user interface is not well thought out.
14) Software version not shown on boot-up.
Positives:-
1) Able to select the next loop for recording/playback while in record.
That would have been nice for the EDP, which always ends record when
the Nextloop button is pressed.
2) Pretty easy to get looping, to record a phrase, select new phrase,
record the new
phrase which is a multiple length of the first. Then the 3rd phrase
can even be a different
multiple of the first.
3) Time stretch has an interesting sound, especially on rhythmic material.
4) Onboard drums may have a use for some, possible to record a loop then
bring
the drums in (if loop starts exactly on downbeat).
5) Tempo button can be reprogrammed to Reverse, or Select Overdub mode.
This
can be programmed per patch.
6) Looks pretty easy to use the alternative mode where you can record 3
serial loops
as parts of a song and switch between them.
7) Undo works for Record as well as OD, so provides a *relatively* quick
way to re-record
a loop.
8) For anyone into pre-recorded loops
"I've learned something today":-
1) There's one feature which I would like to see in the EDP emulator
(Next doesn't end Recording).
2) This is my first encounter with a Multi=track looper. There's a great
impression of not being in
control of the music any more compared to EDP.
andy butler