Been playing with the S2400 for a few weeks now since it arrived - awesome tool - huge thanks to everyone involved! One thing I was wondering - does the looper only work in 4/4 time?
Say I have a 2 bar pattern in 3/4 - tick tock tock, tick tock tock - the way loop pattern length settings work in the live loop mode is that you cut for example a 2 measure pattern in intervals like 1/2, 4th, 16th - which does not seem to make sense for 3/4 time. 16th of 4 is just fine, but 16th of 3 or 6 gets very weird. Am I understanding this correctly?
My other question is - what is the expected workflow when using the live looper in a live environment?
I often find the need to entirely stop the playing pattern when working with the live looper. It also can be very tedious to save each sample individually to load up as a regular sound to work with. I also notice that I have to turn the knobs each time I record to ‘open the filters’ or you get a ‘quieter’ sound because of the eq - when really I would just like to disable them entirely since the live loop samples are transient to the main composition. This is noticeable in the demo videos of the live looper as well - Is it possible one day there will be workflow enhancements like ‘bounce to bank’ or something?
What workflows are people using successfully today?
If you are working in a different time signature be sure to adjust the metronome settings to match. The S2400 will happily comply with alternate time signatures, and Ive done several projects in 6/8 time with no issue. For the live looper, I would describe the workflow as more spontaneous and less forgiving. Of course you can clear the buffer and start over, but as you add layers to each loop you just need to make sure you are on point as they get more complex or else you lose work. For my use, I can play guitar or bass decently so I use it to add basslines or guitar stabs to what Im playing. Check Lisa Vasquez’s looper example as well as she does amazing vocal overdubs with it. Alternatively, you can do things along the line of Mark Ribillet or Reggie Watts as well. Im not sure I follow as to why you need to stop playing the pattern- Is it due to the metronome being out of sync with your time signature?
Thanks for the response. I will poke around more at the metronome settings.
As for the time signature looping question, if I am recording a 2 measure pattern in live loop mode in 3/4 - and I want to record something that lasts for 2 beats and then loops:
It seems like my only option here is to record it ‘full length’ since there is no way to record the first 2 beats and loop for the 6 beats in the pattern?
As for the stop/start problem - it just seems like if I want to create a loop and then add it to a regular bank track, I have to leave and enter live loop mode, then if I want to go back and create a new loop and consider with pattern lengths I wind up having to start and stop to control a pattern length - which means I can’t be playing live, adding new loops, leaving live loop mode, adding them to tracks, going back and making more loops. That is kind of my desired workflow - to cut a loop, sequence it to currently playing patterns, go cut another loop, back add it to another pattern so I can play with filters, pitch, etc.
As with anything, a smooth workflow with a tool comes with familiarity and practice. The overdub style seems nice - I guess I was wondering if there is anything like ‘create a whole composition from scratch’ using the s2400 tools like envelopes, pitch etc integrated into the live loop workflow or if the looper is meant to be just an overdub thing on top of what is already there.
@darkone23 It should be easy enough to accommodate different time signatures when setting LiveLoop length. What is expressed on the screen as length (full, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth) is actually the number of divisions (1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 divisions). We can add 3, 5, 6, 10 and 12 to the list.