RC300 - Anybody using it yet?

Started by shawnb, December 16, 2011, 11:58:47 AM

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shawnb

Can anyone share RC300 experiences yet?

Over time, I have also largely abandoned the RC50 & only use it for basic stuff.   The big question is whether the RC300 addresses some of the RC50's issues, most notably clean looping.   They seem to have addressed the memory issues by allowing up to 3 hours of recording.  I was initially concerned by the lack of a 'Tempo' pedal, however, upon going thru the manual, it appears that tapping any of the 'stop' buttons will also act as a tap tempo pedal.   It will be interesting to see how that works - I don't want it to also stop the phrase...   

I was also convinced the RC50's automatic 'quantize' function mangled the sample, by stretching/shrinking it.  I'd much rather just have it truncate/insert space to make the loop lengths match if I'm a little off pressing the pedal.   Sometimes the RC50 audio was beautifully clear, and sometimes it wasn't, and I believe it was due to quantize.   The RC300 ALSO has an automated quantize (that also cannot be turned off...).    Hmmm...

Of course, I want everything in my looper...  The long recording time to be able to carry around song ideas.   The multiple phrases.  The abilty to loop during a jam with my buddies, & further, to shift tempo a bit during a jam to stay aligned with my drummer.  The ability to work back & forth between the computer.  The RC50 is very close, but lacks most in the live-jamming-with-buddies front...    I can make it work, but about 1/3 of the time I just have to abandon the loop.   

I'm very interested in the rc300 to see if it improves upon the RC50 in these areas.

Anyway, interested in other folks' thoughts.   May yet pick one up to experiment.   

Shawn
Address the process rather than the outcome.  Then, the outcome becomes more likely.   - Fripp

Elantric

I had the RC-50 - terrible user interface and "gap" at end of each loop.

My experience was so bad, I'll never look at another Roland looper

I prefer Akai Headrush II for user friendly interface,

I suggest look at the recent line of Digitech Jamman Loopers instead.   

Boomski

I have an RC-300 ( and I still have the RC-50 ) and I am not noticing any "gap" problems on the 300 but there are a few inexplicably missing basic features on the 300 that were present on the 50 . In addition to not being able to play from sequentially one bank of loops to another , without stopping , there also seems to no longer be any way to control the "rhythm guide" from an external pedal . You can only start and stop the guide from the front panel button or by recording or playing a track . Some people are slagging off the built in RC-300 effects as being useless or too simple but I find them to to be very useful and with a bit of advance planning I have actually reclaimed some stage real estate back by not having to bring my Boss VE-20 for vocals ( which by the way was at least as difficult to use live as the RC-300 loop effects and IMHO didn't even sound as good ) . Plus the RC-300 having a built in ( simple ) master reverb unit really helps to glue together the overall sound of the loopscape that you create with it. Almost all of the front panel functions can be farmed out to external pedals ( including individual volume , start , stop , record , undo , reset , reverse , one shot , etc.., functions for each track ) .  I am still holding out hope that someone will figure out a workaround for the omissions I pointed out , or that there will be an update that addresses them . Still , all in all I think that the RC-300 is a keeper .

clearlight

any chance well be doing a group buy for this one?
My Music
My Band Website
GUITARS: 2x RG1521, 3x RG321 w/gk, Rg721 Fretless Modified, AmStd FatStrat w/gk, various others....
XV5050,Triton etc..
KOMPLETE 7
VGUITAR Stuff: VG99, FC300, RC5-

Elantric

Contact the GR-55 Group buy dealer for any special price quotes on Roland gear.

shawnb

Quote from: Boomski on December 17, 2011, 12:48:04 PM
In addition to not being able to play from sequentially one bank of loops to another , without stopping
....
Almost all of the front panel functions can be farmed out to external pedals ( including individual volume , start , stop , record , undo , reset , reverse , one shot , etc.., functions for each track ).

Boomski (or anyone!) - A couple of questions:
1)  Do other loopers let you change banks seamlessly as described above?  During playback?   I'm not aware of this...
2)  Can the Exp pedal on the front of the RC300 control the master volume?   Manual doesn't appear to show you how to do this...   Looks like it's dedicated EXCLUSIVELY for FX...   

Thanx,

Shawn
Address the process rather than the outcome.  Then, the outcome becomes more likely.   - Fripp

shawnb


Yes, I picked it up.  Features looked too good...   

I can answer my own question #2, above.   The answer is yes, you can control the volume with the pedal.   There are a bunch of ASSIGN settings available (nearly identical in function to the way the ASSIGN works in the VG99 & GR55).   

Address the process rather than the outcome.  Then, the outcome becomes more likely.   - Fripp

staugbirdman

I recently spent 3 weeks with the new RC 300. I was looking for a floor pedal to use live with all my material for a night...I either didn't use this correctly or it really isn't the right gear for how I want to use it. I believe you have to be alot better at looping than I because the "glitch" between the end of a loop and the beginning of the next was virtually impossible for me to hit right (it's only on the first loop) so that was strike one. The effects were great but I'm not sure how much i would have used them live. The piece of equipment is 1st class as are all roland/boss effects...and I'm sure those with more knowledge than I will take full advantage of this gear. I returned it and went with a jamman stereo because of the sd card that allows for 16 hrs of loops....but the problem here is you only have 197 loops = 197 songs....a far cry from the number of songs I take to play out.   The technology is getting better by the day and I'm spending countless hours with this new learning curve. I recently came back after taking a 4 year layoff. Things I wanted to do back in day are readily available now ...and better by far! I came back with a bang...a new Rainsong ws1000, the looper, a GR55 (absolutely love it!!!) a V3 live and an L1 model II. I have a month more to get it all together before going out live but I really love the learning part of this journey.  By the way...thanks for this forum it has been a Godsend in helping me .

groovey1

Hi staugbirdman ... can you please explain a bit more about the "glitch" problem you were having with the RC300? Does it do something different than the JamMan when you are recording?
Thanks,

thervantes

Hello! I just opened my new RC-300 and when i pushed the "on" button, it opened on phrase memory number 3, and i noticed that the first three phrase memories have been "used" (written). Is it the same on yours? I wonder if it is a factory setting, or i have been selled a USED RC-300?

SteveGriffiths

Quote from: Boomski on December 17, 2011, 12:48:04 PM
I have an RC-300 ( and I still have the RC-50 ) and I am not noticing any "gap" problems on the 300 but there are a few inexplicably missing basic features on the 300 that were present on the 50 . In addition to not being able to play from sequentially one bank of loops to another , without stopping , there also seems to no longer be any way to control the "rhythm guide" from an external pedal . You can only start and stop the guide from the front panel button or by recording or playing a track . Some people are slagging off the built in RC-300 effects as being useless or too simple but I find them to to be very useful and with a bit of advance planning I have actually reclaimed some stage real estate back by not having to bring my Boss VE-20 for vocals ( which by the way was at least as difficult to use live as the RC-300 loop effects and IMHO didn't even sound as good ) . Plus the RC-300 having a built in ( simple ) master reverb unit really helps to glue together the overall sound of the loopscape that you create with it. Almost all of the front panel functions can be farmed out to external pedals ( including individual volume , start , stop , record , undo , reset , reverse , one shot , etc.., functions for each track ) .  I am still holding out hope that someone will figure out a workaround for the omissions I pointed out , or that there will be an update that addresses them . Still , all in all I think that the RC-300 is a keeper .

Hi Boomski

I was also unable to find a usable workaround to the Start Stop assign feature - ended up returning it which a shame as I really wanted it.  All I really wanted was an RC50 with more memory.  The other thing was that the All Start Stop does not follow the loop stop instructions (Immediate/End/Fade) - it is just a dead stop - total waste of a pedal.  You can assign each loop to the same external pedal to get round this, but that leaves the start stop unused and taking up space and adds significant patching time to each project.  Add to that the omission of fade in for the loops (How on earth do you introduce a pad loop without a fade in?

Cheers

Grif  (Still spitting tacks)

mbenigni

#11
Quote from: Boomski on December 17, 2011, 12:48:04 PM
Plus the RC-300 having a built in ( simple ) master reverb unit really helps to glue together the overall sound of the loopscape that you create with it.

It completely ticks me off that Boss didn't include this same simple reverb in the RC-30, instead providing us with a whole pile of FX that would rarely if ever be useful post-looper.  Reverb (and perhaps delay) is the only effect I could actually see needing in a loop pedal.  Everything else I'm happy to apply in the signal path that preceeds it.

aliensporebomb

It's interesting to be reading this because I'm intrigued by the RC300.

Currently my looper is the Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai.  I've been gigging with it since 2008 but beyond the multiple effects (which are very good and quite fun to slow the loop until it stops and indeed goes backwards on itself!) :  one single 24-bit stereo loop of up to 30 seconds, infinitely overdubbed but there is no undo, there is no variation to allow for multiple loops and there is no capability to store loops - I do a lot of improvisation during my live concerts and once I had to videotape part of the show just to catch a particular progression that would be good for future recreation but that particular improv would have been awesome to "capture permanently".

Anyway, sounds like yet another device with great features but not every feature.  Anyone else have anything good or bad to say about it?
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

groovey1

I haven't had that much time with my RC300 yet and there's still lots for me to learn. But so far, I'm really enjoying it -- for me it's a keeper. But like you said: a lot of great features, but not everything.

After watching Per's video that you posted in the other thread, I connected a MIDI cable to my GT10 and synched up my time-based effects. It really makes a big difference if you are using pre-loaded loops. Now that I've experienced this, it seems like a "must-have" -- I don't know how I got along without it before.

I think it's great to be able to use 3 tracks and mix-and-match them. That was my main incentive for getting the RC300. I'm building loops in my computer and loading them. So far, I'm just doing loops that can be played together, rather than verse, bridge, etc.

I also like being able to name the patches. With my mono JamMan it's just numbers so I have to use a spreadsheet to keep track of what's in there. However you have to use the dial to name them, you can't use the usb connection to type them in the computer.

I haven't used any of the effects yet, not sure if I will. Also I haven't explored the Assign options yet either, but I will probably hook up some external pedals and use them in some way.

There's definitely shortcomings -- many of which have been mentioned in various threads. As Steve said above, it would be really good to have a fade-in option. Also it's difficult to use the Undo/Redo in a musical fashion. You have to hold the pedal for 2 seconds, and then the light starts blinking and then at some point it happens. I wish this would coincide with the phrase end. The JamMan has this same issue. Maybe it just takes practice.


groovey1

Quote from: Boomski on December 17, 2011, 12:48:04 PM
... there also seems to no longer be any way to control the "rhythm guide" from an external pedal . You can only start and stop the guide from the front panel button or by recording or playing a track . ...

Don't know if you've seen this video where he uses an EV5 to control the rhythm volume: