RC 300 and DR880

Started by pedwards2932, November 04, 2014, 10:32:06 AM

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pedwards2932

Is there any advantage to trying to synch a DR880 to a RC 300?  Can you trigger a particular drum program on the DR880 from the RC 300?  Are any of you using a RC 300 for backing tracks and/or using a DR880 with the RC 300.  I'm not sure I can pull off all the pedal dancing to do live looping but I can make loops from Cakewalk that will work.  My thought is most of the tunes I work with have  2 parts or changes so you only need a loop of each then you can switch between them.  I had thought just having an mp3 of backing tracks would work okay but that wouldn't accommodate improvisation or in my case the usual flubs that come up.....

Threeleggedyoyo

Does the DR880 have an A/B/Fill capability? If it does, all you'd need to do is tap a pedal connected to the DR880 to switch patterns.

What the RC-300 will do with any external drum machine is send clock and stop/start information. So as soon as you hit REC the first time, whatever MIDI drum machine you have will sync up and stay in sync. What it does from there is up to the drum machine.

I use an SR-16. For planned songs, I program the whole thing (loops, fills, progressions, etc). For improvised songs, I use the A/B/Fill capability. It will play an "A" loop until I press a pedal connected to the SR-16 until I hit a pedal connected to it. At that point it plays a fill and goes to the B. It can do the same thing in reverse. So basically exactly what you describe... just switching between a couple patters. I assume the DR880 can do the same thing (I feel like I looked into it at one point) but you'd have to check the manual to be sure.

So yeah... the advantage is that you'll have an indefinite loop that will be perfectly synced to your RC-300 and never drift.

pedwards2932

Can the RC 300 send program change or do I have to manually set the DR880 to a pattern? I'm a little torn on how complicated I want to make this.  I could prerecord the backing tracks and have it set up for Intro on one pedal,  Verse on another pedal, and chorus on the third pedal. Then I could pre program all the drum tracks.....I really just want drums and bass.

Threeleggedyoyo

So, the RC-300 can send program changes in a specific way. Namely, as you change patches, it can be set to send the corresponding Program Change number. So you'd need to either use that or just set the DR880 to the right patch separately (that's what I do with my drum machine).

The RC-300 can also be set to send CC# messages with pedal presses, which you may be able to program the DR880 to interpret. The easiest way to do that is with an external pedal, or the FX pedal or whatever.

You can also set it to send CC messages along with your Track pedals, but I've found doing that is a little bit clunky. The machine recognizes a "Play" and "OverDub / Record" button press a little differently in a way that I find confusing. To be fair, I haven't experimented with this particular setup that much. Your mileage may vary.

Let me know if you need any help putting together a particular setup. I don't have a DR880 but I'm quite familiar with assigning external functions and getting an RC300 to communicate with drum machines in general.



pedwards2932

Thanks for the help.  I am reloading my Sampletank and I am going to try to convert a few midi files to loops and experiment with that first to see how well that works.   I have a JamMan solo that would probably work for as simple a set up as I want. Then I am going to try the DR880 route.  I like the idea of using the RC300 and DR880 just don't want to get overwhelmed with complexity....thanks  again for the help.

pedwards2932

I used my sonic cell to modify a midi file that I downloaded (Brown Eyed Girl) and just pulled out bass and drums.  Listening to the song and there are several sections there is a intro, verse, bridge that goes to the sha la la's, a "bass solo section".  How would you handle this with the RC300 granted there is repetition in the verse in that it plays the same chords several times but it is catching that bridge after verses that may be tricky.  I am spending a lot of time with this first one to make sure I get it right for future attempts.  One option I can do is just put in the whole track on one pedal then I can use the other 2 if I want to add stuff in over top.  If I do this on all the songs I could eat up the memory on the RC300.  Another option is using an SD card and my JamMan solo this would give me plenty of space but only 99 locations which should be enough. I looked at the DR880 and I am not sure I am up to all the programming involved to get it right.  I may use it for recording but the drum sounds on the Sonic Cell are pretty good.

Threeleggedyoyo

Well, there's a couple ways you could approach this. They're dependent on the song structure and what you hope to accomplish. I don't know the complete details of either so here's some thoughts to just give you some ideas.

0) First of all, I assume you're familiar with Single Track Mode on the RC-300? That gives you spaces for Verse, Chorus, and Bridge right there. You even have individual Undo functionality for each one, which gives you some flexibility in adding and removing layers. If you're in this mode, and you set it to change Tracks after the current track is completed, it's quite easy to switch between the 3 parts. At that point you've only got one extra pedal press (and at least a half measure) to hit another pedal and change up your drum machine between 3 patterns. If you aren't worried about a lot of fills, that's pretty manageable.

1) You could put the RC-300 in Single Track Mode and prerecord the 3 bass and drum parts to Tracks 1, 2, and 3. This assumes the repetitions line up in a way that works for you. Then you could just overdub over them. The downside here is that if the end of any part is different than the rest (say, a bass fill as the verse goes into the chorus) won't be there unless you want each loop to be the length of a whole verse (which may or may not be ok with you).

2) You could program the entire song, with its various parts, on the DR880. Perfectly doable. I haven't worked with that particular unit but that's what it's designed to do. Likewise, any program or equipment which can play the parts you've got with MIDI that can receive clock information will be able to sync up to the RC-300.

3) You could consider whether a looper is the right primary weapon for this particular job. Would you be better off just playing your guitar and singing along to a backing track?

Let me know if you need further info or clarification.

pedwards2932

Lots of great info to digest.  I think I am going to opt for converting the midi file to an mp3.  I made the conversion and tried it on my system and 2 things I noticed.  One the drums had too much reverb and the snare was annoyingly compressed.  I am going to pick a dry drum set and also I am going to put the drums on the right channel and bass on the left then I can put them on separate channels on my mixer and have more control over eq.  I have to set this up so every track is done the same so I won't have to futz with the PA.  The advantage of putting them out as mp3s is I can use my android tablet that I use for cheat sheets to play the backing tracks.  I think this is going to be the easiest way.