BOSS GM-800 BPM and DJFX Loopers

[Elantric]

Currently GM-800 Parameter Guide states all available controls of BPM Looper and DJFX Looper






Observe the BPM Looper & DJ FX Looper  ASSIGN TARGET Controls at lower right



These Loopers appears to be borrowed from a Roland SP-404

https://articles.roland.com/sp-404-djfx-looper-and-how-to-use-it

BPM LOOPER

DJFX LOOPER

[ovrdrvn]

I would love to see some creative examples of how to use this.

[admin_shawnb]

I would love to see some creative examples of how to use this.

Frankly, I'd like to see an example of this working at all within the GM-800...

Closest I've gotten is to speed up or slow down an extremely brief audio sample.  Not useful at all. 

I can't tell if there are some special tricks to get these to work or if they're just completely broken.

[admin_shawnb]

I think my biggest question is what the Length means.  In the manual, it says "230-23 (not straight)".

I find that not particularly helpful...  Also, in BTS the values accepted are 0-127, which doesn't correspond to the 230-23. 

[Elantric]

Its tough to find info , the Boss SP-404 manual , search on "LEN"
https://www.roland.com/us/support/by_product/sp-404/owners_manuals/79ac1129-7d91-4701-8128-e392a75cd7e3/

[admin_shawnb]

Yeah, I've been thru the sp-404 manual.

Still no clue what 230-23 references.

[Elantric]

Yeah, I've been thru the sp-404 manual.

Still no clue what 230-23 references.

Worth a Roland Backstage Pass inquery

[admin_shawnb]

Yeah, I sent them some questions. 

Another thing - with the BPM looper, you cannot send loop on/off/auto thru an assign or control function...  It's not a valid target anywhere that I can find.  And when the bpm looper is set to rate-sync, it's not syncing to the tempo.

[admin_shawnb]

Worth a Roland Backstage Pass inquery

I've been going back & forth with them, and, well, the good news is that they are responding...

[Vabass]

I still haven't figured out access the looper on gm 800 . Can anyone help ?

[admin_shawnb]

The short answer is no...

I have gone back & forth with Boss on this, & their answers are so clearly evasive it's embarrassing.

I'm otherwise very happy with their support, but they won't admit this is broken... 

Their answers loosely translate to: It's not what you think it is.  It's not the SP-404 at all.  It's a completely different effect, and you're using it wrong. 

I ask how to use it, any examples or docs, & they suggest I keep experimenting ().

I ask what "230-23 (not straight)" means, and they say that will require talking with Boss engineering, so not to hold my breath...  (I am still waiting on this...)

The BPM looper won't follow tempo as advertised.  There is no way to control the BPM Looper's off/on/auto via control or assign - you can literally only do it live within the GM-800 menu or in BTS.

What I have been able to get both of them to do is loop on a very small audio clip, like, 1/10 of a second.  Like some of the very old school choppy "hold" effects.  I can speed it up & slow it down & play it backwards.  But it is too short a sample to do anything meaningful with. 

It feels like they abandoned these two fx late in the product development, and don't know what to say about that...