Tips and Tricks for the BOSS RC-50 Loop Station

I bought the RC-50 years ago and it was lying hardly used in the cupboard, before I had one special idea how I could use it to play "comptine d'un autre été". After trying around a while on solving all the problems I faced, I gathered some insights which I want to share here.

Task 1: While rhythm is already recorded, record a first melody and play (to) it - then immediately record a second melody while the first melody is erased. Multi mode is used

Solution: While playing/recording the first melody, push the phrase button of the phrase where the second melody should be recorded - LEDs of that phrase start flashing, while the current phrase is not effected and playing can continue. Then, immediately before pushing REC / PLAY / OVERDUB (to start recording the second melody), push UNDO -> first melody is erased, second melody starts recording smoothly.

The MIDI-Assistant can take care of the UNDO for you (send CC#80)

 

Example: Comptine video at 2:29

https://youtu.be/yEP5HLrj_9c?t=149

 

 

Task 2: While rhythm is already recorded, record a first melody and play (to) it - then immediately record a second melody while the first melody stops but is not erased. Multi mode is used

Solution: After finishing playing (to) the first melody, in a quick sequence push STOP -> Phrase Select (select phrase where the second melody should be recorded to)  -> REC / PLAY / OVERDUB

You can also use the MIDI-Assistant to make the phrase with the first melody silent (send CC#1 or CC#7 zero)

 

 

Task 3: While NO MUSIC is already recorded, record a first melody/riff and play (to) it - then immediately record a second melody/riff while the first one is erased; the guide should NOT stop. Multi mode with loop sync is used.

 

Solution:  Before starting, record a silent loop on Phrase3 which is as long as the melody/riff. Set Patch - SimulStart to ON for the silent Phrase3 and for the first phrase to be recorded. Then start - record a melody/riff to Phrase1 (also silent Phrase3 plays),  and while playing (to) it, push Phrase2 pedal (starts flashing). Then, before pushing REC / PLAY / OVERDUB (to start recording the second melody), push UNDO -> first melody is erased, Guide keeps playing because silent loop on Phrase3 is still playing. Second melody starts recording smoothly.

The MIDI-Assistant can take care of the UNDO for you (send CC#80)

 

Example: Canon Rock video at 0:42

https://youtu.be/KQrXYssGBrg?t=42

 

 

Task 4: Stop all phrases and the Guide for a fill, then start all phrases again.

 

Solution:  Push Phrase2 and Phrase3 pedals together for the stop. Push Phrase2 and Phrase3 pedals together againg for starting all phrases again.  When Patch - SimulStart is set to ON for all phrases, Pushing REC / PLAY / OVERDUB is sufficient to start all phrases again.

With MIDI-Assistant: Send "Stop" to stop all Phrases, send "Start" to start the phrases again. For this,  Patch - SimulStart must be set to ON for all phrases, otherwise sending "Start" just starts the current phrase again. REMARK: While all phrases and the Guide are stopped, the RC-50 continues to send Clock-messages, so the MIDI-Assistant can restart the phrases exactly timed even after not playing anything.

 

Example: Canon Rock video at 1:47

https://youtu.be/KQrXYssGBrg?t=107

 

 

Task 5: Multi Mode: Stop last playing phrase for a fill while the Guide keeps playing

 

Solution:  Before starting, record a silent loop on one Phrase which is as long as the loop you want to play. Make sure the silent loop is playing along with the last playing loop, and stop the last playing loop with the STOP pedal - the Guide keeps playing because the silent loop is still playing. After the fill, push REC / PLAY / OVERDUB to start the current phrase again.

With MIDI-Assistant: Send Level zero with CC#1 or CC#7 for the Phrase(s) which should stop (to make them silent while still playing), send level 64 when the Phrase(s) should continue - no silent loop necessary

 

Example: Canon Rock video at 3:47

https://youtu.be/KQrXYssGBrg?t=227

 

 

Task 6: In Single mode, switch phrases exactly after the loop of the current phrase is finished

 

Solution: Set Patch - PhraseChng to LOOP END. When playing a loop, you can push the new Phrase pedal at any time during playing - the RC-50 will finish the currently playing loop and switches smoothly to the new phrase exactly after finishing the loop. REMARK: Pushing the new Phrase pedal during Overdubbing interrupts recording and switches to Play mode immediately. Still the loop finishes before switching to the selected phrase.

 

 

Task 7: While playing, switch to a new Patch/Guide rhythm. Switching to new Patch should happen exactly at end of current loop

 

Solution: Set Patch - PhraseChng to LOOP END. Use the CTL /EXP  PEDAL button to set the function of the TEMPO or UNDO pedal to SYS/PATCH NUMBER INC. When playing a loop, you can push the pedal with the PATCH NUMER INC function at any time during playing  - the RC-50 will finish the currently playing loop and switches smoothly to the next patch exactly after finishing the current loop. The new patch starts recording immediately if it is empty, or starts playing if the new patch is not empty (unfortunately with a short delay)

You can move through multiple patches for the same song. If you have a "bridge" patch, which you just use to play along a certain Guide rhythm for a certain time without recording, you can pre-record a silent loop with exactly the duration of this "bridge"-patch. So, after entering the "bridge"-patch and having set PhraseChng to LOOP END, you can can push the pedal with the PATCH NUMER INC function at any time, and after the duration of the silent loop it will switch automatically to the next patch, which then starts recording/playing (again - when switching to "playing", there is a short delay).

Other solution: you can use a standard MIDI footcontroller to send the new patch number. You have to find out about the ideal timing of switching the patch to avoid any delay when the new patch is not empty. The patch-switching is triggered immediately, independent of the Patch - PhraseChng setting.

With MIDI-Assistant: just send "Program Change" with the new patch number when it's time to change the patch, no silent pre-recording necessary. The sending time can be adjusted in a way, so that there is practically no delay between switching the patches, even if the new patch is not empty. The patch-switching is triggered immediately, independent of the Patch - PhraseChng setting.

 

Example (with MIDI-Assistant): Revolutions video at 0:45, 1:42, 2:08

https://youtu.be/yhBY2nHUcz8?t=45

https://youtu.be/yhBY2nHUcz8?t=102

https://youtu.be/yhBY2nHUcz8?t=128

 

 

 

Task 8: Avoid issue of a silence gap between the ending of the first loop and beginning of the next one.

 

Solution: Multi Mode: When all phrases have the same length (LOOP SYNC is on): Before starting, record a silent loop on any Phrase which is as long as the loop you want to play. During performance, the silent loop does not need to be played, it is just used as a "loop-lenght-definer". Recording on any phrase will switch smoothly to overdub exactly after the loop-lenght. If LOOP SYNC is not on, pre-record a silent loop with the needed duration on each Phrase. If pre-recording a silent loop is not possible, like playing a new loop in the middle of a performance, play the first note of the loop again after changing to overdubbing, so no gap will be there.

Single Mode: same as Multi Mode, using "Single Mode Simulation" (see Task 11).

Other (better) solution (both Multi and Single Mode): Push REC / PLAY / OVERDUB pedal about one quarter-beat before the loop is finished, but keep playing also through that last beat. Voila - what you played in the last beat is also recorded, loop starts over without gap. I use SOUND PRIORITY (see description of Software version 1.01), but I don't know if this makes a difference.

At tempo 116: push exactly one quarter beat before finishing.

I use this method at 4/4 measure - you can try also with others, but the timing might be more critical.

 

REMARK: I found out that when starting recording a second loop while playing first loop, there can be a permanent silence gap which happens exactly at the time the second recording started. Simple Example: you have a 4 beat long loop and want to record a new melody starting at beat 3, but you push REC/PLAY/OVERDUB too early at beat 2. You record your melody over the end of the loop, overdubbing with one long note until you you almost reach beat 3 again, and then stop the recording -> there is a permanent silence gap in your long note at beat 2, because that was the time you started recording!  So try to start additional recording exactly at the startpoint of the sound.

 

 

Task 9: Avoid loosing Patch tempo when Guide is off

 

Solution: Before starting, record a silent loop which is as long as the loop you want to play, while Guide Level is not off. For real recording, turn Guide-Level off. You can also grab the signal for the audience from the main output, while the Guide is sent to the Sub-output (SYSTEM - Guide Out) and not hearable outside.

If the Guide-Level is not zero when starting recording, the Patch tempo is not lost. So, you can start recording with Guide-Level 2 (almost silent) and then turn it completely off with the knob later. You can also map the Guide-On/Off function to the Tempo- or UNDO-Pedal and switch it off after the first beat.

With MIDI-Assistant: Map Guide-On/Off function to CC#80 and send it a few ticks after starting, or map CC#1 or CC#7 to Guide-Level and send zero a few ticks after starting.

 

 

Task 10: Guide should be hearable at headphones, but not for the audience

 

Solution: Grab the signal for the audience from the main output, while the Guide is sent to the Sub-output (SYSTEM - Guide Out) and not hearable outside. The headphones will let you hear all.

Task 11: Overdubbing should start immediately when changing a Phrase in Single Mode

 

Solution: Just found out this solution by accident - it is really simple and works perfect! You will need both feet for this solution.

Explanation for Phrase1: select function PHRASE1 PLAY for the TEMPO pedal with the CTL/EXP PEDAL button. When you want to switch from another Phrase to Phrase1, push TEMPO (=PHRASE1 PLAY) together with REC/PLAY/OVERDUB  - voila, Phrase1 is overdubbing!

Same can be done for Phrase2: select function PHRASE2 PLAY for the UNDO pedal, and push UNDO together with REC / PLAY / OVERDUB when switching from another phrase to phrase2.

If you need this for all three Phrases, you will need an external footswitch - select function PHRASE3 PLAY for the external footswitch, and push the external switch together with REC / PLAY / OVERDUB when switching from another phrase to phrase3.

REMARK 1: the solution does not work when you want to switch phrases while the current phrase is recording

REMARK 2: the solution does not work when Patch - PhraseChng is set to to LOOP END; Solution for this case: tap your foot with the quarter beats, and right at the first beat of the new phrase, make one rolling movement from right-to-left foot and hit REC/PLAY/OVERDUB with the left foot (see also REMARK 3). So you can be sure that the new phrase already started when you hit REC/PLAY/OVERDUB, and so the new phrase is overdubbing right after starting.

REMARK 3: To avoid accidently hitting the REC/PLAY/OVERDUB pedal first, it might be best practice to hit the pedal with the PHRASE PLAY function first and immediately afterwards hit the REC/PLAY/OVERDUB pedal. You can do this is in one rolling movement from right-to-left-foot-pushing.
REMARK 4: In Single Mode, you can use the PHRASE PLAY function at anytime to restart the Phrase (like you can do it for one-shot-phrases) - see Task13. Patch - PhraseChng must be set to IMMEDIATE for this.

 

Old Solution: Of course one solution is, to put an eight-note break at the beginning of the overdub and push REC / PLAY / OVERDUB together with the start of the sound after that eight-note break. But more elegant is the following:

"Single Mode Simulation" in Multi Mode. Single Mode basically is the same as Multi Mode with only one Phrase being hearable. In Multi Mode, recording starts immediately when pushing REC / PLAY / OVERDUB after selecting an already playing Phrase.  So, for simulating Single Mode, after Pushing REC / PLAY / OVERDUB the Level of the previously hearable Phrase should go to zero, and the Level of the new recording Phrase should go to 100. This can be done by a real assistant, who turns the Level knobs each time a new Phrase starts recording/overdubbing - this surely would be fun :-)

Using MIDI-Assistant: The MIDI-Assistant can send Level-changes automatically for you, each time when you need it. When switching to the second phrase, just make the first phrase silent by sending a value of zero for CC#1 and a value of 64 (=100 in the RC50) for CC#7. When switching back, send zero for CC#7 and 64 for CC#1 - and so on. With this, it is possible to start recording immediately in "single" mode when a phrase is changed, which is not possible usually. Works perfect when using 2 phrases with equal length using LOOP SYNC.

When using 3 phrases, it might be helpful to set the volume of all phrases to zero at the beginning (direct signal will be heard).  Set CC#1 to Phrase1 Level and CC#7 to CurrentLevel. So you can experiment with these settings - CC#7 will set the Level of the currently selected Phrase. In Multi Mode, the currently selected phrase does not have to be the phrase which you are currently recording; instead, it can be any phrase selected with the Phrase-pedals

Task 12: Use 6 loops per patch

Solution: Th RC-50 has 3 Stereo loops, so each loop has 2 channels. With a little "magic" each of them can be used separately. For details, check this article: