Just want to say how happy I am to see you taking time to consider how the device might be used by someone with colour blindness, I’m 100% colour blind (among other visual impairments) and have experienced so many issues due to negligence by manufacturers. I have no interest in the RC500 but thanks for that.
Looper pedals are, by nature, super interesting, as I use them a lot. This review tops them all, and I thank you for this intelligent presentation! :-)
Thanks for the video. I just picked the RC 500 up the other day for practice purposes and as an alternative to firing up the presonus control surface.....and the computer.....and the monitors......and the P.A............and all the other stuff that you have to fire up in a studio just to work on new original ideas. So far it hasn't disappointed me but I knew I was just scratching the surface with it's capabilities. This video cleared up quite a few things for me.
Argh, I've been waiting for an upgrade to the RC300 for a decade. I saw this title and wet my pants... Roland, you try my patience, sir! Great video as always loopop - your style is unique and instantly recognizable... keep up the great work!!!
LRD UND & Dichotomos - can I ask why you like the RC-505 better than this (RC-500). I was considering the 505 or Aeros looper and then this came out.... which is great, but yeah, think my ideal looper would be the 505's updated version (....1010 :) difficult decision....considering the 505's price (even on the used market) and the fact that an upgraded version seems likely (hopefully)....
LRD UND & Dichotomos - can I ask why you like the RC-505 better than this (RC-500). I was considering the 505 or Aeros looper and then this came out.... which is great, but yeah, think my ideal looper would be the 505's updated version (....1010 :) difficult decision....considering the 505's price (even on the used market) and the fact that an upgraded version seems likely (hopefully)....
@@scotth4224 well i haven't watched this whole video, but from what I've seen so far, the 500 seems to have everything the 505 does. On the 500, It looks like you have more control over the internal drum tracks, but i use drum machines for more control anyway, so pretty useless for me. I also don't know if you can output tracks to specific outputs on the 505, but other than that, it just looks like a nicer screen on the 500. The RC-505 has 5 tracks, a lot more input effects including delays/reverb, filter, phaser, chorus, etc, and more output/master effects. I used to have the RC-30 and I'd have to take effects pedals with me. Now pedals are optional. The RC-505 also has smoother workflow. As i said in another comment, the only way I'm seeing Roland/Boss topping the 505 is making a fullblown multitrack recorder that doubles as a looper. Either with separate outputs per track or separate outputs via USB *Edit, i finished the video. I'm definitely still Team 505 lol
When you look at the most basic looper it's got only one button. Much more basic than this. If you don't know what a looper pedal is essentially why jump to this and not expect to be somewhat lost?
Great demonstration. Nice to see a looping pedal that can actually sync a loop to a MIDI in signal. Thanks for showing that. I'm looking forward to being able to loop my bass and guitar to the clock of an external drum machine,
thanks this has been an excellent opening up the possibilities vid for me....not totally dumb...but wanting to know more. The teacher arrives when the student is ready ...so I have made notes....the pen kind. many thanks...clear and uncluttered brilliance!
Love your reviews man. Your squarp pyramid tutorial convinced me to buy it and learn it, and now this has convinced that this the looper I want. Cheers !
I have this. It is a great looper. One thing many people miss is that they separated the rhythm on/off for some odd reason. It is not under Rhythm where it should be. It is under INPUT (all the way to the right.) When hit on/off on the machine it is only temporary. I suppose this is so you can see how it sounds and gauge your tempo. It was maddening to keep hitting off about 100 time and it kept coming back when I started a new loop! To turn it OFF for the track(s) head over to Input. It's easy to access up from there. The sound quality is amazing. I recommend some decent studio monitors. They let you hear the drums and especially the cymbals crystal clear. I have an inexpensive but excellent pair of JBL 305P MKII's. I play my guitar through them and run the rhythm tracks. For extra base I through my small amp in the mix. Nothing beats a Fishman Mini for tone.
@@theleastsignificantbit4794 Sure. You can also simply lower the rhythm volume to "0." You can have it count in also and have drums come out of just one monitor if that is what you prefer (I do.) Drums sounds better due to the tweeter via monitors than they do through a guitar amp. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I am not a pro but I will try my best to answer. ROUTING If you are using a modeler, you need to go into the modeler first out to looper last otherwise when you change tones for your overdubs, the original tone will change which is no good. To use HEADPHONES with this thing, I use a guitar interface unit. It does not have a headphones OUT jack which is unfortunate.
I have a 505 and rc30, after watching this Im definitely getting the 500, mainly for the foot control. Also if anyone is interested You can upgrade the memory in the 505 from 4 to 32gb, micro sd.
Ha. I got an rc10r a few days ago because the 500 was back ordered everywhere.... then a few minutes ago I got the email from Sweetwater..... damn, good thing for return periods.
My issue with this pedal is the naming convention. The number “500” in the name is confusing, as it would suggest a loop pedal that is on par with the RC-300 and the RC-505. Approaching it as an upgrade from the RC-20xl and RC-30, it is definitely better in every way, but the naming of the pedal invites comparison to the larger loopers, and in that department, it lacks many of the stellar features that are in the 300 and 505. I get that they’re trying to standardize with the 500 effects series. I was just expecting a lot more from their new looper, as the 300 (no useful MIDI in sync or control) and the 505 (construction) are in need of a more modern iteration. By the way, I am the creator and moderator of r/loopartists over at Reddit, if anyone would like to join our community! Thanks for the awesome reviews as always!
Hi Allen - I couldn't agree more with your thoughts here. I was just saying to my partner how it seems that the RC300 must have been a fluke at Roland, since they appear to have no intention of updating it - lol. Thanks for the great sub over at Reddit, by the way: We've had some warp responses to our looper covers there. On the subject of Midi sync for the RC300, it's incredibly limited, but after a few months of trial and error, we've ended up at a working method that allows us to use two synced RC300s for our live shows. I wouldn't dream of dropping links all over your house, but you might get a kick out of some of our recent uploads.
@@AllenDavisWV Oh cool - well here's a little blast of Pumped Up Kicks. th-cam.com/video/keYK-QC9X5c/w-d-xo.html If you're into it, we have a full playlist of loop covers going back a few years to when all we had was a single RC300... ah those early days. We were so rubbish.
now i realized the reason that I sell out my RC500 because it's so many buttons and complicated . And get my RC5 now i'm 100% satisfied . RC5 is perfect for guitar player . and up to RC500 is good for ON the Table player i think .
It's a cool unit, and i like that you can have both loop running without being sync together (like on the RC30), plus the footswitch customization takes it apart. The only things I miss (compared to a Pigtronix Infinity) are half speed and overdub decay/feedback. Then it would be perfect. But as I learned over the years... the perfect looper pedal doesn't exist!
@@Firesites First, last year the new Looperlative LP2 Mini Looper came out, and it totally replaced the Infinity I used to have! You might check it out, as it's one of the most powerful and complete looper devices you'll find out there (and check my YT channel, for tutorials about it). Also another very cool new device (which follows the EDP lineage) is the Glouglou Loupe. The Infinity and its downsides... from my experience are: first and mostly the ALWAYS ON VOLUME LIMITER. I play drone-metal and noise, music where things gets LOUD very fast.. but I was never able to use Infinity in this context, because of its internal limiter: it's always on, and as soon the output volume your loop(s) exceed a given threshold (which is fixed, there's no control at all) it'll abruptly cut your loop(s) levels. MULTI SYNC: loop1 i s always the master, and you can switch on-off this feature ONLY when both loops are in STOP, which to me it's a big downside, since it doesn't give you the flexibility to decide on the flight whether your loops need to be in sync or not (in the end I never used it, and always played with unsynched loops). You might check a video comparison I did about LP2 vs. Infinity, how each deals with this matter. VARISPEED: it's super cool, and you can create very nice tape speed artifacts and pitch shiftings up and down, BUT, due to the architecture of the Infinity, the Varispeed is always applied to both loops! You can't have a loop in half speed, while the other plays at normal speed. NO DRY KILL: many loopers don't have this feature, it's not something I use often myself, but it's very hand if you are using the looper a mixer's FX send-return. LOOP-AGING/FEEDBACK: it's nice there's such feature, but it works only when overdubbing. Feedback is a very simple but effective tool every looper shall have, and it's very useful also when the loop is during Play status, as you can let it fade out over time (check Andre Lafosse YT he did a wonderful video about loop feedback). Why most commercial loopers with feedback allows this only during overdub, is still a mystery. CLICK-KILLER: I never understood why Pigtronix (unlike everybody else) instead of properly fixing the click-problem once and for all with a firmware update, decided instead to insert this switchable feature on the menu, which introduce a quick fade in/out on the loop boundaries to avoid clicks and pops... If you do a drony loop, you may hear a slightly volume drop on the start/stop point. Don't get me wrong, despite all these hiccups, I think Infinity is a very good looper and suited my needs for a long time. But I was badly surprised about the newest Pigtronix Infinity 3 release: when by curiosity I've read the manual, it was a shock to find out that 99% of Infinity 3 is the very same pedal as the old Infinity, housed in a new box, with the very same old issues/features! I was hoping they would update and re-engineer more things about it. But as with most big pedal makers, it seams they'll never learn listen to experienced-live-loopers and their needs.
I wonder what is going to be the answer to Headrush Looperbaord. I want to see an advanced Rc-505 (better in MIDI slave mode, minimum 24 bit sound quality, better time -stretching) for the floor!
fabulous demo the best Ive seen in years of watching demos thankfully no bloody guitar showing off most guitarist demos use it as an opportunity to dermo how badly they can do Van Halen rip offs
The biggest issue with the pedal is that settings like the rhythm track level, cannot be saved globally. Once you switch presets it goes back to default 100, which unexpectedly can wake up the neighbors in the middle of the night.
I like my RC-30, but this thing is a beast. For $50 more than a new RC-30 it offers a lot more, especially for keyboards. The three stomp buttons are good to have to cut down on the need for hold commands or buying an expander footswitch.
Thanks for the great review, I see I now want to complete my setup with a midi piano and noticed how cheap they are, compared to stomp foot switches like the FS6
Love your work, always, thanks Loopop. I was concerned about the RC5 only having ~2hrs of battery life from 1x 9v and was actually surprised to hear that the 500 is quoted as being able to go for longer on 4x AA, which (all clever features aside) is of paramount importance for me 😊
If you buy a 'ripcord' USB to 9v dc inverter (they're very cheap), then you can run regular 9v effects pedals from an ordinary USB powerbank battery (for hours and hours)
@@jonnytodd7045 thanks, yes that's a very decent plan B. Pleased to say, however, that the 4x rechargeable AAs (EneloopPro, mind, so a bit more expensive) are doing a solid job for me (covers the 2hrs) before I start getting low battery warnings. I'm actually also running a CME WIDI jack and DAE Electronics: The Button to control program changes too which is working beautifully!
@@jonnytodd7045 not super cheap, as you need the WIDI Jack + MIDI controller, but yes check it out and makes my live setup a bit more slick (less back-bending!). Thanks again for the reply and suggestion.
Thanks for the review! Damn this is almost perfect for what I want: • Minimum of two separate tracks with independent but quantised/synced lengths ☑️ • Loop-length taken from initial loop recording ☑️ • Overdub mode after initial recording ☑️ • Reverse effect ☑️ The thing missing for me is tape machine style half-speed/double-speed effects. I want to half or double a loop and have the pitch change with it without impacting the second loop. If anyone knows of anything that does all this please let me know!
There are two tempo settings on this looper. You can set tempo for drums but also the memory patch as well so you can speed up or slow down the whole memory patch from 1 to 100
@3:55 the connectors are called 3.5" TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleve) and the regular MIDI is called DIN 5 connector (DIN = Deutsches Institut für Normung , the German national standards organization)
Eu tenho esse pedal. É simplesmente o melhor looper da Boss, na minha opinião. Se tivesse como montar ritmos, igual ao RC10R, que eu tbm tenho, seria a unidade perfeita.
I bought one also and got stuck at just playing with the looper for the last few months. Initially, the first few commands are easy to master but you really need to get into the parameters to program it for example with a Boss Gt-1 and an AB dual function boss pedal. One of the great features is that you can branch it into two amps so you can play bass and drum into one amp and the guitar/keyboard in another. My only regret so far is the lack of information on how to program the unit but that is because I am too lazy to print the parameter guide that you easily find on the net and follow its instructions!!!
Thanks for your video - very insightful. I'm a bit bummed at the lack of different rhythm types. It's very Latin heavy. There's no reggae one drop or ska, Drum and bass, and no Country (really). I bought this pedal on a whim and wish i'd played through the rhythms before I pulled the trigger. Editable drums would be so so brilliant. I really hope there are are more patterns on a firmware update...
Love all that midi control depth - lotta diving to get it but that's a one time journey. There's another NKOTB in The Loopers World that doesn't get a lot of mention (I think? - I was searching for exactly this device and didn't find it for a while - a pleasant surprise when I did!). It's The Aeros from Singular Sound. I haz one for guitar work now, and it's really pretty brilliant. Twice the price though.
Hi Dan. If you look back at Loopop's older videos you will find that he has already reviewed the Aeros looper. It was a while ago, and I think they have updated the firmware of the Aeros, so it may be a little out of date....but it's of Loopop's usual, highest quality :) I'd like to ask - after seeing this RC-500 video, what ways do you prefer your Aeros looper? I'm considering a new looper.....either the Aeros, RC-500 or RC-505... I'd be using it for synths, drum machine, guitar, bass, vox, etc.. (coming from an AUX Out of my mixer). I'd want it to work well as either MIDI master or slave. If you (or anyone else) have thoughts, I'd love to hear them!!
🤦🏻Ah I just bought an rc30 from selling it for this upgrade and already I’m here thinking about doing the same. Used the original rc20 for years but wanted stereo and more than 3mins, guess I trusted it’s bombproof design. Not that this doesn’t look road worthy, but definitely a few improvements. Ah well thank god for eBay!
With this, if you have say, the Mic input assigned to output A and Inst in B assigned to output B, can you seamlessly decide whether to loop either or both of them on a particular track, whilst they always remain assigned to the correct outputs? So perhaps in some patches you'd have track A be for vox and B for guitar, but in others have two separate vox and guitar loops, which always stay routed correctly? I've really struggled in the past to find a looper that can actually reliably do that, and this seems like it should, so wanted to double check.
Hey man I just bought the rc500 but I can not figure out how to save my loops to it internally (on board) when I go back to a loop, its gone, same for if I turn it off and back on they're all gone. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I've not been able to figure out how to get one saved at all. Thanks for the indepth video!
Hey, thanks for the demo! Could you mention if the looper has a kind of ‚arm‘-Mode like the infinity looper., This is really helpful as the looper will wait for recording until next beat 1 of the measure. But the infinity has (to my knowledge and the feedback from Piktronix customer Support) a major drawback: in the so called arm-mode combined with the trail mode, a recording that does not completely fill a entire measure from an external midi clock (e.g. by pressing the stop button during recording on beat 3 of 4), the recording is stretched and pitch-shifted to fit to the entire measure. That‘s completely nonsense because then the entire loop is useless. I hope the RC500 does work in a more usable way here (maybe one has to distinguish between internal rhythmic patterns and external MIDI based rhythms) I hope I explained it understandable :-) Thanks again for your demo! Jürgen
A good question; after spending a few hours with the RC-500, I'm beginning to think that this is not among the available features--I don't think Boss "thinks" that way. I'm coming to this looper after having used a number of TC Electronic loopers, and the behaviors are not universal. The Ditto X4, for example, will "arm" as you describe for the Infinity looper. The X4 is also more forgiving when working with two tracks of different lengths. In most other respects, I'm finding the RC-500 to be superior to anything I've used to this point.
Great video, as always! The Electro-Harmonix 22500 has many of the same basic features for quite a bit less, and it might be the only looper pedal in this range that does allow you to add your own custom rhythm tracks. It's a pain in the neck, but it's possible. Then again, its only loop fx are reverse and octave up/down, and you can't move between banks without stopping.
I was looking at picking up an rc30 but this is tempting. It would have been nice if the reverb was applicable to the loops as well and not just the drums. I just picked up the keystep 37 as well
Thank you for your content as always, best gear chanel ever! Does it have MIDI thru? I doesn't say anything in the manual so I'm guessing not but thought I would ask just to make sure. Thanks!
Excellent demo/review! Subscribed and the reason I’ve just ordered this! Question: Can you connect a midi controller via USB? Or do you need to use the Midi in/out connections? Thanks again.
great to watch, very thorough, I'll be getting one. One qn. please, if I send guitar loops out in stereo to different guitar amps is there a way to reverse the polarity or phase of the signal so that both amps are in sync. Some times this is not needed when playing guitar amps in stereo but often it is. Thank you , Adam.
Brilliant review as usual. One question: Are you able to delete a track during playback? (Eg. Delete track B whilst track A is still playing) This feature was frustratingly absent in the RC30 and will be the deciding factor in me choosing to upgrade.
Ahhh dang! I need that. But I'll likely do it with midi clock and a metronome. Or possibly with a mixer as I might want a click too. I play guitar, but I'm a drummer at heart.
Interesting, I was think the same thing, but have MIDI sync is such a huge step forward, that alone makes this unit attractive. As in the different loop lengrh sync or not. About time, Roland. Still not as flexible as LoopyApp, though, lol.
@@johnvcougar Yeah, I'm pretty sure the 10R has it. I have the unit and that was my plan all along, but I haven't finished my pedalboard and live rig build yet, so I haven't tried it. Now, this new one came out and I'm hopefully going to make it my main looper. We'll see. I've also been using an EHX 1440 with midi clock. That has been my favorite so far EXCEPT that using the clock is tricky. I'm used to smashing the record button on the first bar of my piece to start recording. With Midi Sync, at least on the EHX 1440, that doesn't work. It wants to lock to the clock and if you're even a millisecond late, isn't of pulling back the recording to sync, it waits for the next initial click completely messing you up. The only way around this is to hit it early, and that's tricky to when you're so used to tapping to the temp. So while I like it, the midi clock is the main reason I bought it and it's not working out for me. Now, I haven't tried that on the RC10R because it's what I've been using as the master clock for the 1440 and to generate a click for the drummer. Anyway, I'm hoping the RC-500 is better at this.
When does the trigger to start or stop recording when syncing to midi clock? Some loopers arm the track for record or stop at the last measure and some do this at the last beat.
Great demo. I always have issue with stopping the loop at exactly the right time. If your using the rhythm/drums with say your rhythm guitar and u stop your loop and don't hit the button at the exact right time, will the Boss figure out the end of the measure and create the loop properly ?? With all the AI these days you would think it could do that without issue. Also i notice u holding the footswitches down for awhile. What does that do ? Thanx in advance.
I am curious if anyone has done an assessment of the built-in drum rhythm tracks on the RC-10R vs. this new RC-500. This new RC-500 looks to have some improvements over the RC-10R in some of the non-drum track features but the large number of drum tracks on the RC-10R is still attractive to me. Additionally, I want to use the box as a backing track playback system as well. Any thoughts on the RC-10R vs. RC-500 on that front?
lol! I’ve always wanted a boss with the functionality of the RC300 but I don’t get along with those foot buttons, I find the smaller ones like on this new looper way easier to control... if your foot is a little off to one side on the wide RC300 buttons you can think you’ve pressed it down fully but not, which isn’t great given how precision is priority when looping... I’ve got my toes crossed...🤞
@@DeclanZapala It's funny how different people get along with different setups... for me, the big fat slabs on the rc300 are far more comfortable to use and I'd find it odd without them. Perhaps I'm just so used to their feel that I can't imagine moving to the standard type switch. Although everything else I use has them :)
Does anyone know if it is possible to use the MIDI OUT of the RC-500 as a THRU, taking the data directly from a drum machine? Or would I need to use a separate MIDI THRU box?
Just want to say how happy I am to see you taking time to consider how the device might be used by someone with colour blindness, I’m 100% colour blind (among other visual impairments) and have experienced so many issues due to negligence by manufacturers.
I have no interest in the RC500 but thanks for that.
Sorry to heard that but look at the Boss loop station Rc-10-R...the loop goes in circle maybe easier for you to see?
this is one of the best reviews i have ever seen, thank you
I keep coming back to this video because I can never remember how to change certain things lol. This is an amazing tutorial
Thank you very much!! At last someone explains that this looper has independent looping lengths for each channel!!
Great review!!!
I've been gigging with it for 3 years and I didn't know that 🤦♥️
I have no idea if I need one of these, but I laughed when I saw LOOPOP.
Thanks for explaining it thoroughly, I had it for 2 years but didn't know all of its features
best demos in the game. I couldn't explain technical jargon like you do, even if I understand it in some sense.
Looper pedals are, by nature, super interesting, as I use them a lot. This review tops them all, and I thank you for this intelligent presentation! :-)
Thanks for the video. I just picked the RC 500 up the other day for practice purposes and as an alternative to firing up the presonus control surface.....and the computer.....and the monitors......and the P.A............and all the other stuff that you have to fire up in a studio just to work on new original ideas. So far it hasn't disappointed me but I knew I was just scratching the surface with it's capabilities. This video cleared up quite a few things for me.
Argh, I've been waiting for an upgrade to the RC300 for a decade. I saw this title and wet my pants... Roland, you try my patience, sir!
Great video as always loopop - your style is unique and instantly recognizable... keep up the great work!!!
Not only is your tutorials great, you make beautiful music as well!
And on the whishlist is of course a tutorial of the upcoming RC-600!
That may be in the stars
This is super dope, but I'm down with the RC-505 for life. Tripled my creative output
I’m waiting for the inevitable RC 1010. That will be a monster! I love my 505 also!
lol At that point they might as well make it a multi track recorder as well as looper. Which i would be super down for
LRD UND & Dichotomos - can I ask why you like the RC-505 better than this (RC-500). I was considering the 505 or Aeros looper and then this came out.... which is great, but yeah, think my ideal looper would be the 505's updated version (....1010 :)
difficult decision....considering the 505's price (even on the used market) and the fact that an upgraded version seems likely (hopefully)....
LRD UND & Dichotomos - can I ask why you like the RC-505 better than this (RC-500). I was considering the 505 or Aeros looper and then this came out.... which is great, but yeah, think my ideal looper would be the 505's updated version (....1010 :)
difficult decision....considering the 505's price (even on the used market) and the fact that an upgraded version seems likely (hopefully)....
@@scotth4224 well i haven't watched this whole video, but from what I've seen so far, the 500 seems to have everything the 505 does. On the 500, It looks like you have more control over the internal drum tracks, but i use drum machines for more control anyway, so pretty useless for me. I also don't know if you can output tracks to specific outputs on the 505, but other than that, it just looks like a nicer screen on the 500. The RC-505 has 5 tracks, a lot more input effects including delays/reverb, filter, phaser, chorus, etc, and more output/master effects. I used to have the RC-30 and I'd have to take effects pedals with me. Now pedals are optional. The RC-505 also has smoother workflow. As i said in another comment, the only way I'm seeing Roland/Boss topping the 505 is making a fullblown multitrack recorder that doubles as a looper. Either with separate outputs per track or separate outputs via USB
*Edit, i finished the video. I'm definitely still Team 505 lol
Almost lost me on "I'm going to assume you know how looper pedals work." No, no I dont, thats why Im here lol.
When you look at the most basic looper it's got only one button. Much more basic than this. If you don't know what a looper pedal is essentially why jump to this and not expect to be somewhat lost?
Silly, if you don’t know how a loop pedal works how did you even make it to such a non entry level unit.
Great demonstration. Nice to see a looping pedal that can actually sync a loop to a MIDI in signal. Thanks for showing that. I'm looking forward to being able to loop my bass and guitar to the clock of an external drum machine,
i like the ability to midi the drumsounds, great video again, tnx for the clear info
Concise, in-depth and the lcd display as colours coding makes it really appealing.
Well. This could be the looper I’ve been waiting for. That’s a crazy amount of storage! Great overview!
The audio quality is a game changer. You could use every bit of storage and have no problem with the audio quality
wow! Great demo, esp. like the fact that you do a review w. Pros & cons, not merely a product plug
I still want a RC-505 someday. It won't be great for composing songs, but it's just so much fun to play with...
thanks this has been an excellent opening up the possibilities vid for me....not totally dumb...but wanting to know more. The teacher arrives when the student is ready ...so I have made notes....the pen kind. many thanks...clear and uncluttered brilliance!
Thanks so much. I have looked at loads of tutorials today, and yours is the clearest and most helpful.
This is the most helpful video I’ve seen on this pedal. Thank you
Yes! Finally! Finally an RC-30 with MIDI to run a drum computer and finally an RC-30 with independent loop lenghts! Finally!
Just ordered one, this a fantastic video for getting to know the machine
Thanks!!
Also: DUDE, you ROCK. THANK YOU for a your good WORKS! Gonna get on that Patreon tomorrow. Read an incomplete book. 🧐😬🧐
Love your reviews man. Your squarp pyramid tutorial convinced me to buy it and learn it, and now this has convinced that this the looper I want. Cheers !
I have this. It is a great looper. One thing many people miss is that they separated the rhythm on/off for some odd reason. It is not under Rhythm where it should be. It is under INPUT (all the way to the right.)
When hit on/off on the machine it is only temporary. I suppose this is so you can see how it sounds and gauge your tempo. It was maddening to keep hitting off about 100 time and it kept coming back when I started a new loop!
To turn it OFF for the track(s) head over to Input. It's easy to access up from there.
The sound quality is amazing. I recommend some decent studio monitors. They let you hear the drums and especially the cymbals crystal clear. I have an inexpensive but excellent pair of JBL 305P MKII's. I play my guitar through them and run the rhythm tracks. For extra base I through my small amp in the mix. Nothing beats a Fishman Mini for tone.
Thanks for this tip-extremely helpful.
@@theleastsignificantbit4794 Sure. You can also simply lower the rhythm volume to "0."
You can have it count in also and have drums come out of just one monitor if that is what you prefer (I do.) Drums sounds better due to the tweeter via monitors than they do through a guitar amp.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I am not a pro but I will try my best to answer.
ROUTING
If you are using a modeler, you need to go into the modeler first out to looper last otherwise when you change tones for your overdubs, the original tone will change which is no good.
To use HEADPHONES with this thing, I use a guitar interface unit. It does not have a headphones OUT jack which is unfortunate.
I have a 505 and rc30, after watching this Im definitely getting the 500, mainly for the foot control. Also if anyone is interested You can upgrade the memory in the 505 from 4 to 32gb, micro sd.
Ahhh. I have to watch this is detail. I have Boss RC-10R and I ordered the RC-500 today.
Ha. I got an rc10r a few days ago because the 500 was back ordered everywhere.... then a few minutes ago I got the email from Sweetwater..... damn, good thing for return periods.
My issue with this pedal is the naming convention. The number “500” in the name is confusing, as it would suggest a loop pedal that is on par with the RC-300 and the RC-505. Approaching it as an upgrade from the RC-20xl and RC-30, it is definitely better in every way, but the naming of the pedal invites comparison to the larger loopers, and in that department, it lacks many of the stellar features that are in the 300 and 505. I get that they’re trying to standardize with the 500 effects series. I was just expecting a lot more from their new looper, as the 300 (no useful MIDI in sync or control) and the 505 (construction) are in need of a more modern iteration.
By the way, I am the creator and moderator of r/loopartists over at Reddit, if anyone would like to join our community!
Thanks for the awesome reviews as always!
Hi Allen - I couldn't agree more with your thoughts here. I was just saying to my partner how it seems that the RC300 must have been a fluke at Roland, since they appear to have no intention of updating it - lol. Thanks for the great sub over at Reddit, by the way: We've had some warp responses to our looper covers there.
On the subject of Midi sync for the RC300, it's incredibly limited, but after a few months of trial and error, we've ended up at a working method that allows us to use two synced RC300s for our live shows. I wouldn't dream of dropping links all over your house, but you might get a kick out of some of our recent uploads.
Mat O'Neill on the contrary, I’m all about the links! Thank you 😊
@@AllenDavisWV Oh cool - well here's a little blast of Pumped Up Kicks. th-cam.com/video/keYK-QC9X5c/w-d-xo.html
If you're into it, we have a full playlist of loop covers going back a few years to when all we had was a single RC300... ah those early days. We were so rubbish.
It is called RC-500 because it is in a BOSS "500 series" pedal chassis. (MD-500, DD-500, RV-500)
I hope this is hinting twards a next rc505! Another great reviews as usual!!👌🏼
Excellent. So clearly demonstrated. Thank you.
I bought this because of the sound quality 32 bit. So I can create interesting rhythm loops at home that I can use live and for recording.
Thank you for these very enlightening explanations!
Oh man I'm early! *grabs bowl of popcorn and takes a comfy seat*
now i realized the reason that I sell out my RC500 because it's so many buttons and complicated . And get my RC5 now i'm 100% satisfied . RC5 is perfect for guitar player . and up to RC500 is good for ON the Table player i think .
custom rhythms would be a game changer!
Wow... that was all I needed to see...Im in! Thank you
Great demo, thanks God for your talent
Heavenly music, loopop. Thx.
🙌🏻🙏🏻
It's a cool unit, and i like that you can have both loop running without being sync together (like on the RC30), plus the footswitch customization takes it apart. The only things I miss (compared to a Pigtronix Infinity) are half speed and overdub decay/feedback. Then it would be perfect. But as I learned over the years... the perfect looper pedal doesn't exist!
Just out of curiosity- what were the downsides the the pigtronix?
@@Firesites First, last year the new Looperlative LP2 Mini Looper came out, and it totally replaced the Infinity I used to have! You might check it out, as it's one of the most powerful and complete looper devices you'll find out there (and check my YT channel, for tutorials about it). Also another very cool new device (which follows the EDP lineage) is the Glouglou Loupe.
The Infinity and its downsides... from my experience are: first and mostly the ALWAYS ON VOLUME LIMITER. I play drone-metal and noise, music where things gets LOUD very fast.. but I was never able to use Infinity in this context, because of its internal limiter: it's always on, and as soon the output volume your loop(s) exceed a given threshold (which is fixed, there's no control at all) it'll abruptly cut your loop(s) levels.
MULTI SYNC: loop1 i s always the master, and you can switch on-off this feature ONLY when both loops are in STOP, which to me it's a big downside, since it doesn't give you the flexibility to decide on the flight whether your loops need to be in sync or not (in the end I never used it, and always played with unsynched loops). You might check a video comparison I did about LP2 vs. Infinity, how each deals with this matter.
VARISPEED: it's super cool, and you can create very nice tape speed artifacts and pitch shiftings up and down, BUT, due to the architecture of the Infinity, the Varispeed is always applied to both loops! You can't have a loop in half speed, while the other plays at normal speed.
NO DRY KILL: many loopers don't have this feature, it's not something I use often myself, but it's very hand if you are using the looper a mixer's FX send-return.
LOOP-AGING/FEEDBACK: it's nice there's such feature, but it works only when overdubbing. Feedback is a very simple but effective tool every looper shall have, and it's very useful also when the loop is during Play status, as you can let it fade out over time (check Andre Lafosse YT he did a wonderful video about loop feedback). Why most commercial loopers with feedback allows this only during overdub, is still a mystery.
CLICK-KILLER: I never understood why Pigtronix (unlike everybody else) instead of properly fixing the click-problem once and for all with a firmware update, decided instead to insert this switchable feature on the menu, which introduce a quick fade in/out on the loop boundaries to avoid clicks and pops... If you do a drony loop, you may hear a slightly volume drop on the start/stop point.
Don't get me wrong, despite all these hiccups, I think Infinity is a very good looper and suited my needs for a long time.
But I was badly surprised about the newest Pigtronix Infinity 3 release: when by curiosity I've read the manual, it was a shock to find out that 99% of Infinity 3 is the very same pedal as the old Infinity, housed in a new box, with the very same old issues/features!
I was hoping they would update and re-engineer more things about it.
But as with most big pedal makers, it seams they'll never learn listen to experienced-live-loopers and their needs.
Thank you so much for your excellent video!
Very helpfull and fun to watch ! Thank you
Most comprehensive of the ones on it I have seen.
Excellent tutorial, thank you.
Thanks!
I wonder what is going to be the answer to Headrush Looperbaord. I want to see an advanced Rc-505 (better in MIDI slave mode, minimum 24 bit sound quality, better time -stretching) for the floor!
Been looking for an answer for awhile and you had it :) thanks! Like and subbed!
Great video - thank you! I just got this and the manual is somewhat lacking. It’s nice to see a hands-on video.
fabulous demo the best Ive seen in years of watching demos thankfully no bloody guitar showing off most guitarist demos use it as an opportunity to dermo how badly they can do Van Halen rip offs
Try this channel. Unfortunately he's not publishing any longer.
th-cam.com/video/aUB4zXDwuPI/w-d-xo.html
The biggest issue with the pedal is that settings like the rhythm track level, cannot be saved globally. Once you switch presets it goes back to default 100, which unexpectedly can wake up the neighbors in the middle of the night.
I hate my neighbors. This is exactly what I need.
I like my RC-30, but this thing is a beast. For $50 more than a new RC-30 it offers a lot more, especially for keyboards. The three stomp buttons are good to have to cut down on the need for hold commands or buying an expander footswitch.
Nice! Great review as always, Cheers and stay safe. :-)
Thanks for the great review, I see I now want to complete my setup with a midi piano and noticed how cheap they are, compared to stomp foot switches like the FS6
love your playing!!
Merci pour le partage super set de machines big up and blessing from Reunion island Indian ocean;)
Love your work, always, thanks Loopop. I was concerned about the RC5 only having ~2hrs of battery life from 1x 9v and was actually surprised to hear that the 500 is quoted as being able to go for longer on 4x AA, which (all clever features aside) is of paramount importance for me 😊
If you buy a 'ripcord' USB to 9v dc inverter (they're very cheap), then you can run regular 9v effects pedals from an ordinary USB powerbank battery (for hours and hours)
@@jonnytodd7045 thanks, yes that's a very decent plan B. Pleased to say, however, that the 4x rechargeable AAs (EneloopPro, mind, so a bit more expensive) are doing a solid job for me (covers the 2hrs) before I start getting low battery warnings. I'm actually also running a CME WIDI jack and DAE Electronics: The Button to control program changes too which is working beautifully!
@@andyjnash Sounds like a good setup. The program change button definitely sounds interesting.
@@jonnytodd7045 not super cheap, as you need the WIDI Jack + MIDI controller, but yes check it out and makes my live setup a bit more slick (less back-bending!). Thanks again for the reply and suggestion.
Thanks for the review! Damn this is almost perfect for what I want:
• Minimum of two separate tracks with independent but quantised/synced lengths ☑️
• Loop-length taken from initial loop recording ☑️
• Overdub mode after initial recording ☑️
• Reverse effect ☑️
The thing missing for me is tape machine style half-speed/double-speed effects. I want to half or double a loop and have the pitch change with it without impacting the second loop.
If anyone knows of anything that does all this please let me know!
There are two tempo settings on this looper. You can set tempo for drums but also the memory patch as well so you can speed up or slow down the whole memory patch from 1 to 100
Came for the tutorial, stayed for the music 💆♂️
Brilliant overview thanks
@3:55 the connectors are called 3.5" TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleve) and the regular MIDI is called DIN 5 connector (DIN = Deutsches Institut für Normung , the German national standards organization)
@@thomaskretzschmar5 So is the recommended "Boss BMIDI-5-35" cable actually Type A then? I'm very confused.
Eu tenho esse pedal. É simplesmente o melhor looper da Boss, na minha opinião. Se tivesse como montar ritmos, igual ao RC10R, que eu tbm tenho, seria a unidade perfeita.
Hes on fire today thanks brotha
Brilliant review thank you
Thanks for a great tutorial!
Great video, ....found myself singing a certain Jarvis Cocker song about who's "running the world" afterwards 😂🤣🤣😉
I bought one also and got stuck at just playing with the looper for the last few months. Initially, the first few commands are easy to master but you really need to get into the parameters to program it for example with a Boss Gt-1 and an AB dual function boss pedal. One of the great features is that you can branch it into two amps so you can play bass and drum into one amp and the guitar/keyboard in another. My only regret so far is the lack of information on how to program the unit but that is because I am too lazy to print the parameter guide that you easily find on the net and follow its instructions!!!
you are a beast. Great stuff. Thank you
Thanks for your video - very insightful. I'm a bit bummed at the lack of different rhythm types. It's very Latin heavy. There's no reggae one drop or ska, Drum and bass, and no Country (really). I bought this pedal on a whim and wish i'd played through the rhythms before I pulled the trigger. Editable drums would be so so brilliant. I really hope there are are more patterns on a firmware update...
Very good overview.
Love all that midi control depth - lotta diving to get it but that's a one time journey. There's another NKOTB in The Loopers World that doesn't get a lot of mention (I think? - I was searching for exactly this device and didn't find it for a while - a pleasant surprise when I did!). It's The Aeros from Singular Sound. I haz one for guitar work now, and it's really pretty brilliant. Twice the price though.
Hi Dan. If you look back at Loopop's older videos you will find that he has already reviewed the Aeros looper. It was a while ago, and I think they have updated the firmware of the Aeros, so it may be a little out of date....but it's of Loopop's usual, highest quality :)
I'd like to ask - after seeing this RC-500 video, what ways do you prefer your Aeros looper? I'm considering a new looper.....either the Aeros, RC-500 or RC-505... I'd be using it for synths, drum machine, guitar, bass, vox, etc.. (coming from an AUX Out of my mixer). I'd want it to work well as either MIDI master or slave.
If you (or anyone else) have thoughts, I'd love to hear them!!
Excellent demo:) 2 questions... 1. How do I auto-quantize a rhythm to a prerecorded loop?.. and
2.How do I assign each track to a separate output?..
All of those are available in the settings
nice demo
Thaaaaaank you ! :)
🤦🏻Ah I just bought an rc30 from selling it for this upgrade and already I’m here thinking about doing the same.
Used the original rc20 for years but wanted stereo and more than 3mins, guess I trusted it’s bombproof design.
Not that this doesn’t look road worthy, but definitely a few improvements.
Ah well thank god for eBay!
With this, if you have say, the Mic input assigned to output A and Inst in B assigned to output B, can you seamlessly decide whether to loop either or both of them on a particular track, whilst they always remain assigned to the correct outputs? So perhaps in some patches you'd have track A be for vox and B for guitar, but in others have two separate vox and guitar loops, which always stay routed correctly? I've really struggled in the past to find a looper that can actually reliably do that, and this seems like it should, so wanted to double check.
Hey man I just bought the rc500 but I can not figure out how to save my loops to it internally (on board) when I go back to a loop, its gone, same for if I turn it off and back on they're all gone. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I've not been able to figure out how to get one saved at all. Thanks for the indepth video!
Love the intro song
Dude, you’ve been busy!
Hi superLoop, you are great as usual, any chance to see the rc 505 ? Would be great. Ciao !
Thanks! I would actually like to get to it at some point but I prioritize new stuff and there so much coming...
How about a detailed video of this whole setup ou are using with all the i/o, please.
Hey, thanks for the demo! Could you mention if the looper has a kind of ‚arm‘-Mode like the infinity looper., This is really helpful as the looper will wait for recording until next beat 1 of the measure. But the infinity has (to my knowledge and the feedback from Piktronix customer Support) a major drawback: in the so called arm-mode combined with the trail mode, a recording that does not completely fill a entire measure from an external midi clock (e.g. by pressing the stop button during recording on beat 3 of 4), the recording is stretched and pitch-shifted to fit to the entire measure. That‘s completely nonsense because then the entire loop is useless. I hope the RC500 does work in a more usable way here (maybe one has to distinguish between internal rhythmic patterns and external MIDI based rhythms) I hope I explained it understandable :-) Thanks again for your demo! Jürgen
A good question; after spending a few hours with the RC-500, I'm beginning to think that this is not among the available features--I don't think Boss "thinks" that way. I'm coming to this looper after having used a number of TC Electronic loopers, and the behaviors are not universal. The Ditto X4, for example, will "arm" as you describe for the Infinity looper. The X4 is also more forgiving when working with two tracks of different lengths. In most other respects, I'm finding the RC-500 to be superior to anything I've used to this point.
Great video, as always! The Electro-Harmonix 22500 has many of the same basic features for quite a bit less, and it might be the only looper pedal in this range that does allow you to add your own custom rhythm tracks. It's a pain in the neck, but it's possible. Then again, its only loop fx are reverse and octave up/down, and you can't move between banks without stopping.
I was looking at picking up an rc30 but this is tempting. It would have been nice if the reverb was applicable to the loops as well and not just the drums. I just picked up the keystep 37 as well
Thank you for your content as always, best gear chanel ever! Does it have MIDI thru? I doesn't say anything in the manual so I'm guessing not but thought I would ask just to make sure. Thanks!
Any chance you'll be getting the rc 600 for review? You are my go to Channel for gear reviews and tutorials. Love your vids.
Thank you and yes :)
Excellent demo/review! Subscribed and the reason I’ve just ordered this!
Question: Can you connect a midi controller via USB? Or do you need to use the Midi in/out connections? Thanks again.
great to watch, very thorough, I'll be getting one. One qn. please, if I send guitar loops out in stereo to different guitar amps is there a way to reverse the polarity or phase of the signal so that both amps are in sync. Some times this is not needed when playing guitar amps in stereo but often it is. Thank you , Adam.
Loop fx seems to be intended for voice loops.
Brilliant review as usual.
One question: Are you able to delete a track during playback? (Eg. Delete track B whilst track A is still playing)
This feature was frustratingly absent in the RC30 and will be the deciding factor in me choosing to upgrade.
Thanks and yes
Just like RC-10R, missing a dedicated headphone out, in case you wanna send click to drummer and still keep your sound in stereo
Ahhh dang! I need that. But I'll likely do it with midi clock and a metronome. Or possibly with a mixer as I might want a click too. I play guitar, but I'm a drummer at heart.
BTW, I've used the 10R as a click, and master midi clock... sending them midi clock to a EHX 1440 looper.
Interesting, I was think the same thing, but have MIDI sync is such a huge step forward, that alone makes this unit attractive. As in the different loop lengrh sync or not. About time, Roland. Still not as flexible as LoopyApp, though, lol.
John Cougar I think RC 505/202/10R all had that feature or am i mistaken?
@@johnvcougar Yeah, I'm pretty sure the 10R has it. I have the unit and that was my plan all along, but I haven't finished my pedalboard and live rig build yet, so I haven't tried it. Now, this new one came out and I'm hopefully going to make it my main looper. We'll see. I've also been using an EHX 1440 with midi clock. That has been my favorite so far EXCEPT that using the clock is tricky. I'm used to smashing the record button on the first bar of my piece to start recording. With Midi Sync, at least on the EHX 1440, that doesn't work. It wants to lock to the clock and if you're even a millisecond late, isn't of pulling back the recording to sync, it waits for the next initial click completely messing you up. The only way around this is to hit it early, and that's tricky to when you're so used to tapping to the temp. So while I like it, the midi clock is the main reason I bought it and it's not working out for me. Now, I haven't tried that on the RC10R because it's what I've been using as the master clock for the 1440 and to generate a click for the drummer. Anyway, I'm hoping the RC-500 is better at this.
When does the trigger to start or stop recording when syncing to midi clock?
Some loopers arm the track for record or stop at the last measure and some do this at the last beat.
Great demo. I always have issue with stopping the loop at exactly the right time. If your using the rhythm/drums with say your rhythm guitar and u stop your loop and don't hit the button at the exact right time, will the Boss figure out the end of the measure and create the loop properly ?? With all the AI these days you would think it could do that without issue.
Also i notice u holding the footswitches down for awhile. What does that do ?
Thanx in advance.
Is there a loop fade out function in the pedal? I can't find it. Thank you for the video and the answer!
Awesome tutorial. Where did you find the parameter guide that you briefly showed at 13:45? I can't seem to find it anywhere.
Thanks! Boss emailed it to me as part of the beta. I'm sure they'll make it available - it looked quite done, but maybe they're still tweaking it
I was looking for this too...can't find it anywhere
who needs a manual when you have loopop?
Not sure why they didn't keep the FX secttion from RC-30 and improve. I use them for dynamic pauses and breakdowns
I am curious if anyone has done an assessment of the built-in drum rhythm tracks on the RC-10R vs. this new RC-500. This new RC-500 looks to have some improvements over the RC-10R in some of the non-drum track features but the large number of drum tracks on the RC-10R is still attractive to me. Additionally, I want to use the box as a backing track playback system as well. Any thoughts on the RC-10R vs. RC-500 on that front?
I'm in the exact same boat as you. Really want to hear more about the rhythm track comparison on the two units.
Do we know if Boss will be rolling out a larger multi-loop version of this like the RC300 or RC505?
Maybe they'll be rc1000 next year. We don't really know 🤣.
lol! I’ve always wanted a boss with the functionality of the RC300 but I don’t get along with those foot buttons, I find the smaller ones like on this new looper way easier to control... if your foot is a little off to one side on the wide RC300 buttons you can think you’ve pressed it down fully but not, which isn’t great given how precision is priority when looping... I’ve got my toes crossed...🤞
@@DeclanZapala It's funny how different people get along with different setups... for me, the big fat slabs on the rc300 are far more comfortable to use and I'd find it odd without them. Perhaps I'm just so used to their feel that I can't imagine moving to the standard type switch. Although everything else I use has them :)
Does anyone know if it is possible to use the MIDI OUT of the RC-500 as a THRU, taking the data directly from a drum machine? Or would I need to use a separate MIDI THRU box?
.
@@G4LCTC the manual says it's possible
@@_ii Thank you!