Boss RC1 driving me loopy!

BeardyAndy

I know it supposed to be user friendly but I've had mine for a few months and every time i use it, just as i seem to think i'm getting my head round it, i manage to put it in some other mode that doesn't want to do what its supposed to do. 1 button with so many functions clearly doesn't sit well with me!

In short I've had enough, so i'm wondering if the 2 button Ditto would be a better option or if there are any others i should take a look at? 

BeardyAndy

Flogged the Boss and bought a standard Ditto, best decision ever. Much more user friendly than the Boss.

Grunfeld

The little Ditto is brilliant even with just the one button.  Very intuitive and simple.

I also have a four button Ditto -- this is really good if you fancy just a bit more complexity but still simple.  It's like having two Dittos which are linked.  You can:

a)  set a 2 bar loop going in one looper e.g. a percussive time keeping loop

b)  and in perfect synch set a 16 bar loop on the other looper.  (Takes a bit of practice to perfect.)

And, of course add to them in the usual way.  (And 2 and 16 bars are just examples and can be whatever you want). 

Or in a non-synched mode, (c) switch between the loopers to do verse / chorus sections. 

I don't use the FX buttons at all but they're there.

Or buy my Akai Headrush E2  I've only just remembered it's still here!

It's still a brilliant live looper despite being an ancient design. 

ICBM

Grunfeld said:

Or buy my Akai Headrush E2  I've only just remembered it's still here!

It's still a brilliant live looper despite being an ancient design. 

Still one of the most, if not THE most, intuitive and practical looper. KT Tunstall still uses her original one, and she arguably knows quite a lot about it...

JezWynd

BeardyAndy said:

Flogged the Boss and bought a standard Ditto, best decision ever. Much more user friendly than the Boss.

Is the RC-1 that complicated? I thought it was a basic on/play/off system. I just sold my RC-2 as that was a bit confusing (loved the drum sounds but it was not an intuitive pedal). I'm currently looking for a super-simple looper and was thinking about the RC-1.

eog

Not a 100% on relative prices, but I think you'd be better of in £ terms if you pair your RC1 with a FS-7 footswitch. 
https://www.boss.info/us/products/fs-7/. This will help with more intuitive single button operation. I have a RC-1 myself, and it took me way too long to get comfortable with it. I'm still thinking about getting the FS-7.

This is probably cheaper than buying another looper, but it does mean that the overall setup will take twice as much space. 

BeardyAndy

JezWynd said:

BeardyAndy said:

Flogged the Boss and bought a standard Ditto, best decision ever. Much more user friendly than the Boss.

Is the RC-1 that complicated? I thought it was a basic on/play/off system. I just sold my RC-2 as that was a bit confusing (loved the drum sounds but it was not an intuitive pedal). I'm currently looking for a super-simple looper and was thinking about the RC-1.

I'm sure its not "that" complicated but Boss have got that 1 button doing several functions plus there's a 2nd mode that no one tells you about that involves pulling the jack in and out. I found that if I didn't use it for a week or 2 I had to get the manual back out to remind my self and the last time I used it I managed to find a mode that's apparently unknown to science!

The Ditto is simple.. Press the button=record, Press again=stops record, Press again=overdub, Press again=stops record, Press and hold=undo last overdub, Double press=stop, Press and hold=clear.

I had an RC-2 before the RC-1, took me a month to work out how to shut the damn drums up!

Buy (or at least try) the Ditto, you'll love it.

JezWynd

BeardyAndy said:

JezWynd said:

BeardyAndy said:

Flogged the Boss and bought a standard Ditto, best decision ever. Much more user friendly than the Boss.

Is the RC-1 that complicated? I thought it was a basic on/play/off system. I just sold my RC-2 as that was a bit confusing (loved the drum sounds but it was not an intuitive pedal). I'm currently looking for a super-simple looper and was thinking about the RC-1.

I'm sure its not "that" complicated but Boss have got that 1 button doing several functions plus there's a 2nd mode that no one tells you about that involves pulling the jack in and out. I found that if I didn't use it for a week or 2 I had to get the manual back out to remind my self and the last time I used it I managed to find a mode that's apparently unknown to science!

The Ditto is simple.. Press the button=record, Press again=stops record, Press again=overdub, Press again=stops record, Press and hold=undo last overdub, Double press=stop, Press and hold=clear.

I had an RC-2 before the RC-1, took me a month to work out how to shut the damn drums up!

Buy (or at least try) the Ditto, you'll love it.

The Ditto gets great reviews and looks easy to use but it would be really convenient for me to have a looper which has battery power. 

markv

I got the RC-1 a few weeks ago. I switched the single-tap option so the sequence is more similar to the Ditto. The double tap to stop isn't as definite as the Ditto but the switch is probably a lot more reliable. Overall it's fine.

I had a Ditto X2 a couple of years ago and that was easier to use. It's quite big but it will run on batteries.