Loopers / samplers in a live setting

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Emp_FabEmp_Fab Frets: 24210
I bought a JamMan Stereo last year with the grand idea of using it to augment my live performance in the band - filling in the rhythm part during solos etc.  However, I soon discovered the achilles heel of using these live - timing - getting the thing to be in sync with the song when a different device (the drummer) is in control of the tempo.

So, I'm really struggling to find a use for it now so I'm thinking of selling it - but I thought I'd ask first in case there's some clever way it could be of use that I'm missing.
Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
Also chips are "Plant-based" no matter how you cook them.
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  • Is your drummer playing to a click? If not, the best thing you can do is practice! 
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10357
    Use it for non time dependent pads ....... for example take a classic pub song like Hard to Handle ...  put a Hammond organ B chord in there and hit it when you take the solo .... doesn't need any timing clicks and stops the song going flat when you take the solo

    Harmony Ahh's and Ooh's ..... something like You really got me ..... record a "Yeah" up a major third from the one you sing and instant harmony. 

    Listen to something like KOL's Use Somebody, there's a halo pad using the same notes pretty much through the whole song, record that into the Jam man to use that. 

    I don't know your set the above are just examples of stuff I was doing when I was the only guitarist in the band and needed something to fill things out. My weapon of choice was the drummers fave Roland SPD sample pad but I used it on the floor and hit it with my feet
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • Seeing a looper on a pedalboard makes me tremble with fear - at some point in the set they'll do their Black Horse and a Cherry Tree type song with looped scratching noises and two chords. Anyone remember that Boss held a looping world championship a few years ago? Lots and lots of the same thing.

    Anyway, people I've seen use them successfully ( maybe other people have used them so well I haven't even noticed) seem to do one of two things:
    - use them for very short passages only.
    - use pre recorded loops for intros/ featured parts.

    In both cases the trick seems to be keep it short and timing is less of an issue. 
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • Emp_FabEmp_Fab Frets: 24210
    I doubt I could ever find a use for it as a looper in a live band setting - unless I got the drummer to play to a click - which I don't want to do.  It would be used as a sample player.  It's such a great little box I'm reluctant to give up on it.  I can have 200 samples @44.1K stereo, each up to ten minutes long.  I'm determined to find bits I can put in it to augment the overall sound.
    Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
    Also chips are "Plant-based" no matter how you cook them.
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  • This is why the new TC Electronic Ditto Jam X2 is so tempting, That has an internal mic (or you can hook up an external one) which "listens" to the beat and adjusts the loops accordingly.
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  • I can't get past the fact that you were thinking about this at 4am. 

    My Trading Feedback    |    You Bring The Band

    Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you
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  • Emp_FabEmp_Fab Frets: 24210
    edited November 2018
    This is why the new TC Electronic Ditto Jam X2 is so tempting, That has an internal mic (or you can hook up an external one) which "listens" to the beat and adjusts the loops accordingly.
    NO!!!!!!!!!!!!   I'd have to see that in action....    I can't believe it would actually sync correctly with a real drummer though....

    Edit: I've just watched the Andertons video of it.  It's definitely a step forward, but it's just a looper - and I need something that will have the clever sync'ing ability of the new Ditto with the bucketloads of prerecorded sample options of the JamMan.

    The JamMan does have the ability to set a tap-tempo before triggering a loop / sample and also to correct it on the fly by tapping whilst it's playing.  The big problem though is that it's not intelligent enough to analyse the recorded material and quantise it to the tap - it just changes the speed of the playback, so in the case of a drummer speeding up for example, you can set the tempo just before triggering the sample then, when the sample is playing, if you need to speed it up, you can make it go at the new tempo but it won't be in sync with the beat of the song.
    Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
    Also chips are "Plant-based" no matter how you cook them.
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