Live Ambient Looping with the Boss RC 505 Loopstation and MainStage 

Thanks very much! It is quite freeing to take a break from a logic session from time to time and get lost in a loop. Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching! That’s a good question. It’s somewhere in the global settings I think where you set track loop length to free or something like that. Unfortunately I’ve switched to Ableton so I don’t have the unit anymore to be able to answer your question.

@@DanTremblayMusic Alright, thanks for the quick answer ! Tried "auto" and "free" mode, nothing changed... time to dig the manual, I guess ! 😅 At least, you shown me that it's possible 👌

@@ctrl_fj no problem. Yeah, def possible, but I seem to recall having a hard time setting everything up initially. Best of luck, and happy looping!

Thanks! I actually just switched my looping setup to Ableton, but the 505 is still a beast!

@@DanTremblayMusic Wow , I just had my finger on the buy bottom for a used 505 , your video almost convinced me , thanks for your fast reply . Please make a video explaining why , I think a lot of people would love that , if you have time. One question quick , can you do your looping like the 505 with Ableton Live Lite , or do you need the full version ?

@@baramundi__88__ I actually just put out a video last week on the new setup. The 505 is absolutely the best hardware looper ever. I loved it dearly. I just wanted a bit more control in terms of having more tracks. If you want easy, quick and dependable, the 505 is unbeatable. Ableton will give you more control but substantially higher learning curve and you need a powerful computer. I’m using an M1 Mac mini and it’s mostly good but not perfect. I’d recommend the M1 Max chip 32 gb. Def at least regular version of Ableton, lite isn’t going to be enough. Happy looping!

Thanks for watching! It is indeed tricky to get it right. I remember spending hours and hours when I first got the 505. One method that works is using 2 different channels on the 505 and overlapping, maybe with 2 different sounds, slightly different loop lengths. The other thing is using sounds with pretty significant reverb. Then it’s just a matter of getting the timing right between releasing the key and hitting the loop button on the 505. I think I did a lot of overdubbing as well on the same channel. But yeah, I totally get what your saying, it’s one of the trickiest things to get right. I remember getting it wrong a WHOLE lot in the beginning. Lol. I hope that helps! Cheers!

@@DanTremblayMusic Thanks a lot for answering! I'm still trying a lot to get it right. One thing is recording an empty loop right in the beginning and then overdubbing that empty loop with a drone. That works sometimes, but not always. It also seems to depend on the kind of sound. A pure sinus FM sound from the Volca FM works fine, a similar sound from my Blofeld doesn't. I will try some different timings and some other of the things you mentioned, but it's really tough. The 505 is a very good creative tool, I think, and I don't want to get rid of it just because of the lack of seamless loops. Thanks again!!

@@Zelamir no worries! Just keep Experimenting!

My set up is a bit overly complicated. My latest setup is using 2 computers and 2 interfaces. So instruments into Scarlett 2i2 and MacBook, output to rc 505 input, then out into Scarlett 18i8 and Mac mini. Probably eventually move to one computer running Ableton but still loving the 505. Hope that helps.

hi Dan! Why into the Scarlett and then Mac mini? What you do with this last output? I’m trying to figure out how to connect MainStage to a loop station or a simple loop pedal.