Using a loop pedal for guitar with Logic X??? [SOLVED]

[deckard1]

Hi,

 

Is it possible to use a loop pedal for guitar in conjunction with Logic? Would I just put the pedal in front of the audio interface and that's it?

 

guitar => loop pedal => audio interface => computer (Logic)

 

Thanks

[vernplum]

You can stick anything you like before your interface, but whether it makes sense is another matter.  Putting a looper (I presume you mean something like a Boss RC, or TC Ditto) in front seems sort of redundant to me since with Logic you can copy and paste any part you make ad-infinitum without the hassle of having to step on the looper on the right beat.  

 

And another thing - if you use a Looper, I suspect the loop will gradually drift out of time from the Logic tempo if you off by a bit on treading on it.

[David Nahmani]

Would I just put the pedal in front of the audio interface and that's it?

 

guitar => loop pedal => audio interface => computer (Logic)

Yes.

 

If that's easy for you and you get the result you want, there's nothing wrong with it. In fact it may be easier for you to "stay in the vibe" when using the looper pedal vs when editing your loops in Logic.

 

If you prefer a workflow with more flexibility and more control, and don't mind spending a bit of time stopping the loop and readjusting it in Logic where necessary, then you can create your loops one by one on different tracks in Logic Pro. This opens your world to many new possibilities as each loop on each track can now have its own sound, its own effect plug-ins etc... but obviously it's not the same experience as working in real time with a looper pedal. 

 

Whatever works best for you. 

[deckard1]

Great. Thanks so much. Yes, that was the reason for using an actual pedal as opposed to readjusting in Logic...to work in real time. 

 

By the way, is a looper the same thing as a sampler? 

 

Thanks. 

[David Nahmani]

I guess you could say it's a form of sampler that is made to define sample start/end points on the fly and loops the samples. 

[deckard1]

Great. Thanks!

[Arnaud]

A looper within Logic (even Pedalboard), triggerred by an external midi pedal, would be great and a lot of fun (with the best of both worlds). Wonder whether there's a way to emulate that...

[deckard1]

How exactly would that work ideally? You mean so you could control the 'internal' looper within Logic with your foot?

[Arnaud]

OK, this is only daydreaming, but, the general idea would be to have a plugin (possibly part of the Pedalboard broader thingy) which would act as a looper, of which you could control the "start/stop recording loop" parameter, and, like any plugin parameters, assign them to an external control (such as an external midi stomp pedal). This way you would trigger the internal Logic looper using that midi pedal (used as a midi controller). Among niceties, this means you could record your actions on that pedal (as automation) for later further tweaking (while you record you incoming audio - pre-looper - on the track on which the looper is inserted), you could possibly even sync in some way the looper with the project tempo (such as "smart" triggering like "start next loop at next bar downbeat" or "end loop at next end of bar" which would affect how an incoming start/stop action is dealt with, whatever...). Btw, if done this way, if your audio is set to "Follow tempo", the looper would automatically adjust without any need for re-recording anything if you later change the project tempo. Among other parameters, you could have things such as what happens when a new loop is "recorded" (does it overrule the previous one, is it layered on top of the previous one(s), etc), are loops repeated indefinitely or slowly decaying such as the feedback % of a tapedelay, etc. Anyway, daydreaming mode OFF, I don't think any such thing exists for the moment, but reading your post just made that idea jump to my mind for lots of possibilities regarding creative stuff that could nicely mingle into more "regular" projects, with both the live aspects of a looper and an editable aspect thanks to Logic automation and sync capabilities, etc...

 

Cheers,

Arnaud

[deckard1]

Nice! 

 

Are you familiar with this 3rd party software looper program? If so, any thoughts on it? It seems to be the only legitimate looper out there.

 

http://essej.net/sooperlooper/index.html

[JakobP]

I've tried SooperLooper and it's a very competent looper it seems. Almost all of Arnaud's "daydreaming" can be done with it, it has a rather "shaky" GUI though, at least on my system. But I really recommend it, it's great fun ! 

 

EDIT: It's also really easy to set it up to control it with a standard sustain pedal.

[deckard1]

Thanks!

 

I tried Super Looper before in Logic X but couldn't figure out how to use it. Became frustrated and gave up. I'll try reading the manual before I make another attempt. Reading the manual seems to clear things up in general.

[David Nahmani]

Reading the manual seems to clear things up in general.

Thanks for providing me with the first laugh of my day. Now I have to go an clean all that spilled coffee. 

[deckard1]

Oh...you are quite welcome.

 

I actually learned this lesson the other day...to read the manual. Reading the manual to better understand something actually prevents me from throwing objects precipitously against the wall out of utter frustration in not comprehending a certain idea or concept.  Much for the better, I believe. 

[JakobP]

Thanks!

 

I tried Super Looper before in Logic X but couldn't figure out how to use it. Became frustrated and gave up. I'll try reading the manual before I make another attempt. Reading the manual seems to clear things up in general.

Basically, you insert it as an instrument on a software instrument track, set it to sidechain-listen to a bus. Send all tracks you want to loop to that bus. 

[MartyMicFly]

Hi, 

Great advise! How can I synchronise the loop pedal tempo with my already existing logic pro tracks? My idea is creating live loops using the pedal board with looper + midi Keyboard for synths through Logic with additional pre-recorded tracks.