Looper and Changing Presets

ZenX

Member
Its my understanding that when the Looper is playing audio and you change presets, there is a gap in audio? Will this be addressed (I imagine by making the Looper a Global Block) in the future? Is this on the Wish List ;) Or maybe already addressed ?
 
As long as you also have the looper block in both presets, I don't believe there's a gap when you switch presets. I don't know for sure, because I achieve the same thing by using scenes, which is indeed gapless when it comes to the looper. One of the presets I gig with has clean, crunchy, and dirty scenes, and I can switch smoothly between them with the looper running.
 
Many thanks! Scenes would do it, but I'm hoping that I could go to any preset and put that unique sound into the Looper without audio drop out.. there was a thread frm a ways back that laid out the issue but don't know if its been resolved / or will be resolved (Wish List).. thank you again TG3K
 
It's also is a problem when you want to setup a second row with separate ins and outs as an in ear mixer. It works well as long as you stay on a preset. When you change the preset there's a short audio gap. Too bad. It has 4 analoge ins and outs and I could run anything through it but these gaps hinder me.
 
Audio gaps mean it really isn’t something I could use spontaneously for a performance that utilizes the remarkable range of sounds the Axe 3 can create.; would be amazing if it were a Global Block
 
'Global blocks' are something different then what you seem to think what they are. All they do is loading their settings from a different source, a place where all presets can read them out. That doesn't mean they supply spill over.
 
Using scenes, you can get 8 amps in one preset with a ton of combinations of effects. You should have everything you need in one preset and no gap issue.
 
Buy a looper, thats an inspired insight, why hadn't that occurred to me? Maybe because use of the ditto will make it so I no longer have an all digital signal path I'm using with the Axe 3 looper? Or maybe my Fx sends / Returns are already being used, so I'd have to park it in my unbalanced out(s), but, as I'm using FRFR, I don't use those... so get a mixer and put the ditto on a send there... then run a MIDI line to it... yeah, thats an option... buy a mixer and a long MIDI cable...wait Ditto does not use MIDI so no long delay / feedback attenuation.. no reverse.. also no loop point adjustment.. no crossover point adjustment in the loop.. but even then, I still couldn't put an Axe 3 Fx Block after the ditto looper... so still not what I want... problem not solved... or maybe do none of that and inquire as to whether the Axe looper will work without audio drop out when changing presets... and have something much more versatile and already paid for, integrated, ready to go.. yeah, but the Ditto could be useful, depending on what you are doing.. thnx..
 
curious... absolutely... but I don't do amp modelling really and have about a hundred patches I'd like to be able to use on the fly when improvising loops.. but you are absolutely correct, a lot can be done using Scenes and that is the optimal way at this point. Many thanks..
 
I use live looping at about half of the gigs that I play. I’ve found that the built in looper has different strengths and weaknesses, and can be used in many, but not all,situations. I use the internal looper for some things, and an external looping solution for others. The external solution is Ableton Live via an X32 Rack mixer & audio interface.

Built-in looper:
  • solo gigs, when recording a chord progression to solo over later (looper at the end of the chain)
  • tweaking amp and FX parameters when setting up presets (beginning of chain - allows you to separate your “musician” and “engineer / sound designer” roles)
  • building pad-like textures to “sit behind” guitar playing (looper early in a parallel chain with lots of ambient and mod FX afterward - this masks the loop start/stop point)

Ableton:
  • When I need to use multiple presets for a looped section
  • When I need loops that are different lengths (e.g. 1-bar repeating percussive part and 4-bar chord progression)
  • When I need automatic tempo syncing for loops and delays/rhythmic FX. Axe tempo set by Ableton, which can automatically be set based on the looper plugin. As soon as the loop is recorded, the tempo is set and all of the tempo-based FX sync up.
  • When I’m already at 80% CPU on the Axe preset and haven’t added the looper block yet :p
 
--getlostinsound-- thanks very much, I am looking at a similar methodology and assessing; I've been using 4 EDPs for many years and need to simplify-- there are many things to consider.. appreciate your comment, will give it some thought!
 
I use live looping at about half of the gigs that I play. I’ve found that the built in looper has different strengths and weaknesses, and can be used in many, but not all,situations. I use the internal looper for some things, and an external looping solution for others. The external solution is Ableton Live via an X32 Rack mixer & audio interface.

Built-in looper:
  • solo gigs, when recording a chord progression to solo over later (looper at the end of the chain)
  • tweaking amp and FX parameters when setting up presets (beginning of chain - allows you to separate your “musician” and “engineer / sound designer” roles)
  • building pad-like textures to “sit behind” guitar playing (looper early in a parallel chain with lots of ambient and mod FX afterward - this masks the loop start/stop point)

Ableton:
  • When I need to use multiple presets for a looped section
  • When I need loops that are different lengths (e.g. 1-bar repeating percussive part and 4-bar chord progression)
  • When I need automatic tempo syncing for loops and delays/rhythmic FX. Axe tempo set by Ableton, which can automatically be set based on the looper plugin. As soon as the loop is recorded, the tempo is set and all of the tempo-based FX sync up.
  • When I’m already at 80% CPU on the Axe preset and haven’t added the looper block yet :p

What do you use to trigger the looper in Ableton? I have a Mastermind GT16 I’d like to use if possible. I already have Ableton on my laptop.
 
What do you use to trigger the looper in Ableton? I have a Mastermind GT16 I’d like to use if possible. I already have Ableton on my laptop.
You can certainly control just about anything with the Mastermind, including Ableton. I originally had a layout on my FC12 in which I had all 6 control switches set up to control different parameters in Ableton via MIDI CC. This works fine, but I started actually using some of the control switches for amp parameters on the Axe, and decided to go back to using my Mastermind LT for Ableton looping.
 
You can certainly control just about anything with the Mastermind, including Ableton. I originally had a layout on my FC12 in which I had all 6 control switches set up to control different parameters in Ableton via MIDI CC. This works fine, but I started actually using some of the control switches for amp parameters on the Axe, and decided to go back to using my Mastermind LT for Ableton looping.

Do you need a special cord to control Ableton on your computer via midi or does the axe somehow do it through the Midi block. It would be great if you were able to post a little video on how you set it up. I know there are more than several people on here that would like to have a more functional looper to use with the axe. Several questions might be answered like

How to get the Mastermind (FC) to talk to ableton
How to program simple loop functions in ableton

Or maybe you know of a thread somewhere that explains the basics of setup. I had a Softstep that I was using that plugged directly into my computer but alas I sold it because of pedal space etc. The Softstep worked fine but I was always hopeful to use the GT16.
 
Do you need a special cord to control Ableton on your computer via midi or does the axe somehow do it through the Midi block. It would be great if you were able to post a little video on how you set it up. I know there are more than several people on here that would like to have a more functional looper to use with the axe. Several questions might be answered like

How to get the Mastermind (FC) to talk to ableton
How to program simple loop functions in ableton

Or maybe you know of a thread somewhere that explains the basics of setup. I had a Softstep that I was using that plugged directly into my computer but alas I sold it because of pedal space etc. The Softstep worked fine but I was always hopeful to use the GT16.
If you want to use your mastermind to control Ableton, the easiest way is just to connect it to the computer via USB. I use the editor app to program it. There’s some great info on the RJM forums about how to do this. Basically you just want each foot switch to send a midi CC, and then you get Ableton to “learn” the foot control for each function you want to map. You probably want to make sure you are not powering it with both a power supply and a USB cable (at least my MM LT says not to).

I use multiple instances of the looper plugin in Ableton, as opposed to directly recording audio clips in the session view grid. The looper plugin basically work so like most simple loopers, including the one in then Axe, except that it syncs bidirectionally with the tempo and you can run multiple instances of it. There are a few other extra options, too.

I’ll consider doing a video of my whole setup, but not sure it will be in the next few days. If I do, I’ll start a new thread.
 
Thanks for the info GLIS. I will give some of this a try and post some of the results. I am also quite busy right now so it might not be for a week or two.
 
It would be great if you were able to post a little video on how you set it up. I know there are more than several people on here that would like to have a more functional looper to use with the axe. Several questions might be answered like

How to get the Mastermind (FC) to talk to ableton
How to program simple loop functions in ableton
Hey, I made a video earlier today. I posted it in this thread: https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/live-looping-rig-ableton-axe-fx-iii.155418/
 
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