Ulitmate 1 guitarist band looper settings?

D

disinformation

Member
Hi All,

I'm new to the FAS Family and very excited to be amongst it.

TL;DR: Can I run a patch with 2 amps on it with a looper in amp A where when I "finish recording" with the looper, it will stop my input coming through that amp and only output the looper signal while keeping my input coming through Amp B's output?

Wanted to pick some peoples brains for a moment with something a little left of center about looping, stereo panning and using the MFC-101 all in combination together... I've set up a lot of my tones to an "early satisfactory" standard for now (always tweaking them though) and have them all set-up for quick access on the MFC-101. I've also played with the looper a little and it's pretty damn solid. I play in a band which requires 2 guitarists, but only has one for now (getting a second will depend on weather what I'm hoping for is achievable) and I like to do things similar to Marc Okubo (Veil of Maya), replicating a second guitarist where there isn't one.

Now, to the meaty part of the question: Can I set up a patch where I can have 2 amps (let's call them amp A & B) which may be different, may be the same (depending on the patch) and they are panned left and right for stereo use live. I'm going to list a few scenarios to try and help explain what I'm hoping to do.

Scenario 1: Rhythm section which goes into a lead section.
Playing a song where the "chorus" is played using both amps in the patch, one of them has the looper running to record the "chorus" riff. After X measures of the chorus, it repeats again, but I'm playing a lead run or solo running on "Amp B" whilst "Amp A" plays looped riff but keeping both isolated from one another...

Scenario 2: Harmonies.
Similar to above, Riff playing through both amps, after X measures (using looper to "record" riff through "Amp A"), riff repeats, but I play a harmony of the riff through "Amp B" whilst the looper plays the original back through "Amp A", again, keeping the 2 signals isolated.

I'll try to "Draw You A Picture" (trying to be as thorough as I can) - think of it as a timeline:

time: Scen. 2|---------------------------------| scen. 1|----------------------|

what I'm playing: |--Riff A-------Harmony---Riff B---| |---Chorus------Solo---|

amp A's output: |--Riff A------Riff A-------Riff B---| |--Chorus------Chorus-|

amp B's outup: |-- Riff A------Harmony---Riff B----| |---Chorus------Solo---|


Very convoluted and I know it's possibly easier to get a second guitarist (believe me, there aren't many around here wanting to play the stuff we play), but I've been dreaming up a rig (prior to hearing of the axe fx at all) which would have worked fine, but would have been SUPER expensive.

Many thanks in advance to those that can help.
 
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Yes, there are ways to do that. One would be:

Link the record & play IA switches so you can hit play to start playback while the record IA is automatically deactivated.

At Axe I/O: CTRL page set an EXT CTRL to the same CC# as Looper Play. (You could optionally use the bypass control of a specific block like a vol/pan or filter for this.)

Place the looper (100% mix) in parallel with a vol/pan or filter block after Amp A. (Or before Amp A, doesn't matter.)

Assign the EXT CTRL to mute the vol/pan or filter when the play IA is activated. There are about 3 ways to do that: Going from thru bypass to engaged at min. volume, going from engaged at 100% volume to mute bypass, or just turning level from 100% to 0%.

Now you can record, hit Play to start playback and it will mute your own playing through amp A while the loop plays. Switch play off and you hear your playing through both amps again.
 
That sounds like it will work... Just need to get my head around programming that far in (only really scratched the surface of it - had it for about a month)

Once I do and I fiddle with it, I'll post results...

Many thanks
 
disinformation said:
That sounds like it will work... Just need to get my head around programming that far in (only really scratched the surface of it - had it for about a month)

Once I do and I fiddle with it, I'll post results...

Many thanks
Click to expand...

Hey man, I'm trying to do the same thing, have you had any luck with this setup?
 
Joshuaryanrome said:
Hey man, I'm trying to do the same thing, have you had any luck with this setup?
Click to expand...

I'm still getting my head around programming the MFC, so I'm not really sure yet... Hoping to get into it soon. Until i get there, I've just been using my old looping device.

AdamCook said:
Is your drummer playing to a click track? If not...good luck getting this to work :)
Click to expand...

I can understand your skepticism on the matter, but the drummer and I play very tight... I've spent 8 years playing with different drummers, finally found this guy and it's to the point where if I lose this guy, I'll probably give up playing originals. For the most part, the songs are written in such a way where I can allow the looped section to play at least once again after "recording" it - the drummer also knows to listen to the original part instead of the layer and keep the drums timed to that - the rest of the band members will take cue off the drummer, but the drummer cues off me :D
 
I keep hearing it's easy to program the AXE/MFC, but I sure have a hard time getting anywhere. But the WIKI and a few guys on the forum, like Bakerman really help out.
 
randolfo said:
I keep hearing it's easy to program the AXE/MFC, but I sure have a hard time getting anywhere. But the WIKI and a few guys on the forum, like Bakerman really help out.
Click to expand...

I'm hearin you there... I'm sure the instructions i were given earlier will work, but:
Link the record & play IA switches so you can hit play to start playback while the record IA is automatically deactivated.

At Axe I/O: CTRL page set an EXT CTRL to the same CC# as Looper Play. (You could optionally use the bypass control of a specific block like a vol/pan or filter for this.)

Place the looper (100% mix) in parallel with a vol/pan or filter block after Amp A. (Or before Amp A, doesn't matter.)

Assign the EXT CTRL to mute the vol/pan or filter when the play IA is activated. There are about 3 ways to do that: Going from thru bypass to engaged at min. volume, going from engaged at 100% volume to mute bypass, or just turning level from 100% to 0%.
Click to expand...
Assumes you already know how to set I/O's and CC's and such... No idea how to even do that.
I'm having so much trouble, that I've just stuck with my looper for now... If anyone has a massively simple set of instructions to follow on doing so, be a kind sir/lass and post a link here!!

Also, I've briefly read the manual and gone back to it, but it mentions hitting the (X name) button and such - which isn't on the face of the unit - I know I need to refer to another page which describes all these button names when in certain functions, but that's almost as painful as setting it up in the first place. <----- avoiding this is what I mean by "massively simple"... i.e step 1. "power unit on", step 2. "push EDIT button", step 3. "Push 3 button"... etc
 
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