Question about overdubbing while in reverse or half speed

micycle

Hi! First time poster, recovering frustrated RC600 user, new Loopy Pro user. I'm a guitarist and use looping strictly in my home studio as a practice tool, songwriting inspiration, and ambient soundscapes.

I've spent the last week learning the ins and outs of Loopy as well as programming my 10-button MIDI Captain to get it to work the way I need it to, and it's 99% there. It's mind-blowing how expansive the app is and that it's only $29! I feel like I did when I moved from a 4-track cassette player to Cakewalk in the late 1990s; what a massive leap.

I've searched all over for answers to my question and done a lot of tinkering, but have hit a roadblock on this one: I used a Boomerang and Sidecar for about a decade. One fun experimental thing I loved to do with those is create a loop, go into half speed (or "octave" on the Boomerang), which dropped the pitch an octave and played the loop at half speed. Then I'd overdub some guitar noodles on top of that, and when I'd bring the loop back to 1x speed, the overdub would play an octave up and 2x speed. When I'd reverse a loop on the Boomerangs, I'd overdub on that, and when I'd click the reverse off, the overdub would play in reverse.

This track at the 4:00 mark is an example - at about 4:15 I go from half speed to 1x, and my overdubs go from 1x to 2x speed and up an octave: https://airpainter.bandcamp.com/track/i-dream-of-florence

Can Loopy Pro do this? The reverse and half speed work great, but overdubs render in reverse/half speed too vs. what I was used to with the 'Rangs. Not a deal breaker by any means, just one of those things I got used to having at my toes. Thanks ahead of time for any help!

JanKun

Welcome on the forum! I cannot help you in any way as I haven't worked with looper for years. Sure some of the regular here, especially @wim and @espiegel123 will try to help you.
Nice track, wherever Florence is right now, I am sure she would enjoy listening to this nice little piece you made in her memory

espiegel123

@micycle said:
Hi! First time poster, recovering frustrated RC600 user, new Loopy Pro user. I'm a guitarist and use looping strictly in my home studio as a practice tool, songwriting inspiration, and ambient soundscapes.

I've spent the last week learning the ins and outs of Loopy as well as programming my 10-button MIDI Captain to get it to work the way I need it to, and it's 99% there. It's mind-blowing how expansive the app is and that it's only $29! I feel like I did when I moved from a 4-track cassette player to Cakewalk in the late 1990s; what a massive leap.

I've searched all over for answers to my question and done a lot of tinkering, but have hit a roadblock on this one: I used a Boomerang and Sidecar for about a decade. One fun experimental thing I loved to do with those is create a loop, go into half speed (or "octave" on the Boomerang), which dropped the pitch an octave and played the loop at half speed. Then I'd overdub some guitar noodles on top of that, and when I'd bring the loop back to 1x speed, the overdub would play an octave up and 2x speed. When I'd reverse a loop on the Boomerangs, I'd overdub on that, and when I'd click the reverse off, the overdub would play in reverse.

This track at the 4:00 mark is an example - at about 4:15 I go from half speed to 1x, and my overdubs go from 1x to 2x speed and up an octave: https://airpainter.bandcamp.com/track/i-dream-of-florence

Can Loopy Pro do this? The reverse and half speed work great, but overdubs render in reverse/half speed too vs. what I was used to with the 'Rangs. Not a deal breaker by any means, just one of those things I got used to having at my toes. Thanks ahead of time for any help!

Loopy Pro currently always records forward at regular speed. Reverse,pitch, speed and rate are non-destructive processes in Loopy Pro. So, you would have to adjust your workflow to achieve the same end-result by resampling the altered loops.

I think there are long-term plans to achieve that sort of workflow.

wim

I think if you split that workflow up into separate but related loops, you could accomplish what you want. Since you can control more than one loop with a single action and you also have the ability to merge loops after you've recorded them, you're not restricted to doing all your overdubs on a single loop.

micycle

@JanKun said:
Welcome on the forum! I cannot help you in any way as I haven't worked with looper for years. Sure some of the regular here, especially @wim and @espiegel123 will try to help you.
Nice track, wherever Florence is right now, I am sure she would enjoy listening to this nice little piece you made in her memory

Thank you! Hopefully, she's somewhere up in rat heaven munching on chips and pizza enjoying that tune.

@espiegel123 said:
Loopy Pro currently always records forward at regular speed. Reverse,pitch, speed and rate are non-destructive processes in Loopy Pro. So, you would have to adjust your workflow to achieve the same end-result by resampling the altered loops.

I think there are long-term plans to achieve that sort of workflow.

That would be great! It's still well worth the $29 and optional yearly upgrade. Bring on the destructive looping!!

@wim said:
I think if you split that workflow up into separate but related loops, you could accomplish what you want. Since you can control more than one loop with a single action and you also have the ability to merge loops after you've recorded them, you're not restricted to doing all your overdubs on a single loop.

Thanks for that input, coming from the hardware looping world that's still something I'm wrapping my head around! 4 loops seem to be my sweet spot as far as being able to keep track of things, but this ol' looping dog is willing to learn new tricks, or at least try. I'll keep playing around and I'm sure will find a formula that works. At least now I know it doesn't do what I want out of the box, at least as of now!