By the way, Great Review, You did so good, went to everything straight, and help more than 100%, For me the best review on this pedal, You covered everything in the simple way.... Very very helpful, Thank You!
Thanks for making this video - I bought a used one for $50 and was super excited (going to be perfect for my band) but was super confused at first (still getting familiar with different pedals). You broke this down very nicely - look forward to having tons of fun with this thing!
Great video! Only thing I would add is that when the light on the select button is flashing the beat, beat 1 in a bar flashes red to help you stay in time/count yourself in :)
Yes. I believe one of my other vids explains that. Just press and hold the pedal down, and the orange light in the left corner will flash and erase the current phrase.
Right! Sorry about that. You were asking about the one shot play back too, I think. The one shot play back will start over every time you hit the pedal. Unfortunately it would need to be on a saved phrase , so you couldn't do it on the fly. In the normal mode, after you've stopped it, you just hit it again to start. You'd have to hit twice to stop it again, though. If you get an external footswitch, you can stop it with just one tap. Check out my other vids on my channel for more info.
Yeah, Michael. You can plug any instrument into it. Personally I've plugged a mic, keyboard, banjo, bass, guitar into it. As long as you can use a 1/4" cable you can plug it in.
I just bought one of these, and when in auto mode the pedal doesn't seem to recognize that I've started playing my guitar until 4-5 later... Messes everything up. Hopefully it has something to do with a weak factory battery. Gotta get a 9v adapter.
You looper can only have 16min of recorded tracks. So if you a bunch saved on there, they're likely taking up too much space to allow a 2min recording. You might have to delete some.
Hi, nice demo, really helpful. I got an RC-2 and I'm in learning mode so I can incorporate it to my live solo acoustic gigs at the end of the month. One question though..... my RC-2 will only allow me to record around 10 seconds (or 8 bars more or less) is this normal? sometimes I wanna record a lick that's 16 bars and then loop it, but it cuts me off and starts playing whatever I was recording up to the 8th bar.
Is there a recording time limit on each phrase or even on each overdub? I recorded a drum beat, while it was looping, I tried to record two flute sounds on the 1st overdub, but it seems there's not enough memory to get the long drawn out sounds in. At some point it just plays back automatically when I'm not finished recording. Note: I'm only using one phrase, all other phrases are empty, so in theory there should be plenty of memory yes? Can't work this out. Cheers.
There is a total time of 16 minutes of phrases allowed on the pedal. If you havent deleted the factory presets on the last 3 channels, they might be taking up too much room
I've deleted the presets and all all the other phrases are empty. So would that mean that say I did an initial recording on phrase 1 that went for 10 seconds, in theory I could have 15mins and 50 seconds of overdub time on that one phrase if I wanted to? (if all the other phrases are empty)
Actually, I've just discovered that the initial recording on each phrase, sets the time limit for all the over-dubs. So if my first recording is 7 seconds, the over-dubs can only be for a maximum of 7 seconds, nothing more.
A the bottom of the pedal there is a little black knob. Unscrew it and you'll find the 9V battery compartment. If you need help past that, I'd just sell the pedal.
@telsonater Hey man, great tutorial. Cleared a lot up for me. I just have one question though. What is the difference between the record play knob setting and the music note knob setting both at the top right of the station? I'd really appreciate an answer I know its an older video but it would help me out. Thanks again man
Hey, can I record stuff without a specific tempo? i.e. simply hit pedal to start and end and then it just repeats whatever without quantizing to any tempo? Manual says "When a phrase is recorded without a specific tempo setting, the tempo is then set automatically after the recording is finished." but doesnt really say how to turn tempo off
Nope. The quantizing is automatic. I admire your confidence. Your timing must be spot on. Any other looper BOSS has made doesn't quantize. Jam Man doesn't either.
I would use auto/quantize functions in some cases. My problem is that i want to record a drum loop sample using the aux input, then I can play to that (the drum loop already has an inherit tempo) and once that is going I dont really need quantize - however if the rc2 doesnt have good timing and it sets the tempo to something slightly off the drum loops tempo, things could be off.. How good is this thing at detecting tempo? i may need one of the nwer loopstations
MAchines tend to have good timing as there is no room for error programmed into it. It would be like your digital metronome going off time: highly unlikely. The only way the loop will be off time is if the operator causes it.
Help my pedal is so messed up all my buttons seem to be set over when I'm on auto it changes the drum beat when I put the knob straight up it does auto and when I turn the knob to the music note it should give me a four measure break before it starts like it used to but it now functions as the way in which I have to play and stomp simultaneously. What is going on
Hi again. I am doing well after your tutorial Thanks. Question? When I put down a backing track and play a solo over it, is it possible to erase the solo only so that it can be redone!!
I can't believe I forgot to put that on here. Yes. Once you've dubbed something you can hold the pedal down to erase it. This only effects the most recent dubbing.
@telsonater Hey man, great tutorial. Cleared a lot up for me. I just have one question though. What is the difference between the record play knob setting and the music note knob setting both at the top right of the station? I'd really appreciate an answer I know its an older video but it would help me out. Thanks again man Actually its fine I just found the answer, sorry!
Could use some help if you think you know the answer. I got this pedal the other day and when i'm in Auto mode and do exactly as you did in the video, it shows a solid yellow light when i am playing and i can hear it through the amp in real time along with the guide beat, but when I finish and press the pedal to complete the track it does not loop it at all. Any suggestions on a solution? (all the phrases are cleared as well.)
Someone posted a question on here a few days ago, and I identically deleted it when I was answering it. If you remember what you asked, please leave another comment. Sorry.
Why use anything except the auto mode with this pedal? It seems like that's the simplest mode and the rest are just more difficult ways to do essentially the same thing. Am I missing out on additional things you can do with this pedal by not using the play record function etc.?
I'm with you on that one. I almost never use the other modes. One small benefit is if you want to set a new tempo, then record, you don't need to hit the pedal as you start recording. A bit of a stretch, for sure. I just stick with auto.
No surprise this pedal has been discontinued. I'm mad that I paid all that money when it came out. Should have known that if you can't figure out a pedal in reasonable time and use it intuitively, it's worthless. If I look at the Ditto x2 today, it's very obvious what a looper aimed at guitar players should really do: Pristine sound quality (24 bit, and yes, you do hear the difference!), simple operation, no unnecessary bells and whistles. The RC-2 is the rare case of a Boss pedal that went completely wrong. Bummer.
Johannes Labusch I agree it's way too expensive, considering the difficulty of operation. I think "worthless" may be too strong a word. You're right though: when dealing with guitar players, things need to be dumbed down to the lowest degree possible. ;)
I'm sure I'm missing something simple and obvious, but I when I stomp after I've recorded the red light disappears and my phrase does not play. What do you recommend I try? Great Vid. Thanks
Thanks! Just go to the phrase you want to delete, then turn the function knob to delete and press the enter button twice. It should flash a different colour. I have a video on my channel on the basic functions.
Here's a question... using the rc2 LIVE during performance..Having recorded a four bar rhythm phrase, how do I play it back (immediately) to solo against, with having overdub - which will start kicking in while I'm playing ?
You'd have to run them into a mixer of some sort and then into the looper. If you're doing them one at a time you can use an A/B switch. There's a video for that on my channel.
That was a great demo. But I do have a question. You were saying to delete a phrase you turn the phrase knob to the next number and back, and that will delete it. What if you want to save phrases for different songs during a show? If one song is saved on phrase 2 then by chance of order the next song you perform is on phrase 1x is it going to delete it?
Is there a way that you know of where I can play a rhythm without distortion and solo over it with distortion? Since its plugged into the input of the amp it seems even though I may play a recorded rhythm without distortion, but once I click it on, on my amp, the rhythm is now distorted (if that makes sense). I'm wondering if I can set it up differently to my amp to solve that.
You need to make sure the Loop Station is last in your effects chain. Record your rhythm track, and then turn your distortion on. If your looper runs into the dist pedal, everything will be distorted.
Hey dude, in case you're still wondering - you said you were using a built-in distortion effect on your amp? That will distort the entire feed coming into the amp, i.e. your whole loop. You can get around this by keeping your amp on the clean setting and using a distortion/overdrive pedal before your looper. Your amp will still be putting out a clean loop, but your lead portion will be distorted by the pedal.
If you've recorded multiple phrases in a loop, and you mess up with your current phrase, is it possible to delete that phrase after it's been recorded while maintaining the initial phrases you recorded?
Can someone please help me? Okay so my RC-2 arrived yesterday and what happens is I hit record and play my line then stop recording so it's playing back and then when I try to loop over that the line with a diffrent riff it playsback before I have even stopped recording it? hope that makes sense. PLS HELP!
You need to ensure your first phrase is at least as long as the part you dub over it. For example, if you looped a 4 bar chord progression and tried to play an 8 bar melody line, you'd start recording over the second part after 4 bars. Hope this helps.
sow if you playing and you want to get rid of something you have to do it manually? I did not get that part about deleting the loop... NOW PLEAS ENGLISH IS MY SECOND LANGUAGE. GO SLOW...THANKS.
Sounds like your timing is off slightly. Remember, it's important to stop the recording of the loop on beat one of the next bar, not just when you're finished. If this doesn't solve it, make a video on your phone or something and e-mail it to me. Message me and I'll give you my e-mail addy.
Thanks a ton, I've had one of these for years and never done anything but simple loops because I couldn't decipher the manual. Cheers
The best video out there on this pedal. I was starting to get frustrated but stuck with it thanks to you. Much appreciated.
This is the BEST tutorial I've seen for this pedal. Really well done,THANKS!!
Thank you, kindly. Glad you enjoyed it!
Hey man, thanks for the in-depth tutorial. It taught me everything I needed to know.
Thanks for this. I've had my RC-2 for a couple of months now and I hadn't figured out how to use the drum guide.
Very good video. I bought this to use with my digitech trio. Got the whole band without the drama.
+Art Pantoja Thanks for watching! I bet that's heavenly
By the way, Great Review, You did so good, went to everything straight, and help more than 100%, For me the best review on this pedal, You covered everything in the simple way.... Very very helpful, Thank You!
Thanks so much!
Great! this video explains pretty much all I needed to know about working with the RC-2 Loop Station. Thumbs up!
Just picked one of these up without a manual, vid was really helpful. Cheers man..
Thanks for making this video - I bought a used one for $50 and was super excited (going to be perfect for my band) but was super confused at first (still getting familiar with different pedals). You broke this down very nicely - look forward to having tons of fun with this thing!
+FLIPPITYFLOOP Thanks!
Thanks for doing this. You saved me time stumbling through the manual.
No prob. It was fumbling through the manual that inspired me to make the vid. Thanks for watching!
Great demo bro, just bid and won one on EBay, I had one a couple years ago and had to get another because it Wa my favorite looper I ever had.
Thanks, man. Glad you liked it. I've tried all of the subsequent models, and this is still the best in my opinion.
YES!!! I agree.
Really good tutorial, very informative and helpful. Thanks a lot for taking the time out to make video .
Well done. Very useful tutorial. Thanks.
very good deamo very helpfull! i was lost this isnt the kind of pedal i usually use but descided to try it out, and now i can actually work it! thanks
that's so bad your neighbors can make noise but not you...great tutorial dude
Excellent tutorial! Thank you a lot!!
Great video! Only thing I would add is that when the light on the select button is flashing the beat, beat 1 in a bar flashes red to help you stay in time/count yourself in :)
Thanks so much for this ! finally a great video on how to work this pedal ! time to dust mine off and try it again ! thanks again!!!
Awesome! I hope it goes well for you. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the posting.Very clearly explained
Yes. I believe one of my other vids explains that. Just press and hold the pedal down, and the orange light in the left corner will flash and erase the current phrase.
telsonater...you did a great job on this Boss Rc-2.
Thank you, kindly. Even with the manual it's tough to get the hang of this thing.
Very good Demo, thanks for sharing.............regards, Pete
You earned another like. Excellent tutorial.
Right! Sorry about that. You were asking about the one shot play back too, I think.
The one shot play back will start over every time you hit the pedal. Unfortunately it would need to be on a saved phrase , so you couldn't do it on the fly.
In the normal mode, after you've stopped it, you just hit it again to start. You'd have to hit twice to stop it again, though. If you get an external footswitch, you can stop it with just one tap. Check out my other vids on my channel for more info.
Awesome video tutorial.
Thanks! Glad it helped!
Good question. You need to hit the pedal on beat one of the next bar
thank you so much for making this video !!!
Thank you for making this video! I really appreciate it : )
Very helpful.Thanks for the post!!
I got the RC-2, but the new TC Ditto Looper seems far much easier to use. Check it out.
Glad I could help
Great video! Very helpful!
Thanks for the kind words.
Thanks for this.
thanks, just got a used one, was not looking forward to the manual
It's BRUTAL. Doesn't explain things well either. Happy to help!
Is it possible to use 2 instruments in one loop? By connecting a splitter lead or something to the input slot?
Hey guys. I wonder if that same pedal can be used with a keyboard... I'm looking to buy it so if someone could tell me i'd really appreciate it
Yeah, Michael. You can plug any instrument into it. Personally I've plugged a mic, keyboard, banjo, bass, guitar into it. As long as you can use a 1/4" cable you can plug it in.
Thanks for posting this!
I just bought one of these, and when in auto mode the pedal doesn't seem to recognize that I've started playing my guitar until 4-5 later... Messes everything up. Hopefully it has something to do with a weak factory battery. Gotta get a 9v adapter.
You looper can only have 16min of recorded tracks. So if you a bunch saved on there, they're likely taking up too much space to allow a 2min recording. You might have to delete some.
Thanks for the great lesson. You should work for Boss.
How can i keep the drum machine clean when i use distorion on my amp?
Nice tutorial. Finally some useful information as opposed to someone doing his best (?) Yngwie riffs. Thanks
Hi, nice demo, really helpful. I got an RC-2 and I'm in learning mode so I can incorporate it to my live solo acoustic gigs at the end of the month. One question though..... my RC-2 will only allow me to record around 10 seconds (or 8 bars more or less) is this normal? sometimes I wanna record a lick that's 16 bars and then loop it, but it cuts me off and starts playing whatever I was recording up to the 8th bar.
Thank you. I'll try that.
Thanks, very handy!
thanks man ! very useful
Is there a recording time limit on each phrase or even on each overdub? I recorded a drum beat, while it was looping, I tried to record two flute sounds on the 1st overdub, but it seems there's not enough memory to get the long drawn out sounds in. At some point it just plays back automatically when I'm not finished recording. Note: I'm only using one phrase, all other phrases are empty, so in theory there should be plenty of memory yes? Can't work this out. Cheers.
There is a total time of 16 minutes of phrases allowed on the pedal. If you havent deleted the factory presets on the last 3 channels, they might be taking up too much room
I've deleted the presets and all all the other phrases are empty. So would that mean that say I did an initial recording on phrase 1 that went for 10 seconds, in theory I could have 15mins and 50 seconds of overdub time on that one phrase if I wanted to? (if all the other phrases are empty)
That's right, my friend
Actually, I've just discovered that the initial recording on each phrase, sets the time limit for all the over-dubs. So if my first recording is 7 seconds, the over-dubs can only be for a maximum of 7 seconds, nothing more.
A the bottom of the pedal there is a little black knob. Unscrew it and you'll find the 9V battery compartment. If you need help past that, I'd just sell the pedal.
When recording a phrase, on what beat do you turn off the recording? I find it very difficult to get smooth loop.
Yes, that is true.
@telsonater Hey man, great tutorial. Cleared a lot up for me. I just have one question though. What is the difference between the record play knob setting and the music note knob setting both at the top right of the station? I'd really appreciate an answer I know its an older video but it would help me out. Thanks again man
Hey, can I record stuff without a specific tempo? i.e. simply hit pedal to start and end and then it just repeats whatever without quantizing to any tempo?
Manual says "When a phrase is recorded without a specific tempo setting, the tempo is then set automatically after the
recording is finished." but doesnt really say how to turn tempo off
Nope. The quantizing is automatic. I admire your confidence. Your timing must be spot on.
Any other looper BOSS has made doesn't quantize. Jam Man doesn't either.
I would use auto/quantize functions in some cases. My problem is that i want to record a drum loop sample using the aux input, then I can play to that (the drum loop already has an inherit tempo) and once that is going I dont really need quantize - however if the rc2 doesnt have good timing and it sets the tempo to something slightly off the drum loops tempo, things could be off.. How good is this thing at detecting tempo? i may need one of the nwer loopstations
MAchines tend to have good timing as there is no room for error programmed into it. It would be like your digital metronome going off time: highly unlikely. The only way the loop will be off time is if the operator causes it.
Hey thanks dude!
Mine only lets me record one bar. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?
+Hayden Otwell Same problem, did you find a solution?
+Hayden Otwell My first guess is you might have too much saved on it already. It allows 16min total. It's not very likely, but I gotta check first.
Help my pedal is so messed up all my buttons seem to be set over when I'm on auto it changes the drum beat when I put the knob straight up it does auto and when I turn the knob to the music note it should give me a four measure break before it starts like it used to but it now functions as the way in which I have to play and stomp simultaneously. What is going on
+Polar Beers Sorry dude. No clue. I'm not tech support. I just use the thing.
ca.boss.info/support/by_product/rc-2 I would check here.
Hi again. I am doing well after your tutorial Thanks. Question? When I put down a backing track and play a solo over it, is it possible to erase the solo only so that it can be redone!!
I can't believe I forgot to put that on here. Yes. Once you've dubbed something you can hold the pedal down to erase it. This only effects the most recent dubbing.
telsonater Excellent.
Joe Beggy I have a couple more videos for it on my channel. They might help clarify any questions you have.
@telsonater Hey man, great tutorial. Cleared a lot up for me. I just have one question though. What is the difference between the record play knob setting and the music note knob setting both at the top right of the station? I'd really appreciate an answer I know its an older video but it would help me out. Thanks again man
Actually its fine I just found the answer, sorry!
Could use some help if you think you know the answer. I got this pedal the other day and when i'm in Auto mode and do exactly as you did in the video, it shows a solid yellow light when i am playing and i can hear it through the amp in real time along with the guide beat, but when I finish and press the pedal to complete the track it does not loop it at all. Any suggestions on a solution? (all the phrases are cleared as well.)
Someone posted a question on here a few days ago, and I identically deleted it when I was answering it.
If you remember what you asked, please leave another comment. Sorry.
Why use anything except the auto mode with this pedal? It seems like that's the simplest mode and the rest are just more difficult ways to do essentially the same thing. Am I missing out on additional things you can do with this pedal by not using the play record function etc.?
I'm with you on that one. I almost never use the other modes. One small benefit is if you want to set a new tempo, then record, you don't need to hit the pedal as you start recording. A bit of a stretch, for sure. I just stick with auto.
No surprise this pedal has been discontinued. I'm mad that I paid all that money when it came out. Should have known that if you can't figure out a pedal in reasonable time and use it intuitively, it's worthless. If I look at the Ditto x2 today, it's very obvious what a looper aimed at guitar players should really do: Pristine sound quality (24 bit, and yes, you do hear the difference!), simple operation, no unnecessary bells and whistles. The RC-2 is the rare case of a Boss pedal that went completely wrong. Bummer.
Johannes Labusch I agree it's way too expensive, considering the difficulty of operation. I think "worthless" may be too strong a word. You're right though: when dealing with guitar players, things need to be dumbed down to the lowest degree possible. ;)
I'm sure I'm missing something simple and obvious, but I when I stomp after I've recorded the red light disappears and my phrase does not play. What do you recommend I try? Great Vid. Thanks
What have you got the Rec/Play/Dub knob set to (top right)? Second, does the light in the top left go solid red whilst recording?
great demo.helped alot. question.... how do you delete phrases if they are all full.?
Thanks! Just go to the phrase you want to delete, then turn the function knob to delete and press the enter button twice. It should flash a different colour. I have a video on my channel on the basic functions.
Here's a question... using the rc2 LIVE during performance..Having recorded a four bar rhythm phrase, how do I play it back (immediately) to solo against, with having overdub - which will start kicking in while I'm playing ?
WITHOUT having overdub.... it should say.
You'll see at 5:30 it starts playing back as soon as you hit the pedal
You have to hit the pedal a second time to dub. If you just hit the pedal after you're done recording a phrase, it will just play back.
how do i loop both a mic and a guitar with only one boss rc-2? what other items do i need
You'd have to run them into a mixer of some sort and then into the looper. If you're doing them one at a time you can use an A/B switch. There's a video for that on my channel.
cool demo, what is the maximum recording time?..
16 minutes total on the pedal. That includes all 11 phrases
That was a great demo. But I do have a question. You were saying to delete a phrase you turn the phrase knob to the next number and back, and that will delete it. What if you want to save phrases for different songs during a show? If one song is saved on phrase 2 then by chance of order the next song you perform is on phrase 1x is it going to delete it?
This only erases unsaved phrases. Good question.
Awesome, thanks for the info, and the great demo brother :-)
Is there a way that you know of where I can play a rhythm without distortion and solo over it with distortion? Since its plugged into the input of the amp it seems even though I may play a recorded rhythm without distortion, but once I click it on, on my amp, the rhythm is now distorted (if that makes sense). I'm wondering if I can set it up differently to my amp to solve that.
You need to make sure the Loop Station is last in your effects chain. Record your rhythm track, and then turn your distortion on. If your looper runs into the dist pedal, everything will be distorted.
Hey dude, in case you're still wondering - you said you were using a built-in distortion effect on your amp? That will distort the entire feed coming into the amp, i.e. your whole loop. You can get around this by keeping your amp on the clean setting and using a distortion/overdrive pedal before your looper. Your amp will still be putting out a clean loop, but your lead portion will be distorted by the pedal.
If you've recorded multiple phrases in a loop, and you mess up with your current phrase, is it possible to delete that phrase after it's been recorded while maintaining the initial phrases you recorded?
Can someone please help me? Okay so my RC-2 arrived yesterday and what happens is I hit record and play my line then stop recording so it's playing back and then when I try to loop over that the line with a diffrent riff it playsback before I have even stopped recording it? hope that makes sense. PLS HELP!
You need to ensure your first phrase is at least as long as the part you dub over it. For example, if you looped a 4 bar chord progression and tried to play an 8 bar melody line, you'd start recording over the second part after 4 bars. Hope this helps.
Thanks I think that was the problem
Thanks for the tutorial. What chords are you playing by the way?
+Gerald Petraglia Simple minor I, IV, V.
[Gm7][Gm7][Cm7][Dm7]
+telsonater Thanks. Love those minor 7ths
can u save what you recorded and still availble when you swtich it on again??
+Kinshew Caccam Yeah. Whatever you save is on there until you erase it.
Thanks for Caring..!!
I need to quiz my local authorized dealer.. for hours and hours... lol.. or until he kicks me out....!!!
How do i put in the battery?
Any time
sow if you playing and you want to get rid of something you have to do it manually? I did not get that part about deleting the loop... NOW PLEAS ENGLISH IS MY SECOND LANGUAGE. GO SLOW...THANKS.
where can i get the power adapter bro?
+gabriel79ish It's a standard BOSS PSA adapter you can get at any music store. Probably cheaper on Ebay though
Could I use a keyboard?
Can you use this for your voice
It may be a silly question, but how can record a practically a full song with lots of layers like verse chrous verse bridge etc
You'd have to record the whole song in one go, like in a studio. You're looking at the RC 500 if you want multiple tracks to go on and off.
Thanks a lot!!
how does the sounds get recorded ( legit question )
digitally.
Yo can also use your voice instead the guitar?
You sure can. Any instrument
Sounds like your timing is off slightly. Remember, it's important to stop the recording of the loop on beat one of the next bar, not just when you're finished. If this doesn't solve it, make a video on your phone or something and e-mail it to me. Message me and I'll give you my e-mail addy.
? Telsonater, did you happen to do a rubics cube toutorial on youtube
+eaglet260100 Never could get the hang of those things
Actually its fine I just found the answer, sorry! thanks