Boss RC-30 Loop Station Dual Track Looper BOSSRC-30 Loop Station
With heaps of recording time, great built-in effects and connections for a microphone and instruments the Boss RC-30 offers plenty of creative options for the creative looping musician whilst still remaining compact enough to fit neatly onto your pedalboard.
Words: Tim Slater
Looping is very much part of the landscape of mainstream music these days and much of the credit surely lies with Boss, whose Loop Station products have been putting looping within reach of grass roots musicians for a decade. With USB compatibility and a generous three hours of recording time the Twin Pedal RC-30 occupies the middle ground between the compact pedal sized RC-3 Loop Station and the top of the range RC-300 floor-mounted model whilst still remaining relatively portable, affordable and easy to use.
Loop Kitchen
If the RC-3 compact Looper is aimed primarily at guitarists then the Twin Pedal RC-30 offers more versatility courtesy of a dedicated XLR microphone input with switchable phantom power, plus a separate pair of ¼-inch stereo/mono jack inputs for several audio sources: guitar, keyboard or synth. An auxiliary
mini-jack input is also included for connecting an iPod while a 2.0 USB port facilitates the transfer of WAV audio files between the RC-30 and a computer, enabling loops to be backed up or stored as part of your growing loop library. Stereo ¼-inch jack outputs work in tandem with the RC-30s dedicated stereo recording tracks; either track can be selected independently for mono recording or combined to send the output to separate amplifiers via the stereo outputs. The RC-30 can record up to a maximum of three hours but seeing as even the most inspired performance art piece is unlikely to last quite that long, up to 99 separate recorded sections can be stored in the RC-30s memory, which should be enough memory space for even the most prolific looping artiste! The RC-30s self-contained vibe is backed-up by five individual built-in effects (pitch band, step phaser,
SHOULD I BUY ONE? Typically for a Boss product, the RC-30 feels very intuitive and we had it up and running with no recourse to the manual, although it does help to set the built-in drums to give you a one-bar count- in until you are really fully conversant with timing the start of your loops correctly. Loopers are always fun and the RC-30 Loop Station is a fantastic live performance tool. Indeed we recently enjoyed watching a solo guitarist busking jazz standards using an RC-30 Loop Station, looping his rhythm parts live and then playing his melody lines and solos over the top.
The RC-30 feels like a very complete package for all looping musicians including vocalists. It doesn’t do the more far out stuff like altering the speed or reversing loops but simply as a solid and creative tool for generating rock solid loops the RC-30 would definitely be our first choice.
THE GOOD BITS:
THE NOT SO GOOD BITS: Drum patterns may be a bit limited.
Tough, great features. SRP: £279.00 Contact: Roland UK -
www.roland.co.uk
sweep filter, tempo delay & lo-fi). The effects can only be applied globally to a complete looped phrase or patch but they are still capable of inspiring the player to steer a looped performance into new creative directions. Looping is often associated with the ethereal and atmospheric
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but the RC-30’s 10 built-in rhythm tracks comprise several powerful preset drum tracks ranging from a simple click to more complex Latin polyrhythms. The default 4/4 time signature can also be changed to ¾ time which also helps to open up more creative opportunities. PM
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