The Looper; Troubleshooting - TC-Helicon PLAY ACOUSTIC User Manual

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PLAY ACOUSTIC User Manual

9. The Looper

What is looping?
At its core, looping is the simple process of taking a small audio recording and
playing it over and over seamlessly. When coupled with creativity and musical
ability, the results can be astonishing.
Basic looping concepts
Most loopers – including the one in Play Acoustic – are built around a few basic
controls: Record, Play and Overdub. You should be familiar with Record and Play.
Overdubbing is the process of recording another "take" to a recording without
deleting the first take.
Using the Play Acoustic looper
Activating Loop mode
To enter Loop mode, press and hold the DOWN and
UP footswitches simultaneously.
The Loop mode screen
In Loop mode, the DOWN footswitch controls the following functions:
• • PLAY
• • REC (Record)
• • Overdub
• • Undo (removes the most recently recorded Overdub, if there is one)
In Loop mode, the UP footswitch controls the following functions:
• • STOP
• • ERA (HOLD to erase)
Exiting Loop mode
To exit Loop mode, tap the HIT footswitch. You may exit Loop mode while a loop
is still playing. That means you can choose a new vocal sound – and then re-enter
Loop mode to add a new overdub to the loop.
Recording your first loop
• • Press the footswitch assigned to REC/PLAY/ ODUB to start a recording.
• • Press the footswitch again to finish recording and immediately
begin playback.
• • Alternatively, you can press the footswitch assigned to STOP/ERA(se) to
finish recording and not switch to playback.
• • Press the REC/PLAY/ODUB footswitch again to record an overdub
(another part) onto the initial recording. You can overdub as many times
as you want to.
What gets recorded as part of your loop?
Use the Loop Input parameter in the SETUP Menu to define which parts of your
performance are captured by the looper. For example, you can set the looper to
only record guitar, not vocals, or vice versa, or both.
Here is a good example of why you might want to capture just the guitar while
singing and playing your instrument.
You have an 8 bar chord progression that you sing a verse over. After the second
8 bar "verse" section, you want to play a guitar solo. Wouldn't it be cool if the
rhythm guitar part kept playing as you perform the solo? With a looper, you can
do just that!
1. Set the looper to record "Guitar".
2. Play the verse as you normally would.
3. When you get to the second round of the chord progression, keep singing
and playing, but press REC on the Looper.
4. At the end of the chord progression, press REC again. Play Acoustic will
immediately begin to play back the guitar chord progression you just
recorded.
5. Begin playing your guitar solo over the recorded chord progression.
6. When the solo section ends, simply stop the loop by pressing the
Stop/Era(se) footswitch and play/sing again.
This is a very basic example of how a loop can be seamlessly incorporated
into your performance. A subtle loop coming "out of nowhere" can be a great
experience for your audience.
Stopping loop playback
Press the Stop/Era(se) footswitch to stop loop playback.
Erasing the loop
Press and hold the Stop/Era(se) footswitch to erase the loop completely.
Loop Undo / Redo
To undo a loop overdub, press and hold the DOWN footswitch.
To restore the overdub (Redo), press and hold the DOWN footswitch again.
Restoring a loop overdub this way is only possible if you have not recorded
another overdub after using Undo. You can use Undo when you have made a
mistake – just remove the overdub that went wrong and do it again.
You can also use Undo and Redo creatively for a part/track that you would like to
come and go: Record a basic chord progression for a song, add a catchy melody
as an overdub, undo that overdub so you can sing the verse and use Redo to bring
the melody back for the chorus.
Looping tips
When it comes to looping, practice is the key!
You might notice that your loops have a small gap between the end of the phrase
and when the loop restarts. This happens when you mistime pressing the PLAY/
REC/ODUB button(s). Pay careful attention to coordinating your button press with
the down beat, so that the loop beginning and end align seamlessly.
Experiment with exiting Loop mode and picking a different vocal sound for the
next ODUB layer. You can get some great results by simply varying the sounds
that are part of the loop.
When adding an ODUB layer, you can record multiple passes (ODUB parts)
without starting and stopping the Looper. This allows you to add numerous
parts, which can all be removed with a single undo action (they can also be
brought back by repeating the undo action).
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PLAY ACOUSTIC User Manual
Using a Switch-3 for looping
Connecting a Switch-3 (optional) to your Play Acoustic will give you permanent
access to looping without having to use the DOWN and UP footswitches. It frees
up those footswitches, so you can assign them to key/scale selection. This will
also allow you to change presets without having to go in and out of Loop mode.
The Switch-3 buttons are mapped as follows:
• • Rec/Play/Odub
• • Stop/Erase (Hold for Erase)
• • Undo
The benefit of having the Undo feature assigned to a separate footswitch is the
ability to perfectly time your undo instead of waiting a moment for a "hold" to
be registered.
Play Acoustic footswitch assignments when using a
Switch-3
When a Switch-3 is plugged in and Switch-3 mode is set to Looping, key/scale
selection is automatically assigned to the DOWN and UP footswitches of your
Play Acoustic.
When the Switch-3 is unplugged, the DOWN and UP footswitches revert to
whatever the UP/DN setting was prior to connecting the Switch-3.
For more info on Switch-3, check out: tc-helicon.com/tchelicon/
product?modelCode=P0DAK

10. Troubleshooting

Sometimes, things just aren't working the way you expect them to. Here are a
few things to keep an eye on.
General troubleshooting
"I'm singing, but I can't hear anything!"
• • Make sure you have turned up the input gain, so that the input LED is
lighting green.
• • Have you plugged in your headphones or connected to a PA?
• • Is the PA turned on, connected to its speakers and receiving signal?
If not, check your PA manual to make sure everything is set up correctly.
• • Are you using a condenser mic?
• • Did you make sure to change the microphone type to condenser in the
setup menu?
"I have turned on the harmony effects, but they don't
sound right."
• • Did you select a key/scale?
• • Is it the right key for the song?
• • If you are using RoomSense to listen for Key information, make sure it's close
to whichever instrument is playing the most clearly defined chords (Rhythm
Guitar, Piano etc.).
• •
If you are using an MP3 player to sing along with tracks, set the AUX IN
TYPE parameter in the Setup Menu to TRACKS. Some tracks will work
better for NaturalPlay than others, based on the mix and instrumentation
of the recording.
• • If you are using Guitar to control harmony, make sure you have got the Key
set to AUTO on the harmony effect page.
"None of the effects seem to be making any changes to
the sound!"
• • Is the unit in Talk/Tuner mode?
• • If the HIT LED is flashing, tap it once to return to normal operation.
"How do I restore all of the factory presets?"
• • When powering up the unit, press and hold the two "arrow" buttons next to
the Control Knob. Any changes you have made to presets will be erased!
• • Back up your custom presets via VoiceSupport.
"How do I perform a full factory reset?"
• •
When powering up the unit, press and hold "Back" and "store".
• • Any changes you have made to presets or setup information will be erased.
• • Back up your custom presets and setup data via VoiceSupport.
"VoiceSupport is a bit confusing – where can I learn more
about it?"
• • Go to
tc-helicon.com/tchelicon/product?modelCode=TH012