Boss RC-50 Loop Station

Roland Updated: 2009-02-20 RSS
Boss RC-50 Loop Station

For those awaiting the arrival of the ultimate looper, the wait is finally over. Introducing the RC-50 — the most feature-laden Loop Station BOSS has ever built. It's the best live looping tool ever built for that matter. Housed in a spacious seven-footswitch floor unit, the RC-50 lets you manipulate three stereo phrase tracks simultaneously. Each track supports multiple overdubs, so phrases can be stacked one by one on each track, resulting in a monstrous layer of looped phrases.

* The new industry-leading looping tool for live performance!
* 7 footswitches for intuitive control; realtime control of playback speed
* Play up to 3 stereo phrase tracks simultaneously, all synced to an internal or MIDI clock
* Ultra-long recording time (up to 49 min., mono), 99 patches (3 master loops per patch)
* Undo/Redo function for recording and overdubbing
* Center-cancellation feature, "flat" amplifier simulation feature
* Stereo input, dual stereo output, XLR phantom-powered mic input, stereo mini-jack Aux input (for recording from an MP3 players, etc.)
* USB port for data/audio backup, import/export of loops as WAV files

Loop, Layer, Rock!
Ready to blow your audience away? With a single RC-50, a guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, or vocalist can create a perfectly synced wall of sound live onstage. There are three simultaneous stereo phrase channels on the RC-50, each with a dedicated footswitch. Each channel can contain dozens of loops/phrases that you stack one by one, so you can imagine how massive your arrangements or solos can become!

In Sync
The RC-50 speaks sync. For bands that incorporate digital audio tracks, sequences, drum machines, and/or video elements into their live gigs, sync is not a luxury — it's a necessity. For scenarios such as these, the RC-50 can be locked to an external MIDI clock source, ensuring that its loop performances are absolutely locked to the rest of the show. Internally, the RC-50 offers Loop Quantize for easy loop recording, plus Loop Sync (which enables all phrases to start in sync), and Tempo Sync (which matches the tempo of multiple phrases during playback).

Rhythm Guide
To make recording as fun and inspiring as possible, the RC-50 provides a total of 379 play-along Rhythm Guide Patterns using real sampled drums in a wide variety of time signatures. Why record to a stale click track when you can jam with rockin' grooves instead?

Impressive I/O
The RC-50's rear panel is well stocked with connectors, offering a variety of inputs (stereo Inst ins, XLR input with 48V phantom power, mini-jack aux), outputs (1/4" stereo, 1/4" sub stereo outs, headphone out), and USB for importing WAV files from computers. MIDI in and out jacks are provided, as are 1/4" TRS inputs for accommodating an optional Expression pedal and footswitches; up to four footswitches can be used simultaneously.

Bonus Features
The RC-50 has plenty of other noteworthy features on offer, for example: Phrases can be played forward or backward. Phrases can be retriggered in "free time" or on a time-aligned grid. Errors can be corrected on the fly with the Undo/Redo switch.