Boss RC-500 Looper: Weird Quirks You Need to Know

[@StoneColdFunkateer]

Thank you!!!

[@iraklimetreveli]

Thank you🎸🎸🎸💖💖💖

[@songsketcherstudio]

Thanks a bunch for the research and digging deeper..love the analogies..you saved us a lot of time much appreciated!!

[@rootstudio247]

Glad it was helpful!

[@jeddak]

Thanks for sharing your experience! 👍

[@musicsynctank]

Thank you! Good tips for a RC-500 newbie (me)!

[@jeff1407]

THANK YOU!!!

[@chang4585]

Thank you so much! You saved my day!!

[@mikecallender2067]

thank you. That is very helpful.

[@rootstudio247]

Thank you 😊

[@JeffintheD]

I had no idea I could save the level (volume) setting for each backing track saved to my RC-5. Thank you so much for this and the other tips. Major time saver!!

[@brianmartin6808]

Every memory number has to be programed

[@straycat7247]

Great video and great comments. No doubt the naming issue is cumbersome but at least there are solutions at hand.

[@rootstudio247]

Thanks 😊

[@dunnjavit]

This is really helpful...thank you...Just for any new arrivals (like me)...rather than having to convert your wave file to 32 bit in Audacity (or similar) you can now export from Logic Pro in 32 Bit (floating) and the RC 500 will accept it. Been doing it this morning .....Go, File....Bounce...Project or Section....(then specify 32 bit, 44100 etc before bouncing to desktop)

[@rootstudio247]

Point well taken. I just wanted to show how you can do it using free tools.

[@ctenbrinke]

The names of the tracks can be edited in the RC0 files (which are just xml files) in the DATA folder. Look for the tag in any tag and you will see some ASCII/XML like representations of the name inside that tag.

[@rootstudio247]

Thanks for pointing that out. Even though it’s a great find, I doubt it will help many people. It’s just as cumbersome to edit and maintain when changing loops.

[@ctenbrinke]

@@rootstudio247 That is true. If you happen to have python installed on your computer you can use this oneliner on the commandline (cmd.exe or any other terminal) to convert an input expression to the format used in the RC0 file: python -c "for i,c in enumerate(f'{input():{ord(c)}02}>')" Just paste that line in the terminal and enter the desired name.

[@rootstudio247]

@@ctenbrinke Thanks for sharing!

[@BopKitBill]

Good stuff, thumbs up appreciated!

[@rootstudio247]

Thank you 😊

[@PIPIKIRECORDS]

Thanks so much this prevented me from throwing this looper into the ocean! Boss has seen the success of this looper and made a newer version with some nice bells and whistles but not as "cool" quality and very different functionality and from what I understand still no easier to load samples. Maybe they can get it together and create a looper for PROS who would rather spend more time playing turning loops into FLACs and then back to Wavs and then renaming.... Most tedious workflow ever award for this looper!

[@eusterbro]

You're incredible! Thank you!

[@rootstudio247]

Thank you too!

[@DeanDonaldson]

Appreciate this. Gets me half way sorted! :)

[@rootstudio247]

Glad it helped.

[@samjacobs6618]

That was incredibly useful, thank you!

[@rootstudio247]

Thank you, glad it helped :-)

[@JeeWeeDonkers]

Thank you for this. I have found out a couple of other quirks myself too. Let's hop Boss/Roland sees these videos too.

[@rootstudio247]

I hope so too :-)

[@soundmapper]

@@rootstudio247 With this title, I doubt it. Good content, but not what I expected. BOSS does need to fix this foolishness. Let us name the file and dump it in like an external drive. Also, I don't know if it's a bug or hardware problem, but the track slider volume jumps around when adjusting it for the first time in the track.

[@rootstudio247]

The volume jump may happen when the programmed value is different from the position of the physical slider and you move it.

[@soundmapper]

@@rootstudio247 Oh weird. So it's one of the cases of "Its not a bug, it's a feature"? I'll have to figure out the right dB to set EVERY track to so its not too much for the amp, and doesn't give me a jolt when I attempt to change the volume. As a side note, I have what I think is a good tip.. Have track one as the full song, and track two as the solo section of that song when needed. That way you can focus on a section to nail it down, and keep the files a bit more tidy and smaller footprint.

[@rootstudio247]

Excellent, thanks for sharing 🙏

[@pablogimenez8341]

man, you save me with this video, thank you!

[@rootstudio247]

Thanks - glad to hear it :-)

[@sergeyraevskiy920]

It really helped, thank you!

[@rootstudio247]

You're welcome :-)

[@glennjeffries007]

I just tried this and it works well. However I didn't need Audacity - I just used 32bit float in the drop-down under Resolution (using Logic).

[@rootstudio247]

Good point and I should have mentioned that. I just wanted to show the procedure using a free tool, but yes, most DAWs can export 32bit float directly.

[@dasweers808]

With my RC 505 mk1 it is not possible to import any wave file at all. No matter if I'm using 16 bit, 44.1 in the Boss Tone Lab, or the method with 32 bit float you described in this video. It's so exhausting :-D

[@rootstudio247]

Sorry to hear that. I wonder if something else is not working with your particular unit, because, as you saw in the video, it is generally possible. Is the unit even connecting to your computer? It could something as simple as a broken USB cable.

[@dasweers808]

​@@rootstudio247 Thank you for the reply. I got the solution now. It works in 16 bit, 44.1 without the tone lab. The problem was, that I was using special German signs like "äöü" in the titles. 🙂

[@rootstudio247]

@@dasweers808 Oh yes, that will do it. Better stick to basic ASCII. Good to know, thanks!

[@Kestar75]

Thank you. Do the drum beats you loaded onto the RC-500 change tempo like the other preset beats?

[@glennjeffries007]

Its not a MIDI file so it won't act like a standard drum loop.

[@rootstudio247]

Exactly, thanks.

[@BrownAroundTown]

Has anyone else noticed that the sampling quality of the included rhythm samples {RC-500) become extremely digital-sounding if you reduce the tempo significantly. This is disappointing, given that Boss actually increased the sampling rate of the loops themselves. I can live with it, as I am running my Boss DR Rhythm (DR-770) into the looper for most of my drum parts.

[@brianmartin6808]

Do you know of anything that do not change digitally when you alter it a lot

[@rootstudio247]

This

[@RichardVahrman]

Any sampler that "warps" (keeps the pitch the same) will degrade the sound when you slow the tempo. Best to record at the tempo you are using.

[@eusterbro]

Has anyone figured out how to change the tempo of a track without changing the tempo of the loop? The most obvious use for this is when you record the loop without being concerned about the tempo but now you want to change the tempo to match the recording... Another use is when you import a loop (as in this video) that isn't matched with the bpm of the track...

[@rootstudio247]

There is only one master tempo setting.

[@eusterbro]

@@rootstudio247 which you can't change independently of the recording, I assume?

[@rootstudio247]

@@eusterbro Yep :-(

[@eusterbro]

@@rootstudio247 Womp womp - thanks for the responses!

[@dassonntagskind]

You 100% saved my life, tour starting next week and I was dead in the water with this. I exported them in 32bit via Logic directly, it worked until i switched the looper of an on. After re-powering it said unsupported file... Can someone understand this??

[@rootstudio247]

Glad it helped!

[@brianmartin6808]

I plugged my rc500 into the computer and wala nothing!!! I don`t believe in computers to much but i have plenty of hardware so i dont need the bs computer. i have to much anxiety for that. That's my quirk it don`t work as usual!!!

[@rootstudio247]

That’s odd. The device should at least appear on the desktop.