Pedals/Effects Looper vs Riff Recorder

Steve F.

Blues newbie
Still new at this and thinking it may be time to start playing over some basic rhythm tracks.
Looking at the DITTO looper then I saw the Wire Tap Riff Recorder.
I like that the recorder has up to 8 hrs of record, will record multiple riffs, will loop the current riff and unlike the DITTO it saves the riffs/tracks after you shut the thing off.
My question is
Why would I prefer a looper over the recorder? Remember I am pretty new at this so mostly just using this for a training device.
 

snarf

making guitars wish they were still trees
Got both. Never use the Wire Tap. I played with it for a week after I bought it, and it's been in the closet ever since. I actually bought it to replace the my old looper. It's not a looper. TC Electronics advertises it as a tool to add to your pedal chain so that you can record a riff/song/musical idea/whatever and then be able to easily share it and distribute it to your bandmates. I wish I had seen their ad copy before I bought it. After a week with it, imho, it doesn't really work well for that either.

A looper is usually as simple as step on the switch, play, step on the switch to playback, add loops until you're out of memory. And, it's all done with your foot so you can do it on the fly. Easy peasy lemon lawnchairs. Some loopers have multiple save slots so that you can save what you layed down. I think one of the JamMan options even uses an SD card.

The riff recorder lets you start and stop the recording with the foot switch, but to play the loop back you have to reach down and hit the play button on the pedal with your finger. Not as easy as the looper. If you want to offload the musical idea, you have to either use usb or bluetooth. The usb connection doesn't seem to be the most stable, and the app to use the bluetooth is glitchy on its best day. In my use of it, it seems to be more of an ordeal to use as intended than it's worth. It'll probably be the next pedal I stick up on Reverb.

If you can get the riff recorder to work like it's supposed to, you can cycle through the riffs you've saved using the skip buttons and play the one you want on the pedal. That seems to work, except that it's a pain to have to reach down and poke the pedal every time you want to play something different. Or, if all the stars are aligned, the moon is full, and the planets are in your favor, the bluetooth piece will work and you can find the riff you want and play it from your phone. When it works, it's really cool. However, my experience has been that the bluetooth/app part of it is a lot more miss than hit.

My initial thought after having bought the Recorder and having so many issues with the usb and bluetooth was that I just got a bad one and needed to swap it out. Then I started looking online, and there are either a LOT of bad ones out there or a lot of folks that were having the same problems as I. At this point, I don't think it's because I got a Friday afternoon version of the pedal. I think that the pedal is a great concept. just wasn't well executed. And have I mentioned that it's not a looper?

What are you looking to use the tool for? Keep in mind that the Riff Recorder is not designed to be a looper. It's a recorder. You can use it to loop, but it's not nearly as efficient at doing so as a looper. If you're looking for something simple and efficient to use as a practicing tool, I'd advise that you not get the Wire Tap. If you're looking for something to record some musical ideas or riffs or songs for passing along to others or to chronicle your progress, I'd still say to avoid the Wire Tap and get a handy recorder (Zoom makes some good ones) or just use your phone. have I made it clear that imho the Wire Tap is pretty useless?

Sorry for the length, I just believe that the Wire Tap would be a total waste of money and my experience has been that it's more frustrating than anything because it never quite works as advertised. However, as with anything that you read on the world wide interwebs, ymmv.
 

Steve F.

Blues newbie
Thanks to both of you. Looks like I'll leave the recorder at the store. Will definitely check out the Donner.
Saw a lot of recommendations for the Boss RC-1 but was looking to save a few dollars.
The idea of losing what I played was the main sticking point for the Ditto. But if I think about it having to replay my rhythm track would probably be more of a benefit at this point in my learning.
Thanks again and if there are any others with a good looper at a reasonable price chime in. Probably going to put this on a Christmas list. Because my wife says I never put fun stuff for her to buy on my list.
 

Crossroads

Thump the Bottom
So a bigger jump in price is the DigiTech jamman stereo. Think I paid 180 on sale for mine 8 years ago. You might be able to find a used one on Reverb. Holds 35 hours and 200 loops, so you can copy your jam tracks and loops to your computer back and forth as well
The jamman solo I think is about half the price but it still holds 35 hours with an SD card.
A lot of other features that I won't go into here, if you're interested there are videos out there on it. Good luck.
 

Steve F.

Blues newbie
@Elio Thanks for the info. Way beyond me for now. Will keep it in mind for the future. By the way I have a great live version of Too many dirty dishes by Tab Benoit.
 

sloslunas

NM Blues
Two paws up on the Jamman Stereo.
Bonuses are:
1. Massive storage capability
2. You can plug two guitars into it and play both through a single input amp (Huge bonus for when your friends come over).
3. It has an XLR input for your mic

Steve
 

artyman

Fareham UK
I've had a Nux Loop Core for several years and it is a great looper pedal with the ability to store 99 tracks, and you can load BT's into it from a PC
 

Ted_Zeppelin

I’ll agree with you so that both of us are wrong.
Ditto x4 user here and I love it. I never save any of the loops that I create. I just use it as practice for creating a rhythm track and then soloing over it. Any recording that I do is done on my PC.
 

Mickey Duane

Used To Be A Rock Star
It's a jump in price but another option is a Digitech Trio+, which will create a drum and bass track to go along with your rhythm playing. I have the first generation, which does not have the built-in looper, but it does maintain the bass and drums when unplugged, so I would assume that the Trip+ would also maintain the looped content.

https://www.amazon.com/Digitech-TRI...?keywords=digitech+trio&qid=1572465071&sr=8-3
-
Hello - I bought the digitech trio+ used for 50 bucks although new they are 250 to 349

It saves 12 songs or loops on a sd card - so if you have more songs or loops just swip out sd cards. You also can multi layer your loops IE... I put down a guitar in one key progression - moved it up an octive and put it over it so it sounds like two guitars. You also can change the tem[o and beats and such. It also has the abiltiy to record up to 5 different parts of a song - Mine also came with an extra foot switch to switch to the different parts (although it is a bit tricky to get the timing down and such). Also you can run the drums and bass and looped parts thru the PA system so it is not all running in your amp. It is a pretty cool device but takes a bit to learn how to use it and such

good luck

Peace
 

blackcoffeeblues

Student Of The Blues
a Digitech Trio+
I just bought one of those---even came with the FS-3 pedal--for sixty bucks off some old man (2 years older than me) he bought it new and he had only used it once. I am anxious to give it a try.---I also have the DITTO looper---(that I have never tried either). But I did notice the the Ditto loop is good for 6 minute---(if I read there page right ) that is longer than most loopers-from what I have read???
 

Elio

Student Of The Blues
I just bought one of those---even came with the FS-3 pedal--for sixty bucks off some old man (2 years older than me) he bought it new and he had only used it once. I am anxious to give it a try.---I also have the DITTO looper---(that I have never tried either). But I did notice the the Ditto loop is good for 6 minute---(if I read there page right ) that is longer than most loopers-from what I have read???

The Trio is really fun. You just need to play the chord progression into it and then select the genre, style and tempo you want. After that, it will loop the drums and bass. If you have the Trio+, it will also loop your own playing. I have the original Trio, which I use with my JamMan XT looper so that I can combine my rhythm loop together with drums and bass. I know that JamMan XT Express that I have can do 10 minutes but I haven't really compared it to others.
 

blackcoffeeblues

Student Of The Blues
Mine is the original also...and it does sound like a pretty cool unit--The trio + is a little costly--(but probably worth the$$$)---I have never used a JamMan so I can't really make a comment on it...I am looking forward to using both of them.
 

brent

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
I have a Ditto x 2 looper. It does have the ability to save a loop for later play. You can only save one at a time, however, it comes with a USB cord and the ability to connect to your computer. You can keep as many loops as you want on your computer and swap them out as needed. I usually don't ever use that feature. I mostly use mine as Ted-Zepplin does. I just make a loop in real time and practice with it. Occasionally I will save a chord progression to practice over for a few weeks, if I am trying to learn a particular solo or something.
 

Fro68

Okie
There is a seller on ebay selling the Trio + and the separate two button footswitch for $19.99. I thought what the hey, for 19 bucks I'll try it. Hit the buy it now and received a tracking number from china. There's a few more available if anyone wants to join my gamble.
 

steve o

Student Of The Blues
:mad: Dam counterfeiters. I won’t get into my personal thoughts on counterfeit music equipment. Good luck.
 

brent

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
:mad: Dam counterfeiters. I won’t get into my personal thoughts on counterfeit music equipment. Good luck.

That's what I was thinking. For that price? Too good to be true. Probably not a very good counterfeit, either, for that price.
 

TwoNotesSolo

Student Of The Blues
I just gave away a Donner looper in another thread, sorry I hadn't seen this thread or I might have posted here.

I own the Ditto and the Donner has longer record time and the 1/2 speed playback could be useful. I have never ran out of time with the Ditto though, I don't use it to record entire songs.

I also have this newer Donner model: https://www.donnerdeal.com/products/donner-triple-looper-guitar-pedal?_pos=4&_sid=8185e7e44&_ss=r
I think it's worthh the extra money over the other Donner and still 1/2 the price of the Ditto (it's up to you to decide if you would rather buy Danish or Chinese). The visual indicator of where you are in the loop is really useful, it can record 3 different tracks, and having text to indicate what more you're in is nice. Same footswitch usage as the Ditto so easy to switch between the two.

Jamman and Trio, etc... are great tools but not "basic loopers" and I sold my jamman after buying the Ditto (before the Dinners). I just find that it does everything I need it for.
 
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