Playing live to backing tracks... is there a pedal that does this?

chrishill901

I've tried searching for this but I can't think of the right terms! Basically I want to start gigging, playing guitar over chillout backing tracks, probably in a pub/restaurant environment while people eat. Think unobtrusive songs like Samba Pa Ti by Carlos Santana and Riviera Paradise by SRV.

Basically I'll be running an Atomic Amplifire into a PA Speaker and I could just make a playlist on my iPod but I want a little more control. Im looking for a stompbox where the footswitch would trigger the beginning of the track (so I could do songs that had guitar instrumental intros and just stomp when I'm ready for the backing track to come in.) I would also need it to not autoplay the next track but require me to stomp it in. I don't really need anything else, no looper, no special controls, no through for a guitar. I'm happy to run it in its own chain as the PA speaker I'll be using has 2 inputs.

Does anything like this exist?

Danny1969

You can use a Roland SPS sampling pad and control it with you feet, that's what I do. Max sample time is 12 mins I think so long enough for most songs. 

It's got 9 pads, six of which are easily hitable with your feet, use say pad 1 for timing ref, start the intro then when your ready hit pad 2 to bring in the track ........ I always use the last pad as a kill everything pad

chrishill901

Hmm functionally that is great but it seems rather an expensive solution given the only basic functionalist I require... surely there is something for less?

paganskins

The TC Helicon Voicelive3 Extreme can do it but again not cheap, is there any scope to using tech you have already like an iPad or laptop/macbook etc?

chrishill901

Yeah I have a macbook which is my fallback, I was just looking for a more elegant solution and one that was foot controllable so i didnt have to reach over while playing to start a backing track (say for example I play Riviera Paradise that has a guitar intro, I'd sooner be able to trigger the backing track coming in by foot than by hand)

EricTheWeary

Have a look at the Airturn pedals that start from about £60. Not that I've ever used one but they give remote (Bluetooth) control over tablets, iPods, etc, so I'm pretty sure they could work iTunes and an app with chord charts as well if need be. 

EricTheWeary

The first few YouTube clips were all about reading church music but this one uses airturn to control iTunes playlists.
 ( play, pause, go back a track, go forward a track ,etc) There are several different airturn pedals so you'd need to check which one did exactly what you wanted. 

ICBM

Probably more than you want in terms of functionality, but the Boss RC-30 Loop Station can do this, if you simply treat each of your backing tracks as a loop sample. It can store up to three hours of music as up to 99 separate samples, although obviously you would be using less.

firepaulmusic

ICBM said:

Probably more than you want in terms of functionality, but the Boss RC-30 Loop Station can do this, if you simply treat each of your backing tracks as a loop sample. It can store up to three hours of music as up to 99 separate samples, although obviously you would be using less.

I use a similar thing in the same way - Digitech Jamman. Pick one up for less than £100 used.

chrishill901

Some very interesting suggestions, thank you! I've never heard of airturn before but it looks like a great product. My only concern would be the response time over Bluetooth... there'd be a short gap between pressing play and it playing on the iPad and if I'm triggering it after an intro i may struggle to time it right!

the jamman is interesting as I tried to look into that but couldn't find out if it did do that. It's a great option too! Does the Boss RC-3 have a similar function?

i also found this which is certainly the least aesthetically pleasing of the options but I like its functionality. Sometimes you don't want to stick rigidly to your set and this would allow me to go to whatever song I wanted 

http://baktrakpedal.co.uk/

i suppose the argument would be however, at that price, that I'd get more for my money with a jamman as I'd have a looper too

ICBM

chrishill901 said:

Does the Boss RC-3 have a similar function?

It does appear to. I thought it would be more basic like the older RC-2, but it seems to have the same 3hr/99 phrase memory as the 30. I did find the RC-2 an absolute pig to use though - the single footswitch for all the functions was just too awkward.

Voxman

ICBM said:

chrishill901 said:

Does the Boss RC-3 have a similar function?

It does appear to. I thought it would be more basic like the older RC-2, but it seems to have the same 3hr/99 phrase memory as the 30. I did find the RC-2 an absolute pig to use though - the single footswitch for all the functions was just too awkward.

I just sold my RC3 recently as I didn't use it - & yes, it had 99 memory slots, 3 hrs of recording, and 10 drum beats.  On its own with just the single pedal it is awkward to use.  But the RC3 can be connected to two inexpensive latching pedals  which gives you all the switching functionality you need for full 'single press' control.  Don't waste your money on the ridiculously overpriced Boss version (FS-5L, £38, or the double version the FS-6, £55).  I used two Bespeco VM22's that I bought when I had my Boss GT3, that clip together and cost me £5 each - great quality & do exactly the same thing!  The current price typically ranges from £10-19 each but DV247 sell them for £5.99 each.  

steamabacus

As mentioned, many modern loopers would do this easily. I'd recommend the Digitech JamMan SoloXT - each loop can be set to play once or loop (you'd want play once), There are 200 internal memory spaces (with 35 minutes recording time on internal memory) and another 200 spaces on an optional SD card (up to 32GB for over 30 hours of recording). All audio is fully stereo in full CD quality (wav) and can be managed with included software (usb connection to computer).

You can balance the recorded loop level with your guitar 'through' level with a volume knob on the pedal. For what you're planning, I'd recommend the optional FS3 footswitch (or make your own like I did - a very simple circuit) which will give you patch up and down footswitches to scroll through saved loops hands-free and a third footswitch for single press-to-stop loop (useful as the basic pedal requires a double press to stop).

Alternatively, if you could find one of the older 4-footswitch JamMans that will do everything you want in a slightly larger (but all in one) package. A saxophonist friend of mine uses one of these for exactly the task you have described - playing over stored backing tracks.

oktorockto

http://baktrakpedal.co.uk maybe worth a look

ICBM

oktorockto said:

http://baktrakpedal.co.uk maybe worth a look

Interesting, as it seems both simple/fairly foolproof and reasonably priced.