As often happens when I get a new toy, I’m anxious to try it out. So yes, that’s the first thing I did when I got home after work yesterday. I had some other plans as well, but first, the new Ditto Looper. So how is it?
Great. I was warned at Easy Music Center, the local shop I patronize, that as a neophyte looper I might prefer one with two switches, one being a dedicated off button, but it turned out I’m okay at stomping. It’s not all that hard…you stomp once for on, again for stop, twice for really stop, three-two-one-three-one for real confusion, and…nah, it’s easy.
Here’s the thing. For some reason with the looper on my Trio+ I could never quite get my timing right. I can when I use it with the Band in a Box feature, but not when using it just a looper. It’s me I’ll grant, but still. I had no such trouble with the Ditto. I’m not perfect, but I can get a pretty seamless rhythm track going. My neophyte secret…
- Use a metronome.
- Play through once, or at least the ending before ‘starting over.’ That is, don’t begin playing and recording at the same time – play for a bit first then come back to the start and loop.
That’s it…no big secret.
But sadly, this has brought out something else I need in my signal chain…sigh…always, eh? I need a decent DI. I have several guitars with pickups now, the Martin has the Baggs M80 which is pre-amped. The others, not so much. So…back to the store for more.
What happened to just playing a nice acoustic guitar?