Took a while... but looks like the Aeros will become my go-to looper (Midi and config setting inside)

[Baimun]

Full disclosure… I’ve had the Aeros for about a year, but call it “old habits” or “familiarity”, I’ve been practicing with it, but other than 3 or 4 gigs, had still been relying on my Boomerang III for most shows.

I’m used to playing a rhythm loop with one of the dual outputs from different guitars, like T5 clean acoustic, then overdub some smacks on the body where they piezo picks up, then adding longer sync’d tracks or alternating tracks, singing, dialing up the magnetic pickup (custom install with dual outputs), and then having full control over stops/fadeouts/clearing tracks to start over. Having a couple less buttons requiring press/hold/tap a different key was tripping me up from having a clean stress-free show. I probably could have made my life easier with the Midi Buddy but I was a bit concerned with a couple of the buttons being “back to main menu” or not being able to tell which button is which while singing with the scribble pads at each button all the same color.

Flash forward to the present, and I happened to be programming a Midi Captain for a different application (was planning on the color coded rings to change colors along with an MPC with samples) and thought I might be able to solve some of my struggles with the Aeros.

Currently Using 2x2 Freeform, no metronome or count in, several copies stored locally and on the SIM so if I dork one up in a show, just select another and move on. I use this method so I can record my first loop at whatever speed/groove/feel I want and then all my longer loops are sync’d. The following combinations of Midi settings were just what I needed (and again, the Midi Buddy would probably have made this a no-brainer, but I’m working with the tools I had at hand):

The Four Aeros buttons are the standard:
Stop/Erase all (confirmation turned off to speed up the process… and I set the switches to “release” to prevent a blip of music playing while erasing)
Next Part
R/P/O Track 2
R/P/O Track 1

Then the Midi controls right next to it start with:
Lock1: CC 47. 1 (This can choose to lock or unlock Loop 1 to ride to part 2 before or during song)
Redo: CC 37. 0 (Undo/redo active recording. I know you can press and hold to do the same, but this responds faster and I like having dedicated “oh shit” buttons.)

Next two pairs are R/P/O duplicates of the Track 2 / Track 1 buttons but it’s nice to have them in the middle of this “edit palette” illuminated for dark stages. Once the groundwork is laid, I move over to these buttons until the song is over… keeping my toes away from the Stop/Erase All button.
RPO2: CC 41.102
RPO1: CC 41. 101

Directly above those two are Mutes for each track. The pedal I’m using can stack multiple change commands on one press, so I can combine the commands for Mute2: CC 38. 2 - CC 38. 4 so it will mute the second track on either part I’m in.
Mute1: CC 38. 1 - CC 38. 3

The last essential buttons are STOP ALL: CC 43. 127
and another stacked command: CC 43. 1 - CC 38.127

The one is obviously a stop immediate, while the other starts the loop again while unmuting any currently muted tracks if there are any. (anyone who live loops on the reg will recognize that you often break down a bridge or prechorus… and then come back in with guns blazing.

Hope this helps any others that may have struggled with any of those settings… Looking forward to my next Live Looping gig… with the Aeros no longer coming off the bench, but becoming a starting lineup All Star!

[Baimun]

Just for some more background… my years of doing bars, casinos, weddings, and corporate shows has made me into one of those guys that brings backups for my backups. I’ve had digital mixers get loaned out during the week and returned an hour before a show and I’m trying to re-load channel configs and monitor mixes 15 minutes before soundcheck because the renter decided to factory wipe the board AND the backups.

So besides my ring of thumb drives in my pelican gig case, I have stuff like a Notes listing on my Phone for all of these Midi settings or any other “in case of emergency - break glass” type notes in one tidy list to make it easier to bang through them in order if I have to.

[BFRedrocks]

@Baimun

Currently Using 2x2 Freeform, no metronome or count in, several copies stored locally and on the SIM so if I dork one up in a show, just select another and move on. I use this method so I can record my first loop at whatever speed/groove/feel I want and then all my longer loops are sync’d.

I’ve had my Aeros for awhile and never used Freeform. Are you saying that I can start recording in Freeform with a rhythm played at whatever tempo I choose, and then subsequent tracks will be “quantized” to that first track tempo, or are you still just playing “in time” with all the tracks as you record?

[Baimun]

@BFRedrocks Yes, it will detect the length of the first loop and I believe there is some quantizing going on… because when I start recording the first loop, it’s just blank space to the right of the record cursor, but once I commit that first loop (I have the buttons set to R/P/O) it automatically adds the hash marks for the length and subdivisions of that loop.

When I start recording loop 2, it’s really easy to see when to end at the loop or a multiple of that shorter loop. It’s the way I’ve been looping for years so I’m more comfortable… particularly when laying down reggae or something that has a swing. I don’t always begin and end my loops on the 1… Reggae always seems tighter if I start/stop on the AND.

[Baimun]

Youtube: Isn’t the Set Break Over?.. Oops.

Here’s a short goof from a challenging place to play… At least once a year, one of my bands will play on a floating barge at a sandbar. Depending on the weather, I’ve been hit in the face/teeth/ear with my mic… I’ve almost fallen over mid-song… a different drummer sat back too far and almost went in the lake, you get the picture.

Came back from set break, was done tuning and warming up… thought I heard the drummer tapping his djembe over my shoulder, so I started a song. I get to the first bridge and realize… oops… that’s just one of our friends dinking around on the the drum with his girlfriend there. No drummer or bass player… so I record a short loop, tap some rhythm into the body, and continue the song by myself.

[BrennanSingularSound]

@Baimun

Flash forward to the present, and I happened to be programming a Midi Captain for a different application (was planning on the color coded rings to change colors along with an MPC with samples) and thought I might be able to solve some of my struggles with the Aeros.

Awesome, thanks for sharing all this!

@BFRedrocks

Are you saying that I can start recording in Freeform with a rhythm played at whatever tempo I choose, and then subsequent tracks will be “quantized” to that first track tempo, or are you still just playing “in time” with all the tracks as you record?

This is done by turning on the Sync Tracks setting, all tracks will be multiples of the first recorded track if length is synced and if start is synced the start points of the recordings will also be synced, this setting also works in Quantized mode.

You can also choose to take this further by actually creating a quantized song part from a freeform recording by setting the Song Grid Mode song setting to Auto. This automatically quantizes a track to a tempo by analyzing the start and length. There are several other parameters involved, read more about Autoquantize in the Features and Behaviors section of the manual.

Sync Tracks

The Aeros will designate the current longest track in Quantized/Auto mode or the shortest track in freeform as the base track. The base track will decide the behavior of the other tracks around it.

Sync Length:

After the first track is recorded, all tracks will be forced to be proportional to the length of the base track. In Quantized mode, all tracks will be forced to be any whole number multiple (x2, x3, x4, Etc) or whole number unit fraction (1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, Etc) of the base track.

For example, if the base track is 12 measures long, other tracks will be forced to be either 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, 24, 36, etc. measures long depending on when the end recording/start playback command is received. In freeform, all tracks will be whole number multiples of the base track (no fractions allowed).

A new track recording can be started at the beginning of the next measure in Quantized mode or immediately in Freeform so this feature only affects when recording stops and playback begins.

Sync Start and Length:

In addition to the Sync Length rules above, after the first track is recorded in the song part, all new recordings will begin at the next start of the longest track loop in the song part.

Autoquantize

Turn on Autoquantize mode by choosing the ‘Auto’ option in the ‘Song Grid Mode’ song setting when creating a new song or editing an empty one. A song can either be Quantized, Freeform or Auto.

Autoquantize mode will create a quantized song out of a freeform recording you make live. It does this on the fly!

The Aeros uses an algorithm to define the tempo of the recording you just made based on the start and stop point of your recording.

If you know how long your first track in the song part will be, you can use the ‘Set Length’ setting to decide how many measures the recording will be quantized to. This makes it possible to get a tempo within the 40-300BPM range. Set length can be a maximum of 16 measures.

If you do not know how many measures long your first track in the song part will be, make sure to have Set Length on Auto. If set to Auto, the Aeros will quantize your track to be either 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 measures in a Tempo range that you can set yourself. To set the Tempo Range use the ‘Auto BPM Range’ setting. The most common setting is 80-160BPM.

If the Multi-tempo song setting is enabled, you will set the Aeros to Autoquantize the first track of every part. If it is disabled, the Aeros will only Autoquantize the first track of the very first part and all other tempos in the other song parts will be based on that first song part tempo calculation.

Autoquantize as Transmitter

You can use the Aeros as the MIDI Transmitter (MIDI Master) while in an autoquantized song to control a device, like the BeatBuddy, to start playing back as soon as the track recording is started or committed and the Tempo (BPM) is set.

This makes for a very cool effect where you can come up with an idea on the fly and your drummer already knows the tempo and song form! We suggest setting Start: 1st Recording to Rec Commit (Settings > MIDI >MIDI Out) to send the MIDI Start command once the recording is committed.

To send MIDI Stop every time the Aeros changes to an empty song part you can enable the ‘Send Stop at Empty Part’ setting in the MIDI Out settings (Settings > MIDI > MIDI Out). You may want to do this to stop any drums or playback devices while you record a new autoquantized track in a new part. You likely would not want to hear the drums until your track has been recorded and the new tempo is set in the new song part.

[Baimun]

Thanks for the Detail assist @BFRedrocks … I probably messed around with Sync and Grid months ago until I got the settings to the “feel” I was used to (like learning about changing the stop and erase to lift to prevent that little >blip< of playback when erasing).

When it’s been a while, you sometimes have to dig through the menus and think “How did I do this again?” which is another reason I shared all this detailed info… so future forgetful me can look up my own FAQ to fix my own shit.

[Baimun]

Got super hyped and wired together a really tidy board and posted a pic of it here…

… before playtesting it at practice. [Post was deleted ]

Should know better than get over excited out of the gate… because it’s not until you’re standing in front of your mic, guitar in hand, that you realize which buttons are juuuuuust a bit too far right or left to start/stop comfortably while singing in the mic.

Or which buttons you need to look down to poke a toe at vs pivot a heel to tap.

Considering that my College days I played with ZERO pedals on the floor (had a tuner, delay, and phaser on top of the half stack… and then later a 2 space rack) I’ve gotten much better at making footswitching stuff intuitive to use on stage.

One thing I’ve done in the past is put a little wood spacer between the front lip of the road case, and the front edge of the pedals. The spacer had little “bumpers” (previously I cut little notches… going forward I’ll screw in short round plastic feet). These allowed me to slide my foot right or left and FEEL without looking down from the mic but without touching the switches, when it was in front of the buttons, and the smaller gap on the right if my toe hit the right bumper, the tuner was just ahead of my toe, or sliding to the right side, the wah was in reach.

When I finish Aeros Live Loop Station Beta vers 2, I’ll share another pic.

[jxsh]

@Baimun

One thing I’ve done in the past is put a little wood spacer between the front lip of the road case, and the front edge of the pedals. The spacer had little “bumpers” (previously I cut little notches… going forward I’ll screw in short round plastic feet). These allowed me to slide my foot right or left and FEEL without looking down from the mic but without touching the switches, when it was in front of the buttons, and the smaller gap on the right if my toe hit the right bumper, the tuner was just ahead of my toe, or sliding to the right side, the wah was in reach.

Interesting! Can you post a pic of this?