Today I just splurged and picked up the new Boss RC-300 for use with my keyboards and guitar. It’s selling fast here in Japan and the store I nearby was holding one for me so I thought I would jump on it while it was available.
I haven’t fired it up yet, but the looks of it is very similar to the Boss RC-50 in size. I really don’t think it’s all that big but I’m speaking from a synth player perspective. I know guitarists fill up floor space more so it’s more of an issue.
I have the Boss RC-50 and use it quite a bit but I just had to get this especially after the review on youtube posted below. There are some features that I really am craving for and I think the RC-300 will due just the trick. I’ll try to post both a comparison between the RC-50 and RC-300 plus post a video perhaps of how I use it with keyboards. Stay tuned!
Here is the Boss RC-300 Loop Station Training Guide in PDF format:
http://cms.rolandus.com/assets/media/pdf/RC-300_Training_Guide.pdf
You can find the Boss RC-300 Loop Station Manual here:
http://www.roland.com/support/article/?q=manuals&p=RC-300
For those interested in comparing the Boss RC-50 and RC-300, you can download the RC-50 manual here:
http://www.roland.com/support/article/?q=manuals&p=RC-50
The Boss RC-300 Loop Station offers a lot of dynamic flexibility. I’m really looking forward to working with it and seeing how it compares to the Boss RC-50. I may even try and midi up my Boss RC-50 with the RC-300 to see if it syncs well. There could be lots of possibilities there.
UPDATE #1: I’m really loving the Boss RC-300. It’s super simple to use and sounds fantastic. Each of the three pedal groups can be individually controlled which I really like. In each group if you press the left pedal for 2 seconds you can undo the last loop or overdub you created. If you press down for 2 seconds again it brings back the loop you erased. The right stop pedal stops the loop for that group, but if you also hold it down for 2 seconds or more it will delete the loops in the group entirely. This is easy for deleting loops. Be careful though! If you accidentally step on the wrong pedal for longer than two seconds you can delete your loop. I did this once already. Otherwise, this separate group functionality is really easy to use.
Note that I use the Boss RC-300 for keyboards and it works really well. I sync the RC-300 with either my Korg EMX-1 or ESX-1 and then I have three loop tracks for additional sounds. It’s amazing what can be done now with all of this looping technology.
Jim Atwood in Japan 