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 
Keep in mind that the manual says the following: How to Use LOOP SYNC – Loop Sync allows loops of different lengths to synchronize to start at the beginning of the longest loop. You still have to have one loop that acts as the master in terms of loop length. I thought the video here was a tiny bit confusing about that. It’s pretty similar if not the same as the RC-50. I’ll have to check. I basically played a short loop into section 1. When I tried to record a longer loop in section 2 it would allow me to do that. I had to have a loop the same or short in length. This is the same as the RC-50 I think.
Hi Jim how to use rc-300 for recording real druming?
Thanks!
Ok! I found that when you go into Track 1 you can set the measures so 4 for example. Then you can record a 1 measure loop but it will be copied or repeated it seems over the course of 4 measure. Then you can record up to a 4 measure loop into the second section. Of course most will record a long loop into the first section but you can record a short one like in my case if so desired.
Boss Rc-300 unboxing video!
Boss RC-300 Demo
Jim, how to get the drum part on track 2 ?
Thanks
Dirk (cramerdirk@aol.com)
Hi Dirk! I’m not sure I understand you here. Are asking about how to record a drum track on track 2 using the internal rhythm guide or simply recording a drum loop using an external device? I actually don’t use the internal guides that much rather I like to use either an imported WAV drum loop, or record one using one of my drum machines. Thanks! – Jim
RC-300でTRIXのMiller LightのAメロ近辺だけ一人で弾いてみた
Bass Guitar and the Boss RC-300 in action!!
NIce video here of Boss RC-50 versus Boss RC-300
BOSS RC-300 TUTORIAL 1 – setting up your system by ELIJAH MC
In this 1st part of the BOSS RC-300 Tutorial series we cover
The play/record Modes
The Measure numbers
The FX
and the undo redo function
Hey man thanks for the useful info. I came across a problem while figuring out the rc300. When I assign an fx on track 1 and wanna assign another one to track 2, the first assigned fx disappear. any tips? thanks
Boss RC-300 Demo # 3 – Using the Boss FS-6 and Roland EV-5 pedals with the Boss RC-300.
Hi,
I have the same equipment that you:
1-Boss 300
2- FS-6
3- Ev-5 : ? Question: What parametres need to modif in the Boss 300
Thanks
Leo / Florida
Today I spent some time importing some wav files into the Boss RC-300 and noticed a few things.
1. You need to have the WAV files in 16bit linear format.
2. The WAV files must be in stereo and not mono.
3. The WAV files must have the correct sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz.
More information is on page 36 and 47 of the Boss RC-300 manual.
Speaking of importing WAV files into the RC-300 at 16bit 44.1khz, it would appear, based on info in the RC-50 User Manual and the RC-300 User Manual, that the RC-50 is a 24-bit device (AD/DA), while the RC-300 is strictly a 16bit device. Since both machines record at the sample sample rate (44.1khz), the question of sound quality difference between the two lies in the 24bit vs. 16bit converters (surrounding analog op-amp circuitry notwithstanding).
So, I would think the question everyone should be asking is, what is the difference in recording sound quality. These are recording devices. Sound quality is paramount!
Glad that you mentioned the undo/redo option. I was sceptical when compairing the 300 to the 50 as noone was mentioning this option on the 300 and I noticed tuere was no undo/redo foot controll. Also, How does one now switch hetween phrases? ie verse to chorus to bridge?
the gt → bass effekt doesnt really work fine at my rc 300. I use an acoustic guitar and at the most notes you can hear some weird notes in addition, like when you play three notes on a bass at the same time. Is there a solution or why would this effekt fail?
HI, I’m a bit new with this technology. I’m using the RC-300 and having problems figuring out the tracks settings.I setup “track sync ” “on”, so to my understanding, the loop will playback continuously until I decide to stop it.I noticed that I need to set the measure for the loop. It seem that even I done that, the loop wont playback without a time delay toward the end of the loop. Also, it appears that the drum sound quality is very poor, unless I just don’t know how to set it up to make them sound good.Maybe the drum patterns are just for “metronome” purposes .
Hey Jim. Thanks for the informative write up.
I’m in Japan, too.
Do you know if the RC300 will sync to a drum machine like the DSI Tempest?
Thanks
Hi Philip,
The only sync success stories I’ve experienced is when the Boss RC-50 and RC-300 are set to master while the drum machine or any other sequencer is set to slave. With my Gibson Echoplex and Lexicon Jamman, I’ve had no issues with these two items in slave mode with a drum machine as master. With that said, I’ve yet to fully experiment with the new RC-300 but likely it will work best as master and not slave. I think most people wish to slave the RC-300 and that’s where a lot of the negative stories come into play. I just don’t think the RC-50 and RC-300 were meant to be slaved to another machine. – Jim
Just got my new RC-300 and have alot of questions 🙂
Anyone now if its possible to set up the RC-300 to:
Play only one of the tracks at the same time.
Stop a track automaticly after it runs one time?
Anyone now a good dicustion forum where they already are have stuff to read about using the RC-300, thats the best way to learn about it I think.
Regards
Dag
Is there anywhere to get songs, with separate track wavefiles, to load into the rc-300? It would be useful to load up some pre-recorded tunes.
This may be a stupid question.. I’ve seen a lot of people simply hitting the RECpedal, without setting a pulse or a beat. Whenever i try to do that, most of the time my loop has the wrong tempo. Is there any way to just hit REC and start looping without setting the tempo or beat before?
Bit of a late reply but in case anyone else reads, the answer to both your questions is yes you can. Under memory edit there’s a setting you can set to single track play, this ensures only one track plays at a time.
Under each track settings there is a play mode which you can set to one shot to only play the track once I.e stop after one play
HTH. For info I’ve had the rc300 for about 5 months having previously looped with a line6 dl4 for years. Particularly when you get into memory assignments it’s amazing what you can get this machine to do e.g automatically stop and clear a track when you hit record on another track etc
Has anyone been able to sync the rc-50 with the rc-300 where the 50 is the master or vice versa?
Just bought a second Boss RC-300. I’m now working on how these two actually work together and stay in sync.