Dual Boss RC-300 Loop Stations

Dual Boss RC-300 Loop Stations

This week I found another Boss RC-300 at an old secondhand shop in Nagano-city. I actually use my first Boss RC-300 quite extensively and probably will never sell it unless something better comes along. Although I love the RC-505 Loopers, you can’t effectively use it with your feet. So the Boss RC-300 is still “the Boss” for the floor..laugh. What I wanted to do was understand better how to sync the two RC-300 Loop Stations together as explained in the manual. After working with the pair for about an hour I discovered some important points about this setup.

Most importantly is, YES, two RC-300 Loop Stations sync perfectly when setup exactly as indicated in the manual. Set the slave to sync via midi and make sure the Sync All Start/Stop is set to Start/Stop. Also make sure of course that your midi cables are setup properly with the Master out going to the Slave in. You only need one connection from the Master to the Slave.

One MAJOR omission from the manual is that you cannot have the master in “Singular Track Mode”. Singular Track Mode is where you run each of the three tracks in singular fashion rather than layering them. The reason is that when you press the “All Start/Stop” on the Master, it will NOT start the Slave RC-300. You must have it in Layer “Multi” Mode and THEN it will start the Slave RC-300. Now the Slave RC-300 can either be in Track or Layer Mode. It doesn’t matter which, so this is nice as you can then use the slave for your Track Mode if necessary.

On the other hand, you CAN set the Master to Singular Track Mode and it will send the midi clock signal to the slave RC-300. It just won’t start playing any of the tracks. This isn’t a problem if you don’t mind starting the tracks on your own. If you then press “all stop” on the Master, it will successfully stop all tracks.

Basically, my initial plan was to put three different drum loops on the Master RC-300. I then wanted one Bass Loop running on the Slave. I wanted the Track 1 drums to start and have the Track 1 bass start at the same time, however this won’t work as the Master RC-300 is in Singular Track Mode. If I set it to Multi Mode, then all three drum tracks will start playing along with the Track 1 Bass on the Slave. So I basically have to start the drums and THEN step over and start the Track 1 of the Slave if I want it to work my way. Indeed it all will be in perfect sync but it literally means I have to add an extra step…laugh.

Everything else so far works great and MUCH better than trying to sync a Boss RC-50 with the RC-300.

Stay tuned for further updates as I research this setup a bit more.

Nord Lead 2 OS v1.06 Upgrade

Nord Lead 2 v1.06 Chip

Wow! Long time no post!

I picked up a used Nord Lead 2 this week in Japan. They are VERY cheap in here compared to the States, so I’ve been lucky to now have three in my arsenal. I happen to really like the Nord Lead 2 the best actually which I’ll probably explain in a later post. The latest OS version is 1.06 while the oldest is v1.03 if correct. I have two synths on v1.06 but this latest NL2 came with the old v1.03. I found out that the chip used with the version 1.03 NL2 was an ST M27C4001 DIP32 chip made in Singapore. The v1.06 chips are AMD AM27C040 DIP32 chips made in Malaysia. I decided to rip both the v1.03 and v.106 OS to create .bin backup files. I then proceeded to erase the v1.03 EPROM chip using a UV Light Eraser. I was then successfully able to burn a new v1.06 chip using my MiniPro IC chip burner which has been working fantastic. I’ve burned so many chips with that thing. Upon powering up the Nord Lead 2, I was able to see the v1.06 version pop up onto the screen. After testing the sounds, everything seemed to work great. To order a chip from someone with the latest v1.06 OS on Ebay would have cost me about $50 plus a week or two of waiting. I found swapping the OS versions using the original chip worked out great. I highly recommend investing in an IC Chip Burner and UV Light eraser. It really makes updating, programming, and working with your own IC chips much easier and of course less expensive.

By the way, I’m back on the blog front after a nine month hiatus attempting to move my “growing” family from Japan back to the United States. After several setbacks and a few turn of events, I’ve decided to stay put in Japan. I’m so very glad to be out of the job search and agony of deciding whether to move or not. Ultimately I decided to follow the idea that if you’re life ain’t broken, the stop trying to fix it…laugh. Now I’m happily back into music stronger than ever.

Hope to respond to comments and add new posts regularly from May. Thanks everyone for the continued support and viewing of my blog. – Jim