As long as we're talking about impulsive purchases... MIDI Captain

baimun

baimun

Funkasaurus Rex
I just ordered one of these... but NOT for controlling an FX rig like most people would (My Kemper already handles that just fine).

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A while back I bought the Areos Loop Studio and in some ways it's WAY more advanced than my Boomerang III... but function-wise, I still find myself relying on my Boomerang live and only use the Aeros when practicing.

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I have the Aeros set up in a way that's very similar to my Boomerang so I can start a short rhythm loop, record or overdub a longer loop... I can toggle over to an alternate track and then back, and either one can stop/start all. Both require a press and hold to erase... but currently the Aeros requires a second tap to confirm the erase.

The pros of the Aeros over the Boomerang is the big screen in the middle with the multi-color wave form (depending on recording, playing, overdubbing, muting, etc) and a vertical bar that shows the start|stop of each loop phrase where the Boomerang just has little blinking LEDs.

Pros of the Boomerang... currently easier to start/stop all or any one of three different loops. Also the stop button can be held for a fade out... and a single hold on the overdub button to erase all.

With the Midi Captain I should be able to program these 10 buttons to do ALL the controls that I need for the Aeros... Stop all, Lock/Unlock the first track, Record/Play/Overdub on any of the tracks, Mute any individual track, as well separate controls for fade out or Erase All... and it has more buttons for $100 less than the Midi Buddy that Singular Sounds makes as a companion to the Aeros. :baimun:

This also means the Looper itself could sit up higher on my Keyboard rack or something where the screen is more visible if I want to use more than the 2x2 loops. I also like that (unlike the single color functions on the Midi Buddy) the rings around the buttons on the Captain light up in various colors depending on page/function/status... which is more inline with my Kemper.

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It got here last night and I was up late dinking with it….

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Originally I thought I would put the Aeros up high and leave the Midi Captain at my feet, but I underestimated the flexibility of the factory switches having different functions under tap/hold which I don’t see how to do with the MC at this point. Maybe the Singular Sound can do those tap/hold things as well… but I think I would still rather use this combo because of the way I can set the colors of each ring, and set them for momentary, latching, or send multiple commands at once.

Currently I’m using the Aeros the way I was before, but now I can lock or unlock the first loop (so it carries over to the next song part if I want), I can record/overdub/cancel on either of the channels, and set two separate buttons to mute/unmute either channel.

I also reprogrammed the far two buttons to be Stop All/Start instead of page up/down. Out of the box the buttons can go up and down 16 pages (Where all the colors would come in handy)… so the other 8 buttons can become 128. I don’t like page flipping on my board, so this prevents the buttons from changing.
 
Got the rest of the buttons programmed, sorted, and working VERY well with the Aeros.

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Besides the color of each button being programmable, you can stack multiple commands on the pressing and releasing of each switch. I was able to make the two top row middle buttons act as mute on/0ff for Track 1&3 while the other is Track 2&4 so the buttons work regardless if I’m looping the verse, chorus, or bridge.

Likewise… The “Oh Shit Stop” button is in the lower corner, and the PLAY button is also stacked with “unmute” so If I mute a track to do a breakdown part, when the parts kick back in I don’t have to worry if something is still muted. :baimun:
 
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