Super8Looper Tips & Tricks

[Regisfofo]

Hi there,
I really enjoy working with that powerfull jsfx but i've found it is not really that easy to understand, so here is the thread I would have loved to encounter when I first started using it.
I'll try to cover some bases I struggled to get, and then go to more in depth use. All using licecaps, hoping it's easy enough to get...
Please feel free to shime in if you can add other usefull intels!

First, let's be clear about some Super8 limitations :
-It does not loop midi, but you can still loop the audio output of your vsti
-It can record only limited time loops ( 83 seconds in my setup...)
-The UI of the Super8 must be displayed for some fonctions to work properly (the add to project fonction namely does require it)

Now let's go :


You can right click to change monitoring modes




You can right drag the controls in the grey boxes, the numbers are midi notes numbers




If you need to loop a Stereo channel, just set rec and play from two channels to the same midi notes and now you're looping stereo...




Embeded UI in TCP does looks nice and feels practical. (By the way, It does resolve the import to session bug too )




The next one is just amazingly powerfull, take your time to imagine the workflow it permits. You can trigger Super8 with notes in a midi item directly from the JSFX track.




There's no Undo fonctions for overdubs , here is a workaround : Don't overdub, you can route the same audio input to several Super8 channels instead.




So now maybe, you're running out of channels, don't worry you can Sync several Super8 instances together either using one of the channel to do so like that :




Or you can sync them to the project's grid using Gianni's input quantize JSFX

[Regisfofo]

[Place Holder]
I'm Working on some project template I'll post here when it will be ready.

[wakodoha]

Thanks!

[TonE]

Originally Posted by Regisfofo

[Place Holder]
I'm Working on some project template I'll post here when it will be ready.

Still not finished your project template after 3 years?

[mccrabney]

wow, great post! glad i caught this one, it inspires me to give it a try. I used to have a mobius template that I loved, but fell out of practice using

[Regisfofo]

Thanks,


I have yet to update it since last reaper updates took care of the stereo and the sync issues pretty neatly.

[sir Nowt]

Originally Posted by Regisfofo

I have yet to update it since last reaper updates took care of the stereo and the sync issues pretty neatly.

I've spent lots of time on a template (called 'SuperWaybackPlaytime' currently) which was inspired by this thread, and despite a mild amount of pain getting rid of a ton of redundancy thanks to the recent updates, things are much cleaner, although still probably a wee bit excessive. I still haven't really got my head around the two different sync options, or how I should best approaching the monitoring of the slots, but it's working nicely so far.

I'm using two sets of 3 Super8s, one for Vox, and one for Guitar/Bass, and two sets of 2 Super8s for the outputs of either VSTs, or the Maschine plug. I use a Quneo to enable/navigate around them, so a can re-use the same few FCB1010 pedals.

While the Super8s are handling the audio, Playtime is handling the MIDI, which can then be dumped into either of the two pairs of Super8s. A 2nd quneo

Anyhoo, thanks for the starting tips. I'll start a thread shortly, and share some files and stuffs, like a 6-Page iPad Lemur template for controlling sends, macro knobs, visualizing FX/tracks states, etc.

[ericzang]

looks cool thanks!

[schwa]

FYI if you hit the "edit" button on Super8 (and some other JSFX) you get some documentation.

// General notes:
// 8 channels of audio input (1 channel per channel)
// 9 channels of audio output (1 channel per channel, 9th channel is selected-channel-only monitoring output)

// 8 channels are all synchronized. You can turn each channel on and off and overdub on each channel.

// MIDI assignments are mappable by right-click-dragging them in the UI.
//   - right click to cycle note/CC/PC/off
//   - ctrl/cmd+right click to assign to the last MIDI event received
//
// for each channel:
//   - note1=if not recording, start record
//           if already recording (and initial length-setting pass), set length and continue (overdub)
//           if already recording (and length is set), go back to playback
//   - note2=toggle playback (stop/rec->play, play->stop)
//   - note3=toggle selected-for-monitoring
//   - note4=reverse loop
// Right click the channel's monitoring icon to go through off/auto/always-on. 
//   - I use 'off' for things like mic'd drums
//   - I use 'always-on' for stuff where the source should always be audible (usually looping is less important)

// extra buttons:
// - halve length
// - double length
// - double length (no repeat) -- if there's existing content after the current loop, it won't be overwritten
// - x-fade shortened loop: crossfade at the loop boundary, use after shortening a loop
//   fadesize sub-button (drag): fade this amount when halving loop or when running the 
//     x-fade shortened loop command.
//     If you intend to double (no repeat) back up, set to 0ms and accept the clicks.
// - play all: play all channels that have content, or if all channels that have content are playing, stop
// - rec/play selected: cycle the selected channel (or channels, if linked) between stop/record/play/stop
// - add to project: add active channels as .wav files to the end of the project, on their respective tracks,
//   setting the tempo accordingly. (!) This uses a new undocumented (except for this) JSFX API...
// - kill (click) -- delete ALL!

// top menu items:
// - sync: off: classic freeform mode.
//         project: synchronize loop length to project tempo/beat count. if project is playing back
//           then loop is synchronized
//         playback: full transport sync
// - offs/length: (classic freeform only) adjust start/end points of loop
// - click cnt: loop length in clicks. affects metronome output, visual click, and loop length
//              in synchronized modes
// - vclick: visual click, if click cnt is enabled, display offset (or off)
// - start gate: when recording the initial loop, use this gate value before starting recording 
//   (useful for hand-shortages)
// - latch: wait to run commands until next loop iteration

[kham]

Hi there ! Many thanks for your tutorial.
I'm playing live a doublebass solo.
https://youtu.be/WK0THAUvYqo
Reaper + super 8 looper + midi foot switch controler + multi out soundcard
It works really great !!! I play live and sync off. With that i can freely choose the tempo and the lenght of my loops accordind to my mood.
But is there a way to have loops playing together with different lenght ?
Cheers !

[mschnell]

Great !

-Michael

[Dave 2099]

I love Super8, props to Justin for giving us such a simple looping plugin.

I've come across some weird things that make me wonder if that's how Super8 works or if there are quirks in my Mac M1 Mini, or if it's something about how my FCB-1010 works, or how midi CC's work.

1 - Super8 would not recognize CC20 value 0 until I programmed a second CC20, so that there are two messages - value 0 and value 127. Is that just how CC messages work to toggle on/off? I haven't found any global setting I can change in my FCB that would seem to affect this.

2 - Super8 only seems to recognize midi channel 1. It didn't recognize my FCB until I added the JS midi channel router to route channel 3 to channel 1. Does Super8 only recognize channel 1, or do I have something weird going on?

Thanks in advance for any feedback, yall.

[Justin]

Originally Posted by Dave 2099

I love Super8, props to Justin for giving us such a simple looping plugin.

I've come across some weird things that make me wonder if that's how Super8 works or if there are quirks in my Mac M1 Mini, or if it's something about how my FCB-1010 works, or how midi CC's work.

1 - Super8 would not recognize CC20 value 0 until I programmed a second CC20, so that there are two messages - value 0 and value 127. Is that just how CC messages work to toggle on/off? I haven't found any global setting I can change in my FCB that would seem to affect this.

Hmm yes it does ignore CCs if the value is 0. Perhaps that's not ideal, but I'd hate to break live setups now, hmm...

There's a line:

  nextmsg_1 == 0xb0 ? ( nextmsg_1 = 0x90; nextmsg_2 += 129; ) :

If you want you can edit it to be:

  nextmsg_1 == 0xb0 ? ( nextmsg_1 = 0x90; nextmsg_2 += 129; nextmsg_3 = 127; ) :

2 - Super8 only seems to recognize midi channel 1. It didn't recognize my FCB until I added the JS midi channel router to route channel 3 to channel 1. Does Super8 only recognize channel 1, or do I have something weird going on?

Yeah, it only looks at channel 1. You could make it omni-channel by adding this line above the previously quoted line:

nextmsg_1 &= 0xf0;

[Dave 2099]

Cheers Justin, thanks for the fixes. I found workarounds so I was good but it's great that I don't need to send double CC messages. I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.

[TonE]

Originally Posted by kham

I'm playing live a doublebass solo.
https://youtu.be/WK0THAUvYqo
Reaper + super 8 looper + midi foot switch controler + multi out soundcard
It works really great !!! I play live and sync off. With that i can freely choose the tempo and the lenght of my loops accordind to my mood.

Beautiful how you improvise over the bassline in your above youtube video. Great musician friend! Thanks for sharing that great video. For making it more visible here we go:

[zacki]

Originally Posted by kham

Hi there ! Many thanks for your tutorial.
I'm playing live a doublebass solo.
https://youtu.be/WK0THAUvYqo
Reaper + super 8 looper + midi foot switch controler + multi out soundcard
It works really great !!! I play live and sync off. With that i can freely choose the tempo and the lenght of my loops accordind to my mood.
But is there a way to have loops playing together with different lenght ?
Cheers !

Very nice! Thanks for sharing.

[TonE]

Originally Posted by kham

But is there a way to have loops playing together with different lenght ?

Dear Kham, did you try Nabla Looper by another great musician, Esteban Morales?
I think with this you can do almost anything you want, any lengths, any type of preparation and later live playing with automated recording and automated stopping and automated looping. Worth trying for your situation.

Here videos:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_glcBFLb_vc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-o6TvvNddw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNcazVetdkk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Bs65Tw3XI


Here its forum thread:
https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=235592

[Regisfofo]

Originally Posted by kham

Hi there ! Many thanks for your tutorial.
I'm playing live a doublebass solo.
https://youtu.be/WK0THAUvYqo
Reaper + super 8 looper + midi foot switch controler + multi out soundcard
It works really great !!! I play live and sync off. With that i can freely choose the tempo and the lenght of my loops accordind to my mood.
But is there a way to have loops playing together with different lenght ?
Cheers !

Bonjour Kahm,
Bravo pour le solo, ça sonne super !
Pour ce que tu veux faire tu peux utiliser le paramètre div de chaque piste. Par exemple, si tu enregistres une première boucle de 4 mesure avec div=1, ensuite tu peux rajouter sur une autre piste une boucle d'une seule mesure si tu règles son div=4.
Si tu trouves que la synchro n'est pas super entre les deux pistes par rapport à ce que tu as joué, ajuste le RDC (Record Delay Compensation) de la deuxième piste par rapport à la latence de ton système.

Une astuce peut consister également à enregistrer d'abord une mesure sur la piste réglée sur div=4, et tu peux ensuite enregistrer directement une boucle de 4 mesure sur une piste avec div=1 sans avoir à utiliser le bouton 'double'. Bonne musique

[brk303]

Any clever way to use only one note for start and stop of looping ?

Note ON starts record
Note OFF stops

Same for playback:
Note ON starts playback
Note OFF stops

This way you could draw MIDI automation of looper faster.

Edit:
Actually JS Note OFF to Note ON does this perfectly, so here's a tip for you guys.

Edit2:
Can anyone help me modify Super8 source to make it stop after recording instead of going instantly to playback ?

[SmoothOperator]

ot to bump an old thread, but this seems to be the most comprehensive resource for this plugin.

I noticed a weird issue. I am trying to set my controller pads to select a slot, then my foot controller to toggle play record. It works pretty well, except in latch mode. It seems that the select [sel] command is queued. Kind of weird. I can do a select and a toggle record and both will happen in the next cycle.

I guess it is not a biggie, however I am trying to get looping going with my daughter. I'd like it to be simple.

I looked in the code, and its clearly, adding selection midi notes to the latch queue, but I'm not sure which method to call to effect the sel immediately, but the other notes to be queued.

[Swi]

Is there a way to make the RDC even larger? I set this up on my system which is using a 512 buffer and if it's set up to sync play or sync to my project it sounds fine playing along but when I use the "add to project" the audio is all late.

I set up a click source track and sent it into Super8 to test it and when I use the add to Project function all the clicks are late even when the RDC it set to 100 which is as high as it can go. My setup would need it to go to 175 I am guessing from the looks of it after a few tests.

Is there a place where I can edit the plug RDC or can you please make it able to go up at least to 200 if not 300?