Question for drummers who trigger loops

SbrickwallS

Senior Member
Hey guys, got a question for my fellow drummers as I'm poised to be in a new situation that I've not had to deal with before and would like to see what works best for those of you who are in this same scenario. I am in a new band that does not have a keyboardist but does require intro loops prior to a majority of the songs that are going to be played. Since I'm in the back it only makes sense for me to be in control of the loop player. My question for you drummers is A) is using a large iPad too hard to do correctly once your adrenalin has kicked in since you physically have to touch the correct loop or B) is spending the money for a machine with multiple pads to program and strike with your stick the only way to go to eliminate error?

Just curious as to how some of you guys who have been in this situation before set yourself up for success.
 
I've been doing this with one group that I play with. We only have three samples, just using them to set the tone between songs while the guitarists change their tunings.

Anyway, since I'm just playing pre-made audio, and don't have to worry about playing along to it with any sense of time (it's just ambient sounds; oceans, storms, wildlife, etc), I just loaded them onto a looper pedal that I purchased for my girlfriend that she never really used. Run the output to the PA, and there's sound.

Load them in the order I need. Stomp the pedal to play the sample, double stomp to stop or just it let run its course. Have to reach down to select the next sample afterwards, but big deal.

It's hard to tell from your post if you are truly playing to loops since you describe them only as intros. If it's only intros, my method works. For that matter, you could run the samples onto an mp3 player or phone and just line out to the PA. It all depends on what level of control and features you really need.

I do have drum module I could load my sounds into, run some bar or rim triggers; but that stuff is expensive, takes time to set up, and is not cheap to fix or replace if broken. A $99 rectangular box made out of steel is simple and pretty foolproof.
 
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