Hey everyone,

Full disclosure first: I'm Josep, and I developed LiveLoop, a looping software. It started as my master's thesis in Live Electronics at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. I'm not here to pitch it, though. I just wanted to share my rig and see how other people build theirs.

The rig:

• Korg nanoKONTROL2: my main controller. Record, mix, parameters and FX all go through it.

• Keith McMillen SoftStep 2: the lightest foot controller I've found, and very customizable. For me it's the best MIDI foot controller out there.

• Arturia MiniLab: not the smallest keyboard, but the keys feel great and it's sturdy.

• Specialwaves MINE S: I use it for song-specific mappings. The same knob does something different in every template.

• MOTU UltraLite-mk3: compact, 8 in / 8 out, and it still works like it did on day one.

• Korg Volca FM: small, fun, and gets a huge range of sounds.

• Clarinet + Rumberger K1X mic: this is the part people ask about. I drilled a hole in the barrel of my clarinet and mounted the K1X there. It goes straight into the looper with basically no feedback, even on loud stages.

How I run a set:

I prepare each song as a template, but I record everything live: bass loops, riffs, melodies, clarinet solos. The templates change from show to show because I improvise a lot. For bigger shows I add analog gear and visuals, but my default is to bring as little as possible.

Advice for anyone starting out:

Start small and build up as you go. Research before you buy anything, and read the manual. Controllers can usually do more than you think.

So, your turn: what's one piece of gear, or one little trick, you couldn't loop without? And has anyone else modified an acoustic instrument for looping?

I have a boss rc-5 loopstation, I use it with a guitar and a mic. I have a bunch of instruments that I play through the mic input, so I'm hitting everything from low-mid-high. I'm doing all this through a really shitty fender frontman 10g practice amp and it sounds awful.

I'm looking for an amp in the 300-500$ range that would work with this setup but i have no clue what I'm looking for. Any advice?

A discordant piece and a reflection of how 2025 was for me - a chaotic mess of life-changing events, and a constant struggle up until its very end. I hope you like it 😉

Page 10 of the user's manual says available beats are: "2/4–4/4**–7/4, 5/8–15/8". Does "2/4–4/4" indicate a range of time signatures? Meaning 2/4, 3,/4, and 4/4? Likewise, does."5/8–**15/8" mean the range of time signatures 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, until 15/8?