1. Getting Started

This assumes you have a computer ready to go.  If you don't, click here for a tutorial.

The default VST plugins folder for a PC (click to enlarge)

First, you need a host program that supports VST...This plugin is tested the most with Ableton Live and Plogue Bidule, but has been checked out with Nuendo/Cubase, EnergyXT, TobyBear's miniHost,  and V-Stack. Both Ableton and Bidule currently offer free trial versions - tobyBear's host is Donationware.

You need to copy the plugin to your vst plugins directory.  In Windows this is usually c:/program files/steinberg/vstplugins.  In Mac OSX this is probably Users->(your name)->Library->Audio->Plug-Ins->VST ...or... Library->Audio->Plug-Ins->VST .  Ableton will tell you the correct folder if you go to Options->Preferences...->Plug In tab under "VST plug-in custom folder". Make sure you also copy the metronome file into the same directory and don't rename either one.  You can put them in a subdirectory if you like.

Drag Loopy Llama to the bottom space

After you have done this load your host and add the plugin.  In Ableton you do this by clicking the little plug icon on the left to show all plugins, then drag Loopy Llama into the bottom of a track.  (pictured on the right)

You will need to make some noise to loop...either monitor your soundcard or drag in some audio to the track.  To monitor click the "In" button under the monitor section.  The yellow "Auto" button will turn gray and the "In" will light up orange - now just plug in your instrument and play.  To play an audio file, use the Tab key to move to the timeline view and drag the file from another window into the audio track and hit play (spacebar).  With either method you should see the audio meter respond to the sounds.  You may have to set up your soundcard under Options->Preferences...

2. Making loops on the fly

To get going immediately, hit the record button and start making noise...

You should now see the tempo light flashing and the bars counting from 1 to 8.  This is "Tap Tempo" mode - one of the 4 basic ways the loopy llama works.  You can switch between these modes using the "Set Tempo To" slider.  In "Tap Tempo" and "Endpoints" mode Loopy Llama is more like a stand-alone footpedal than a plug-in.  It starts in Tap Tempo mode just so you get the flashy lights first thing.

Endpoints mode is what most people are expecting from a looper - it's the way the DL-4 and many other footpedal loopers work.  You tap the record button once to mark the start of a loop and again when you reach the end (with a mouse, keyboard, or MIDI controller) - poof, it immediately begins looping.  That's it!  It will continue recording, adding to the exiting loop.  Hitting record after that will turn on and off overdubbing but won't affect the loop length.  If you want it to stop recording right at the second endpoint you can hit play insted of record.  Tempo and beats are not necessary and can be ignored.  Making a well timed loop is hard - you will quickly find that expert loopers make it look easy to hit buttons with precise enough timing for a smooth loop...it's an art and you will need practice! 

Tap tempo mode brings an exciting new element to looping: it quantizes your endpoints so you don't have to worry about your timing with the record button.  It assumes you will be playing along to the click track...you must first tap in the tempo (presumably with a MIDI foot controller) or type it into the tempo box.  Once you have the tempo and beats set you can hit the record button to start looping - whatever beat you were nearest to will be the beat the loop starts on.  When you are ready to end the loop (say after 16 beats) hit record or play in time with the beat - you don't have to be exact, it will round it to the nearest beat.  One huge bonus to using this is you can loop while playing with a group of musicians live. You tap in the tempo before the song starts and all play to the click track - or mute the click track and tap along until the metronome matches the group's beat and you can unmute it.  In theory you could all watch the beat light instead of listening - good luck with that.

3. Looping in sync with the host

The "Tempo Sync" and "Transport Lock" modes work like "Tap Tempo" mode, but they get their tempo from the host program... in this case the current tempo in Ableton Live (it is set on the top left or automated).  If you want to loop along to pre-recorded tracks where you already know the tempo then you would use these 2 modes.  They make it extremely easy to make loops since you don't have to worry about hitting buttons in time - the loop is always exactly the length it needs to be so you just hit record when you want to.  Like tap tempo they will quantize to the nearest beat so foot timing is not an issue.

Tempo Sync mode locks in the tempo, but the start point of the loop is up to you. The downbeat can be moved by hitting the play button before or during the loop.  The loop can be paused, cleared or replayed at any time.  You control the length of the loop by typing in the number of beats.  Start looping by hitting record - notice that it counts the next downbeat as the 1.  The tap tempo button and tempo box are disabled.

Transport Lock mode follows the host even closer.  It locks into the current beat of the song so the loop will always play back in the same place relative to the song.  If you rewind the song a few beats it will rewind the loop a few beats to match, etc...  It even pauses and plays whenever you stop and start playback in the host, which also means the pause, play, and tap tempo buttons are disabled.  If you hit play it will set the current beat to be the first.

4. How to work the main buttons and knobs

The Record Button (red REC) starts and stops recording and overdubbing - it acts a bit different for each of the 4 modes listed above.  The red "Record" light will light up if it is adding to a loop.

The Play Button (blue) starts the loop playback over.  Hit it a bunch of times to sound like Max Headroom or a bad DJ.  If you are recording when you hit this it could create pops or clicks - or maybe cool wierd sounds.  This button is disabled in Transport Lock mode.

The Clear Button (yellow CLR) Serves 2 functions.  If you are not recording it will completely erase the loop that is playing back.  If you are recording it becomes an "undo" button so whatever you overdubbed on the current pass of the loop will be ignored.  Recording will resume when the next loop cycle starts, so you can keep trying to play the part you want and undo-ing it until you get it right.  If you hit Clear twice during one pass of a loop it will completely clear the loop just like if you weren't recording...so be careful not to double click it if you don't want to (this may become a setting later).  The "LOOP" light will go out when a loop is cleared.

The Paws Button (green) pauses playback.  Hitting it again will unpause it. By popular demand there is a setting at the bottom so when you unpause the loop it will start over from the beginning.  Hitting Play while it is paused will take you to the beginning of the loop and unpause it.  This button is disabled in Transport Lock mode.  (The symbol is a llama foot-print - yes they do have paws, not hooves :)

The Tap Tempo button (purple TAP) is an easy way for you to figure out the tempo of a loop.  It only works in Tap Tempo mode.  It can be especially useful if you are using a host like Bidule that will allow the plugin to control the master tempo - that way you can sync other plugins to the Loopy Llama and control the tempo on the fly by tapping.

The "TEMPO" Box is where you can set the tempo manually by typing it in.  This only applies to Tap Tempo mode.  In the other modes it just displays the tempo in beats per minute (BPM) and changes will be ignored.

The "BEATS" Box determines how many beats are in the loop.  Changing it will change the overall length of the loop except when starting out in Endpoints mode.  In Endpoints this number is not relevant unless you want to use the click track once the loop is playing.  In that case you must enter the number of beats the loop will be beforehand...the tempo will be calculated and the metronome will start once you hit Record the second time.  In any mode if you change the number of beats while it is playing a loop it will truncate the loop if you make it smaller or add silence at the end if you make it bigger (you may get old loop contents if you add beats during playback).  The idea is you could record an 8 bar loop, set it to repeat only the first 4 bars, then set it back to 8 on the fly.

The "1st loop sets beats" Box determines how many beats are in the loop. Changing it will change the overall length of the loop except when starting out in Endpoints mode. In Endpoints this number is not relevant unless you want to use the click track once the loop is playing. In that case you must enter the number of beats the loop will be beforehand...the tempo will be calculated and the metronome will start once you hit Record the second time. In any mode if you change the number of beats while it is playing a loop it will truncate the loop if you make it smaller or add silence at the end if you make it bigger (you may get old loop contents if you add beats during playback). The idea is you could record an 8 bar loop, set it to repeat only the first 4 bars, then set it back to 8 on the fly.

The "IN" Slider trims the input volume to the loop.  If you have a very loud signal going into the loop then it will overdrive and clip with only a couple of passes.  By turning down the In volume you get some headroom to layer and overlap your sounds with.  This does not affect the amount of dry signal to the output.

The "LOOP" Slider trims the output volume of the Loop.  It could also be called "Wet Volume" and I may be adding a checkbox to crossfade dry and wet volumes to allow for easier mixing.

The "DRY" Slider trims the input volume that is routed directly out.  If you turn it completely off you will only hear the loop.  Setting this lower will allow the loop to build up to a louder volume than your source material.

5. Super fun features

The Direction button (the orange "DIR") can make you some crazy sounds!  Click it and the loop will begin playing backwards at the start of the next cycle.  To hear it forwards again click the Driection button again and it will flip back at the next cycle.  Pretty straightforward right?  Lets take it a step further then...

Look at the Reverse Mode button (the grey "REV").  It has a continuous cycle pictured on it meaning that it is in "Immediate Reverse" mode:  Whatever you played will immediately be reversed at the end of a cycle.  So you play a few bars and hear them in reverse, then play a few more then they are also reversed when they play back.  You can set this to "Relative Reverse" (a single grey turn pictured on the button) so that it doesn't immediately flip what you play at the end of every loop.  This way you can build loops normally, then when you hit the Direction button all of what you played will be reversed and you can build on top of that...and then flip it again so what you just played is backwards and what you originally played is forwards!  You'll forget what direction you started the loop in no time!

Llamatronics are a tribute to frippertronics and decaying loops... Looping goes a step further when you set the feedback slider to less than infinite.  Your loops evolve as the original ideas fade and the newer ideas are more prevalent...you must refresh the old ideas to keep them alive and so the loop itself is alive and always changing - it's all very metaphysical and involves candles and incense if you do it for too long.

The "LPF FREQ." slider (short for Low Pass Filter Frequency) works similar to the feedback slider except that it only decays the high frequencies with every pass.  This sounds more like an analog tape loop and is used with or in place of the feedback slider to get a warmer more mellow sound from older ideas as they decay.  It's the way sound gets muffled when you make a copy of a copy of a copy of a tape (does anybody use tapes anymore?). The LPF is off when the slider is at it's top position whereas the bottom position is a very drastic cut.

The "Tape Hiss" slider adds tape hiss for an even more authentic tape sound.  It's actually just white noise - I didn't put too much effort into duplicating the sound of tape (there are other plugins for that).  But in conjuntion with the LPF it can give you a nice textural decay like you would get with that real tape looper that's going for thousands on eBay.

6. Additional Features

Record starts at next:  This can delay when recording starts so you don't have to time when you hit the record button perfectly.  The settings are "Sample", "Beat", and "Loop".  Sample is the default setting and recording starts immediately after you hit the Record button.  "Beat" will make it so it doesn't start recording until the next beat after you hit the button.  "Loop" waits until the first beat of the loop to start recording.  This only applies to overdubs, not the first loop points, except in Transport Lock mode.

1 Loop Mode checkbox:  This handy little feature changes how the record button behaves.  If it is checked it will only record 1 pass of the loop after the next cycle.  So if you have an 8 bar loop and you hit record on bar 6 it will record bars 6-8 and 1-8 then turn off recording automatically.  If you hit Record again before it is done it will record the next pass of the loop also.  THIS IS IMPORTANT: In this mode you can't turn off recording by hitting the record button - you just have to wait until the end of the loop.  If you keep hitting the Record button it will keep recording indefinitely.  It doesn't count the number of times you hit it, so you have to hit it at least once for each pass you want to record during the previous cycle.

Fade Time:  When you are recording something you can't just start and stop recording instantly - the jump from silence to signal will create a pop.  So there is a small fade in and out when you turn recording on and off.  This slider sets the length of the fade from instant to 1/8 of a second.  It defaults to about 256 samples (depending on your samplerate) which is about the smallest fade you can have without a pop.  You may prefer a longer smoother fade in but that may make it harder to time loop points.  It also affects the ends of reversed parts when Reversing playback in Immediate Reverse mode - since a reversed part is no longer a continuous signal it must also have it's ends faded.  A long fade can create an audible start and stop point in heavily layered immedate reversed loops.

7. Boring Technical Features

The bottom row of "minutia" from left to right:

unpaws->play checkbox sets it so when you unpause a playback it starts over from the beginning of the loop instead of where you paused it at.

taps min.  box sets the minimum number of taps to average to get the tempo.  If you keep tapping after this number of taps it averages the most recent ones only.

MIDI Ch. box sets the MIDI channel to listen for notes or CCs on.

Note or CC numbers: record, play, clear, pause, tap, dir, fade, lpf, met - These boxes determine the MIDI CC or Note number that will trigger the main buttons.  You would have to make sure Loopy Llama is receiving MIDI which I don't know how to do in Ableton.  Many hosts already have MIDI assignment functionality and don't need to use these...for example in Ableton you can do this by clicking "Unfold Device Parameters" (a little triangle where you dragged the effect in) and then clicking the "MIDI" button at the very top right (everything will turn blue).  Now click the button you want to assign (it will appear as a slider here, but don't worry it's still a button) and press the note, knob or button on your controller you want to assign to it.

CCs/Notes slider determines whether the numbers to the left correspond to notes or CCs.  Do you want notes to trigger the buttons or controllers?

Metronome Volume knob - This sets the MIDI velocity of the metronome note output. To hear the metronome in Ableton, add a percussive instrument to a MIDI track and set it's input to the track with Loopy Llama and it's Monitor setting to "In". A planned feature is an audible metronome loaded from a wav file.

Metronome In Mains checkbox - When this is checked you will hear the metronome output along with the loop signal. It won't ever get recorded and can be turned back off at any time. Some hosts are able to utilize the third output Loopy Llama has that always sends the metronome sound.

Metronome Note box - This is what note number the metronome will output via MIDI

The Little Question Mark - clicking it or the title brings up the credits screen.  Cute llama huh?  That's about it.  Click anywhere to make it go away, clicking here during playback will have no ill effects.

Copy Protection -  It's not quite Freeware...more like Free-for-now-ware.  The current expiration is September 1st, 2006 - after which you will only see the credits screen although it will still work through automation.  Actually you could just roll the clock back on your computer if you were desperate, but isn't that annoying?!  I haven't decided what, if anything, to charge or if I'll just take donations.  I don't like the idea of adding a more intrusive copy protection in the future, or the thought of never being able to make money because earlier free versions are out on the net... So I'm at an impasse, but it's OK as long as it's still under development.  This forces people to come back every few months to get the latest version...I'll make a decision by 1.0. 

8. Using a Foot Controller

The 5 main buttons of Loopy Llama have MIDI support built in: Record, Play, Clear, Pause, and Tap Tempo.  Ableton and Bidule allow you to assign MIDI CC's to controllers with their own methods, but some hosts don't and this can be more convenient.  Using the boxes across the bottom enter any MIDI controller number or note number.  Use the "CCs/Notes" toggle to change whether all the buttons respond to notes or CCs.  Figuring out what note number you need can be a bit difficult, so that is only there if you really need it.  It can come in handy if for example you want to assign the top 3 notes of your keyboard to work the buttons rather than have a seperate MIDI controller.  Any note velocity or CC value except 0 will trigger a button - so if you have to use a knob or slider to trigger a button, just give it a quick nudge.

Any foot controller should be able to send MIDI Continuous Controller messages (known as "CC"s).  How to setup your foot controller is a matter for your user manual.  Loopy Llama's record button defaults to CC 40, and you need to send a full on value to trigger it (128 or 7F in hex). I have noticed that some foot pedals are able to alternate between a high and low CC value and others only send one value.  For this reason there is the distinction between "Momentary" and "toggle"  in the "Fell & MIDI" setting under the "Record Button" group.  If your footcontroller only sends one value per button then leave it on Toggle mode and the Record button will toggle on and off every time it receives that message.  If your controller can alternate between 128 and 0, then you may prefer "On/Off" mode which follows the value of the controller...that way you can have a light on your footpedal turn on when it is recording and off when you are not... Unfortunately the other buttons always work the same - they will be "clicked" only if they get a non-zero value, so you may have to hit your controller button twice if it must toggle.

You can get MIDI assignment functionality in Ableton by clicking "Unfold Device Parameters" (a little triangle where you dragged the effect in) and then clicking the "MIDI" button at the very top right (everything will turn blue).  Now click the button you want to assign (it will appear as a slider here, but don't worry it's still a button) and press the note, knob or button on your controller you want to assign to it.

9. Anything else?

This is a program meant to inspire and create...which is what I'd rather be doing right now... so I may not have written the most thorough manual.  If you still have questions use the Contact Us link below and send them my way.  I also answer questions publicly in the Loopy Llama Q&A forum and update this manual online as things develop.  If you have recordings that feature my plugins send them my way and I'll post them.  Have fun,

-Chris