BackLine Engineering RiffBoxII User manual

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RiffBoxII Users Manual
Introduction
RiffBoxII can provide a large library of up to 250 five-minute backing tracks that can be
easily accessed from a stomp box form factor. It utilizes a patented loop recognition
technology that makes it easy to record your own playing along with audio editing
features that can also be used to create seamless loops from pre-recorded audio.
Here are some of the ways RiffBoxII can enhance your creative process:
Easily create loops that are timed to the notes or rhythms that you play
Record music from any external source and then edit it down to specific loop
lengths for backing tracks
Use the loop editor to modify loop start and stop points which are timed to audio
events and then store the loops in a massive library
During live performances, manually or automatically move up and down through
the loop library to create interesting backing track combinations
Time an external drum machine or a DigiTech Trio to your loop playback
This user’s manual provides an overview of how to operate RiffBoxII.
Inputs and Outputs
The figures below show the input and output connections in the RiffBoxII side panels.
The function of these inputs and outputs will be described in the following sections.
Input 1
Output 1
Input 2
Output 2
-- Events --
-- Loop Audio --
Out
In
MIDI
Control
Off
On
Power
+
-
6-9V DC
300mA
Manufactured under US Patent Number US 7,592,533 B1

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Audio Connections
Throughout this users manual we call a note, chord or drum beat an audio event.
RiffBoxII needs a relatively clean signal to detect event timing and/or note or chord
values correctly. For example, a signal coming from a delay unit can make it hard to
detect note timing or it can be difficult to detect note values with a distorted guitar signal.
Because of this RiffBoxII contains two input and two output audio jacks as shown in the
figure below.
Input1 and output1 are permanently connected in true bypass mode and can be
selected as the event detection input signal. For example, a clean guitar signal can be
routed through these connections on the way to the guitar amp or effects input. Input2
and output2 are used to record and playback the loop. For example, these signals could
be routed from and to the guitar amp effects loop. These signals can also be set in true
bypass mode when the looper is not being used.
If you only plan to record and playback relatively clean signals, input1 and output1 do
not need to be connected. In this case, the event detection input signal can be switched
to the input2 signal as shown in the figure above.
Configuration Screen
The next sections will describe the controls available on the five main screens. Each
screen can be accessed by touching one of the tabs at the top of the screen as shown
in the figure below.
In order to recognize a repeated pattern that you are playing, RiffBoxII needs to
examine notes values and/or timing between notes and chords. Once it sees a
matching sequence of repeated events, it will automatically start loop playback aligned
to this sequence. Let’s examine some of the loop recording and playback options shown
on the configuration screen below.
Input1
Output1
Input2
Output2
Event
Detector
Looping
Engine
Bypass
Select
Event Input
Select
Clean signal (i.e. from guitar)
Clean signal (i.e. to guitar amp)
Input signal (i.e. from guitar effects loop)
Playback signal (i.e. to guitar effects loop)

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Event Span: In automatic loop recognition modes RiffBoxII will not match events closer
to each other than specified by this value. Values range from 2 to 100. It is also used in
several other record modes as described below.
Matching Events: In automatic loop recognition modes it specifies the minimum
number of consecutive events used to recognize the loop you are playing. A loop is
identified when your latest sequence of notes matches an earlier sequence. Values
range from 2 to 6. Lower values match faster but with less accuracy.
Special notes: If the Event Span value is less than or equal to the Matching Events
value, automatic loop recognition looks at all events from the most recent events played
and then scans back to earlier events while looking for a match.
If the Event Span value is greater than the Matching Events value, automatic loop
recognition only looks at groups of events separated by the Event Span value. For
example a Event Span value of 20 means that only groups of events separated by 20
events will be compared. See appendix A for more information.
Record Mode: This determines how the loop is identified and you can select from the
following options. In all these cases except for manual mode, RiffBoxII is armed for
recording once the Record button is pressed on the record screen and then the first
note played starts the loop recording process.
1. Rhythm+Notes –Automatic loop identification is based on both the notes played
and the timing between notes (see appendix A)
2. Notes –Automatic loop identification is based on the note values played (see
appendix A)
3. Rhythm –Automatic loop identification is based on the timing between notes (this
mode is good for percussive chords or drum beats, see appendix A)

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4. First Note –RiffBoxII remembers the first note value played at the start of the
loop, and the end of the loop is determined once that note value is played again
as long as the event count is larger than the Event Span value
5. Next Event –Once loop recording begins, when the play button is pressed on the
record screen, the next note played determines the end of the loop as long as the
event count is larger than the Event Span value
6. Event Count –The end of the loop is determined when the number of events
played matches the Event Span value
7. Manual –Loop recording starts immediately after the Record button is pressed
on the record screen and the loop end point is determined once that button is
pressed again
Playback Count: This value is used in various playback modes as described below.
Memory Bank: This is the memory bank used to store the current loop. Values range
from 1 to 250. Loops can also be selected using the library screen, which is described
below.
Playback Mode: This determines how the loop is played back and you can select from
the following options.
1. Continuous –Loop continues to play back until you manually stop it.
2. Max Plays –The loop is repeated the number of times specified by the Playback
Count value which ranges from 1 to 100
3. Layer Fade –Each playback of the loop will fade slightly until it is completely
faded when is reaches the Playback Count value which ranges from 1 to 100.
New layers will be recorded at full volume.
4. Auto Layer –When a new layer is recorded (see the playback screen), from 1 to
3 layers will be recorded in a row as specified by the Playback Count value
5. Match Play –While a loop is playing, if the user plays on top of the loop with the
same rhythm, loop playback will end. This provides a way to end loop playback
without the need for a footswitch. The number of consecutive notes matched
must be greater than or equal to the Match Play value. Use this value to balance
false triggering verses how quickly a match is made.
6. Play New Layer –When a new layer is recorded (see the playback screen), the
previous loop stops playing and only the new layer continues to play
7. Mem Bank Up –Starting at the current memory bank, after the loop is played
once, the memory bank number is increased and the next loop is played. This
process continues up through the number of loops specified by the Playback
Count value at which point the process starts over at the first loop again. To
specify how many times a loop will be played before changing to the next
memory bank, first go to Max Plays mode, set the playback count and then save
the preset on the Playback screen as described in the next section.
Load Preset: All of the parameters on this page can be stored as presets along with the
input sensitivity value and the bypass and MIDI clock output parameters on the system

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screen. If any of these parameters have been changed and you try to select a new
preset, you will be asked if you want to save the current preset. Presets range from 0 to
49.
Save to Preset: This allows you to save the current preset values into a different preset
location. Whenever a preset is saved, MIDI input channel, event input, foot switch mode
and MIDI thru are also saved in a special flash memory location so that they maintain
their settings during the next power-on.
Record Screen
The record screen is shown in the figure below. This is the screen to select when you
want to start recording a loop. The three gray boxes at the top are used to show notes
or rhythm counts during the recording process. For record modes using notes it also
shows if you are playing notes that are generally in tune (make sure your instrument is
in tune for these modes to work properly). Notes that are not recognized as being in-
tune will light up the left or right boxes in red. Notes that are in-tune light up the center
box green. All three boxes will also turn red to indicate input signal clipping.
The button in the upper right can select ‘Full’ frequency range or ‘Low Pass’ filtering of
the event detection signal. For example, this can be useful to get rid of high frequency
artifacts in guitar chords. It does not affect the frequency range of the loop audio
recording.
The name of the preset is shown in the middle of the screen. The Edit Name button
allows you to change the preset name using up to 16 characters. The Sen= button
allows you to change the event trigger sensitivity based on your input volume and
playing style. This input sensitivity value is stored with each preset. The Up and Down
buttons allow you to cycle through the presets before starting a loop recording. The
Record button is used differently in various record modes, for example to arm or abort
automatic looping modes or to start and stop the manual recording mode. A three-

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button footswitch can also be used to control the three buttons across the bottom of the
screen (see appendix C).
Note: If the maximum recording time is exceeded, loop playback will begin when the
maximum time is reached.
Playback Screen
The playback screen can be used to play and edit loops. There are tick marks showing
each event in the loop along with a red playback line that moves from left to right as the
loop is played. In the example screen below, it shows a loop containing events 1-13 and
events 2-10 are currently being played. The Start Event and Stop Event values can be
used to modify the loop playback length as identified by the left and right green boxes.
In this example, the loop will play to event 10 before looping back to event 2.
Special Notes: Up to 100 events can be displayed on the screen at one time and there
are a maximum of 200 event times stored. If there are more than 100 events in a loop,
only the first 100 events will be displayed. Also, if over 200 events are played, event 200
will always represent the most recent event played. In this case, events event times that
would have normally been stored between events 199 and 200 will be lost.
Reduce: This button will reduce the number of events shown on the screen based on
the current Start Event and Stop Event values. In this example, pressing Reduce will
change the screen to only show events 2 through 10 on the playback bar. After pressing
reduce, this button will change to ‘Save’. Pressing Save will save the reduced loop
starting with event 1. In this example, the saved loop would shift events 2-10 to events
1-9 and get rid of the top three events. This also saves the number of times the loop is
played in Mem Bank Up mode as described in the last section.

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Expand: This will expand the playback bar to show all of the recorded events in the
loop, including the ones not being played. If the loop cannot be expanded any further,
‘Cannot Expand’ will be displayed in the playback bar.
Record: You can start recording a new layer on top of the current loop using this
button. Recording will start at the beginning of the loop and stop at the end of the loop.
You cannot add a layer until the loop has been reduced to show only the current active
events. Also, once a layer is recorded, you can no longer expand the loop past the
current events shown. In that case, when you stop playing the loop it is saved in its
reduced form.
Undo: You can undo the last layer recorded. Only the last layer can be undone.
Stop / Play: This button can be used to start and stop loop playback. A three-button
footswitch can be used to control the three buttons across the bottom of the screen (see
appendix C). When ending loop playback, press once to stop at the end of a loop, press
twice to stop immediately.
Library Screen
The library screen can be used to manage and play a loop library of up to 250 five-
minute loops. The current loop name is shown in the loop progress bar.
Name: Allows you to change the name of a loop using up to 16 characters. You cannot
change the name of an empty loop.
Loop Volume: The loop playback volume can be adjusted from 0 to 150 with 100
representing 0db and 150 about +3db. When adjusting volume, make sure the clipping
indicator is not turning red. The loop volume is saved with the loop data when playback
is stopped allowing each loop to have a different volume setting.

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Copy To Loop #: The current loop can be copied to the specified memory bank when
the Copy button is pressed.
Up and Down: Used to cycle through the loop library. If these buttons are pressed
during loop playback, the next loop will start playback at the end of the current loop.
Stop / Play: This button can be used to start and stop loop playback. A three-button
footswitch can be used to control the three buttons across the bottom of the screen (see
appendix C). When ending loop playback, press once to stop at the end of a loop, press
twice to stop immediately.
System Screen
The system screen shown below allows control of various system and MIDI functions.
Bypass: This turns on true bypass switch between Input2 and Output2. This is saved
as a preset value.
MIDI Channel: This sets the MIDI input channel. See the MIDI implementation section
for more information.
MIDI Sysex: This opens the MIDI Sysex Utility screen, which is described in the next
section.
MIDI Clock Out: This turns on the MIDI clock output that can be used to send MIDI
timing information to an external drum machine based on the loop timing (see appendix
D). This is saved as a preset value.

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Notes Per Loop: This adjusts the MIDI drum machine timing by setting the notes per
loop from 2 to 100. This is saved as a preset value.
Timing Offset: Adjusts the MIDI clock output timing compared to the loop timing.
Values range from 0 to 24, which represents from 0 to one quarter note delay in MIDI
output timing. This is saved as a preset value.
Event Source: Selects the event source as either Input1 or Input2.
Control Jack: Set this as an input when using an external 3-button footswitch. Set this
as an output to synchronize a DigiTech Trio to the loop (see appendix E).
MIDI Through: When this is on, the MIDI input is looped to the MIDI output. When MIDI
Through is enabled, MIDI Clock Out is disabled.
MIDI Sysex Utility
This screen comes up when the MIDI Sysex button is pressed on the system screen.
Update Firmware: This starts the process of updating the firmware in RiffBoxII. See the
firmware update guide for more information.
Save Presets: This will dump all preset values into a 4002-byte MIDI sysex file.
Connect the RiffBoxII MIDI output port to your computer so that the computer can
receive sysex files using an application such as MIDI-OX.
Load Presets: This can be used to load presets from a MIDI sysex file. Connect the
RiffBoxII MIDI input port to your computer so that the computer can send sysex files
using an application such as MIDI-OX.

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MIDI Implementation
This section describes all of the parameters and functions that can be controlled using
MIDI. MIDI program change messages can be used to select preset values from 0 to
49. The MIDI CC implementation is shown in the table below.
CC Number
Parameter
Value Range
20
Event Span value
2-100
21
Matching event value
2-6
22
Select memory bank 1-125
1-125
23
Select memory bank 126-250
1-125
24
Record mode
1-7
25
Playback mode
1-7
26
Playback count
1-100
27
Low pass event input filter off-on
0 or 127
28
Loop playback volume
0-127
29
MIDI clock output enable off-on
0 or 127
30
MIDI clock notes per loop
2-100
31
MIDI clock offset
0-24
32
Toggle record start-stop/abort
1
33
Three-button footswitch emulation
1,2,3
34
Toggle playback start-stop
1
35
Record new layer
1
36
Undo layer recording
1
37
Setting the low playback event 1-100
1-100
38
Setting the low playback event 101-200
1-100
39
Setting the high playback event 1-100
1-100
40
Setting the high playback event 101-200
1-100
41
Reducing the playback loop length
1
42
Expanding the playback loop length
1
43
Save current preset values
1
44
Turn bypass off-on
0 or 127
45
Input sensitivity
0-9
46
Set current active screen
0-4
Appendix A: Automatic Loop Recognition Modes
Loops are automatically recognized and played back when the record mode is set to
Rhythm+Notes, Notes or Rhythm. For short loops, set the Event Span value to less than
or equal to the Matching Events value. In this case, your more recent playing back to
your earlier playing will be scanned to see if anything matches. For medium length
loops you can set the Event Span value higher than the Matching events value so that
only events separated by an estimated loop length will be scanned. To do this, first set
the record mode to Rhythm, play the loop you want to record and then look at the event
count value in the record screen which can be used to give RiffBoxII a hint of your
estimated loop length. To enter this value, go back to the configure screen, set the
Event Span value to this number and then set your desired record mode. For long

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loops, it’s best to set the record mode to First Note, Next Event or Manual. You can
adjust the loop start and stop points after recording by using the playback screen.
Appendix B: Recording External Audio
RiffBoxII can be used to store a large number of pre-recorded backing tracks that can
be used in live performances or for practicing your playing. This appendix provides a
step-by-step guide for recording these tracks.
1. Connect your audio source to Input 2 and adjust the volume to avoid clipping
2. Connect Output 2 to your amplifier or mixer
3. On the SYSTEM screen, set the event source to Input 2
4. On the CONFIG screen, set record mode to Manual and select the memory bank
you want to use
5. Go to the RECORD screen
6. Press record, start the audio playback and note the event number shown in the
center gray box where the loop starts
7. Note the event number where the loop ends, turn off the audio source and press
play which will switch to the PLAY screen
8. Adjust the loop start and stop events to the numbers you noted above
9. Press Reduce to show only the events playing back
10.Go to the LIBRARY screen and change the loop name to something meaningful
11. Adjust the loop playback volume if needed while the loop is playing
Appendix C: Using a Footswitch
RiffBoxII can be controlled from a three-button footswitch as described in the Record,
Playback and Library screen sections of this manual. It can also be controlled from a
MIDI footswitch using MIDI messages as described in the MIDI implementation section.
RiffBoxII has been tested with the DigiTech FS3X 3-button footswitch. To make this
work, connect the footswitch with a quarter inch stereo cable to the RiffBoxII footswitch
jack. Make sure the FootSw Jack control on the system screen is set to input.
A MIDI pedal or multi-effects unit with MIDI output capability can be used to control
almost any parameter in RiffBoxII using either MIDI program change messages or MIDI
continuous controller messages as shown in the MIDI implementation section. To make
this work, connect a MIDI cable from the output of the pedal to the MIDI input on
RiffBoxII. Make sure that the MIDI channel on the system screen is set to the same
value as on the pedal.
Appendix D: Using an External Drum Machine
An external MIDI device such as a drum machine or MIDI controller can be
synchronized to the loop playback using MIDI clock messages. For every quarter note,
24 MIDI clocks are output from RiffBoxII. To make this work, connect the MIDI output of
RiffBoxII to the MIDI input on the drum machine or other MIDI device. This MIDI channel
is not used in this mode.
The MIDI clock output is enabled on the system screen. This screen also allows you
to change the number of quarter notes per loop. The start of the MIDI clock sequence is
synchronized to the beginning of the loop. This synchronization point can be delayed by

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0 to 24 MIDI clocks (up to one quarter note) by using the Timing Offset control on the
system screen.
Changing the Notes Per Loop or Timing Offset controls can be done during loop
playback, but changes in MIDI clock output timing can cause unpredictable results and
may take some time to settle depending on the MIDI controller used. A better way is to
change these values when the loop has stopped playing and then test them out by
starting loop playback.
Appendix E: Using a DigiTech Trio
The DigiTech Trio can be used create a backing tracks of bass and drums based on
your loops. To do this, connect your Trio to RiffBoxII as shown below. Connect the
RiffBoxII footswitch jack to the Trio control input using either a mono or stereo cable.
Make sure to set the FootSw Jack control to an output on the system screen. Connect
the output 2 jack on RiffBoxII to the guitar input jack on Trio. Connect the amp output
signal from Trio to your guitar amp or the mixer output to you mixer.
To start the process, hold down the Trio footswitch to clear the current song. That’s
the only time you need to touch the footswitch. Now, when a loop has been recorded on
RiffBoxII and starts to play back, or if a loop is played from memory, Trio will learn the
loop as it is played the first time and then Trio will start playing back on top of the loop
after that point. When you stop the loop playback on RiffBoxII, it will automatically signal
Trio to stop playback as well. Please see the Trio users manual for more information on
how it operates.
Trio
Guitar In
Control In
Amp Out
From RiffBoxII Output 2
From RiffBoxII Footswitch
Jack
To amp or mixer