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Reloop Beatpad

Be.ing edited this page Oct 28, 2015 · 126 revisions

The Reloop Beatpad is a conventional 2 channel controller that is primarily designed to work with algoriddim‘s djay on the iOS platform and more recently on the Android platform, but can also be used with Mixxx by sending MIDI signals to a computer with a USB cable.

Mixxx mapping description

MIXER SECTION

Crossfader

Blends audio between left and right mixer channels.

Volume Faders

Adjust the Volume of each channel. If Fader Start is enabled the deck will stop at the previously used Cue if the Volume Fader reaches the minimum position and will start playing if the Volume fader moves from the minimum position.

1 and 2 (Track select buttons)

  • Load a track: Press these buttons to load the selected track from the Browser to left or right deck. The LED of the button will be on if the deck is loaded.
  • Eject: Hold the same button for more than half of a second to unload the same deck.
  • Fader Start: Hold SHIFT down and then press one of these buttons to enable the Fader Start on a deck. The LED of the button will blink if Fader Start is enabled. If Fader Start is enabled the deck will stop at the previously used Cue if the Volume Fader reaches the minimum position and will start playing if the Volume fader moves from the minimum position.

PFL (symbolized by a headphone)

  • **PFL: **Press these buttons to send each channel to the Headphones Output channel for pre-listening.
  • **Slip mode: **Hold SHIFT down and then press these buttons to activate/desactivate Slip Mode. When active, the playback continues muted in the background during a loop, scratch etc. Once disabled, the audible playback will resume where the track would have been.
  • Quantize mode: Hold SHIFT down and then press these buttons to activate/desactivate the Quantize mode. When active, it aligns Hot-cues and Loops to the next beat from the current position.

Equalizer

  • LOW: Adjust the Low (Bass) frequencies for each mixer channel.
  • MID: Adjust the Mid frequencies for each mixer channel.
  • HIGH: Adjust the High (Treble) frequencies for each mixer channel.
  • GAIN: Adjust the Gain of each mixer channel.
  • MASTER: Adjust the level of the Master Output.
  • Cue Mix (Hadphones mixing): Adjust how the Channels and the Master Output blend at the Headphones Channel.
  • Phones (Hadphones level): Adjust the Volume Output of the Headphones Channel.
  • AUX: Adjust the Volume of the AUX Input.

The MASTER, Phones, and AUX knobs adjust the levels of the Beatpad's sound card; they do not control the software gains in Mixxx so the changes are not visible on screen.

REC

  • Record: Use this button to start/stop recording your mixing session.
  • End track warning: Hold SHIFT down and then press this button in order to toggle on or off the red flashing of the jog wheels when the playback reaches the end of the track.

Browse Knob

Scroll through your library.

  • Turn to select a track in the song list.
  • Push to load the selected track into first stop deck.
  • SHIFT+Turn to select a folder or subfolder in the left item list sidebar.
  • SHIFT+Push to open/close folders and subfolders in the left item list sidebar.

DECK CONTROLS SECTION

SHIFT

Press and hold one of those buttons to access secondary functions of other controls on the Beatpad. The secondary functions can be accessed while the SHIFT button is held down. If the SHIFT LOCK switch on the back side of the Reloop Beatpad is on, the secondary functions can be accessed after the button SHIFT button is released and until the SHIFT is pressed again.

PLAY/PAUSE

  • Play/pause: Press to play/pause the track. If there was no track loaded into the deck and a track is selected in the library, it is loaded and starts playing.
  • Censor: Hold SHIFT down and then press this button to play the track in reverse. When released the track will continue to play from the position it would have been if the button was never pressed. In other words, it enables reverse and slip mode while held.

JUMP

  • While playing, or stopped: If the Cue point is set, seeks the player to it and starts playback.
  • Brake: Hold SHIFT down and then press this button to stop the track with a gradual brake. If the JUMP button is released before the track has completely stopped, the track is then played back to its regular speed.
  • Spinback: see the Instant FX usage.

SET

  • While playing: Seeks the track to the cue-point and stops.
  • While stopped: Sets the cue point (Pioneer/Mixxx mode) OR preview from it (Denon mode).
    If the Cue point is already set at the current position of the track, hold this button to play the track and release it to return to the Cue point and pause it. To continue playback without returning to the Cue Point, press and hold the SET Button, then press and hold the Play/Pause Button and then release both buttons.
  • Hint: Change the default cue mode in Preferences -> Interface. The Pioneer mode is the more consistent with the Reloop Beatpad.
  • Key lock: Hold SHIFT down and then press this button to enable/disable the Key-lock.

SYNC

  • Press once to synchronize the tempo (BPM) and phase to that of the other track.
  • Press twice quickly to play the track immediatly, synchronized to the tempo (BPM) and to the phase of the other track, if the track was paused.
  • Sync Lock: Hold for at least half of a second to enable sync lock for this deck. Decks with sync locked will all play at the same tempo, and decks that also have quantize enabled (wich is enabled by default by the mapping) will always have their beats lined up.
    Note : the quantize mode is not mapped on the controller but can be enabled/desabled from Mixxx.

JOGWHEEL

Touch sensitive platters for scratching (Scratch mode/iCut mode), bending (Scratch mode/CD mode) or Seek mode.
The jogwheel offers multi-color leds, which will show the playing marker (Scratch mode), the song progress bar (in Seek mode), and other colored combinations depending on the applied effect, loop, loop roll or Filter. If no track is loaded, the jogwheel displays a red cross. At the end of a track, the jogwheel is flashing red faster and faster until it reaches the end of the track (full steady red).
You can toggle on/off this behavior with SHIFT+REC.

Scratch mode

Toggle with the JOG SCRATCH button.
Use the jogwheel to scratch and the outer ring to bend (like in CD mode).

  • iCut mode: Hold SHIFT down and scratch to scratch in "automagic" scratch mode. When the jog wheel is turned back, the crossfader is closed. When the jog wheel is turned forward, the crossfader opens. (Note that the Algoriddim djay mapping actually closes/opens the crossfader quickly without taking into account the direction of the wheel, contrary to what the Beatpad's Quick Start guide says.)

Seek mode

Toggle with the JOG SEEK button.
Use the jogwheel to navigate through the track.

CD mode

Deactivate both the Scratch mode and the Seek mode to enable this mode.
Use the jogwheel to temporarily bend the pitch of the track (which only affects the tempo with keylock on).

PITCH BEND

  • Pitch bend: Use these buttons temporary slow-down/speed up the tempo of the track.
    Once the buttons are released the track will continue to play at the tempo designated by the pitch fader.
  • **Beat Jump: **Hold SHIFT down and then use these buttons to jump 1 beat backwards or forward.

PITCH

Controls the track's pitch. With keylock on, this only changes the tempo. The red LED indicates that the pitch fader of the unit is on zero (center) position.

LOOPS SECTION

(see also Bounce Loop (Roll) mode section)

  • Loop size: Turn the encoder to select the number of beats for a loop. Turn it counterclockwise to half the size of the loop and clockwise to double it.
  • Loop move: Hold SHIFT down and then use the encoder to move the triggered loop forward or backwards by 1 beat.
  • Activate/deactivate: (Acts exactly like the LOOP Button)
  • Regular loop mode: Push (and release) the encoder to trigger a loop of the selected size
  • Roll loop mode: Press (and hold down) to trigger a momentary rolling loop of the selected size. While the encoder is held down, the track will keep moving forward as if it was not looping, so when the encoder is released, it will jump forward to where the track would have been if the rolling loop was never enabled. In other words, this is a regular loop in slip mode (see PFL section).
  • Toggle loop mode: Hold SHIFT down and then push the encoder to toggle between Regular and Roll Loop mode.

EFFECTS SECTION

(see also Instant FX mode and Sampler mode sections)

FX ON

Push (and release) this button to trigger the selected effect chain for the corresponding deck (toggle function).

FX SELECT

  • Select: Use this encoder to select an effect for the current selected rack.
  • Temporary effect: Push and hold the encoder to temporarily apply the effect of the current selected rack for the corresponding deck (while pressed).
  • Quick Effect: Hold SHIFT down and then push the encoder Activate or Kill the Quick Effect. You can change the Quick effect assigned in Mixxx, via Options -> Settings->​ Equalizers -> Quick Effect.

FX PARAM

  • SUPER: Use this knob to control the SUPER parameter of the effect for the current selected rack.
  • MIX: Hold SHIFT down and then use this knob to control the MIX parameter of the effect for the current selected rack.

FILTER

  • Quick Effect: Use this knob to apply the Quick effect (by default, this is Filter, but you can change it) to the deck. In middle position no effect is applied for filter.
  • Key: Hold SHIFT down and use this knob to adjust the key (pitch) of the track without changing the tempo. In middle position the track will have its original key.

PADS SECTION

The 4 Performance Pads offer 4 different modes, depending on the 4 PAD MODE buttons just above.

HotCues mode

CUE

Press the CUE mode button to set the PADs to HOT CUE mode.

Pads

  • Press each one of the 4 pads to assign a Hot Cue Point (1 to 4) or returns the track to that Hot Cue Point. When a Hot Cue Button is unlit, you can assign a Hot Cue Point by pressing it at the desired point in your track. Once it is assigned, the Hot Cue Button will light up blue.
  • SHIFT+Press to delete its assigned Hot Cue Point.

Bounce Loop (Roll) mode

BOUNCE LOOP

Press the BOUNCE LOOP mode button to set the PADs to Loop Roll mode.

Pads

Press (and keep down) any of the 4 pads to trigger a momentary Loop Roll of a different size (in beats) as per the table.

Pads
::: 1 2 3 4
Press 1/8 1/4 1/2 1
SHIFT+Press 2 4 8 16

Once the PAD is released the track will continue to play from the position it would have been if the Loop Roll was never triggered. The size of the applied Loop Roll can be adjusted with the LOOP SIZE encoder as well. Pads change the "selected loop size" introduced in LOOP SIZE and LOOP sections.

Instant FX mode

Instant FX

  • Press this button to set the PADs to Effects mode.
  • Spinback: Hold SHIFT down and then press this button down in order to stop the track with a backward brake effect. If the Instant FX button is released before the track has completely stopped, the track is then played back to its regular speed, in the forward direction.
  • Brake : see JUMP button usage

Pads

  • Instant FX: Press (and keep down) any of the 4 pads to apply momentarily the effect of the corresponding effect rack. The parameters of these effects can be adjusted from the FX PARAM knob.
  • Current effect rack selection: Hold SHIFT down and then press any of the 4 pads to select the current effect rack for this deck that will be used for effect selection or for the corresponding effect to be triggered later on (see EFFECTS SECTION).
    this can also be done with a visual feedback in Sampler mode

Sampler mode

Note: On account of the Reloop Beatpad limitations (bug ?), lights will not show on in Sampler mode when the controller is in SHIFT mode.

Press the SAMPLER mode button to set the PADs to cycle between 4 sub modes:

 - **Sampler mode** (orange LEDs): each pad triggers a sample from the selected Sampler bank. The PADs wich are lit indicate which samples are loaded and ready to use. While a sample is playing, the corresponding PAD changes its color to pink.
 - **Sampler bank selection mode** (pink LED): each pad selects 1 of the 4 sampler banks. The PAD wich is lit indicates wich bank is active.
 - **Loop mode** status and selection (magenta LEDs): press any pad to toggle between **[[#LOOPS-SECTION|regular loop mode]]** and **[[#LOOPS-SECTION|roll loop mode]]**.\\ **Regular loop mode** is symbolized by the left PAD lit, representing the loop), and all the others switched off. **Roll loop mode** is symbolized by both the left (representing the loop) and the right PADs lit (symbolizing the position after the loop where the track will continue to play when the loop will be triggered off).
 - **Effect rack selection** mode (purple LED): each pads selects 1 of the 4 effect racks. The PAD which is lit indicates which effect rack is active (see **[[#EFFECTS-SECTION|EFFECTS SECTION]]**).

TIPS & TRICKS Guide

(work in progress) This section exposes several issues wih the Reloop Beatpad and ways, when it's possible, to correct them

For the user

Grounding problem

If your controller randomly freezes or your iPad or Android tablet acts weirdly (screen flashing, bad sound), make a home made, grounded power cable.

Controller not detected by Windows

If you see a yellow exclamation point (!) in the Windows Device Manager indicating that the drivers did not start, unplug the power cable from your laptop then unplug/replug the USB cable from your controller. If that does not work, restart your laptop without the power cable plugged in.

No sound with your Android tablet or smartphone

Unfortunately, Android does not have good support for low latency audio or USB sound cards. OS support for USB audio was only recently added to Android version 5.0 (Lollipop). Prior to Android 5.0, some applications provided their own driver for USB sound cards. On any version of Android, to use USB sound cards like the one in the Beatpad, the device has to support USB On-The-Go (OTG) and you need to use an OTG adapter cable to plug in your device. Not all Android devices support OTG. See here for compatibility information about various Android devices.

If you have trouble using your Beatpad's sound card with Android, you could also use a DJ splitter cable with the onboard sound card on your smartphone or tablet.

Freeze/crash/abnormal behavior with your Android tablet/smartphone

It may be that your Android device does not provide enough power through the USB cable. If so, use a powered USB hub between your Android device and your Beatpad. The connections would be:

Android tablet/phone --- OTG cable --- powered USB hub --- USB cable --- Beatpad

If that does not work, you may have a #grounding problem.

For the mappings developper

  • **SHIFT + Sampler: **On account of the Reloop Beatpad limitations (bug ?), lights will not show on in Sampler mode when the controller is in SHIFT mode.
    n fact the lights update after a second press on shift !
    In Hot cue mode, the same Pads are working perfectly in shift mode.
    Don't be surprised that neither Virtual DJ, nor Algoriddim, nor Traktor have implemented the Pad colors in Sampler mode, when the SHIFT button is pressed (all buttons stay black). This might be is a firmware design or worse a hardware problem.
  • Reloop's MIDI documentation is incomplete (sysex messages), and sometimes false or inaccurate.
  • SET button is named "Cue Play" in the mapping documentation
  • JUMP button is named "MainCue" in the mapping documentation
  • Beatpad jog wheel is 800 intervals per revolution (and not 600 like stated in the documentation)
  • L/R_LineFader_Down/Open/Close: those MIDI messages are never sent by the controller. What can be their usage if sent to the controller, they do not map any button.
  • L/R-Blue LEDs / 4th behaviour seems to be, according to the documentation, exactly the same than the 1st behavior. If it is not, this is an unknown behavior that is not documented properly.
  • Sysex messages: the current documentation tells nothing about them. An ancient beta documentation exposes this sequence: 0xF0, 0x26, 0x2D, 0x65, 0x22, 0xF7. When the MIDI controller receives this OutboundMessagerequest SysEx Message, the controller will send the status of every item on the control surface. This sysex is used by the mapping in Mixxx to initialize the fader and knobs in Mixxx. May be some other sysex messages exist, but they are unknown. Sysex message could be useful to turn on or off several LEDs at once in the same time.
  • L_Wheel_OFF and R_Wheel_OFF messages: they are thrown when the "Jog scratch" or the "Jog seek" buttons are activated. You won't find this piece of information anywhere in the documentation.
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