Boss RC-300 loop station - is it possible to repeatedly play a recorded loop without dubbing or re-recording it?

[hatrickpatrick]

I'm considering buying an RC300 Loop Station for live performances, but there's one thing I find odd about the pedal's layout, wondering if anyone can clear this up:

 

The Record and Play buttons are the same footswitch. That is, you use the same footswitch to record a loop, and then to play it back. In the manual, it says that you can change the order of operations (the default is record, then play, then overdub) for what happens each time you press it, but it doesn't mention anything about skipping a function altogether.

 

So let's say I have a riff which will crop up repeatedly during a song - for example, take the lead guitar riff in The Killers' When You Were Young, which plays over the chords during the intro and choruses. So the first time it comes around, or maybe even before the show, I record that riff.

Now, I'd need to be able to play it seven or eight times during the song, each time the chorus comes around. I'd be playing the chords underneath it on guitar.

 

The issue is, because the button for play is the same as the button for record, does that mean I can only play it once? Because the way it appears to me is that after it's been played back ones, the next time I press that button, the looper will start to either overdub or overwrite what I've recorded, rather than simply playing it again. So even if I tap it quickly three times to cycle back to the "play" function, it's going to have recorded some of what I'm currently playing, or perhaps even wiped the track altogether, because you have to trigger the record function before you can play back again.

 

Am I missing something here, or does this essentially limit loops on the RC-300 to being played only once, since subsequent presses of the play button will cause the unit to start recording rather than simply playing the loop again?

[daddymack]

No, there is a 'play/stop' function for pre-recorded loops. I have the RC-30 and used to do this all the time. It is in the manual.