AEROS loop studio Manual
Table of Contents Introduction................................................................1 Navigating your AEROS.............................................2 Setting up for the First Time......................................4 Your Instrument..........................................................5 Starting a New Song..................................................6 2x2 Controls.............................................................10 6x6 Controls.............................................
Navigating Your AEROS There are two ways to navigate your AEROS: The touch screen (just like your smartphone), and the footswitches. You can always tell what the three bottom footswitches do by reading the on-screen labels — this will come in handy when looping! The PLAY/STOP ALL footswitch and the VOLUME WHEEL do not change functionality. Note: The on-screen labels only show the single press commands. Hold commands and double tap commands do not change, and therefore do not need labels.
Navigating Your AEROS HOME SCREEN When you turn on your AEROS, you will start in the Home Screen. From here you can access different areas. LOOP STUDIO - Where masterpieces are created. It will load your last saved song automatically, but you can create a new song instead. SONGS - Load your saved songs, either from internal memory or an SD card. WIFI - Connect to your wireless internet network. SETTINGS - Change settings that are applied Aeros-wide. QUICK START GUIDE - Familiarize yourself with the basics.
Setting up for the First Time We know you’re itching to hop into the Loop Studio, but please do this first: 1. Connect to your Wi-Fi 2. Check for updates 1 2 Connect to Wi-Fi and check for updates often. This ensures you have all the latest improvements and features. We're constantly improving the firmware, and there may be a new version available at the time you set up your AEROS.
Your Instrument Plugging an instrument into the AEROS: The AEROS has two ¼” (6.35mm) Inputs. You can record in stereo using both, or in mono with one. The two ¼” (6.35mm) outputs function in the same way. The AEROS does not have phantom power for microphones. This means you may need a microphone preamp — any preamp will work. Signal levels: Before you start recording, play your instruments at the loudest expected level in the Loop Studio. The signal meter will appear on the right side.
Starting a New Song To start looping, press the Loop Studio icon. Your last saved song will load automatically. (If you have no saved songs, you will go directly to the New Song screen.
Starting a New Song STOPPED SCREEN When you go to the Loop Studio, you song will be stopped. From here you can use the footswitches to record a new track or resume playback (if you already have tracks recorded in this song). We discuss these options in 2x2 Controls (p. 10) and 6x6 Controls (p. 13).
Starting a New Song NEW SONG PAGE There are many settings available when creating a new song, which the (?) icon on the far-right provides explanations for. We discuss these options in the “SETTINGS” section of this manual. The defaults are sane, though, and you can start looping right away.
Starting a New Song There are two basic modes you can loop with: 2x2 and 6x6. ● In 2x2, you have two song parts each with two parallel tracks, for a total of four unique tracks. ● In 6x6, you have six song parts each with six parallel tracks, for a total of 36 unique tracks. 2x2 6x6 The controls are different when using 2x2 and 6x6.
2x2 Controls In 2x2, you have two song parts each with two parallel tracks, for a total of four unique tracks. TRACK 1 and TRACK 2 Track 1 and Track 2 are controlled by their respective footswitches.
2x2 Controls NEXT PART SINGLE TAP: ● Changes between song parts. If the part has a recorded track, it starts playing; otherwise, it starts recording. HOLD: ● Opens the Mixer PLAY/STOP ALL SINGLE TAP: ● Stops playback of all tracks. ○ If your song is quantized to the measure, it stops at the end of the measure. Otherwise it stops immediately. ● Resumes playback of all tracks. DOUBLE TAP: ● Immediately stops playback of all tracks, regardless of quantization.
2x2 Controls VOLUME WHEEL Use the volume wheel to control the master output volume at any time. The thin bars on the right show the L and R input volume levels. If the bars are red you are clipping and you should lower the volume of your instrument. In the Mixer: You can use the volume wheel to control the relative volume levels of each track.
6x6 Controls In 6x6, you have six song parts each with six parallel tracks, for a total of 36 unique tracks. ACTION The Action button executes actions on the selected track or song part. Selected items are signaled in green color.
6x6 Controls NEXT TRACK SINGLE TAP: ● Selects next track ○ If your song is quantized to measure and you have in the song settings “Autorecord Next Track: On”, selecting an empty track will automatically cue a new recording. SELECT PART SINGLE TAP: ● Selects next song part ○ Press the action button to change to the selected song part.
6x6 Controls PLAY/STOP ALL SINGLE TAP: ● Stops playback of all tracks. ○ If your song is quantized to the measure, it stops at the end of the measure. Otherwise it stops immediately. ● Resumes playback of all tracks. ○ You can select song parts and tracks while the song is stopped. Pressing the Action button will start overdubbing or recording the selected track. DOUBLE TAP: ● Immediately stops playback of all tracks, regardless of quantization.
6x6 Controls VOLUME WHEEL Use the volume wheel to control the master output volume at any time. The thin bars on the right show the L and R input volume levels. If the bars are red you are clipping and should lower the volume of your instrument. In the Mixer: You can use the volume wheel to control the relative volume levels of each track.
Mixer To open the mixer, you can hold the NEXT PART button or tap on any of the track clocks. Tracks in the current song part will be visible, ordered from left to right. You can touch to adjust their relative volume or mute individual tracks. You can also mix hands-free: select tracks with the middle button and adjust the relative volume with the volume wheel. Mute or unmute with the right button.
Colors & Icons TIMING Beat Lines End of Loop Measure Lines Playhead Playhead Beat Measure End of Loop Where you currently are in the loop. In quantized mode, flashes on each beat and flashes brighter on each measure.
Colors & Icons TRACK WAVEFORMS Red Waveform: Currently recording new track Green Waveform: Currently selected layer Blue Waveform: Layer is currently playing, but is not selected Yellow Waveform: Currently recording overdub Gray Waveform: Muted track Faded Waveform: Layer is undone.
Colors & Icons TRACK CLOCKS Shaded portion of clock: amount of track already played Light portion of clock: time remaining in track Red clock: New track is currently being recorded Green clock: Currently selected track Blue clock: Track is currently playing, but is not selected Yellow clock: Track is being overdubbed Gray clock: Entire track is muted Gray clock with green outline: Muted track is currently selected Clock with a hole: This track has a layer that is undone Undone layer can be brought back
Colors & Icons SONG PART ICONS Green dot: currently selected existing song part Gray dot: unselected existing song part Gray plus sign: unselected new song part that does not yet exist Green plus sign: selected new song part that does not yet exist Flashing red plus sign: new song part is cued and will start recording soon AEROS Loop Studio: Manual 21
Settings The settings are divided into two categories. 1. Song-specific settings, which are settings that are saved to a single song. Once you choose a song-specific setting, with few exceptions (namely, the “advanced behavior” settings”, you cannot change them. 2. Device settings, which you can change any time and will apply to every song.
Settings Auto Record: In 6x6 pressing Next Track to select the next empty track will start automatically recording. This saves you from pressing the Record button. If you quickly press Next Track again, AEROS will cancel any recording in the empty track and cycle back to select track 1. * Record Next Track: When recording begins. ‘Immediate’ is only available for non-quantized. ‘End of bar’ is only available for quantized. ‘End of loop’ is available for both.
Loading and Exporting Songs In the Home Screen, you can find your songs by pressing the Songs icon. You can scroll through your songs, search for them in the search bar, or start a new song by tapping the “+” icon in the upper-right corner. Tap any song to load it. You will find yourself back in the Loop Studio with the song you chose. Songs that are stored in the internal memory of the AEROS will be indicated by the blue AEROS folder icon.
BeatBuddy Integration Your Aeros Loop Studio has built in plug and play functionality with the BeatBuddy, our hands-free drum machine pedal. There are two ways to connect the two. Either with the BeatBuddy as master and the Aeros as slave (recommended) or with the Aeros as master and BeatBuddy as slave. AEROS AS SLAVE, BEATBUDDY AS MASTER To use the Aeros as a slave, you’ll need a MIDI cable, the PS/2 to MIDI BeatBuddy breakout cable, and a BeatBuddy.
BeatBuddy Integration At this point your pedals should be good to go, but depending on the version of BeatBuddy firmware you’re running you may need to check that the next song part command is enabled. This can be done by going BeatBuddy settings (push drum set and tempo knobs down at the same time) and select: Main Pedal > MIDI Settings > MIDI-OUT > Next Part (CC-102), and select “Enable”.
BeatBuddy Integration AEROS AS MASTER, BEATBUDDY AS SLAVE To use the Aeros as a master, you’ll need a MIDI cable, the PS/2 to MIDI BeatBuddy breakout cable, and a BeatBuddy. Plug the MIDI Cable in the “IN” port for the BeatBuddy breakout cable, and the “OUT” port on the Aeros.
