Greg - So glad you asked about how he recorded the pitch into the loop at 2:51 as this really got me thinking and let to me discovering some amazing things I didn't know the RMX could do! It's pretty similar to the "feedback loop" that you could do on the EFX-1000. Here's a fairly lengthy description of my findings to get you started (apologies for anything I say here that isn't accurate, I've only just started experimenting with this...):
Ensure the switch in the top right is set to "User" - connect to a computer with USB, open remixbox, and turn on sync.
In the scene fx, select ECHO and change the feedback type to "HOLD". The default echo setting ("DJM") will get gradually quieter after each loop iteration, but when the echo is set to "HOLD", and the main scene fx knob is all the way up, this will create an echo which never decays (a loop).
Set up some loop durations in parameter 1 to your liking. In the part of the video you mentioned, James has param 1 all the way to the right and has it set to 8/1 (I think).
Now you're set up, you can use it as follows:
Whenever the ECHO effect is turned on, the incoming audio will be added to the loop in the buffer (from either the INPUT, XPAD or both, depending on your selection of the "FX SOURCE" buttons) .
You can layer additional sounds and add to the loop by leaving ECHO on and playing more sound (from a CDJ, a sample in the XPAD, a mic or whatever). Because it records ANY audio coming into the scene fx section, you can "record" the changing pitch etc from the XPAD (as in your original question).
IMPORTANT: Because you're creating a never ending loop, you'll layer a new copy of the input for EVERY loop iteration - since dance music has repeating loops, you'll get (kind of) feedback (hence the name "feedback loop"). To prevent the "feedback" from getting crazy loud, you need to cut the input after a single loop (e.g. 2 bars if set to 8/1). For example in the video, James is using the XPAD-LEVEL knob to silence the loop coming out of the XPAD, meaning that the sampled loop contains only 2 bars worth of audio (which he then manipulates further, using his godlike ninja skills).
To prevent the loop from decaying, remember to leave the main scene fx dry/wet knob all the way u
To "clear" the loop, switch to another scene fx (not sure yet if there are other ways to do this...)
There are no doubt loads of possibilities for what you can do once you have this going - for example, using remixbox - set the RELEASE FX echo so that it doesn't kill the scenefx section, and you can roll the sampled loop to create fills etc.
I hope this is helpful, and I'm very interested to hear tips on how you guys use this sort of stuff!
