I’ve had a few days to play with all my new gear and have reached some tentative conclusions. Keep in mind, I’m not a particularly proficient player nor a guitar tech wiz.
The setup for each system was as follows. For the Valeton, I’ve hooked it into my M2 Pro Mac Mini with Apple’s own expensive cable so I could use the editor. Other than that, I just hooked it up to headphones to spare my neighbors, and went to town.
The Spark GO required a bit of setup to work with the Airstep SPK controller. I hooked my Spark GO up to my iPhone 15 Pro Max with another good cable, and yes, used headphones from the Spark. Opening both the Spark app and Loopy HD, it was off to the races.
My thoughts?
The Valeton is a lot easier to setup for this. That makes sense as it’s combined unit including the looper. It also has good sounds over my headphones. The looper works great and with little tweaking, I was able to play over a loop I created pretty easily.
The combo setup of my Spark GO, the Airstep SPK, and my phone is harder to setup, especially make sure Loopy HD can read the controller. I do wish Loop Pro was able to do this, and I suppose that it can with the full Airstep controller, but not the Spark version. Further, I’ve had more trouble getting a good sound on the loop, though it certainly does work. I’m also not getting as clear a sound as I might like through the headphones, but I’m new at this and can probably tweak it to get right.
Who wins? Well…neither really. I’m far more likely to travel with the Spark GO combo. At home, I’m far more likely to use the Valeton in my living room where it’s hooked to my Mac and studio speakers. In my bedroom? It’s going to be the Spark combo.
In short, both solutions work, but seem to have different usages, at least for me. Since all the gear was on sale, I’m not feeling like I made bad purchases. I love the Spark GO and will certainly take it on trips.
All the best!