Re: multiple loops

[Chris Chovit <cho@gomez.jpl.nasa.gov>]

I wrote:

>>Another trick I like, is to run a loop
>>through an effect, like a slap back delay, and sending this into another
>>looper (and another channel).  This makes for some "mind-tweaking" 
>sounds.


Matthias replied:

>Did not understand this one. The other looper would run at the same loop
>time? or with such a "integer" relationship of different number of beats?
>Does it create a "stereo" effect, or what is the tweak about it?

Yes, it creates a stereo effect (or quadrophonic....or octophonic...or..).
I'm getting carried away, of course.  Let me briefly describe my setup:  I
use a 4-buss mixer, which has 6 effects loops.  All my instruments go into
the mixer inputs.  4 of the effects loops are dedicated to 4 Echoplexes.
The remaining two effects loops are used for traditional effect processors
(TEP's).  The outputs of the Echoplexes and the TEP's are all sent back
into the mixer inputs, so they can again be sent through the effects loops.
Typically, I send each echoplex out a separate buss, and send each channel
of the two (stereo) TEP's out its own buss.

So, with this setup, I can start with a very simple loop, and create a
whole sound space from that single loop -- by effecting the loop, then
looping that, then effecting that loop, then looping that.......etc.  And,
as you suggest, the new loops need not be the same time length, as the
original.  With enough processing, the new loops need not sound anything
like the original!  I have started with a drum beat, and used processing
(delays, reverbs, harmonizers)  to create rich textures!

The "tweak" is the way I feel when I send a loop through a short delay
(50-100 ms) or even a reverb, and send the effected signal  through a
separate channel -- ie. the dry signal comes from one side of the room, the
dealyed or reverbed signal from the other side.  Pink Floyd used this
technique -- I think Jimi did too....of course, you don't need a looper to
do this -- a TEP with separate outputs would do the trick.

The quad setup is just icing, really....doing away with the linear signal
flow is the important thing.  I can effect the loops & loop the effects,
indefintely.  Is the looping device an instrument or an effect?  Is looping
a recording or a performance?  It seems to me that the boundaries are
dissolving........

- chris


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Chris Chovit
cho@gomez.jpl.nasa.gov
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