RE: Let's play a game- it's called Imagine The Perfect Looper

[Jeff Larson <jeff.larson@sailpoint.com>]

> I read the "building our own looper" thread and would like to bump
> that idea.  So if this were the greatest dream you ever had, in which
> The Perfect Looper were to be coming in the mail this afternoon, and
> you DIDN'T wake up before getting to play with it... what would
> playing with it be like?  Its features, its interface, its structure,
> everything.

This topic comes up every now and then.  One thing to understand is
that building the "Perfect Looper" is a bit like building the "Perfect
Car" or finding the "Perfect Wife".  It is hard to please everyone.

Also, while there is a certain amount of "electrical engineering"
required here, in practice I think your bigger problems will be
software development and manufacturing economics.

I'll assume you're familiar with the devices out there now from the
Boss RC-2 on up to the Looperlative and Gibson Echoplex.  Do you have
a particular price point or market segment in mind?

There are people on this list that know more about the economics of
hardware manufacturing than I do, but one thing is clear: it is
pointless to enter the low end of the market.  Roland and DigiTech own
that, you cannot compete with them on price.

Then there is the mid range: the RC-50, EH 2880, Boomerang.  It is
possible you could build something in the $500 range that is better
than these but it is doubtful unless you have a partnership with a
major manufacturer.

On the high end you have boutique devices like the Looperlative.  Here
it is not so much an electrical engineering problem as an enormous
software problem.  You will need to build a relatively general purpose
platform for hosting audio applications, then design a looping
application to embed in it.  This application will need to evolve over
time and be easy to upgrade because you will never get it right the
first time and people will throw new feature requests at you every
day.

You will probably get more specific advice if you can pick which range
of the market you would like to target.

Regards,
Jeff