Re: echoplex weirdness

[James Reynolds <tritone@dsp.com>]

hi kim et al,

>>does anyone else's plex produce unpleasant clicks and pops when 
>reversing a
>>loop?  the more i reverse and re-reverse, the more clicks get added to 
>the
>>signal.
>
>The current software does that on occasion. It bothers some people a lot
>more than others, and I think there is some hardware dependancy where some
>units are simply worse than others. 

i think you're right about the hardware dependency.  in the FAQ (or maybe 
it
was the digest) someone mentions this problem as happening "occasionally".
but with my unit it happens every time.  i use a lot of textural loops, so
the clicks really stand out.  i'm glad to hear it's fixed in the upgrade,
though.

>>also, my unit seems inordinately noisy, even with a healthy signal level
>>(the playback is much noisier than the direct sound).  normal?  i left a
>>space below it in my rack for ventilation, so i don't think it's 
>overheating.
>
>This could depend heavily on how you set your signal levels. Make sure the
>input is up enough so that your loudest signals are just shy of clipping
>the digital audio in the loop. You should get something greater than 85dB
>signal/noise ratio in that case.
...
>On high-end equipment, you might notice a
>higher noise floor in the loop audio than in the direct path. This is hard
>to avoid, since the dynamic range of the direct analog path is much 
>greater
>than that of the digital loop path.

i played with my plex some more and i think you're right about the signal
levels.  the problem is i like to make loops with widely varying dynamic
ranges.  but when i keep the signal at the point where the orange light is
usually on (tricky to do without clipping), it sounds much better.
furthermore, the noise i was talking about is kind of a buzzy digital
overtone that occurs on an input signal is present, probably due to the
inherent dynamic range of digital audio.

>places still sell the 80ns types which are cheaper still. LLB's current 
>add
>in MacWeek has 80ns, 4MB, 30 pin SIMMs at $29 each. These will work fine.
>

from the URL i mentioned (www.thechipmerchant.com) i ordered four of the
60ns 4MB SIMMS for 29 bucks each.  the price was actually the same for the
70ns.  also, thanks for the input on "low-noise" simms - i think with my
fairly complex signal path, which produces a certain amount of its own
noise, any benefits from fancy-schmancy simms would not be noticeable.

one more newbie question:  will the legendary "upgrade" be just a rom chip
that can be bought at a store and user-installed?  or is there some kind of
magical ceremony that must be performed by a qualified tech/priest?

thanks for the help, kim!

james