Re: What I'd love from a next-generation looper

[Kim Flint <kflint@annihilist.com>]

At 9:35 AM -0500 3/19/98, Len Seligman wrote:
>1) I hate volume pedals as a mechanism for controlling feedback and/or
>output level. This is because I feel better (and therefore play better) if
>I am free to move. Standing and using a volume pedal puts me off balance.
>(True, this is not strictly a looping problem, but it is much more
>important when your "backup band" is a loop as opposed to good, responsive
>musicians who know how to use dynamics.) Are there any alternatives to
>volume pedals, either currently available or that anyone can envision? 

the feedback jack in the echoplex is controlled by a simple variable 
resistor between the tip and sleeve. It doesn't have to be a volume pedal. 
Matthias uses a fader (like in a mixer) and likes that very much. You 
could easily build something to suit your needs with an ordinary 
potentiometer. If you want to be able to move around, you could just have 
a potentiometer on whatever your instrument is and a cable going from it 
to the echoplex.


>Here's a thought (probably crazy, but at least I could control it and 
>still
>have good balance): what about a series of footswitches that would allow
>you with one press to select a given volume? Maybe 7 or 8 switches all in 
>a
>row and with a single press you select a new volume.

this would be very simple to make for the echoplex with a few switches and 
resistors.


> Also, it would be
>great to have the option to either make the change immediate or to have it
>take place over time (e.g., a Crescendo/Decrescendo mode parameter with
>possible values immediate, short, long?). Heck, can I do something like
>this now with a midi pedal?

Are you wanting to control volume or feedback? the two are not quite the 
same. It sounds like you are talking about volume control here. You could 
do that with midi.



>2) I'd love to be able to change the tempo of my loop without changing
>pitch. This is something that is a staple of music from many cultures
>(e.g., Indian classical music, much African music): get a groove going and
>gradually speed it up, building the intensity. You can do it with live
>musicians, but I don't know how to do it with a looped material. Any
>thoughts on how to achieve this? Or is this a technical impossibility?

as Stefano said, this takes much more processing power than the echoplex 
has. There are a number of sampler products that have this function, but 
they don't have any of the other looping functions like the echoplex has.

kim