Re: new "radiaL" from Cycling '74

[lindsay@pavestone.com]

I have a question.

With the dawn of >1Ghz processors and very small to zero latency audio
cards, would it not be possible to produce a Repeater/EDP like emulation in
software?  The problem is obviously the latency, but if the software is
clever, it can adjust looping tracks' position to compensate for the delay
so that only the first pass through (the "live" material) is subject to
latency.  After the first pass, the program bumps the track up 5 to 15ms so
that it is in synch again.

Thinking about ACID, which runs on some pretty low-end systems, you can get
multiple tracks (24+) of stereo loops, all pitch or time shifted, each a
measure or two long.  Some quick calculations, and an ACID song at 120bpm
with 24 stereo tracks equates to about the same sample power as a
two-minute mono loop.  And this is all loaded in RAM.  Streaming from disk
would really improve loop-time performance.  Think GigaSampler.

To break it down further:
multi-track recording and playback exists through software,
real-time pitch and time stretching exists through software,
MIDI synch and control exists through software,
Why does real-time audio looping not exist through software?

I am not a programmer.  Don't want to be.  So, if I've missed some glaring
point, please feel free to elucidate it.  I would guess that most of us do
the majority of our looping at home, where a computer is relatively safe
from beer attack.  If we did gig, mount the thing in a rack and get a long
MIDI cable to your foot controller.  Is this a function of market demand,
that a product like this has not been made available?

L