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Looper's Delight
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eeee-kids- > Having just lugged my heavy rack on an off of ferries and taxies for the > last few weeks, I am more interested than ever in finding a software > solution. ... >I checked out Reaktor a little bit as a possible way to avoid having to >buy >a Repeater, and in my short experience with it, I found that it was seemingly impossible to build a looper much beyond a long delay style of >thing - I couldn't find a way to handle tap tempo, which to me was a >show-stopper - that's not to say it couldn't be done, but I didn't see how >it could be done. Of course Reaktor appears to be very cool for many other ive kept an eagle eye to the software front for a year now. i think a software solution will be emerging very soon. the arguments that the hardware peeps have been making about tactile user interface, latency, and stability, are being rapidly addressed by the software peeps. user interface, you have these devices like iCube where you can build your own user interface, or the peavey fader box, or other flavors of switch and pedal comboboards. or if you are more technically savvy, get a basic stamp II and wire up your own switches and pots. it all runs into the computer. and you get to tweak the UI so that any switch or pedal can adjust anything, and so that you dont have any more knobs and dials than you really need. latency, you have MAC OSX claiming 1 ms latency. You have new commercial audio software being developed for it. Someone mentioned ableton's Live sequencing package (www.ableton.com). I played with it. While its not quite fluid and stable enough yet to replace your EDP, id keep an eye on it.. and, for the savvy, you can write an EDP replacement in MAX/MSP. with the right hardware (the pick seems to be MOTU2408 or MOTU828) you can get your latencies down around 5-10ms (check the community pages at www.cycling74.com). when MSP becomes OS X ready, the latencies will drop. latency part 2, You also have a rapidly growing freesoftware Linux audio movement (www.linuxdj.com), reporting stable latencies peaking at 1-2 ms with intense disk and system activity. one audio card of choice seems to be the RME hammerfall (multichannel digital i/o). as for laptop audio, I contacted magma and they are working on Linux drivers for their Cardbus which allows you to plug PCI cards like the Hammerfall into your laptop. the linux people are puritans, serious about a stable architecture. check www.sourceforge.net for a list of free audio software being developed for linux. it wont be long before someone writes a multichannel looper under linux, and it might be really sexy. and while i really believe in free software and permaculture and all that, the linux audio thing is still a beta baby. so im waiting on it. bottom line, the software front is coming. i'd give it another year. for now, i would hold onto my cash, not be enticed by the toys, and play with myself instead. channel that energy into breath and learning, where you know it'll be wise. that's what im doing. love -yon Get 250 color business cards for FREE! http://businesscards.lycos.com/vp/fastpath/