Re: Robert Fripp

[Chris Richards <kohntarkosz@yahoo.com>]

<<didn't he also have a variable potentiometer 
  footpedal rigged to the erase head on one deck
that he used to clear the loop?>>

I have a bootleg tape of one of the original
Frippertronic performances from 79, from Miami,
and it does seem like, in places, he has control
over the feedback, but I'm not sure how he does
it. I came up with the idea that before the
signal from the second tape deck was fed back
into the first deck, it first went into a volume
pedal. This would allow you to fade the loop out,
and then you can overdub something new on top, so
that the earlier part of the loop becomes just
sort of a background noise as you add more
prominent things on top. I dunno if this exactly
how he had it set up or not, but that's kind of
my impression of how it worked. 

Also, I'm wondering if anyone knows exactly how
Fripp actually did these performances. Did he
create the loops first, then rewind them and play
them back and solo on top of them, or did he solo
as the creation of the loop progressed. I'm
thinking it would take a simple A/B box to do the
latter, channel feeding the guitar into the lag
accumulator (where did that phrase come from?
Before a couple days ago, I had never heard it),
channel B going into either an amp or a mixer of
some sort. The Miami tape kinda suggests the
latter, as you hear stuff where he builds the
loop for quite some time before you finally hear
him start soloing. 

Oh, and I agree that No Pussyfooting and Evening
Star are both excellent albums to check out. I'm
not as familiar with his more recent Soundscape
recordings. I have a few of them, but I dunno
that I could recommend one over the others.
Personally, I prefered it when Fripp was doing
the original Frippertronic performances with just
his old Les Paul Custom and whatever effects
pedals he was using (at least volume and
distortion pedals). I have one Frippertronics
recording from 83, I think it is, where he's
using the Roland GR-300 guitar synth, and that,
for some reason I don't like as much. Likewise, I
don't quite like the Soundscape recordings as
much either. 

=====
May you never thirst!
The Scuba Diver Presently Known As Chris

"What do you get when you give a yo-yo to a flock of flamingos?"-James 
Earl Jones

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