Re: delay question / Vortex?

[skincage <skincage@infin8ty.com>]

found a used vortex for $115 with tax. yay! no footpedal though, so i've 
been trying to work
around that.

i've been messing with the delays mostly, feeling goofy at having to keep 
looking at an
acrobat file of the manual.

my setup is as follows

mackie cfx-12 with aux sends 1 and 2 feeding vortex inputs

old varispeed, track flipping institutional tape player feeding channel 4, 
fader at unity
gain
aux sends 1 and 2 at about 3/4 unity gain (above starts to clip on the 
vortex)

vortex returning on stereo channel 9/10, fader at unity gain, slight gain 
on aux sends for
playable feedback

i'm not a guitarist i'm a noise guy using circuit bent stuff and tapes and 
whatnot, so rather
than an expression pedal to feed the loop i've just been using the fader 
to sorta play the
aux send. basically i've been bringing it up, catching a loop, bringing it 
down, then
bringing it up again when i want a new loop to take over. it's imperfect 
but i'm getting the
hang of it. i wonder if i'd be doing a lot better to use a pedal though.

a few questions:

i've been looping with deja vu, messing with the feedback settings. i'm 
liking it, it's
seamless enough for me, and i like having a smaller loop area to work with 
since it forces me
to try harder to get something cool going for that second or whatever. the 
problem is my
loops are not as loud as the original sound. is that normal? i've only had 
a little time to
experiment, but the loops seem to automatically drop in level a little 
just after i pull the
fader down on the channel that's feeding the vortex. i'm used to stuff 
that keeps the same
volume, is this because of the envelope functions?

everything i read about the vortex suggests it's got a learning curve and 
has to be tamed.
i'm cool with that i'm just trying to get the hang of it so i can use it 
for a couple of
(very soon) loop heavy shows. any insight and tricks appreciated, thanks!

Jon