RE: Repeater spotted for sale

[Catilyne <catilyne@icicle.net>]

Thanks for the note back, Rainer, although I'd politely disagree with your 
assertion that it's "not much of a help".  ;)

In fact, I believe that in many instances I'd use the Repeater just as you 
are.  But since I was a little vague in my previous description, let me go 
into a bit more detail.

I figured out a long time ago that I seem to base almost everything I do 
off some sort of ostinato, some set of repeating patterns.  The interest 
for me comes in the interaction between the different parts, and in their 
evolution/de-evolution in relation to each other.

Now I'm also a synth junkie -- can't help it, I've always loved 'em.  And 
this whole episode started when I decided to pare down my system to just a 
laptop setup.  Since there were a few hardware modules I really didn't 
want 
to do without, I decided to supplement with a small portable rack (which, 
if I add the Repeater, is now up to a 12-space -- small and portable my 
@$#!).   :P

With the new system, I can do just about anything I need to do as far as 
sequences and their manipulations.  I've got enough gear to handle that in 
realtime.  But, as I'm sure you'll agree, locking into a sequencer tends 
to 
turn a performance into an artifact rather than an experience.  If I 
wanted, I could probably set everything up onstage, press play, and go 
home 
for the evening.  That's not what I'm looking for.  I've still got some 
constraints I've put upon myself.  I've got to establish an underlying 
beat/pulse, for instance, but over the top of that I'm looking for 
something a bit more organic.

As I was looking for a method to get around this dilemma, I began 
remembering the recordings of those early tape loop experiments from 
people 
such as Eno & Fripp and Steve Reich, amongst others.  It wasn't just the 
juxtaposition of the different parts that was interesting, but also the 
way 
in which the older parts gradually degraded as new ones were put down over 
the top of them.  That was one of the things that originally attracted me 
to the Echo Pro, with its models of the old tape and platter looping 
devices.

So, getting back to the Repeater, if it were nothing more than a realtime 
digital 4-track, then you're correct -- it wouldn't be of much use to me 
in 
this setup.  But, reading through some of your other comments (as well as 
once again going through Mark Sottilaro's review on the website) leads me 
to believe that there are indeed some rather interesting ways to not only 
layer, but also to "decompose" your loops.  Would I be correct in saying 
that?

My original inclination was to see if I could simply "cheap out" and get 
the Echo Pro to accomplish some of the things I needed it to.  But I'm 
beginning to think that the Repeater may actually be a bit more viable 
option for going about this.  For instance, I've got an old Korg Kaos pad 
that I hadn't planned on integrating into my rig, but the effects loop on 
the Repeater seems the perfect place for it.  Also, I've got a few synths 
that I love dearly (Prophet VS, Kawaii K5k) that I will just not take out 
of the house for fear of something happening to them.  Because the 
Repeater 
can save data in a nonvolatile format, I could record synth clusters as 
loops instead of sampling them into the computer, then play them back 
repitched via MIDI. Neat!

I think I'm leaning toward springing the bucks for one of these, but I'm 
still open to arguments pro or con if you (or anybody else) has any more 
feedback.

Thanks again for your thoughts, Rainer!

         -c-



At 12:17 AM 8/26/2002 +0200, Rainer Straschill wrote:
>Hi -c-,
>
>I don't know if I really do understand what you want/need to do with a
>looper, but let me put it this way: for creating weird sonic textures, the
>Repeater might not be the best thing you could get. If in your synth-only
>setup, polyphonic loops can be covered by the pattern sequencers of your
>other devices, a Repeater with its great feature of realtime
>pitch-shift/time compression and of four separate tracks is of little 
>use. I
>do not have a EDP myself, so my scope on its functions vs a Repeater is
>somewhat limited to what I heard from other people; I do however know 
>that I
>do lots of stuff with the Repeater which are impossible both with a Line6
>EchoPro and an EDP - mainly for the fourtrack stuff, which I do use all 
>the
>time, and which involves recording effected synth parts and syncing them 
>to
>a running pattern sequencer (not the other way round, though, for reasons
>amply covered onlist in recent times). If I would be faced with the 
>decision
>to either get an EDP or a Repeater for use in a synth-only setup with lots
>of pattern sequencers which allow for great realtime work, I'd most 
>probably
>opt for the EDP. And I still make heavy use of my DL4, though not as a
>looper, but for its delay effects (although I started to replicate some of
>its effects using a FireworX).
>
>I use the Repeater mostly for "acoustic" instruments, so I do not really
>know if my heavy use of it would apply to your use - most of my synth 
>basses
>are actually Vbasses, looped with a repeater. I couldn't do most of the
>music I play today without a Repeater - on the other hand, I did great 
>stuff
>back when my only loopers were a DL4 and a Headrush...
>
>Why have both (or three of them): The Repeater can do things the Echoplex
>can't do, and even four Echoplexes can't do. The EDP can do things the
>Repeater can't do. The DL4 (or EchoPro) can't to anything the EDP or
>Repeater can't do loopwise, and it can't do a lot of things which are
>regarded a must for a "serious" looper (like MIDI-syncing, variable
>feedback,...) - but it is a great tool for its delay models, and the 
>looper
>is a nice addition to the repertoire
>
>         Rainer
>
>(sorry for being not much of a help)
>
>Rainer Straschill
>Moinlabs GFX and Soundworks - www.moinlabs.de
>digital penis expert group - www.dpeg.de
>The MoinSound Archives - www.mp3.com/moinlabs
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Catilyne [mailto:catilyne@icicle.net]
> > Sent: Sonntag, 25. August 2002 23:21
> > To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> > Subject: Re: Repeater spotted for sale
> >
> >
> > At 10:02 AM 8/25/2002 -0700, Mark Hamburg wrote:
> > >Sylvan Music in Santa Cruz.
> > >
> > >They want $629, however, which puts it within spitting
> > distance of yet
> > >another Echoplex and is now twice the price of a Line6 Echo Pro.
> > >
> > >People keep saying that one should have both. Why?
> >
> > Yep, I'm in a similar circumstance.  I've got a line on a
> > Repeater but I'm
> > really torn as to whether to follow through on it.  (I'd
> > *really* like to
> > thank Mark Sottilaro for his insightful comments, by the way.)
> >
> > I don't consider myself a looper in the strictest sense of
> > the word.  I'm
> > trying to put together a setup (all synthesizers, no acoustic
> > instruments)
> > that will allow me to put Frippertronics-type space ambience
> > over the top
> > of techno breakbeats.  For that reason, I was originally
> > thinking about
> > getting an Echo Pro, then possibly moving up to an EDP later
> > if I really
> > got into looping.
> >
> > But now I'm faced with the dilemma regarding the Repeater of
> > "get it now or
> > forever hold your peace".  <*sigh*>
> >
> > So, for those of you with Repeaters doing electronica, I'd
> > just like to
> > ask: Is it really 'all that', or am I just getting caught up
> > with gearlust
> > and engaging in overkill...?
> >
> > TIA!!!
> >
> >          -c-
> >
> > _____
> > "i want to reach my hand into the dark and *feel* what reaches back"
> >                                                  -recoil
> >
> >