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Looper's Delight
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At 08:13 PM 10/23/2002 -0400, ArsOcarina@aol.com wrote: >Matt, > >In a message dated 10/23/02 4:03:21 PM, nicholson_matt@msn.com writes: > > >Reason stands on its own for good synths for cheap. > >Like I said this is MOST of what I want it for. I've heard >some of the sounds generated by Reasons synths and >have been impressed. I was thinking of maybe, possibly >getting an Oxygen8 USB keyboard and playing around >with it in Reason. If there were also some sort of >"loop player" for my .AIFFs files that could be played from >the MIDI note-on/off from that USB mini-keyboard input it >could sort of replace my little hardware phrase samplers >too. Another option which has been touched upon but not fully discussed is that of doing a "roll your own" setup with an off-the-shelf sequencer and a set of VSTi's of your own choosing. The big plus with this sort of setup is that you get to pick the sequencer and only the instruments that really excite you. The downside is that it's a little more complicated that just tossing in an install disk and *bam* you get what they give you. One of the reasons I think this option was dismissed fairly quickly was that it was brought up in context of something like Cubase SX -- which is a great program but would admittedly be overkill given your requirements, not only in functionality but especially price. However, there are a lot of good budget sequencers out there which could act as VST hosts and therefore give you the option to pick and choose exactly the functionality you're seeking (especially if something like Ambiloop makes the jump over to VST-land). In particular, I've just begun playing around with Muzys (http://www.muzys.com), a fully-featured budget sequencer which, in addition to the standard "track-roll" sort of editing, features an interesting alternate form of composition. It has what essentially amounts to a loop sequencer that works with either audio loops or MIDI. It ain't Ableton Live, but it does have some of that functionality in that you can load in pre-recorded loops, justify them against each other (i.e. 'Loop A' plays six times in the span it takes 'Loop B' to play once), then control pitch & speed on each. Also,supports VST 2.0 as well as Rewire (PC only, Mac coming soon). If it sounds interesting, try downloading the latest version from the website. It's fully functional with the exception that it emits an audio dropout and soft hiss every 30 seconds or so. Back on Reason, I've never personally been a big fan of the "workstation" concept -- be it an old Korg M1 or a software package like Reason -- because inevitably some portion of the all-in-one-package is entirely unnecessary for my purposes or just plain sucks (although I've got to admit that Reason is better than most). You touched on this yourself, Ted, when you mentioned that your Roland guitar synth had a sequencer which is, for all intents and purposes, worthless to you. Yet, this is functionality that was factored into the price you paid for the unit. Regardless, before jumping for Recycle/Reason, check out the current issue of Computer Music (issue #52, on stands now in UK/Europe and to subscribers; due out next month in the US). Coincidentally, Loops just happen to be the main theme of the issue. However, it also contains a full workshop tutorial in Recycle, so you can at least get a good idea what it's like to work with the program. As far as the other articles, while they primarily concentrate on pre-recorded loops, there are a lot of techniques that can just as well be applied to any sort of repeating content -- live or otherwise. Worth a look on the newsstand, at least. -c- _____ "i want to reach my hand into the dark and *feel* what reaches back" -recoil