RE: future loopers

["Dennis W. Leas" <dennis@mail.worldserver.com>]

Wow!  I take a vacation for a week and see what happens???  You guys get
down to business and discuss the FUTURE!  At least you know the virus 
vector
wasn't me since my computer was off.

Interesting discussion.  We are entering a period where we can try-out new
looper ideas without investing in custom hardware.  Tools like MAX/MSP,
Reaktor, and (I'd like to think) my Looper Construction Kit for Kyma permit
us to proto-type our ideas before committing them to silicon or a custom
application.

I know we don't have a lot of Kyma users on the LD list, but I'd like to
encourage folks (Kyma-less or not) to look at the LCK manual
(www.greenteasoftware.com/lck_manual.htm).  In developing the LCK, it was 
my
intention to provide a tool-kit for the easy construction of new loopers 
and
looping paradigms.  It's sort of a language or library for building 
loopers.
I have ideas for extending it but I'm always interested in new features 
from
others.  I'm also quite interested in *using* the LCK to build "future
loopers", so please keep posting ideas or send them directly to me if you
prefer.

The major problem I see, that I have not seen discussed, is how to control
the future looper.  We of the LD community seem satisfied (mostly) with the
MIDI footpedal/switch control.  But I have some LCK customers who do not
want to touch a button, switch, or pedal when looping.  For example, they
might "score" a compostion using Kyma's timeline feature.  (This is the
typical, linear, sequential tool that it sounds like, as adapted for Kyma.)
Loop recording/playback/overdubbing/etc occurs at certain pre-set times in
the composition.  Other folks trigger looper events based on pitch
recognition, e.g., playing A-440 for a given time period may start loop
recording.

Even if you prefer controls like buttons/switches/keyboards/pedals, you
still have the problem of too many features to conveniently control.
Especially with controls initially designed for functions like patch
switching or volume fading.

While there are many ways of using a looper, most of us (myself included)
play some other instrument (guitar, perc, voice, etc) into the looper.  Our
main axe serves as the sound source for the looper, which we consequently
manipulate.  It's as if we're playing two instruments simultaneously.
That's why using a full featured looper such as the EDP/Repeater/etc can be
overwhelming at first.

In addition, I tend to "look" at my EDP a lot to see which state it's in.
So besides the input control issue, we have the status display issue, too.
Maybe we need a "heads-up" display so we can see the looper state while we
do the audience eye-contact thing.

So what's folk's ideas for looper controls?

Dennis Leas
-----------
dennis@mail.worldserver.com