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Re: Line 6 -DL4 or Boss DD-20 or Akai E2

At 09:11 AM 2/5/2005, Kevin Harrison wrote:
>anybody got anything to add re; DD-20 or the Akai E2 Headrush, any users 
>out there with pertinent comments on either of these. I think what I'm 
>looking for is something to emulate frippertronics delay rather than a 
>'vanilla' looper.

Kevin,

Glad to see you bring this back up, as I'd some thoughts here but was 
afraid the thread had gone stale by the time I got to it.

In particular regard to the Line 6 DL-4: I currently use Line 6 Echo Pro's 
(the DL-4's rack-mounted big brother), which have the same basic loop 
engine as the DL-4 but with more memory for longer delay time.  While I 
play synths rather than outright guitar, I do use a guitar controller to 
drive my synth rig.

Using just my guitar patches in conjunction with a volume pedal, I've been 
able to get a damn good emulation of Frippertronics out of the Line 6 
devices.  I think the key factor you're seeking is the ability to cleanly 
overdub on top of a seamless loop.  In my experience, the Line 6 does an 
excellent job of that, and I'm able to easily build a variety of ambient 
textures and soundscapes quite quickly using only the overdub in 
conjunction with the reverse and double/half-speed functionality.

As has been pointed out, the one Achilles' heel of the the DL-4 is the 
relatively short amount of memory available. I'd agree that if you were 
trying to loop and switch between standard Verse-Chorus-Break parts, you'd 
probably get somewhat frustrated with the amount of available loop 
time.  However, correct me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't sound as if that's 
the kind of music you're doing.

The best advice I could give is simply take your axe down to your local 
retailer and try it out.  I think the sound you're looking for is easily 
and simply obtainable by the DL-4, but you're going to have to decide for 
yourself if the unit has enough memory for your purposes, or if you're 
going to need longer loops than it can provide.  Not to mention that you 
could always consider the Echo Pro instead, which has about 99 seconds of 
addressable loop time <*large evil grin*>.

         --m.

_____
"i want to reach my hand into the dark and *feel* what reaches back"
                                                 -recoil