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Re: Building A Sampler/Looper around a barebone computer.

Romain wrote:
> What I expect to get is:
> A) A simple and good quality live looping. I mean for
> example, I press button 1 on the foot controller,
> record let's say a guitar rythm, and if I press button
> 2 the rythm plays along, and if I play button 3, the
> loop is saved but no played + some tricks about
> quantization => the sample would be cut nicely, not in
> the middle of 2 beats !! 
> + ability to play stop the recorded loops
> independantly

There are several looping tools available, some simple,
some complex.  A nice summary was posted to this
list a few months ago:

   www.loopers-delight.com/LDarchive/200503/msg00354.html

If you want more than one loop playing at the same time,
you will either need a looper that supports multiple loops,
or run multiple copies of the looper and synchronize them.
This isn't as simple as it sounds.

> B) Some good delays and reverbs, switchable via foot
> controller
 > C) Weird FX (bit-crusher, octaver) switchable as well

You will want to learn about VST plugins.  There are hundreds
of free delay and reverb plugins here:

   www.kvraudio.com

> D) Ability to trigger some pre-recorded samples as
> well.

There are probably plugins at KVR that can do this.
Tu2 isn't free but it's very nice and only $35.

    www.brambos.com/news.html

If you decide to get into VSTs you will need a "host".
A good free host is Audio Mulch.

    www.audiomulch.com

> I guess I can achieve this with little latency on a
> pretty small computer with windows OS if I tune it for
> music only.

Linux certainly has better latency than Windows, but
Windows can be quite acceptable if you tune it.  This
site has a lot of tips.

   www.musicxp.net

You will want a sound card or USB audio interface
that has ASIO drivers.  If you have an older interface
that didn't come with ASIO drivers, several people
have reported that this works well.

   www.asio4all.com


Finally, don't rule out a Mac.  A MacMini is very reasonably
priced and comes with GarageBand (a host) and a multi-track
looping plugin.


Enjoy the journey, it may be a long one :-)

Jeff