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Looper's Delight
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I certainly don't have the experience the folks on this list have with all the latest looping technology and I definitely respect the "boutique" argument and I'm very impressed with what Bob has done with the LP1. At the same time I have a large number of instruments, all fairly inexpensive. Even my EDP was fairly inexpensive, thanks to eBay. And I--like quite a number of folks--can repurpose work gear such as laptops or buy used gear at good discounts. I look at the ever-decreasing performance:price ratio for hardware such as laptops and I wonder how things will stand five years from now. Folks are building their own TiVos now. More and more musicians are moving to laptop-only setups. Perhaps the long-term market for the Looperlative is really in its OS and the software developed for it. In its community If I was Bob, at this price point I would be worried about a pirate like Behringer moving in. If I spent $1400 on a piece of equipment, I would like it to still be useful and (in the LP1's case) still evolving in five or ten year's time. Folks that are surfing the wave need to spend money on the latest board. Folks who paddle on the open seas can afford to wait a little;. that's most folks. I look at most hardware/software packages out there and I see several different market models. One way is boutique, a fine and honorable living. Another way is cheap hardware that drives the software sales. Or great software that drives the hardware sales. Then there's the old-school turnkey closed-system like-it-or-lump-it way. In thinking about business models for Looperlative, would it make sense to truly have a development community for the Looperlative that allowed users to directly build the software along the same lines as SourceForge? And from that point of view, would it make sense to have a cheaper platform? It doesn't have to be open-source public domain. All rights could revert to Looperlative. Think about Lego Mindstorms here a bit. Think about Max/MSP and Jitter. All the same, I wish Bob the very best. I have been wondering why looper products have been lagging so far behind what is possible with today's technology and the LP1 is a very welcome great step forward that puts Digitech and Roland to shame. Sorry for boring you all. Cheers, Kevin www.TheNettles.com >As someone who's made a conserted effort to replace >external gear with software I have to say that in my >findings a good enough laptop and audio interface >hardware to run a decent looper will easily cost you >$1400 (USB isn't fast enough, you'll need USB2 or >Firewire and you'll need a gig of memory and a 7200 >rpm hard drive too) > >and guess what? It won't hold a candle to what an EDP >or Repeater can do... probably not be able to keep up >with a Boss RC-50. Kim's gone on about why this isn't >possible (Windows isn't a "real time" OS and I believe >the Mac OS is better but still not that great) > >So while my trusty computer does a great job being my >drum machine, effects processor and synth (though not >all at the same time) I've never found the >feature/feel combo in looping software, although >Augustusloop is mighty fun in a pinch. It's not going >to replace my hardware any time soon, just as my soft >synths aren't going to replace my Virus. They just >don't pack the same power.