Re: Refining the first of possibly many stupid questions

[Richard Sales <richard@glasswing.com>]

> previously you were talking about the Echoplex, Repeater, the Lexicon JamMan - you seem to be jumping all over the place. All of these loopers are very different from each other, and fit well for different applications and types of users. One doesn't replace another. My advice is that you first figure out what you want to do with a looper, and then determine which looper best fits that use.

Thanks Kim!

You obviously know a ton more about this than I do... so I'm grateful for your input.   

What I want to do is be able to play (solo acoustic guitar) a line or figure, have it repeat, and play over it - overdubbing more layers of guitar.  I might need to be able to have different length loops.  I can do all of this in the studio handily.  It's LIVE I'm looking to use the looper for.  So I need reliable foot switching.   But really, compared with what you all are talking about I think my needs are VERY simple!

I can sort of do this with my old tape Echoplex, or Effectrons etc, but they don't do the auto trim of loops... and they sound funky - which is useful for some apps but I need a clean sound first and foremost so I can use it on acoustic guitar - not distorted or effected other than maybe the Dimension D.  But I would put that or any other effects BEFORE the looper.

I know of a guitarist (Michael Hedges) who used a JamMan to do this with good results.  But the JamMan was limited in the number of loops you could do (I've heard) and it's no longer in production

There are lots of ideas I might use it for - possibly even in the context of a band - but that might be a long reach with live drums etc.   

Two inputs would be sweet in case i want to run, say, an electric guitar into it too... or maybe a resonator guitar.  Now that I come to think of it, expanded possible uses are surfacing.

Another feature I might need is the ability to recall old loops.  The Looperlative sounds good on this front - I could potentially bring a laptop with loops in it and bring them in via ethernet?  This is not critical, though, and part of me is drawn to the roll of the dice nature of live looping.  

The JamMan came out in the nineties?  Duh! The more time I leave behind me, the more it seems to run together in the rear view mirror.

But ultimately it's the sound that matters - so I've heard the Looperlative has the best sound.  Generally they way I've worked is buy what I buy and make it do what I need it to do... and vice versa.  And, after 26+ years in the studio business have had pretty good luck with that.. with only a few white elephants in the store room.  

I'd love to see a comparison chart of the different loopers and what they can and can't do.  Does that exist?

But I'll continue to learn what I can.  It sounds like the Looperlative is pretty far backordered so I have time to ponder and weigh.  

Did this help?  I suspect I WON'T KNOW what I'll want until I start doing it... so it makes sense to get the most versatile looper at this point so I have options.  

Thanks, Kim... and everyone who has so kindly responded to the first of my series of very stupid questions

Richard Sales
glassWing studios




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> Kim Flint                     | Looper's Delight
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