RE: "Tape Speed" style pitch/speed variation (was: Re: repeater question)

[goddard.duncan@mtvne.com]

Title: RE: "Tape Speed" style pitch/speed variation (was: Re: repeater question)

my varispeed looper devices are the powertran MCS-1 sampler/delay & the venerable bel-BD80. two of the first & one of the latter.

both of these units, in delay-line mode, offer the simultaneous pitch/tempo slides that various correspondents have described, & which are analogous to tape varispeed.

(it sucks that the repeater can't do this properly, or even on individual tracks. I haven't played with it on the eh2880, though it sounds interesting that the mixdown track is treated separately....)

an added bonus of these ancient loopers, though, is that both feature an LFO. this was intended by the designers, in both cases, to be used in conjunction with a very short delay to create y'r typical phasing/flanging/chorussing effects.

(they both have voltage control inputs so that one could control the "pitch" of the frozen audio using a standard cv/gate synth. this raises the odd spectacle of a monophonic "sampler" being played from a monophonic synth; the powertran also has a rudimentary midi spec for this purpose.)

naturally, when applied to a whole several second "freeze" of audio, the results are infinitely more interesting. my favourite trick is to set the internal LFO going quite slowly with a big chunk of audio in the memory, & then (using a footswitch) to "unfreeze" the audio for tiny instants with the input to the device muted (or not!) & the repeat level turned down. this creates a nice glitchy gappy sort of effect, like you would get by selectively erasing bits of a tape-loop while it was also being varispeeded up & down.

I don't know about the BD80 (developed by mick barnard, who was briefly in genesis a long time ago) but the powertran is 8-bit & uses dbx companding. this makes it sound more like tape, ironically.

imagine the possibilities, then, when the two powertrans & the BD80 eventually end up in the same room..... :-)

duncan.

***************************************************************************
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE

The contents of this e-mail are confidential to the ordinary user
of the e-mail address to which it was addressed, and may also
be privileged.  If you are not the addressee of this e-mail you may 
not copy, forward, disclose or otherwise use it or any part of it
in any form whatsoever.If you have received this e-mail in error,
please e-mail the sender by replying to this message.

It is your responsibility to carry out appropriate virus and other
checks to ensure that this message and any attachments do not
affect your systems / data. Any views or opinions expressed in this
e-mail are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of MTV Networks Europe unless specifically stated,
nor does this message form any part of any contract unless so stated.

MTV reserves the right to monitor e-mail communications from
external/internal sources for the purposes of ensuring correct 
and appropriate use of MTV communication equipment.

MTV Networks Europe
***************************************************************************