Re: AW: Foot timing, syncing loops with Ableton

[Mech <mech@m3ch.net>]

At 9:44 AM -0400 5/6/07, Jesse Chappell wrote:
>On 5/5/07, Mech <mech@m3ch.net> wrote:
>>And I've toyed with the idea of coding together a basic audio
>>Looper inside Bidule.
>
>Just out of curiosity, what salient features are you missing from the
>existing mac loopers to make you want to build your own?

Oh, don't worry Jesse, I'm not looking to disparage the products that 
are already out there.  It's not so much missing features as a matter 
of curiosity, and my own education.

First, it was so darn easy to hack together a MIDI Looper in Bidule, 
that my next thought was: "well, if I just swap out the MIDI modules 
with audio modules, will I have a similar audio Looper?".  Doing that 
also gives a bit of insight into how conventional Loopers are put 
together, and how to better use/twist them for what I'd like to do. 
Heck, I don't even know if it would work, but I'd probably learn 
something from the experiment!

Next, even though Bidule does support AU/VST's in its layouts, 
there's still an attraction to "staying native" -- using only Bidule 
widgets to accomplish what you want, and benefiting from the 
(perceived) performance optimization.  I guess it's the same as 
asking whether you'd rather code your own Looper inside MAX/MSP or 
use one that already exists.  Different people have different 
preferences.

Finally, one feature that *would* be inherent in a Bidule layout that 
isn't easily implemented in existing products: modularity.  For 
instance, in just the short span of time I was tweaking my MIDI 
Looper I came across a function that wouldn't be readily available in 
an off-the-shelf product.  This is the ability to pull the various 
taps out of the feedback loop and effect each one individually.  If 
one had the capability to do something like, say, leave the original 
signal dry, then transpose the first tap up a whole tone with an 
added minor, then have every subsequent repeat time-stretched down a 
fifth and buried in a reverb soup... well, it's possible to do some 
really wicked stuff.

But, overall, there's a bunch of stuff that becomes possible in a 
modular design that isn't apparent or even possible in a fixed unit. 
The flexibility in the architecture allows you to discover things you 
might not have thought about ahead of time.

As I stated up top, though, I'm not trying to put down any of the 
wonderful work you or the other developers have contributed to the 
field.  New architectures can result in new musical directions. 
That's all I'm looking for.  :)

        --m.
-- 
_____
"I want to keep you alive so there is always the possibility of 
murder... later"