Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:43:32 -0700
From: stevoj@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Cycloops / Soundbite Micro
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
phillip wilson <phillwilson@hotmail.com> wrote:
Hi all
I just got back from my holidays surfing in Lanzarote , i couldnt be unplugged for a week so to my girlfriends dismay I took along my KP Mini and Kaocillator .......i havent had that much fun for months, the two work so well together building simple loops on the 'ocilator and passing them throught the delays of the KP mini....it got me thinking to how to solve the only problem of the 'ociltor....only 8 beats no undos and everything getting a bit to big to quick.
So im now looking at buying a soundbite micro as this has four sample slots and you can set the reletive times to each other (i would have one as 4beat one as 8 one and16 and one 32 but thats just me) plus a load of other cools stuff...
the only thing i was wondering was, does it function like a normal looper with one button push starting record then the next stopping it when ever i want to begin looping, or is it more like the kaossicators looper when everything is goverened by bmp and that has to be set first...this is less intuitive for me as a musician but i can see how it would work for a dj.
anyone else got anything to add, likes , dislikes etc... are the bigger cycloops and soundbites battery powerable?
cheers
Phill
Have you played Fishticuffs? Get fish-slapping on Messenger
This might be the right time for me to post an old review I did of the Soundbite XL, which has many similar features to the micro. There is, by the way, a newer version of the XL, which has quite a lot more features, although it's still essentially a DJ loop sampler
I'm actually using the Soundbite XL as my main looper. I have to work within it's strict limitations, and be creative otherwise everything ends up sounding the same.
Stephen Scott
www.myspace.com/sylvianfisher
Review of the Red Sound Soundbite XL (formerly known as 'Cycloops')
This is a somewhat unusual product for loopers, especially those of us who do not have a DJing background. It has 6 stereo loop memories of predefined length, but the length of the loop is measured in BPM rather than seconds. It attempts to latch on to the incoming sound and measure the BPM automatically, which for guitar based looping, fails miserably just about every time. However, it is easy to manually set the BPM prior to recording a loop (by either tapping in a tempo or manually selecting with the data wheel). The preset sample lengths are arranged in 3 groups, with the following possibilities;
Group 1 - 16, 8, 4, 4, 2, 1 beats
Group 2 - 16, 8, 4, 1, 1/2, 1/4 beats
Group 3 - 32, 4, 4, 1, 1/2, 1/4 beats
The lowest BPM setting is 60, which would equate to sampling times of 16, 8, 4, 4, 2, 1 seconds for the pads in group 1, or a longest sample of 32 seconds in group 3. All in glorious stereo.
Inputs and outputs are on 2 pairs of phono (RCA) sockets at the top of the unit. There is also a handy headphone output at the bottom of the unit that allows only the input to be monitored - there is no sample output from this socket. I actually find this really useful, as It allows a clean signal feed on to my other devices.
Recording and playback is started by simply pressing one of the 6 sample pad buttons. This is quite awkward for a guitarist, and there is no option for footswitch or auto-trigger record start (However, I have built my own pedal board for this, by soldering wires directly to the button contacts). The recording continues to the end of the sample time, there is no way of shortening a loop.
There are some very neat features. It has a really nice sounding analogue filter, selectable HP, LP or BP which can filter either the sample pads or incoming 'live' signal. Unfortunately, the filter will work only on ALL the sample pads together, not individual samples. The filter resonance or cut off frequency is controllable via the large data wheel.
In addition, it has a handy reverse function which reverses any individual (or combination of) sample pads.
It is absurdly simple to use (don't forget, it's a DJ tool, he- he). Simply press a sample pad to start the recording, then the sample will automatically playback and loop repeatedly at the end of the sample. If you make a mistake, press re-sample, then the sample pad again to re-record. All the pads continue playing in forward or reverse mode, all synced nicely together. If you need to time shift a sample, just press and hold a sample pad and joggle the data wheel to bring it forwards or backwards in relation to the other loops. This is a brilliant feature. It is also possible to time-shift all the samples simultaneously.
Individual samples can be turned off and on by pressing the sample pad once, when recorded. There is no way of erasing a single sample (but this is not neccesary, simply turn it off or re-record sample with silence). There is an Erase All samples button, which activates if held down for half a second. Its a bit too easy to accidentally erase everything, so approach this button with caution.
The output level of each individual sample can easily be set on the fly between -20dB and +6dB, although there is a 'click' as the OP goes from +5 to +6dB or vice versa. It would be nice if the OP could go below -20dB, as this doesn't quite allow for a loop to be faded out completely (nearly though).
An undocumented feature is that, once a sample is recorded, the playback speed can be altered by changing the BPM setting. Again, this is a global feature affecting all samples, but allows for various pitch shifting / time stretching effects.
You will have assumed by now that there is no way of proper looping on this because of the lack of any sort of overdubbing etc. Well, overdubbing is just about possible, provided that you are using a mixer with sends. One handy feature is that when re-sampling a loop, the old track you are recording over continues to play back. So, if you feed back some of that 'old' sample into the mixer and add it into the new sample mix, the old and new sounds will be overdubbed onto the new loop. This works, but it is totally destructive, so if you mess up the dub, you are stuffed.
The sound quality is good, and I have no reason to doubt the manuals specs of 24 bit 96kHz sampling. I would have personally prefered to have a 44kHz sample rate with longer sample time. The total possible sample time (at 60bpm) is 35 seconds (using group 1 samples), 29.75 seconds (using group 2) or 41.75 secs (group 3), but remember that these are split over 6 samples per group.
