Dream looper (was Re: DD-20 (was Re: Boomerang 3))

[Mark Hamburg <mark@grubmah.com>]

My looping setup for several years consisted of a pair of independent (but 
brother synced) EDPs. Of late, I've been using the looper in the Line6 M13 
because of convenience. I own an LP1, but it doesn't think quite the way I 
do.

My dream looper (rough thoughts, this list would probably get expanded and 
revised with sleep):

* Stereo or at least stereo friendly. The Line6 pedals are stereo friendly 
though not a stereo looper. The EDP is not stereo friendly unless you buy 
two and even then some things don't work quite as well -- e.g., threshold 
recording. Basically, the rest of my rig is stereo and I'd rather not have 
to use a mixer in a portable rig.

* Pedalboard/floor friendly. Hauling a rack around is a pain.

* I need to be able to go straight into Overdub at feedback of 100%. This 
seems to be the key to creating seamless loops.

* I want an EDP-style multiply -- i.e., tell it to start multiplying and 
it overdubs on new cycles as long as is needed for the multiply period. 
One also has to be able exit multiply into overdub.

* I like the Line6 model for undo -- i.e., it goes back to where you left 
it before you started recording or otherwise modifying the loop. This 
makes more sense if the loop doesn't decay when not being modified. 
EDP-style loop windowing is cool, but it's not as useful.

* Two separate loops with only one playing at a time and an ability to 
copy the audio between them is pretty useful and more flexible than undo.

* I want a replace mode that allows it to function as a single delay with 
then the option to go out of replace into either play or overdub.

* I like intermediate feedback levels (other than 0% and 100%), but I 
could be persuaded to live without them.

* The ability to mute/stop and then restart the loop is pretty critical. 
It's good if it can do this and stay in time or not as the case may be.

* Double-speed and half-speed are pretty useful. Reverse feels more like a 
trick and is less critical for what I do.

* I've been into Quantized Replace on the EDP since before the LP1 offered 
it, but a good implementation -- particularly on a pedal board -- should 
recognize that when in Quantized Replace mode, I probably want to mute the 
input audio except when I'm replacing. But I would not insist on having 
quantized replace on my dream looper if I got much of the other things I 
want.

* I need to be able to synchronize at least two of these things so that 
they have cycle lengths that are multiples of one another. That can either 
be handled via two or more simultaneous loops in one box or two loopers 
with sync capabilities.

I'm sure more would come to me. I feel some pressure to also try to edit 
the list down, however, since there's an aspect of wanting something that 
is fairly clear and simple to use.

Take the EDP, put it in a floor pedal, make it stereo friendly, and revise 
the undo and next loop functions a  bit and I would probably be quite 
happy. But then I also deal with the EDP seeming to be more finicky about 
audio levels and...

Mark