Gremlins and other oddities

[The Man Himself <altruist@shoko.calarts.edu>]

On Tue, 17 Sep 1996, Ed Drake wrote:

> Andre La Fosse said:
> >but there are at least a few unfortunate
> >gremlins floating about in the initial version that have caused me a few
> >headaches).
> Andre -What are some of the gremlins you are talking about?

The most problematic for me is that the reverse function has an erratic 
and unpredictable tendency to introduce a popping noise at the initial 
loop point, which is generally unremovable.  In a transparent loop, this 
is a real bummer, dude.

Beyond that, there's a function called "loop copy" which was apparently
not finished in time for the initial shipment of the Oberheim; the slot on
the front panel reserved for this function doesn't actually do anything,
so you have to use a slightly less direct combination of commands to get
this going (although it does work flawlessly when you use it). 

I've also noticed that the delay mode of the unit tends to be a bit 
tempramental in terms of how and where it decides to place the loop point.

Finally, the storage-to-sequencer operation is a lot more complex than 
one might initially think; I finally got it working with the right sort 
of sequencing program (Performer) but it's mighty slow.  (This last gripe 
has less to do with Echoplex problems, I think, and more to do with the 
evils of MIDI protocol in general).

I've talked to Kim about most of these problems, and they look to be 
solved by the now-legendary Currently Unavailable Echoplex Upgrade.  Kim 
has also made reference (on the Torn list, I think) to a variety of other 
fairly minor bugs which most of us have hopefully never noticed.  (Are 
there any others we should be on the lookout for, Kim?)

I have a suggestion: In order to demonstrate to Oberheim just how much
demand there is for the upgrade, perhaps we should initiate an e-mail
campaign demanding that the upgrade be released (and at a very reasonable
price, since there are at least one or two things mentioned above that
were supposed to be a part of the initial, fully-functional unit). 

> Someone posted (Sorry!)

('Twas me yet again...)

> > Echoplexes often aren't as expensive as you'd think.  The retail is 
>about
> > $879 for a new unit, but for just over $500 I picked up a brand new 
>unit
> > *plus* the foot controller.
> > The store I got it at (Nadine's here in L.A., incidentally one of
> > the few places I've found that even stocks the thing) wanted to move 
>the
> > units.
>    I called the guy at Nadine's after reading your post and talked to the
> owner and he said after I told him  about  the list he quoted me a price 
>of
> $500 for the 12.5 second 'Plex  and $75 for the footswitch contingent on
> whether Oberheim had  changed it's list price. 

I should also mention that the price I found the 'Plex at was part of a 
large store-wide sale.  One of the guys there said I'd have to wait until 
the actual sale before I could snag the gear at that price.  (As it was a 
store-wide, three day sale, I anticipated camping out on the front 
sidewalk early that morning, somehow envisioning imagining hordes of LA 
musicians eager to snatch up a real-time looper).  However, when I went 
in to try one out, a different sales guy said he could do the sale price 
right then and there.  Even at $500, though, it's still way cheaper than 
the $879 list price.  However, I wouldn't be surprised if the price could 
be talked down cheaper still...

Bye for now,

--Andre