Re: hyperprism

[improv@peak.org (Dave Trenkel)]

>>>I've been toying with the idea of setting up a mac IIci with 
>>hyperprism to
>>do
>>>looping and midi controlled spacial effects. I might put a >samplecell 
>card
>>in
>>>it also. anyone done this?
>>
>>- Torn has. The results (in his hands, anyway) are all over his latest; 
>"What
>>Means Solid, Traveler?"
>>we also used this technique a bit on my record... it's fun and the 
>results
>>can be utterly unworldly.
>>have fun!
>>Robby Aceto
>
>I just know that Hyperprism is a french (?) soft package that runs on PPCs
>and contains all kinds of effects.
>Are they programmable in a suficiantly free way, so we can use it as a
>looper, the way we like it?
>Would it make sense to propose them a few modifications to improve this 
>side?
>
I don't think it's french, ARboretum's address is in San Francisco. There
are several different versions, a 68000 version that runs as a stand alone
on mac's with Digidesign audio boards, a TDM version is a plug-in for
Digidesign's Pro-Tools system, and a PPC version that runs on Powermacs
with no additional hardware. I've only used the PPC version, and I really
like it a lot, though I would think it works better as a post-recording
processor than as a live instrument. I think it's the coolest piece of
audio-sickening software since TurboSynth, and that is high praise.

Basically, it offers a fairly standard set of effects (Delays, pitch and
time shifting, reverb, ring modulation, etc) with a very non-standard
interface, a blue window on the computer screen with different parameters
of the x and y axis. For example, in the pitch and time changer, pitch is
on the y axis, and playback speed is on the x axis. By drawing lines in the
window, you set the parameters, and these paths can be saved, though not
edited. in the 68000 and TDM versions, the parameters can also be
controlled by external MIDI controllers, but that is not available on the
PPC version, and I doubt that it will be since the PPC version costs about
1/2 the 68000 price, and 1/3 the TDM price.

There's a demo at www.arboretum.com, which sold me on the software, and the
PPC version is $279, which is pretty cheap for such a cool tool. And I'm
not affiliated Arboretum in any way, if this sounds too much like a sales
plug.

BTW, hyperprism was named after an Edgar Varese piece, which should give
you an idea of where the designers are at philosophically.

BTW2: I'm new to this list, and loving it. I'm a bassist and looper from
way back, and currently I'm using a JamMan and lxp-5 for live looping, and
a PPC/Deck/Audiomedia2 setup for serious mangling.

later,
dt