Re: building our own looper

[pycraft@elec.gla.ac.uk (Dr M. P. Hughes)]

David_Mitchell:
>> I know the
>> biggest impediment to me buying a Jamman, Echoplex or Boomerang is $$$ 
>- I
>> just can't justify the cost for a single-purpose effect that I wouldn't 
>be
>> using a lot of the time.  For now, I'll stick to my crappy old Boss PS-2
>> pedal with its 2 seconds of delay.

I don't think we'll really be undercutting the boomerang by any degree,
whatever we do.
 
>> If you consider all the techo knowledge and experience that's on this
>> mailing list, we'd have to be able to spec out a design (assuming 
>everyone
>> suddenly got a few months with nothing else to do!).  As an aside: with
>> memory coming down in price so fast recently, I can't see why you'd 
>need to
>> feel limited by sample resolution or sample time any more - just build 
>in
>> provision for the box to take standard SIMMs up to (say) 64Mb.

Absolutely.  The one complaint everyone has is that there's no stereo
capacity, so a 60sec mono/30sec stereo option would be feasible.

Trevor Bajus:

>IMHO (at least in my price range) effects boxes are like cameras- the more
>>stuff that is built in, the lower the quality of those features.  I'm 
>sure
>that >the Eventide XYZDPDQ2000 has pitchshifting that is as swell as their
>looping, >but I don't really have a $100K for it.  I have two 
>multieffectors
>(the >irreplacable quadraverb, no doubt dear to us all, and an LXP-15+) 
>but
>they only >have a few effects on them each that I like.
>
We're never goint to make a better harmoniser than Eventide.  We're never
going to make a better reverb than Lexicon.  But Lexicon were really smart
when they designed the Vortex - rather than saying "let's build a
competitor to the 9050/q+/Tubefex/etc" they produced something that 50% of
the people on this list would kill rather than lose. Metaphorically.  "Ah,
but it flopped."  No MIDI.
A case of not listening to the market.  However, we have the advantage that
we _are_ the market.  We should all be looking to Matthias' example here -
only 100 LoopDelays were sold, but he started something wonderful in the
process.


>I have been a DIY guy since the first day I bought my guitar and my bridge
>>bickup mysteriously conked out, buy I don't know if I have the savoire 
>faire
>to >build my own looper (at least not yet).  As limited as my skills are, 
>I
>still >think that in relation to must musicians I am fairly knowledgable. 
> I
>think a >kit would be far too complicated and would alienate most of your
>market.

Agreed.  Besides, since any processor we make is a niche product - we're
never going to outsell Digitech, so why just make another RP10? - I think
the people that niche would fit would probably be willing to go the extra
and pay for a built version.  I think a kit is a no-goer, or certainly
there could be an option but it shouldn't be marketed as one.

Michael

Dr Michael Pycraft Hughes      Bioelectronic Research Centre, Rankine Bldg,
Tel: (+44) 141 330 5979        University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, U.K.
        "Everything in moderation, including moderation" (Zen Proverb)