Re: Zoom 508 delay vs. Steinway pianos vs. Klein guitars

[Kevin Simonson <simonson@uis.edu>]

> 
> We will be elated when the people responsible for designing the next
> generation of loopers become as thoughtful about the real world live
> application of their creations as say Steve Klein was when he designed 
>his
> incredible electric guitar, or the Steinway family was when they produced
> the grandest of grand pianos

It strikes me that these examples strive to achieve project leadership
through quality materials and manufacturing of a very well designed product
with little concern for PRICE.  Zoom does not (self-)admittedly manufacture
top of the line products, and with their impetus being toward producing
COST-EFFECTIVE solutions, comparing the two above examples with a 508 is by
nature kind of fallacious.

> 
> In short, here's a test: put a Klein guitar or a Steinway piano in front 
>of
> a five  year old who has never SEEN a guitar or a piano before.  With 
>both
> instruments that said five year old will immediately get it.  He will sit
> down and begin strumming or plunking away, and he will accomplish this
> because the Klein guitar and the Steinway piano have been adapted to make
> music with the human mind and body (even a tiny one).  Now put the Zoom 
>508
> pedal in front of that same five year old...within a very short time he
> will throw it across the room.

A five year old would need to have very advanced temporal-spatial faculties
in order to grasp what a 508 does.  The Zoom All-in-One pedals are for a
rather specific market niche, and with the textural tendencies and general
"big ears" of the looping community in general, are probably NOT suitable 
as
multipurpose effects units, but rather offer a palette of limited solutions
to primarily budget-minded guitarists.
 
-- 
Kevin Simonson                      * AS/400 Application Development Team
University of Illinois-Springfield  * Programmer / Analyst
Computer Science, et al.            * Norwest Mortgage, Inc.
simonson@eagle.uis.edu              * Springfield, IL