Re: starting out

["Stephen P. Goodman" <sgoodman@primenet.com>]

<afn39111@afn.org> Posted:
> 
> So say I'm thinking about starting out with loop music and don't want to
> necessarily drop a load of cash for the absolutely top of the line
device,
> for both reasons of simplicity and it possibly being a bad idea.  What
would
> you suggest?
> 
> (always looking for something to expand beyond the solo-bass pit)

First off, look for a used-goods newspaper in your area.  Los Angeles
(where I currently reside) is a fantastic place to look for used musical
equipment, since there are a lot of musicians and recently-ex-musicians
getting rid of equipment there... The paper here's the Recycler (used,
incidentally, by Thomas Dolby in '88 to recruit band members for his
tour-at-the-time).  I'm sure there are equivalents elsewhere.

I experimented with a lot of really crappy equipment - most of it old
reel-to-reel equipment that should have been pasteurized long ago - and
finally bought both my looping unit (Digitech 7.6) and effects/ambiance
unit (QuadraVerb +), for $125 each!  In most cases people get rid of this
stuff (in THIS town anyway), when they've got some more money and they're
just upgrading.  I haven't had a problem yet [crossing fingers while
preparing the first series of gigs for the next few months]...


One PENULTIMATE RULE, though:  If it's got an Anvil case, don't even call
'em up - if it's got a case, it's been out of someone's living room.  Well,
most likely, on tour, and all over Hell and Back.  My Juno-106 synth is
still kicking, and I bought it for $400 in '87, from the guy who wrote
"Jump" for the Pointer Sisters (the strings wash used in the repeating hook
is actually the default #1 patch!)....!

Well, hope this helps.

* Stephen Goodman            It's the Loop Of The Week!  And it's free!
* EarthLight Productions      http://www.earthlight.net/Studios