Re: Ultra lo tech looping

[Dave Stagner <dstagner@icarus.net>]

Lo tech looping? These days, I mostly "loop" on an acoustic guitar!  I
start with some simple repetitive sound, then add another sound, and
another, and another.  The "loop" length of each sound varies, but the
pattern is the same.  So what I get is a textural improvisation, involving
layers of unique sounds in repeating patterns... looping.  All with no
electronics whatsoever.  

Mick Karn, who often plays bass with David Torn, uses a very similar
technique on fretless bass.  Wonderful lines.  It starts with just a
couple of notes, and eventually grows into a blur of slides, pops, and
snorts.  

I must confess, though, that I'm starting to itch for electronics again.
If I can find the time, I might build a nice stereo tube amp for my
acoustic guitar, something that complements the tone.  

And finally, I've been listening lately to a fairly primitive looping
album... "The Big Industry", by Roger Miller.  It was the start of his
"Maximum Electric Piano" work.  He used a Yamaha electric baby grand (the
kind with strings), with Cage-style preparations, a volume pedal, and a
couple of fuzz boxes for a tone source.  For looping, he used a simple
analog delay and a classic E-H 16 Second Delay.  Amazing stuff.

-dave

By "beauty," I mean that which seems complete.
Obversely, that the incomplete, or the mutilated, is the ugly. 
Venus De Milo.
To a child she is ugly.       /* dstagner@icarus.net */
   -Charles Fort