Re:EDP Questions, Additive rhythms

[Kim Flint <kflint@chromatic.com>]

hey, sorry. meant to answer some of these questions but I've been much too
busy....so hey, now that I'm at work, what better time?

At 11:52 AM 2/23/98 -0800, Andy Wolpert wrote:
>
>> (1) What sorts of MIDI sync features are possible on the EDP
>   I will look into this, it should be possible to make a loop which is 
>an unusual multiple of 8th notes.

Yes, you can get a wide variety of time signatures while syncing to midi
clock. There is a parameter called "8ths/beat" (should have been called
8ths/cycle, but oh well...)  which lets you set the number of eighth notes
that the echoplex will use for midi sync purposes. So if you  want 7/8, you
would set this parameter to 7. Then when midi clock is coming in and you
have the plex set to sync to external clocks, you will see the little sync
LED flash every seven eighth notes. 

When you hit record, it waits for the next sync point and then starts
recording. You can leave it recording as long as you like. When you press
record again to end the recording, it will wait for the next sync point and
stop recording automatically for you. So you will end up with some number 
of
exact 7/8 measures, with the number of measures being up to you.

The 8ths/beat param currently goes to 20, which should cover most time
signatures. We'll probably increase this range someday, since a variety of
weirdos think it's really important to be able to loop in 41/8 or whatever.
:-) We left it at 20 since we figured that the vast majority would just 
:find
it irritating to scroll so far to get to 8.


>>(2) Wdoes the EDP have a power supply switch for European voltage
>    Yes there is a switch on the back for that

yep, internal supply, designed to handle all the worlds power systems. No
evil WALL WARTS!!!!  A switch in the back changes from 115V to 230v. The
supply tolerates wide changes in voltage, so in the 115 setting it will 
work
anywhere from about 90V to 140V. (x2 for the 220V case). So it's fine in 
the
US, fine in Japan, fine in Europe, fine on screwed up stage power of your
local looping dive.

(if we all Just Say No to wall warts, we may someday end this horrible
scourge. We must stand firm in this valiant fight against evil, otherwise
we've only our own collective complicity to blame for our inevitable slide
in a dark nightmare of powerstrips and frayed power connectors.....)


>>> My question about additive is not as simple as a MIDI sync problem, 
>although perhaps I 
>>> could use an external clock as you question suggested. It migh also me 
>solved using 
>>> multiply by starting with a 1/8th loop and multiplying it 7 times for 
>(3+4)

That's a pretty good way to do this. Practice using the Record-Multiply
combination, where you end record and go directly to multiply. That way you
have a cycle length directly linked to the beat, and it is very easy to use
multiply further to change time signatures again without falling out of
tempo. So if you start with 7 multiplies to give you 7/8, you can hit
multiply again and end sooner, say after five cycles to give 5/8. Or let it
go longer to 18/8, or whatever suits you. This is very handy since the 
tempo
is maintained by the original cycle time, but the time signature can be
shifted fluidly with minimal effort.

Similarly, you can use the loop copy functions to set up other loops 
related
to the basic eighth note tempo defined in the first. So you might have 7/8
in loop 1, with 8th note cycle lengths, and do a "time copy" to loop two 
but
let it run longer and get you to 11/8, or whatever. 

Hopefully that'll let you raga to your heart's content.....

kim
_______________________________________________________
Kim Flint                       408-752-9284
Mpact Systems Engineering       kflint@chromatic.com
Chromatic Research              http://www.chromatic.com