Re: new loopers

[Doug Wyatt <doug@sonosphere.com>]

At 10:21 -0500 11/26/98, RA336@aol.com wrote:
> hey all...
> anyone have any experience with this dod dimesion12 thing I have seen
> advertised?
> they call it a sampler-looper... can ya stick it in a guitar rack or
>what?....

Hey Rob,

I got a D12 because it was relatively cheap and I was desperate for more
delay time.  You're welcome to stop over and check it out.  The review on
the L.D. web site panned it, but I find it usable though not great.  Yes,
it's a 1-rack space unit.

The things I find to be limitations are:

- no way to move sound between sampler and delay modes, so it's either a
sampler (can trigger, can't overdub, can reverse, can modify start/stop
points) or a delay (can't trigger, can overdub, can't reverse).  In delay
mode, you only get one loop.  Switching between delay and sampler modes
loses the loop.

- in delay mode, with the feedback at 100%, the loop's high frequencies
gradually vanish (my Sony doesn't do that)

- no level indicators, though trial and error was sufficient

- very limited MIDI control - can't control delay time, input level, or
feedback.

- modulation controls in delay mode are pre-feedback, so they're 
destructive

On the plus side:

- tap tempo

- 12 sec. of recording in delay mode (1 loop)

- 24 sec in sample mode (which is divided into 12+12, 6+6+12, 12+6+6 or
6+6+6+6).

One idiosyncracy is that in delay mode, if you change the delay time while
a loop is playing, it gets time-stretched instead of pitch-shifted.  Maybe
this is a limitation; I haven't decided whether I like it.

I haven't gotten into sampler mode at all yet.  Maybe it would work well as
a way to capture loops from elsewhere and trigger them on the fly (which
you can do via MIDI).


> also, anyone ever try fooling around with any of these new dj-style
> looper/sampling stations?

I'm wondering about those too.  There've been a few posts about the Dr.
Sample...


Take care,

Doug


--
Doug Wyatt                             doug@sonosphere.com
Sonosphere (electric/improv music)     http://www.sonosphere.com/