Re: New looping pedal--Line 6 DL-4 Delay Modeler.

["K. Douglas Baldwin" <dbaldwin@suffolk.lib.ny.us>]

    All that I would add to my original comment is that I wish these
companies would come up with a *blank canvas* approach, rather than a
"retro" anything or "future" anything or "Saturnine chakra massage"
anything. My fave-rave FX and amps are those which, with a minimum of
settings, get the widest range of expression. Dinky smudge-colors from
ancient stomp boxes are way cool, to be sure, but give me the wide open
nothingness of infinite possibility any day. I also understand that from a
marketing standpoint, this approach is really difficult to sell (no one is
prepared to buy blank canvases because no one sells blank canvases because
no one buys blank canvases....). But this negative-loop reciprocality can 
be
broken if either the buyer or seller chooses not to play the game.
-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Nelson <tcn62@ici.net>
To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com <Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com>
Date: Monday, July 26, 1999 6:54 PM
Subject: Re: New looping pedal--Line 6 DL-4 Delay Modeler.


>Excellent point, K.Douglas. The only problem I see with it is that "new"
>sounds don't stay new for very long. If Line-6 (or Roland, or Korg,
>Digitech, etc.) introduced a box o' aluminum locusts (& their Martian
>counterparts) it might well become the "flavor of the month" for a little
>while, then show up as a glut on eBay. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy warped
>stompboxes as much as anyone, and can't wait for the first wave of Space
>Station enthusiasts to get bored so I can pick one up for fifty bucks! I
>think Line-6's intentions were probably good in putting several popular
>retro effects in one package; the real estate around one's feet can get
>pretty cluttered. But I do agree with what you've all said about gear
>that's too exclusively retro-targeted; it would be great if someone made a
>box that offered some of each, a representative, usable selection of both
>"classic" sounds and original, futuristic stuff. But then that same suit
>would shoot the idea down, because obviously the thing would be so great
>that nobody would buy NEXT year's model!
>
>Tim
>
>At 12:14 PM 7/26/99 -0400, you wrote:
>>
>>Knox knocks the nail on the head! Too many clones! With all that
>>tone-shaping power you'd think they could make something that could sound
>>like a horde of aluminum locusts at dawn in December after a three day
'frop
>>binge. I bet the problem is at least partly due to some $-based decision
>>about three years ago, when some suit said, "Hey! This retro thing is
>>selling big. Let's make our next chip ALL retro." Much easier than using
>>some creativity. Then they burned gazillions of retro-friendly chips and
now
>>they're figuring out how to wrap them in new boxes and make them
salable....
>>
>>
>