Re: delay -> looper || player -> loopist -> musician

[Matthias Grob <matthias@grob.org>]

For a change, this thread is fully ON TOPIC!    - OT?  %-(

>> Some of the last posts about t.c. and such leave the impression that any
>> delay is a looper as long as it has enough delay time (and is stereo?!).
>> But a delay unit just repeats all the time!

>> ---> what turns a delay into a loop unit?

As you say it nicely, Dr. Knox:
> ... making it an "instrument" rather than an "effect"

Ok, I agree with your sequence:

1.  "selective overdub"  (= input control of delay)
2.  true infinite repeat (= controlable digital feedback)
3.  tempo tap that controls input and output of delay

>... guess you must have more rhythm than me Matthias :)

I created only textures for about a year. Then, when rhythm came into the
loops, it was a great revelation! Texture is nice, but groove is a natural
consequence!

Fun in my personal history is that I had almost no sense for rhythm until I
was about 25. Without a clear drummer, I was lost. Then during the first
trip to Brasil, I started dancing (no way to escape!) and soon afterwards
the loop story started and when it turned rhythmic, it gave me
simultaneously:
- conscience about my irregularity in timing and
- a tool to hide this lack or even turn it into something original.

In parallel I learned to make love nicely and yell less at people ;-)

Yes, we are not just making sounds, we heal ourselves first and then 
others:
If the first benefit of the loops are textures that change state of mind,
the second may be the feeding back of time perception.
Maybe both sum up in some syncing of internal functions, harmonization.

> don't you need MIDI in there somewhere as well?

Sync is later, I think, when you start to interact with other instruments
and record and elaborate... unless your navel is a MIDI connector :-)

4. for me was MULTIPLY to stack relaxed phrases on a acurate rhythmic base
5. UNDO, after having suffered sufficiently from my errors ;-)

The very last step probably is to do it without loops at all. ;-)


ps: this may be boring for some people, since it was discussed on the list
in the past, but I am happy it comes up in a different light, and maybe we
get a clearer idea each time about looping...



         ---> http://Matthias.Grob.org