RE: Scratch - the movie/DJ's and Echoplexes

["Dylan DeAnda" <dylan@loudcloud.com>]

Hi Kim,

Thanks for the positive response,

Do you have any recordings available to hear you do it?
I'll notify the list when I post it for download.  You've inspired me to 
put
something demonstrative together.

and is there some
place we can go see you do it live?

Not yet, I just moved from the CA Bay Area (Palo Alto) to Northern VA
(Fairfax area), and haven't gotten into the local scene enough to make
contacts with anyone who would know where to advise one to go on such
matters.


I would really enjoy that.  <--Thanks, so would I.


I've heard of dj radar before, and was fascinated. he even plays turntable
for an orchestra piece, and developed a system of notation for scratching
right?  <--Yes he did, he didn't really develop it, as it's just a
modification of staff notation, like you would see for a percussionist,
since his arguement is that the turntable is a single note instrument, and
can be viewed similarly to a drum or other single-note instrument.
Therefore, by annotating the types of scratch technique with prescribed
symbols, and usually, a lot of 32nd and 64th notes, you are able to
articulate the idea or structure.


However, I wish he would actually mention the fact that what he uses is not
a "customized sampler" with no name, but a "looper" that happens to be an
EDP. (I have no idea what he customized on it, probably just audio routing
or added phono inputs or something.)

<--I agree with you, it was hard to figure out what he was using when I've
seen him, he keeps it taped up with black electrical tape.


 A looper is not the same as a sampler
and one doesn't really substitute for the other. I suspect he might just be
frustrating other dj's who want to try something like him, but do not know
what device to get. If they try to get a sampler it won't work and they
might give up.

<--That's what keeps my echoplex in business is the fact that you can
overdub and undo all to your hearts content.



The Mute-Insert combination is what we call ReTrigger. Press Mute. Then
press Insert to come out of Mute. This triggers the loop from the beginning
to play once and then mute again. It also lets you retrigger, so if you
press Insert repeatedly at that point you will get your stutter effect.

There is a similar feature using the BeatSync. with the sync parameter set
to In, you press Mute and the Multiply. This arms the loop to wait for a
trigger on the BeatSync. This can be something like a momentary footswitch,
or a pulse output, or even a strong audio pulse. It will trigger and
retrigger the loop the same as Mute-Insert does from the front panel.

In the next software we are adding some additional midi commands to do
retriggers at any time.


<--Thanks again for the fantastic advice, you've just made my world loads
easier and more fun!


D



-----Original Message-----
From: Kim Flint [mailto:kflint@loopers-delight.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 1:36 PM
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: RE: Scratch - the movie/DJ's and Echoplexes


At 09:57 AM 3/6/2002, Dylan DeAnda wrote:

>Here's how I use the turntables with the echoplex:

hey Dylan, thanks for posting all of that, I found it really interesting!
Do you have any recordings available to hear you do it? and is there some
place we can go see you do it live? I would really enjoy that.

I always thought that live looping would be completely natural for dj's to
get into, I'm glad to see that happening more and more.

>If any of this DJ/Sampler hoo ha sounds interesting, I would offer up some
>of the better names of DJ's who use a sampler with natural proficiency:
>DJ Radar (www.djradar.com) He works with 1 turntable, a mixer and an
>echoplex and makes the most fantastic scratch based music as a one-man
band.

I've heard of dj radar before, and was fascinated. he even plays turntable
for an orchestra piece, and developed a system of notation for scratching
right?

However, I wish he would actually mention the fact that what he uses is not
a "customized sampler" with no name, but a "looper" that happens to be an
EDP. (I have no idea what he customized on it, probably just audio routing
or added phono inputs or something.)  A looper is not the same as a sampler
and one doesn't really substitute for the other. I suspect he might just be
frustrating other dj's who want to try something like him, but do not know
what device to get. If they try to get a sampler it won't work and they
might give up. Seems to me he could do more to promote the idea among dj's
by directing people to the idea of a "looper" instead of a mysterious
sampler...


>Things I wish I could do with my turntables and echoplex:
>I wish I could stutter.  I still haven't figured out how to do it with a
>single plex.

The Mute-Insert combination is what we call ReTrigger. Press Mute. Then
press Insert to come out of Mute. This triggers the loop from the beginning
to play once and then mute again. It also lets you retrigger, so if you
press Insert repeatedly at that point you will get your stutter effect.

There is a similar feature using the BeatSync. with the sync parameter set
to In, you press Mute and the Multiply. This arms the loop to wait for a
trigger on the BeatSync. This can be something like a momentary footswitch,
or a pulse output, or even a strong audio pulse. It will trigger and
retrigger the loop the same as Mute-Insert does from the front panel.

In the next software we are adding some additional midi commands to do
retriggers at any time.

kim


______________________________________________________________________
Kim Flint                     | Looper's Delight
kflint@loopers-delight.com    | http://www.loopers-delight.com