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Re: Mind Boggling LoopIV



all that work spent writing the manual and he doesn't even read it.....

At 10:32 PM 6/24/2002, Gary Lehmann wrote:
>Here's something to watch out for--
>Assuming I'm not the only dunderhead on this list, I thought I would share
>tonight's misadventure (I thought the chips had malfunctioned)--
>When you change Insert to sus, it also affects Multiply!  This is well
>documented but (at least in my case) easily overlooked.
>OK, I'm the only stoopnagel . . .
>G

yes that is correct. InsertMode=SUS affects both the Multiply and Insert 
Buttons. This is how you do the granular looping thing, and the effect of 
SUSMultiply and SUSInsert are somewhat different from each other.

If you want the more complete granular effect make sure to also set 
RecordMode and OverdubMode to SUS.

And then if you really want to be totally granular, look at the DirectMIDI 
functions. We expanded the MIDI command set a lot, and there is a whole 
set 
of SUS mode commands there for just about everything. This way you can 
program a midi controller or use a midi keyboard to have all of them 
available at once. You can go really nuts with this stuff, so be careful - 
you may cause serious damage to small children or boring adults.

Of course there is the usual stuff available from the front, like 
SUSRecord, SUSOverdub, SUSMultiply, and SUSInsert. But then we've also got 
SUSReplace, SUSSubstitute, SUSReverse, SUShalfspeed, SUSMute. Those are 
great fun, you can zap in and out of those functions at lightning speed, 
creating all sorts of interesting textures and sounds and chopped up 
loops. 
Leave overdub on while doing quick stabs of SUShalfspeed, that's a good 
one. For me, these things are just wide open for experimenting, so I'm 
really interested to hear what people come up with.

Since the usual SUSMultiply and SUSInsert are Unrounded (which does the 
granular kind of thing), we also completed that picture with rounded 
versions in MIDI. So for a more normal use you have SUSRoundMultiply and 
SUSRoundInsert. This basically means they start Multiply (or Insert) when 
you press the button down, and when you release the button it ends 
Multiply 
in the normal Rounded fashion. (meaning it rounds off to the next cycle 
and 
you've got the cycles counting up neatly afterwards.)  This is just 
helpful 
as another way to control Multiply and Insert, since a lot of people seem 
to like that Sustain action on the switches for control. It can be helpful 
because you always know the function is only going while you have the 
button pressed, and when you let go it is off. If you aren't pushing it, 
it 
ain't on.

Then there are a couple oddball SUS functions that have some interesting 
possibilities. SUSNextLoop and SUSMuteRetrigger. SUSMuteRetrigger Mutes 
the 
loop when you press the button down, and Retriggers it from the start when 
you let go. That's a handy way to mute everything for a solo break and 
then 
bring it all back together on the down beat when you are ready. Or dream 
up 
your own creative use.

Then there is that SUSNextLoop. That actually jumps you into the Next loop 
when you press it down, and sends you back to the previous loop when you 
let go. If you press it really fast you'll jump back and forth for quick 
staccato bits of live sound construction. Or you could use it as a more 
musically controllable way to shift between loops - you lean into it and 
go 
into the sound of the next loop, pull back to come into the base loop, etc.

oh, one other thing with SUSNextLoop. (this is in the manual). The NoteOn 
message sends you into the NextLoop, and the NoteOff message sends you to 
the previous loop. If you set up a midi controller to only send the 
NoteOff, that becomes a Previous loop button! So you can have one button 
just send the NoteOn to go up, and another sends the NoteOff to go down, 
and you've got Loop increment/decrement! (also, for the midi-note 
challenged, all of this also works with Continuous Controller messages, 
where a positive value on the given controller is the same as NoteOn, and 
a 
0 value is the same as NoteOff.)

Ok, go make noise now.

kim



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