Re: MIDI LOOP SYNCING: 3 questions

[mark sottilaro <zerocrossing2001@yahoo.com>]

--- "loop.pool" <looppool@cruzio.com> wrote:


> 
> 1) what is the best live looping machine to
> DRIVE a midi sequencer or drum machine via mid?
> 
> the LEXICON JAMMAN
> the EDP
> the REPEATER
> the LOOPERLATIVE

When I owned an EDP it seemed to put out a nice stable
midi clock.  The Repeater *does not.*  However, some
machines seem to be totally tollerant of it, others...
not so much.  Oddly, the thing that seemed to hate
it's clock the most was the MO-FX from Electrix.  I
remember the AdrenaLinn seemed OK with it.

Looperlative's clock out?  I'm too knee deep in it to
check at this point.  To be honest, almost 100% of my
looping involves syncing the looper to a MIDI clock. 
My experience with the EDP and Repeater was when I was
beta testing software v 1.1 of the Repeater, so take
this with a grain of salt.

> Conversely,
> 2)  what is the best live looping device to DRIVEN
> by a sequencer/drum 
> machine
> 
> the LEXICON JAMMAN
> the EDP
> the REPEATER
> the LOOPERLATIVE

In this case I'd have to say hands down the Repeater. 
You can grab your tempo slider and bring it down to 20
bpm from 200 and the Repeater will merrily tag along. 
I'm pretty sure all the others choke.  The JamMan
seemed to be fine 80% of the time, but if for some
reason there was some jitter you'd hear a click at the
loop point during quiet passages.

I'm still testing out my Looperlative, but it seemed
to perform perfectly last night once I got the hang of
it.  The EDP did fine in this too as long as your
clock remained solid. I'm sure someone here knows the
specs on how much deviation it will stand.

How cool is it's time stretching?  It's not getting
the old ebay heave-ho even though there's a nice
Looperlative sitting next to it.
 
> 3)  Do you have a preference for which one does both
> things the best?

I've been a long time supporter of the Repeater, as
most of you know, but it's surely not the be all end
all.  Mostly I chose it because it was half the price
of an EDP and stereo.  Do you care about stereo?
  
> Are there any tricks you use or things to watch out
> for?

I love to start up the drum machine but bring it's
volume down.  Choose a synth sound that's got a MIDI
synced filter or arp built in.  Buld up a nice wash
and then sneek in the drum machine little by little.

> with people, but I have a couple of gigs coming up
> with sharp up and coming 
> synthesists and want to get my tech together ahead
> of time when they do more 
> straight forward dance oriented electronica where a
> drifting
> rhythmic sensibility is inappropriate due to
> stylistic constraints

Ooo, that sounds FUN!  Keep us informed of your gigs! 
If you want to come over and check out my setup before
Thomas Dolby, you're more than welcome to.  Looper
playdate!

Mark

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