Re: Logelloop multitrack realtime audio looper for MAC OS 10.4 and 10.5

[Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com>]

Hi Gang,

I too have had a go with Logelloop today and I really like this  
looper! I was a bit reluctant first, until I read the "Logelloop  
Macro Programming Reference Guide". With macro's I will be able to  
loop with the same concept I used with EDP/Repeater and like to use  
with Mobius; ie improvising chord changes in the loop while playing  
along and even overdubbing into the loop. Logelloop also has a  
wonderful potential as "groove machine looper" because you can swap  
presets by pedal controlled macro's. One particularly exciting test I  
did today was to set up Speed changes for all tracks in advance and  
then start out by recording a short and punchy percussion loop  
("flute spitting"), kick Overdub and play almost the same riff. Since  
I'm starting out in Normal Overdub Mode each new loop layer will be  
recorded to a new track (Logellop is like a Repeater with ten tracks  
- ie ONE loop by TEN tracks). Ok, I record almost the same percussive  
riff on every track, but since they are pre-configured at different  
Speed the instant orchestrated effect is a smashing poly rhythm. You  
could eventually break the chain at track 8 or nine by kicking  
Multiply instead and layer the final tracks as longer layers. Or you  
could kick the Overdub Mode into Mix to overdub many layers into the  
same loop, at the end.

At this point I reached my first question mark: When working in Mix  
Overdub Mode I wasn't able to find the feedback control? Where is it?

I was also delighted to find, in the Macro Reference Guide, that you  
can "quantize" the execution of a macro to either wait until the end  
of the loop or until the beginning of the loop. I don't yet  
understand what practical difference one or the other would make  
though. Such "quantizing" is essential for the above mentioned  
looping technique, if you write a macro that recalls a preset with a  
setup of different track Speed settings to form a new chord. You can  
also "quantize" preset recalls by the settings in the mixer's preset  
section (direct/instantly, by end or by beginning of loop).

My second question mark regarding Logelloop has to do with VST plug- 
in synchronization. I was opening a VST OhmBoyz delay (by OhmForce in  
France!!!) as Aux FX and the BPM value did not seem to follow the  
tempo implied by the length of the loop I was creating. I double- 
checked with Ableton Live and found that the VST OhmBoyz displayed  
the correct tempo in that VST host. I need to do more listening tests  
on this tomorrow, to late now for my neighbors, to see if it is a  
graphical bug in Logelloop or if the VST tempo information is broken  
on its way to the plug-in.

Speaking about VST, why staying with that old and inflated format?  
Steinberg never steered it up properly and today it's just a mess out  
there. Third party plug-in developers tend to give priority to  
creating AU versions for the new Intel CPU armed Apple computers. If  
there was a "AU to VST Converter" available I would buy it right  
away, since my favorite plug-ins are AU only and will never appear as  
Universal Binary VST versions.

Speaking about those Aux FX slots, I couldn't hear any sounding  
difference when moving the volume fader for fx1 and fx2? I had to  
control the effect level only by the send level.

Finally, I did not understand what type of "MIDI Synchronization" is  
mentioned in the Macro Reference Guide. Is it MIDI Clock or is it  
Midi Time Code? And what is it for? Nothing on that in the manual. My  
guess is that it's about MIDI Clock and then I'm of course curious if  
Logelloop has some sort of internal synchronization system that sends  
the same MIDI Synch Commands to VST Plug-ins loaded into the two Aux  
FX slots?

Oh, almost forgot one big question mark. When trying to load the VST  
Plug-in Pluggo Rye, from Cycling74, a pluggo error message informed  
me that "there were 69 errors loading this effect". What a shame,  
Pluggo are so nice!

Logelloop looks nice too. Screen grab: http://www.looproom.com/ 
logelloop.png


On 30 dec 2007, at 21.08, Philippe ollivier wrote:

> When you use a pitch, you need time to calculate. So if only one  
> track is pitched, it is not synced to other tracks. So, I decided  
> to insert a delay in the other tracks to maintain the music  
> synchronization. The problem is when you need to make an overdub if  
> (at least one track is pitched or streched). It is the reason why i  
> prefer to record my sound before playing with pitch and strech...

That's why I love Speed!!!! ;-)) I'm not so sure the problem with  
slow calculation of Pitch can ever be solved. The best "Pitch Issue"  
I've seen (heard) is in the old Repeater. When I sent a new tempo or  
pitch command to my Repeater it kind of caught up slowly. That's much  
better compared to playing everything right on time but with a  
crackling fidelity until the new order is stable, as some software  
do. Pitch Transformation and Time Stretching can be instantly carried  
out in software when applied to already recorded audio. Then the  
software uses a look-ahead function to gain the time needed for  
calculations, but those precious milliseconds just don't exist in  
live music where audio is created and sent into the machinery by  
carbon based musicians. So for live looping pitch sucks and speed rocks.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se (Swedish)
www.looproom.com (international)