Re: looper + laptop interaction

["Per Boysen" <perboysen@gmail.com>]

On Feb 10, 2008 6:22 PM, Jesse Thom <jessethevessel@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> I'm looking for the simplest way to have a hardware looper sync up with
> pre-recorded audio on a laptop or other device.
>
> I want to be able to perform live loops, and add in pre-recorded sounds 
>or
> even entire bedtracks when i need to, and have it all line up nicely.
>
> A friend suggested Imogen Heap's setup, linking an Electrix Repeater with
> Ableton's Live - can someone offer some expertise on how these two would 
>be
> synced together?
>
> I have been searching for a solution for almost a year, so if you have 
>some
> info PLEASE share - I would appreciate it more than you might think.


Hi Jesse,

Having used both the Repeater and Ableton Live quite a lot I would say
that your friends advice is good. To refine the advice further I would
like to add that it would be best to use Ableton Live for the
prerecorded materials and do the live loop recordings on the Repeater.
My reason for this advice is that hardware, as the Repeater, doesn't
crash (as Ableton might) when running in sync slave mode. Also, the
plug-in latency compensation in Live doesn't work in Slave Sync mode.

But please understand that this advice is only valuable if you know
what the Repeater is and are comfortable with looping that way.

I'd like to chime in with Rainer that if you are comfortable with
playing to a predefined tempo (as you probably are since you talk
about "prerecorded material") and also comfortable with setting up and
using a computer, then Ableton Live hosting Mobius (Windows XP) would
be good system for you.

If you would rather use dedicated hardware, take a look at the
Looperlative. Especially think about how big your prerecorded files
are and make sure they fit into the memory of the looper.

Finally, download and read the manuals for the loopers and imagine in
detail how you will have to proceed in order to make the processes
happen on the different machines. Just to make sure you will be
comfortable with using it. The Looperlative has a dedicated forum at
the web site, Mobius has its own list, Ableton Live has a helpful
forum as well. But you need to post specific questions to get more
useful answers than this one ;-))

-- 
Greetings from Sweden

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