Re: First post - newbie advice wanted

[tEd ® KiLLiAn <tedkillian@charter.net>]

Rhod,

I don't know squat about the current capabilities of the Jamman - I 
figure others can advise you there.

Without having the precise bluesy musical goal you have, I have done 
essentially what you are after by various means over the years 
technically.

Along with the various loopers I have owned and used for the "live 
looping" thang, I have sometimes found it useful to have canned loops 
as well.

Back in the pre-desktop computer '80s I used keyboard samplers to 
record an array of rhythmic loop snippets across the whole range of 
keys and had a latching "hold pedal" to enable me to use it as a 
"phrase" sampler before such a thing was invented.

That was a rather unwieldy solution for me as a guitarist - believe you 
me.

Later on, when those phrase and/or groove samplers came out (from 
Raoland, Akai, Korg and others) I traded my keyboards in.

I've now have owned both Akai and Roland boxes and have found them all 
quite usefull in their own ways (and also with each their own peculiar 
shortcomings).

I can guess that for you, it might be tempting (for simplicity's sake) 
to try to get ONE DEVICE that does both things you want to do.

But consider this . . . sometimes it pays off in the end to have TWO 
DEVICES that each does its job really well rather than just one that 
does a half-assed job at both (or of one of them as an afterthought).

As far as hardware loopers go, the EDP and LP-1 (among few others) are 
without peer for all the editing and slicing and dicing you can do 
right there on stage as you are making your live loops.

They are complicated, but they are capable . . . and fun.

That's why so many of us on the LD list use them (I've been an EDP user 
since '96 BTW).

I don't know, but I suspect, that the ability of a certain device to 
add in the capability to save in and play a lot of different canned 
loops (enough for a whole set or two of songs) will short-change you in 
some other aspect further down the line.

On the other hand, using any of the small phrase samplers out on the 
market would give similar benefits (in some of them at least) because 
you could definitely save lots and lots of loops and also edit and 
effect those on-board canned loops on the fly as you play.

Plus, some of those phrase samplers (say a used Roland SP-303) can be 
had easily and cheaply on Ebay.

They are small, light and unobtrusive on stage - and you can work out 
the bugs and match musical keys and BPMs on your computer at home 
before you load them.

If you really want a ONE DEVICE solution that really does a thorough 
job at what you want to accomplish, a laptop with Abelton Live is 
probably the answer.

But I'd suggest that if laptops and software seem overly complicated, 
you may find it better to get TWO DEVICES - one that is a full-featured 
live looper of some sort (that you will be happy with for a long time), 
and the other a full-featured groove/phrase sampler of some sort (with 
some opportunity for flexibility and creativity beyond just being a 
simple beat box).

I guess it all depends on how "deep" you want to get into it.

Best regards,

tEd ® KiLLiAn

Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited 
energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of 
order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence. – Norman Podhoretz

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