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Re: Hello and such



>>MacLoop!  Matthias has been evangalizing for this idea for ages. Somebody
>>definitely has to do it. A protools plug in and a standalone would be my
>>choice.
>
>Way too expensive.  I've been thinking more along the lines of Deck or
>Logic Audio.  The machines are getting fast enough that one doesn't
>necessarily need to drop $10k on ProTools hardware.  If people balk at
>$900 for an Echoplex, do you think they're gonna drop $15k for a
>machine and ProTools?!?
>
>BTW, Bias Peak on the Mac has some "automatically loop this think I'm
>recording" features built in.  It's a shame that they only support two
>stereo tracks.

My thinking for a digi plug-in is that there is already a large installed
base, and there are plenty of other tools that can work well in conjuction
with a looping tool.

And by "standalone", I meant something like Deck, same as you're talking
about. A cheap software app that takes advantage of the audio and
processing in the pc. Problem with that, though, is you only have a stereo
input so you can't record multiple sources into different loops at once.
And you have a crappy multimedia codec digitizing the audio. The other
problem is that most sound cards don't let you record and play back at the
same time.

Using a pc/mac for looping is really something that would only apply to
studio use, though. Not many people are willing to lug their computer to
rehearsals, gigs and on tours. Its a big risk, and expensive to do it
safely.

One thing that concerns me, design wise, is the real-time performance of
the mac/pc while its handling lots of I/O, audio processing, and disk
accesses. The reaction time is critical in looping, and desktop os's are
not designed for this.

This is a key reason why I'm much more interested in designing the ultimate
looper as rack gear specifically designed for these tasks. Then you have
much more control over the real time performance, and can optimize busses
for good audio/dsp performance. And you can include the appropriate I/O to
meet looping needs, have very good quality audio, professional jacks, a
rugged chassis, etc. Also, it would be a simple matter to include
networking interfaces to hook it up to your pc for expanded control
interfaces. I think this can be done at a reasonable cost, easily in line
with what other quality audio processors cost.

kim

______________________________________________________________________
Kim Flint                   | Looper's Delight
kflint@annihilist.com       | http://www.annihilist.com/loop/loop.html
http://www.annihilist.com/  | Loopers-Delight-request@annihilist.com