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Looper's Delight
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This was a general remark that has aroused a lot of curiosity. Unfortunately, this event occurred about two years ago, and I did indeed have the opportunity to talk with John at great length about the the "current" Fripp setup ( I was actually at a recording session RF was doing for a Midge Ure album, at a studio in a house in LA-just overdubbing two songs...while this went on, I questioned Sinks at great length and he was most forthcoming). This whole experience was such a shock to the senses (as you can imagine) that I at this point have no SPECIFIC recall of the actual setup. Basically I described my (primitive) set up to John, he told me in great detail about how RF's was set up, and I tried to glean whatever I could that might help my own setup. But the difference between Rf's and my setup are so ENORMOUS really nothing could bridge the gap. The signal path was one of the most complex I've ever heard described...and if you'd asked me the next day I doubt if I could have told you what it was. At that time he was using two of the TC electronics delays and a slew of other gear. Common elements in our setups: the only one I know of is the midi pedal I use (GROUND CONTROL), which was suggested to me by Bill Forth (former Guitar Craft registrar and RF right hand man) and is probably one of the best buys I've ever made. Far superior (in Bill's opinion) to the much-lauded Ultrafoot. You can create totally custom patches involving up to eight midi devices per patch. Other that that, the only similiarity between Rf and me is that we both loop. I understand that now he has FOUR of the TC electronics delays, and I've been told there is an Oberheim Digital Pro in his setup (I'm not sure about this now...) I choose the Oberheim for two reasons: 1) I used my partner's JamMan for a couple weeks, and it was great but limited. 2) The TC units are RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE. Anyway, all I can say is that AFTER I saw RF's rig, talked to John, and recovered from shock, I came home and took a hard look at my setup. Some things went immediately. Signal paths changed...but nothing specific i could tell you now after all this time. And anyway, knowing how much my setup has changed...just imagine how Rf's must have during the same time!!!!!! not to mention the fact that he can AFFORD high-tech gear a bit better than I can :) !!! Now I'm going to search my hard drive for a document I prepared for a Finnish gentleman who visited our webpage and wanted to know how we created our music. This is a bit out of date, the significant change being that I have a fourth input device beyond e-bow/guitar, acoustic guitar, and synth which is a simple Discman. I find that by inserting 20 or 30 seconds of sound from some obscure CD, and then looping ebow, guitar or synth over it...well it adds to the texture of things. Anyway, hopefully you'll find attached "SETUP.TXT" which denotes a fairly recent description of my looping setup... BTW: fave input discs for the Discman: soundtrack to the TV series THE PRISONER (Vol. I). (this disc has yielded some amazing loops!) KOREAN drummers SAMULNORI. bits and pieces from obscure pop records (like MARTIN NEWELL). ALBONINI's "Adagio". Bits of classical music. Bits of Ali Akbar Khan...or Ravi Shankar...or Alla Rakha. Or Vietnamese pop music (instrumentals). anything that i can just take a SNIPPET of, not feel too guilty about "stealing" and then add to/enhance until it becomes unique and hopefully musical and/or beautiful.... sorry I can't provide any concrete detail about the RF setup...as it was, Sinks described the whole thing to me (taking perhaps 20 MINUTES) and then a bit later said: "hang on...I've left a bit out! BEFORE THE signal gets to such-and-such a stage, it's split and then goes in parallel to... etc. etc. even the guy that sets it up can't remember...so perhaps you can forgive my less than detailed account! thanks for listening! dave at studio seventeen Attachment converted: Macintosh HD:SETUP.TXT (TEXT/MSWD) (0000BE16) 1734516817345168173451681734516817345168173451681734516817345168 lead me in with a count of seventeen... (Mr. Blint, Consequences/Godley & Creme) visit: http:www.adnc.com/web/ambient/index.html seventeen: the ambient music page 1734516817345168173451681734516817345168173451681734516817345168