Support
Looper's Delight
|
Support |
|
|
This is an admittedly highly shoddy start of an Echoplex FAQ. I've gone through my archive of mail that Kim has sent either to me or via the digest and tried to compile it here. There are very possibly other problems which are covered elsewhere that I don't have archived, so anyone else who has some FAQ material in their repositories is encouraged to contribute. Finally, I've tagged on a few unanswered questions, mostly culled from recent posts I've seen floating around the list. --Andre Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII; NAME=faq21 Content-ID: <Pine.SGI.3.91.961104110829.18349B@shoko.CALARTS.EDU> Content-Description: THE LOOPCOPY PARAMETER Ah, the good old LoopCopy parameter. The parameter itself does nothing in the current software. What happened there was, the ship date was looming, the front panels were already done, and the LoopCopy parameter had not been implemented because we hadn't yet agreed on what it was supposed to do. So we left if for a future upgrade. HOWEVER, loop copying is still quite possible! Its done with what we call "cross functions," where ending one function with a different button press gives you a special function. In the case of copying audio it's the Next-Multiply combination when SwitchQuant is on. You can also copy the time base only with Next-Insert. You do it like this: Set up multiple loops with the MoreLoops parameter. Turn SwitchQuant on. Record a loop in Loop 1. At some point before the end of the loop, press NextLoop. You will see the "ooo" display, which means the function is being quantized to the end of the current cycle time. In the manual, Warren calls this the "Lame Duck Period." If you do nothing more, the echoplex will switch to Loop 2 when it reaches the end of the current cycle of Loop 1. We are going to do something though, since we have several special funcitons available during this waiting period, one of which is LoopCopy. So: While the "ooo" display is on, press Multiply. Now when you reach the end of Loop 1, the echoplex will jump to Loop 2 and begin copying the audio from Loop 1. You will essentially be in the multiply function, with Loop 1's audio being multiplied in Loop 2. While the loop is copying, overdub is essentially on, so any playing you do is added to the loop. (just like in multiply) Repetitions of Loop 1 will continue to be added to Loop 2 until you end the function. (also like multiply) End the copy by pressing multiply at some point before the end of the last repetition you want. The Echoplex will round off to the end of the cycle and begin looping the copied audio and any overdubs you made. (again, just like multiply) This seems a bit complicated when written out, but its actually pretty easy and intuitive to use. I use it all the time, and its one of my favorite Echoplex functions. I can record 1 bar of music in loop 1, Press Next-Multiply to start copying it in loop 2, overdub a melody while 4 repetitions of the loop are copied, and end with another press of multiply, all in just 3 button presses! You can also choose the loop to copy to by pressing NextLoop several times before pressing multiply. So to copy Loop 1 to Loop 4, I would press Next-Next-Next-Multiply. And it all happens seemlessly to an observer, so its very usable in musical situations. Give it a try! This is actually explained in the manual. Its non-intuitively located in the description of the SwitchQuant parameter. In the new upgrade, the mythical LoopCopy parameter has finally become real. Its function is similar to AutoRecord, where the Echoplex automatically copies the loop when you switch to a reset loop. The parameter values are off, sound, and time. Its quite useful in some situations, although I actually prefer the old way most of the time. ----------------------- THE INTERNAL COMPRESSOR Compressor?! Well, there sort of is, but not really. We have a hardware limiter in there, but it never actually worked right, so we didn't bother to tell anyone about it. I think it might come on at some point, probably keeping an already distorting signal from distorting even more. I think I know a way to modify it so that it does work. I figured that out shortly before I left g-wiz, since we were planning a minor hardware upgrade at the time to fix emi problems. (I don't think that upgrade has been implemented, and probably never will.) It's not a real easy mod, so it's probably not worth the trouble. I'll post it on the web site some day for all you echoplex hardware hackers. As far as input sensitivity, there are some resistor value changes that adjust the input and output gains that are worth doing. Definitely an easier mod. Basically reduces the input gain so that it is easier to adjust, and increases the output gain so that you can get signal levels up to +4dbu. ----------------------- NOISEGATE AND THRESHOLD The parameter called "threshold" is only for starting a record when you actually start playing. The noisegate is different. It's on all the time and has nothing to do with the "threshold" setting. The noisegate is there to make Undo a much more usable function, so that each press of Undo takes away a real overdub rather than some unintentional noise. It also keeps the echoplex from squandering its memory. Matthias and I have discussed ways to make the noisegate smarter, as well as adding a parameter for it. Its tricky, since the user can cause himself troubles with the undo function without realizing it. --------------------------------------------------- FEEDBACK DEGENERATION WHEN CONTROLS ARE SET TO 100% This is a problem that was definitely there on prototypes, and at some point it was fixed. I have to get Matthias' help here, because some of it was a software problem, and I'm not sure when it got fixed. I know that with the mythical upgrade, this doesn't happen. Thing is, it doesn't necessarily happen with the shipping software either. My uncertainty is because I think there were several different problems which caused this. One of them may have been the thermal/cut-the-ic-pin problem. That particular chip handles both the front panel switches and the feedback knob, so I think that the same sort of conditions that cause the Undo button to freak out also might cause loop degrading. I never had a chance to verify that, so I don't know, but cutting that pin certainly won't hurt and might fix this for you. The other bit of uncertainty is that there actually was a software upgrade very early in the echoplex production. You can see the software version when you turn the power on, the current software will show LD3 3.2. The first 60-100 units had an earlier version, LD3 3.0. Unfortunately, I don't remember what was fixed in this upgrade. Could have been the loop degradation, but I don't know. ------------------------------- THE THERMAL/IC PIN MODIFICATION There was a small design error that caused strange behaviors when the Echoplex was hot. The usual symptom was that pressing the Undo button would execute Record instead. Basically, a pin on one of the IC's was connected to +5 volts when it shouldn't have been connected to anything. This didn't have any effect normally, but when the unit got hot you would see the problem. Cutting the pin fixes the problem, and the Echoplex works fine at much higher temperatures. Newer units should have this fixed. I don't know which serial numbers would have the mod, but probably any unit newer than 9 months. You can do the mod yourself pretty easily if you feel comfortable working on electronics. You just need to cut pin 5 of U12, the IC with part number ADC0804. If you are facing the front of the unit, pin 5 would be the 5th pin from the left end of the chip, on the front panel side. If you don't think you can do it yourself, any competent electronics tech should be able to handle it. --------------------------- PROBLEMS STILL AWAITING EXPLANATION/CLARIFICATION -- "My first problem with the Echoplex was that static on the foot pedal would cause the loop contents to be deleted. Kim has suggested some grounding approachs that I suspect will help this." -- Lately, my problem has been the start point of the loops moving when I use next loop a lot. After creating 2 loops, and enhancing them with multiply and overdub, I nextloop from one multiple in loop 1 to a single multiple in loop 2, and repeat. Eventually the start point of these loops move, and I have to reset the start points manually." -- Sound becoming distorted after loop repeated for several days. -- Echoplex switching into mute mode sporadically after executing LoopCopy (cross-function).