Re: What I'd love from a next-generation looper

[Goddess <thefates@concentric.net>]

  The quandary with the volume pedal can be quite easily solved.  You can
either use your little finger on your volume knob on the guitar or whatever
electric instrumnet you have, or with midi peddals, you can program patches
in whatever it is that you use to do your signal processing at different
volume levels which will be call up when you touch the appropriate peddal.
As for a gradual change into and out of different volume levels, I'm not
sure I know of anything to do this currently.  As for the speed question, I
don't know of a way to do this but that doesn't mean that it can't be
done...  

smiles, good luck

Corynne

At 09:35 AM 3/19/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I love my Echoplex and use it extensively as a compositional tool. I also
>use it for live performance, for mostly improvised music. Of course, there
>are some things that you just can't get from a looper that you get playing
>with other living breathing musicians. It may be technically impossibile 
>to
>get them from a looping rig, but I'd be interested to hear from the
>experts. Also, I'd be interested to hear how other musicians deal with
>these limitations of currently available gear for looping:
>
>1) I hate volume pedals as a mechanism for controlling feedback and/or
>output level. This is because I feel better (and therefore play better) if
>I am free to move. Standing and using a volume pedal puts me off balance.
>(True, this is not strictly a looping problem, but it is much more
>important when your "backup band" is a loop as opposed to good, responsive
>musicians who know how to use dynamics.) Are there any alternatives to
>volume pedals, either currently available or that anyone can envision? 
>
>Here's a thought (probably crazy, but at least I could control it and 
>still
>have good balance): what about a series of footswitches that would allow
>you with one press to select a given volume? Maybe 7 or 8 switches all in 
>a
>row and with a single press you select a new volume. Also, it would be
>great to have the option to either make the change immediate or to have it
>take place over time (e.g., a Crescendo/Decrescendo mode parameter with
>possible values immediate, short, long?). Heck, can I do something like
>this now with a midi pedal?
>
>2) I'd love to be able to change the tempo of my loop without changing
>pitch. This is something that is a staple of music from many cultures
>(e.g., Indian classical music, much African music): get a groove going and
>gradually speed it up, building the intensity. You can do it with live
>musicians, but I don't know how to do it with a looped material. Any
>thoughts on how to achieve this? Or is this a technical impossibility?
>
>I look forward to hearing your ideas.
>
>Thanks,
>Len
>
>
>