RE: Devices versus computers for live looping

["Javier Miranda V." <gnominus@earthling.net>]

I highly agree with this point, that there should be no difference when
regarding how a loop is created, whether via a dedicated hardware device
such as the EDP, or some new-fangled software program in a laptop computer
maybe two years down the road.  Bottom line here is the user interface.
Kind of it doesn't matter which car you get into:  All cars have a gas
pedal, a break pedal, a transmission control and a speed gauge -- you do 
the
rest.  If only looping devices were so similarly configured!  On the other
hand, we are in a period of discovery, I think, when hardware and software
developers are getting a feel for what are the best controls to have, what
are the controls that matter most.
        As for the mantra qualities of a loop, I thought I liked looping 
precisely
because of the interaction between many signals producing a total signal
which is equal to more than just the sum of the parts.  Maybe that's too
many words to say that, but, bottom line, there is a curious transcendence
when faced with what you play coming back in the loop, and then being faced
with how that affects you and what you play next.  Not only does the first
signal sound different, now <I>you</I> feel different.
        It does remind me of how different I feel driving down the highway 
at 55mph
than when I'm driving down the highway doing 80mph.  (Hey, nobody saw me or
heard me talk about this.)
        There must be something similar in speed and looping.

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Nelson [mailto:tcn62@ici.net]
Sent: Monday 08 March 1999 12:01 AM
To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com
Subject: RE: Devices versus computers for live looping

The thread comparing classic car restoration to building a computer from
scratch reminds me of a rhetorical question posed on NPR's Car Talk: If a
car has ALL of its parts replaced one at a time over a period of years, is
it still the same car? Now apply your answer to looping, factoring in
sample entropy, noise buildup and signal processing... Repetition with the
gradual introduction of extremely subtle change, kind of like a mantra; at
what point does the original signal become something else? How long does it
retain its essence? And does it matter whether these results are derived
from a pair of Revoxes, an EDP, or a road-cased Pentium?

Tim