Re: EVENTIDE.

[Keenan Lawler <klaw@konstant.com>]

Hello everybody - Just got back from a lovely trip out in the bay area -saw
the posts concerning Eventide looping-i commited to doing a page for the
site far too long ago discussing the applications of looping with these
machines & im wondering aloud if anyone would be willing to  help html this
piece-(applications of looping -sampling alchemy (looping really became
more useable with this addition)ive worked with a 4000 for nearly 4 rs now
practically everyday -mixing mastering-live perfomances-etc..in short
practically every endeavor involving music-please direct any questions my
way regarding eventides 
i am one of these sickos who has done alot of programming with these
amazing machines..and produced remakable results .btw also (predictably)
will be selling my gtr (with full sampling card-alchemy presets etc
-h3000dse -& vortex please inquire if interested ) K

















At 01:17 PM 4/25/99 -0400, you wrote:
>
>
>>Is
>>there a password or secret handshake or something?
>
>I've got a GTR4000 with no sampler installed so I can only comment on the 
>basic unit as a looper. I've also got the Alchemy card, tho, whose manual 
>describes some intriguing looping presets for use with the sampler 
>card...which BTW is capable of storing multiple samples. I'll copy out a 
>few 
>of 'em here, from the manual pages in question...but first, my $0.02 on 
>the 
>secret Eventide handshake (all I have left after joining the club):
>
>(rant begins)
>Initiation fees are of course the first hurdle, but with the advent of 
>their 
>new super processor (Orville), prices have dropped significantly...by 
>around 
>$1000 for each 4000 series piece.
>Once you get your rocketship home, and after a few religious experiences
with 
>the presets, you'll want to open the control panels and make some of your 
>own....ha!
>Programmed a few multiFX in yer day and think you know yer stuff, do ya?
>Next initiation fee: correspondence classes in audio engineering and 
>higher 
>math, with a minor in computer programming would be a good start. 
>Eventide's 
>audio tech guy Scott Gilfix is a total champ, but a solid foundation in 
>the 
>liberal and fine arts, plus YEARS spent happily and profitably hunched 
>over 
>the front panels of FX from Ensoniq, Roland, tc, Korg, Lexicon, etc., has
NOT 
>rendered more than about 15%  of what he's told  me understandable--let
alone 
>what I can find in the manuals. I admit this with dismay, fully aware (or 
>at 
>least suspecting) that many if not most on this list will be much better
able 
>than I am to deal with the almost unlimited possibilities in any 
>Eventide, 
>but I gotta throw out a well-considered "Bullshit" to all the reviews 
>I've 
>read that talk about ease of programming--Tweaking, sure, 
>yes/programming, 
>NO. Even if you know the code, you gotta build everything from parts, 
>creating your own specs for every detail, down to the number of digits of 
>parameter resolution after the decimal point (it's simple, really: 
>%Y.Xf). 
>Want a plain-vanilla delay that's not quite there in the presets? FIRST, 
>you 
>gotta built your own feedback path with one of many available mixer 
>modules, 
>then create a knob to control it...but sorry, you still can't control 
>that 

>from an external foot pedal--haven't figured out yet how to set that up
with 
>a user-created parameter (tho it is easy on factory-preset params). Want 
>to 
>add an LFO to mod something? First, you gotta add a module to convert its 
>output from audio to control, then pick and configure a math module to 
>tell 
>it how to act or even to limit its range, THEN set up a knob if you want 
>to 
>adjust it..... Powerful stuff, of course, but NOT user-friendly or
efficient. 
>Do I want to sell mine? 
>Absolutely not, unless I lose my struggle with  Orville lust.
>
>There IS a 4000-series mailing list...I'm on it and have seen less than a 
>dozen messages in the last year, mostly about Orville...does this mean 
>that 
>nobody else knows the secret handshake either? I don't know. They're not 
>talking.
>(rant over)
>
>Non-sampler looping:
>Presets exist for up to 5 sec of plain old stereo looping, or 10 sec 
>mono. 
>With several MIDI pedals or a volume pedal and an expression pedal, you 
>can 
>easily control feedback and input. These are built up using 
>series-arranged 
>basic delay blocks that each max out at 660ms, but whose parameters have
been 
>thoughtfully ganged on simple menu pages, so you can use a single control
for 
>all of them. A 10-sec. delay uses less than half the available dsp
resources, 
>so you can still process your loop in-house.
>
>The unexpanded GTR is a very rich delay machine, with many flavors of 
>plain, 
>multitap, filtered and mod delays. It's not too tricky to add and connect 
>up 
>delay units within existing presets, so you don't have to build from 
>scratch 
>if you just want longer delay times in an otherwise cool preset, and 
>don't 
>mind clumsy, automatically-created menus. But woe if you want to create a 
>feedback parameter when there is none (surprisingly frequent), and then 
>want 
>a pedal to control it.
>
>Once you add the Alchemy card and chip ($400), it gets much better, since
you 
>can now tap tempos and you'll find, for instance, a very powerful delay 
>structure for rhythmic looping called Combtaps, which is four 660ms blocks
in 
>a feedback loop (you can choose which block is the feedback tap), each 
>with 
>adjustable resonance, which allows you to set up many different patterns 
>of 
>these delay taps (using delay times), each with a distinct timbre, level 
>and 
>pan position that will loop without losing the pattern...much less 
>elegant 
>and friendly than the Korg DL8000's slightly less flexible but much 
>longer 
>cross-delay/multi-tap version of the same idea, which has rhythm-pattern 
>presets...but if you've got the time and the training, you could use this 
>algorithm to build something even cooler on the 4000, with BPM displays 
>and 
>look-up tables for certain patterns. You could probably also build your 
>own 
>CombTaps or something similar without Alchemy......beyond me, I'm sorry 
>to 
>say.
>
>With Alchemy and a sampling card:
>Here are a few Preset descriptions: My comments in ():
>1.TAPTEMPOLOOP xfade (means that it could be audio-faded in or out at a 
>preset rate with any other patch that also uses less that half the 
>available 
>dsp/memory)

>Simple TapTempo loop. You may start and stop the counter at will. MOD1 is 
>a 
>volume pedal to the loop input. All these loops have a <Door> param - this
is 
>the level of source input to the loop. They also have integral volume 
>pedals 
>before this door. In general, with all the looping presets, any changes 
>made 
>to the delay time will be less prone to artifacts if entered via the 
>keypad.
>Stereo in, Stereo out.
>3. MEMNOSENE 1 xfade
>TapTempo Loop with multiply and skew. This flavor of loop manipulation 
>lets 
>you multiply the loop length. For best results, after you TT the length, 
>let 
>the loop repeat two or three times, prior to doing a multiply. Note that 
>if 
><Multi> is set to one, each <count> will add to the loop a duration equal 
>to 
>the original length. Also beware of large <Skew> values to start with, as 
>this is subtracted from the loop length and may clip off your source. 
>Again 
>the skew param should not be "spun' but keyed in.
>Stereo in and out.
>6. MEMNOSENE crystals--#3 with "Crystal echos" ( a cool pitch-shift 
>preset)
>8. BPM LOOP psycholev
>This version of "BPM LOOP..." adds stereo mod delays, set here with
aggessive 
>feedback.
>Stereo in and out.
>12. BPM DNA LOOP xfade
>This BPM loop has two mono loops, each with independant input levels.
>Stereo in and out.
>15. TT BPM LOOP xfade
>Tap the tempo in 1/4 notes which gives BPM. This is multiplied by 4 to 
>give 
>BARS. You may then set the number of bars to get loop length.
>Stereo in, out.
>16. TT BPM LOOP verb...adds a reverb.
>
>
>Tempting, what?
>dpc
>