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At 10:36 AM -0800 2/6/01, Steve Lawson wrote: >> <sigh> is making a machine that can simultaneously play multiple-length >> loops just too difficult? is it simply not a feature that many loopers >> demand? could that very nice fellow from ElectrixPro add his 2 cents >> perhaps on the mechanics of 1) how this might be done from a >> manufacturing standpoint, and/or 2) why it's just too difficult to do? > >Why not just use two machines unsync'd? I've got a JamMan, DL4 and MPX-G2 >and have all three going at once out of sync - it's >great for getting shifting textures... > this is one way, but then you are limited in that you can *only* have them completely unsync'd. You won't be able to set them up such that you have different lengths but with a defined relationship between them. An obvious application is a one bar loop and a four bar loop in sync together. Polyrhythms are another application. You don't want them to drift out of phase with each other, you want it in rhythm... I've always enjoyed things like taking a 2 bar drum loop (32 sixteenths) and running it in sync with another drum loop of different length. (31 sixteenths, 15 eighths, etc.) You get a strong sense of rhythm and a beat from the loops, but it is constantly shifting. The pattern keeps changing and remains interesting while still sounding like a drum loop. By changing the mix between the two you shift the beat around in interesting ways. This only works if you have multiple loops of different length that are in sync. (not n'sync :-) We developed the BrotherSync function on the echoplex to do just this. Each echoplex can have loops of different length, while still being synchronized to each other. The synchronization is much tighter than midi clock, since we actually sync the sample clocks of the different units to run at exactly the same frequency. On top of that we sync the basic loop cycle times. The great thing about BrotherSync is you don't have to predetermine any of the relationships between the loops. You can set it all on the fly! So if you are recording a loop on unit #3 to be 5 times as long as the loop on unit #2, and half way through you decide you would really prefer it to be 9 times longer, well you can do that. Just let it go longer! Or, if you decide you don't want them sync'd at all, you want it to run free and unsync'd as you do with loopers you have above, you can easily do that as well, on the fly! Just force it to stop out of sync with a second press of record. It's so easy you hardly have to think about it, you just play. Record a loop on one unit. The other loopers automatically see it's loop length and are ready to sync to that. Record another loop on the second unit any multiple you like of the first unit's loop length. The echoplex takes care of syncing it up for you. Do it again on the next unit, etc. You have full and immediate control of each loop with all of the echoplex's functions, no need to tap dance around and select one of them before you insert a cycle to it while reversing another loop. Another great part about BrotherSync is that unlike midi, it is bidirectional. Any of the units can define the basic cycle length for the others. They are "Brothers", not master and slaves. This is wonderful for having multiple musicians loop together. Any one of them can set the basic loop length for the others to sync to. And when they feel it, a different guy can set the pulse for the others. Nothing has to be changed or unplugged or reconfigured, you just do it all on the fly, as you play! kim ______________________________________________________________________ Kim Flint | Looper's Delight kflint@loopers-delight.com | http://www.loopers-delight.com