SP-808 ruminations (was Re: Repeater ruminations)

[Mark Hamburg <mark_hamburg@baymoon.com>]

on 8/30/02 11:30 AM, Dennis Leas at dennis@mail.worldserver.com wrote:

>> P.S. Quite frankly, what I think I really want is a looping savvy OS for
> my
>> SP-808.
> 
> Tell me more.  I can emulate all kinds of real and imaginary loopers.

How much do you know about the SP-808. Short summary, it's a big phrase
sampler with some nice built-in effects.

What I wish for in a "loop savvy OS". I haven't worked through the design
details of all of this, but from the standpoint of a multitrack looper, it
feels like the 808's feature set ought to be able to go further than the
Repeater's (though Roland didn't do so).

* Record --> Overdub behavior when recording. In other words, give me an
easy way to build up a loop.

* Smart quantized recording (like the EDP) -- i.e., make my loop be a
reasonable length based on the tempo

* The ability to record without recording the sounds being produced by the
currently playing samples -- unless I want to be resampling. (This is an
issue with the 808 in general.)

* Saving a recorded loop should transfer playing to that pad so that the
sound remains seamless.

For example, I might hit record to start recording (or put it into 
threshold
mode), hit record again to set the loop length and start overdubbing, and
then hit a pad to end the recording entirely and transfer the loop onto a
pad.

Mark