Re: rePeter~

[Mark <sine@zerocrossing.net>]

YAY! FRESH MEAT.  Welcome to the list and all that.

water cat wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Well here's a new looper fresh to the list. My name is Peter Hutter,
> and I'm about to purchase a repeater (repeter?)

Are you awear that the Repeater is no longer in production?  Still able
to obtain service for them via TC Electronics, but as far as seeing a
new Repeater out of a factory, the closest you're going to get is seeing
some of it's componants stuffed in a Karaoke machine. (sadly true)  Some
time ago there was a lone one at Banana's At Large in San Rafael CA, but
I don't know if it's still there.  If you can't find a retail store with
one, your best bet is probably eBay at this point.  Used they are
selling for about what they went for new.


> 
>     I wish to make virtual dixieland with the repeater, all with saxes
> for now. Bari, tenor and alto. I also love the idea of being able to
> pull the different tracks in and out, and am specifically thinking of
> this with the spoken word community.

That sounds like a job for the Repeater all right.  Another possiblility
would be to use a Mac and Mark of the Unicorn's Digital Performer 3. 
It's got a really nice function called POLAR (performance orientated
loop assisted recording) that mimics a lot of what the Repeater can do. 
Get yourself a *lot* of RAM though.

> 
>     I also was thinking of the repeater as a way to create a sax
> section in a band. You have a musical motif being repeated by the
> group, you add a sax section kind of part, loop it, ad a harmony, etc.
> I imagine that all of these ideas aren't new in concept, but I'd love
> any feedback on this anyone is willing to offer, especially as it
> relates to time magazine, brian eno, and scurrilous something or
> others.

I've had mixed results with playing with other musicians and loops. 
I've done a bunch of stuff with drummer John Wagner and Chapman Stick
player Jon El-Bizri and they're amazing.  They know loops and it
*works*.  Then there are the not so loop orientated.  Usually I find
these are people that have less than perfect timing/tempo control.  It
can be difficult.  Even if you get musicians that are good at timing, it
is often hard to hear the loop and people can drift.  Experimentation
and practice should yield results though.  Don't be discouraged if it
doesn't happen right away.

> 
>     Off topic the list may have been, and that was a lot of emails to
> get there for a while, but I dug most of it and it was refreshing to
> hear some other leftist wackos wack off for a bit.
> 
> 
Damn, I hate it when people can hear me wack off!  I'M GOING BLIND!

Mark Sottilaro