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Looper's Delight
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Hi everybody, I posted the following message to the wonderful JUNKMUSIC group at Yahoo (that boasts a few very creative L.D. members). It was in response to a thread about people trying to find inexpensive sources for Blugels (or Whirlygigs, which are merely corrugated plastic tubing that you whirl around your head to produce whistling overtone series). It got me to thinking that I would love to participate in a thread about unusual ways of using looping technology to produce really intersting, unusual and/or wierd/avante garde sounds. I am fascinated with taking this technology and using it to create sounds and ways of making music that haven't been done before (Richard Zvonar will of course now post and tell me that some guy was doing this with a wireless recorder in 1927 but I had not heard anybody do this when I first started doing it.............<smiles at the Dr. of all things wierd and wonderful in music>). OK here's the post, with the technique mentioned first and then the information about obtaining the blugels at the end for anyone interested in this fascinating and ultra simple way of producing comb filtering effects acoustically. post to the junkmusic group: Also, don't forget that the smaller sizes of tubing produce whistle sounds that comb filter up through the harmonics of the tube as you blow harder. Whirling them around cause air to 'play' the pipe so you might as well blow through them. I have a whole series of corrugate straws that are given out at various k-marts, seven elevens and cheap tourist stores that produce beautiful harmonics. A fabulous trick if you happen to own a looper that has backwards/forwards/half speed double speed characteristics (a LINE 6 DL4 inexpensively or an GIBSON Echoplex EDP if you have the bucks and want your life changed in a positive way) Is to start a loop and toggle the reverse button and the half speed/double speed buttom randomly and very rapidly until you end the loop recording. what is so cool is that you will then be playing octaves of the harmonics that you are playing so that , as avante garde as it sounds (and it sounds like pygmies on acid ;-) it is always in the same key. I then take that loop, resample it into my ELECTRIX Repeater and then play it's pitch with a wind synth midi controller. Unlike a normal sampler, the Repeater has algorhythms that automatically stretch the sample at ever pitch so the the rhythm is maintained. Totally unusual sounding and yet I can play "You are the Sunshine of my Life" (if I were to feel like it................NOT!!!!) and anyone can instantly recognize the melodies. I know that this is a found sound forum, but this looping shit has got to be experienced if you are really into acoustic sounds and how to manipulate them in real time in front of an audience. and...........the first part of the post: Jon Wagner surprised me at one of my loop shows with a Sampler packet from www.globalmedinc.com that has several sizes of corrugated clear plastic whirly gig tubes. they are available in 25 mm 22 mm 19 mm 15 mm 13 mm 10 mm 6 mm sizes. there were enough samples in the packet that I got to cut several octaves from it (half of half of half of half and so on). also, there were samples of expandable medical tubing which is awesome because it clicks into place and when expanded makes a guiro like sound whose harmonics phase shift downwards as it expands because the fundamental pitch of the pipe goes down as the tube becomes longer. Just awesome sound sources. You might e-mail Jon and ask him how he got the samples. All I know is that I had completely planned a found sound looping performance and just threw one of my pieces out because I was so stoked to get the 'care' package from him and I made up a piece on the spot with it. Afterwards I went home and cut up all the octaves. Try it, you'll like it. yours Rick Walker