RE: digitech gnx3

["Tim Cooper" <tcooper@digitalmetropolis.com>]

Richard
I've had one of these for a couple of months.
I responded to a couple of general questions earlier this summer.
Note:
I am not familiar with the original JamMan to compare it.  I'm also
relatively new to looping.
That said, the GNX3 has been a pretty great tool for me.

David said:
>>However, the new GNX3 Jam Man function does not function very
>>effectively as a live looper, in my opinion, because you can't actually 
>do
>>this on the GNX3. You have to set up a tempo time before recording the
loop,
>>and then if you don't use quantize and the count-in function on the GNX3
>>looper, your loops will often times show up with a very noticeable
"skipping
>>sound" on the loop (like when a cd skips). If you're timing is absolutely
>>precise, and the material you are playing into the loop is in fact 
>exactly
>>at the tempo you set ahead of time, you will not always get the skip--but
>>there were times I did all that correctly with out count in or quantize
set,
>>I'd still got the skip anyway. So, you will have to use that count-in
clock
>>everytime you loop if you want to avoid the skip. Which, basically, makes
it
>>kind of suck as a live "on the fly" looper because you can't just "loop
and
>>go" with reliably seamless results like you could on the old Jam Man,
where
>>this was never a problem.

I have seen this problem. But I've also found some solutions.  I never use
the quantize function when using this for looping. Mostly because I'm not
willing to hear (or let the audience hear) a click/drum track or even a
count in.
My typical setup is no count it, song repeat on, and quantize off. In my
experience the "skip sound" seems to happen much more often when there is
still a tone sounding when the end of the loop is marked.  I typically try
to record a bass or percussion loop first, generally because I can set it 
up
to be quiet or silent by the time I kick in the loop.  When and if you get
your fist loop set and there not a pop, you definately won't hear a pop on
any of the subsequent tracks.  Its a little bit risky I'll admit (in that
you might get caught on stage with a loop that has a pop in it) but I'd say
generally its a good looping tool at least for me.  I probably have about
85-90% success rate not getting the pop sound using it as a looper.

Side notes:
The effects that are packaged with this device are still great, which 
should
make it useful to me even after I get a 'real" looper like the EDP in the
near future.  The fact that you can plug your mic directly, decide if it
will be assigned the effects of your preset, and loop it is a very cool
thing.
If your willing to bend over mid-performance you can turn on and off tracks
that you've laid down.
The additional foot pedal ($50) to control the recording stuff is pretty
handy.

For an example of what I've done with this little toy, check out:
http://www.timcoopermusic.net/mp3s/untitled.mp3 (2MB)

-- tim cooper




-----Original Message-----
From: David Durian [mailto:daviddurian@msn.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 06, 2003 1:31 PM
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: Re: digitech gnx3


Richard,

Not sure how many other people will post on this, and you will probably get
a variety of opinions on this topic, so . . . I'll begin unless someone 
else
has. (Side note: You may want to also check out commentary on the looper
portion of the GNX3 over on the Digitech site. They have a discussion board
for the GNX3).

I owned a GNX3 for a few weeks early this summer (then returned it). I also
used to own 2 Jam Man rack units, so I can give you some background on how
the GNX3 looper compares to the old Jam Man unit  . . .

The Jam Man looper in the GNX3 is actually quite a different looper than 
the
old Jam Man unit. It is actually set up to work more like an Electrix
Repeater than the old Jam Man. It allows you to record 8 tracks per loop,
and it stores/records your loops. It is also supposed to be a stereo looper
(which it mostly is, unless you loop external sources, then it sometimes
isn't), which also makes it quite different than the old Jam Man, which was
mono. And, you are not limited to 32 secs of looping time like on the old
Jam Man, looping times are flexible based on the size of the SmartMedia 
card
on which you use to record your loops. All these features make it more like
the Repeater than the Jam Man, although the Repeater only has 4 tracks per
loop (not 8 like on the GNX3).

However, the GNX3 does not allow you to do many of the other things that 
the
Repeater does (pitch shift, reverse, switchable effects loop), although the
sound quality is comparable to that of the Repeater (both of which have
better sound quality bit-wise than the old Jam Man units did).

Also, the old Jam Man unit allowed you to do quite seamless live "on the
fly" real-time looping--you just clicked on the record switch, and off you
went. However, the new GNX3 Jam Man function does not function very
effectively as a live looper, in my opinion, because you can't actually do
this on the GNX3. You have to set up a tempo time before recording the 
loop,
and then if you don't use quanitize and the count-in function on the GNX3
looper, your loops will often times show up with a very noticable "skipping
sound" on the loop (like when a cd skips). If you're timing is absolutely
precise, and the material you are playing into the loop is in fact exactly
at the tempo you set ahead of time, you will not always get the skip--but
there were times I did all that correctly with out count in or quantize 
set,
and still got the skip anyway. So, you will have to use that count-in clock
everytime you loop if you want to avoid the skip. Which, basically, makes 
it
kind of suck as a live "on the fly" looper because you can't just "loop and
go" with reliably seamless results like you could on the old Jam Man, where
this was never a problem.

This is why I returned it, because I was hoping it would be a bona-fide Jam
Man looper (like the old ones) but with some new features. The lack of true
live "on the fly looping" was a problem for me, since I do ambient music
half the time, and there is no set tempo in my music, so the
quantize/count-in thing reaked havoc on my loops--lots of that skipping
sound.

So, the long and the short of it is--the Jam Man in the GNX3 is not a
bona-fide Jam Man like the original unit.

Don't know about if it's quieter or not.

There are a few other people here that have used it too, so maybe than can
fill in some more details on it in re: your specific questions.

Greg--any comments?

Hope this info helps you.

David Durian

>>Does anyone here use the Digitech gnx3? It's supposed to have a JamMan II
>>built in to it. Does anyone know if this an honest-to-goodness Lexicon
>>JamMan? Is it as quiet as the rack JamMan?

>>Richard

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