Re: Considering building an ultimate looper...

[Bob Weigel <sounddoctorin@imt.net>]

Well excellent!  You should be one of the best resources for suggestions 
and I hope we can make this fulfill everyone's wildest dreams.  
Including mine :-).  I love old analog stuff and have a large collection 
of machines that I'd love to do some loop projects with. 

Your pessimism..and mine is fully shared.  Hence the title of the post.  
"Considering.....".  In a way I've been looking for an excuse though to 
get into doing some design with the newer devices available that will at 
least pay for the experience.  If it looks likely it will I'll probably 
go for it!  Thanks, -Bob

Jeffrey Larson wrote:

>
> > If I feel in my research that I can't provide that then
> > I'll back off the project of course.  BUT THIS IS HOW GREAT THINGS
> > COME TO BE...so please.  I'm just inquiring.  No harm in that.
>
> None whatsoever. welcome.  I think you'll find this list is one
> of the most valuable sources of information for this research.
>
> > Anyway I dont' find anything friendly about your post.
>
> Well, I'm sorry about that.  I'm just one of those people that sets
> the bar pretty high when I hear the term "ultimate looper".  And as
> the author of a relatively popular software looper, I think I have a
> pretty good idea of how hard it is to build one.
>
> Believe me, no one would like to make a living building loopers more
> than I would.  But I just don't see the market.  At the high end you
> tend to have a high profit margin, but relatively few people want to
> buy the product.  At the low end you can't compete with the volume
> manufacturing processes of Roland.  There's more room in the middle,
> say the $500 range, but the margins are lower so you're going to have
> to sell a *lot* of them to make a living.   In the mid range, you're  
> going to
> need some unique features to stand out, and that means a *lot* of
> software development.  Writing and testing looping software is extremely
> difficult, this is way beyond typical PIC programming.
>
> I don't want my comments to sound unfriendly.  But they certainly
> are pessimistic.  Reality isn't always friendly.
>
> I do wish you luck though, anything that serves to improve mass  
> awareness
> of looping is perfectly fine with me.
>
> > PLEASE...try emailing me instead of making a public spectacle like
> > this before you are sure of what you are talking about with me.
>
> FINALLY!  After over two years on this list I've made my first
> public spectacle.  Gosh, I wish I'd known it was that easy :-)
>
> Seriously, there's a lot of public debate on this list, I hardly think
> this was crossing the line.  In fact, the opinions of the other list
> members on this topic should be extremely valuable to you.  I for one
> was surprised by the comments on volume pedal resolution.  That's
> great to know.   Progress was made.  Can we all hug now?
>
> Your Friend,
> Jeff
> www.zonemobius.com
>
>