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Looper's Delight
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Rainer,
Step?
I have been dreaming of converting my rack of gear to something that
could reside (mostly) in software in a laptop for over a dozen years.
Back in the days when I still worked for Seymour Duncan ('93 -'97) I
met with some software engineers (on my own time and as my own idea) to
try to actually develop this concept.
After a month or two or working on it, it was determined that
consumer-level computers were quite not fast enough or powerful enough
yet and the project was abandoned.
I did not give up on the IDEA though.
I've only been waiting 'til something was developed that could do what
I wanted . . . the way I wanted.
Yes, the MAX/MSP in a shiny MacBook is the way I will eventually go.
I don't want to buy an off-the-shelf completed solution.
I want to be able to creatively configure and re-configure every little
bit of it.
MAX/MSP seems to let me do this.
That's why the NI "Guitar Rig" and other products of that type do not
interest me.
I do not need a GUI that looks like stomp-boxes and rack gear to make
me feel comfortable.
I make my living with computers.
And, I have been acquainted with MAX for a long time.
When they added the MSP part to it I became mildly interested.
But then, as it happens, my best pal Jeff Kaiser (who was friends with
some folks at Cycling 74) got started using it himself.
Jeff and I go back to '87 as friends and musical collaborators.
My many recent conversations with him (and now Krispen Hartung) have
shown me how what I want to do can be done.
I will probably have some sort of hybrid system for a while.
My guitar will be connected into still quite a bit of hardware . . .
and then into the computer and MAX/MSP.
But it will all be much smaller.
You may laugh at what finally motivated me, two, maybe three things
really:
1) As I have often said before, I am too old to schlepp all that gear
around any more - and I am finding myself doing it less and less and
not enjoying it much at all.
2) My faithful little mini-van "gig" car is dying and I can no longer
haul my pile of gear around dependably more than just a few miles at a
time.
3) I have a new car (a PT Cruiser) and I want my new setup (whatever it
is) to fit in THAT, so it's got to be small, light and convenient.
Having my "mountain of gear" was never about trying to impress anybody
with it's size.
I always felt slightly insulted when people made more comments about
that than about my music.
It's just what it took to make the music I wanted to play.
It was a colossal burden to be honest.
I have the doctor (and surgery) bills to prove it.
Jeff and Kris have now shown me that it can be done - proved it is
possible by doing it themselves.
Circumstances have now made a change necessary for me.
Now's the time.
I have stepped out of performing at Y2K this year for the very reason.
I have too much gear to haul and no way to haul it and I am too doggone
tired to keep hauling it anyway.
I am just going to be an attendee this year . . . and enjoy myself for
the first time in ages.
Cheers,
Ted
On Oct 17, 2007, at 12:28 AM, Rainer Thelonius Balthasar Straschill
wrote:
> Ted said:
>
>> Little by little I am parting out my hardware set up and
>> selling it off on Ebay.
>
> Can I ask:
> Why that step? And what will your new setup look like? Please don't
> tell me
> you're going to play with a shiny macbook running MAX/MSP or something
> like
> all the young'uns who were swarming 'round your impressive rack at
> y2k6loopfest...
>
> Rainer
>