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Hi Rainer, Thanks for the very thoughtful, instructive and useful post. >And with that said, I'd like to encourage Greg to construct his planned >big >setup (perhaps only to find out which stuff you don't use that much after >all), and like to thank Ted for the VG-99 recommendation - after being >somewhat disappointed with what the V-Bass does, this may be something >better after all (and then I'd need a GK pickup on my guitar...). It's not that big really, just new to me and deeeeeep - FireworX, Looperlative and FCB 1010. Sounds like God though... Thanks for the encouragement! Best Wishes, ~Greg -----Original Message----- From: Rainer Thelonius Balthasar Straschill [mailto:rs@moinlabs.de] Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2007 5:09 PM To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com Subject: Lester Ismore - or is it not? (and things sucking creative energy etc.) Hi everyone, having followed the discussion for some time now, I'd like to chime in with my (rather gear-heavy) pov: Leaving the gear-schlepping topic aside for one moment (which most of the time is actually something that matters a lot whether a certain setup will work or not), it's rather like this: more (and more complex) gear gives you more options, but also needs more time to learn (and sometimes to maintain) the thing: If you had a guitar with one string and five frets per string, this would greatly simplify learning the guitar, but then again limit you in your expression, and the same is true for our setups. Now there may be a difference if your use of effects is rather superficial and/or decided on in advance. If you need chorus in two tunes, a flanger in another and play all of that with your vintage Tele sound, then you'd most probably won't need Ted's rig. Then again, when you play punk, the bass guitar with one string and five frets may be sufficient, too... So how much do the things suck creative energy? I believe the do hinder the creative process if using your effects will require some very conscious interaction with your setup, as opposed to doing it inutively. To take again the example of the guitarist, I guess for a guitarist (which I am not, although I do play the guitar), the way from a chord progression or melody appearing in your mind to your fingers playing that very idea is an almost unconscious one. The same need be true for the way from that "swirling effect on that stuttering loop" idea to the necessary button/pedal presses and fader moves. If that is not the case you need to a) improve the user interface of your setup and/or b) learn to play your electronic things better. Improving the user interface is that one are where for me the use of computers has brought a huge advantage over traditional hardware boxes. For most of the hardware effects I have, controlling more than eight parameters with assignable controllers is a real hassle, and that's something that is not true for nearly all VST/VSTi things in a proper host. Even programming the controller mapping is easier here most of the time. And with the computer, you really have a great degree of freedom if not for the display of information, but for the user commands, and it's really all in one place. The process for my computer setup (where I use a BCR2000 fader box and FCB1010 foot controller) was (in a simplified way) something like this: 1) Identify some "emergency"/always-needed-quickly operations - they need a dedicated control (e.g. footswitch). 2) identify continuous controllers that need to be accessed while playing an instrument with both hands - these need to be accessed with an expression pedal. 3) identify button pushes that need to be accessed while playing an instrument with both hands - these will be accessed with footswitches. 4) identify the complete number of controllers (not belonging to group 1 and 2) you need to access. 5) define how they need to be grouped (in preset settings or banks), and how they can be made similair to each other (e.g. the bottom left knob is always filter cutoff or something). 6) identify "most-used" functions and group them together in a preset/bank in addition to them residing in dedicated banks/presets. 7) find the most-used "paths" between banks/presets and organize banks/presets so these paths can be travelled with the minimum amount of button presses. After implementing that, it's time to learn the assingment and test-drive it, and all the while looking at the following: * are there functions you miss? * are there functions you don't access at all? * are the "paths" laid out in a good way? * do the "most-used" and "accessing-while-playing" assignments make sense? And apart from that, it's really a lot of learning - a big part of it being sitting down with the sheets of controller assignment you printed out and learning them. (As a sidenote for those who'd seen me play Y2K6, the setup here included 10 banks of FCB1010 assignments (10 buttons and 20 exp pedal assignment each) = 300, plus 16 presets on the BCR2000 (whis is I believe 106 assignments per preset), plus some buttons on the computer keyboard, plus a dedicated footswitch as a "panic" switch, plus an exp pedal and a sustain pedal for the keyboard. A guessed percentage of more than 90% of the controller actions was done using 2 presets and 2 banks, respectively, but if I accessed some of the remaining ~1600 controllers, I was really happy I had them (and had learned them) - and was also happy that it is by far easier to access them that way than by delving into the menu structure of a Eclipse or FireworX (let alone a Wavestation...). So what do I do when I just want to play a simple loop with some effects added to it? Use the G2.1u and the DD20 (currently, a SMM w/Hazari and a KP3 sits in that minisetup, but I really rarely use any of these two - yes, for that specific performance approach, less is perhaps not more but it's all that is needed). And with that said, I'd like to encourage Greg to construct his planned big setup (perhaps only to find out which stuff you don't use that much after all), and like to thank Ted for the VG-99 recommendation - after being somewhat disappointed with what the V-Bass does, this may be something better after all (and then I'd need a GK pickup on my guitar...). All the best, Rainer