Hi guys,
As many of you know from my previous rants aginst
the "laptop loopers" I am a self proclaimed "hardware head" (its a medical
condition you know).
But I thought I would write a few notes to the group regarding my first experiences of.. wait for it, wait for it.... MOBIUS!!!
But first a raison d'être: I was going to be at Y2k8, and perform. I was planning a NEW IMPROVED streamlined flight friendly case, empty of loopers (that I could borrow en situ) but full of... well my stuff. (synth modules, joysticks, and pitchshiftin, bit crushing madness.) It was then that it happened, I considered it, for the first time... laptop... gulp... and mobius...
As some of you know I have had to cancel my trip and performance, cos my better half Hilde has been diagnosed with Cervical Cancer and we have just started her Radiation and Chemo therapy yesterday... some things come before looping guys. (and girls...go get them thar smear tests.. don't walk... run... )
Why have I always been against software, well it all stems from a period where I only produced music on computer, its was great... I did 2 maybe three great albums, using predominately Audio Mulch... I was drawn in by the wealth of possibilities, the infinate versions, radical mix after radical mix... I dreamt up instruments, then I created them, in SynthEdit or Reactor, I micro edited samples down at the sample level, building sounds from scratch, morphing one thing into another, I made aleatoric systems that played themselves getting their only data from weather pressure data from an alaskan website, I listened and recorded actual live police radio from Saracuse, it was a blast!!!
But then I added up the amount of hours spent at a computer. As a film-maker as my dayjob, then coming home and using a computer for fun... I was sat there.. 18 hours a day, in front of the screen.
So I went back to the (now dusty rack and modular synth) and never looked back... until now (Here comes the Mobius stuff for those that thought this was a Mobius review).
I thought.. so what if I just had my guitar and a laptop..(reintroducing the guitar should keep it physical) and so for a mere 3 hours last night I gave it a go.
I was mightily impressed.
But not without some reservations.
First-up I should say I couldnt get my FCB1010 to work with it. I should say that I will buy a PC lap and a decent sound/midi card when I have completely convinced myself, but for now I thought I would try it out with my M audio Ozone. Imagine my dismay when I went round the back of the keyboard and looked at "That other midi plug that should be midi IN"... Oh no.. its something called USB in... not a USB socket, but a midi plug, not sure what its for, but it aint midi IN... so no pedal power for now...
And I think THAT issue would probably solve all my problems. As everyone knows, you cant loop with a mouse click... impossible, but I tried, oh and this with the new mac version. I will get a PC do do this eventually, so I can run it inside Mulch (anyone using Mobius in Mulch BTW... works?? or??)
Sound quality was excellent, I think I probably have to change the noise floor setting, cos it was writing Overdubs every loop, even though I wasnt playing anything (that is the same as on the EDP right...? Dont play, no overdub??)
I loved the fact that I could now SEE what was happening with the overdub layers, with the quantized up-coming commands.
I was annoyed by the fact that one track stayed in Overdub when I switched to another... any need for that?
And is it still recording into that first track while you make a new track?
So actually I DIDNT like that it had multiple tracks, I could use ONE more than the edp... so two... and I like that they are stereo, but I found myself going to new tracks all the time, like it was a repeater, and that makes a different kind of music... that is unweildy and repetative, one that you cant change in a moment cos everything is spread across tracks... god 4 tracks is too many on the Repeater for me!!
None of the speed change or pitch shift things worked (apart from the EDPish hlfspeed, worked fine) but thats probably a mac version port thing-soon to be fixed.
It distorted quite easily for me after a few overdubs, prob need to fiddle with gain structure I guess, but I am used to be able to HIT THE GUITAR!!! and stroke it...
LOVED the idea of the track slip thing (is this the same as on the repeater? Should it slip by cycles, beats.. what?) unfortunatly that crashed Mobius on my machine...
Also LOVED the idea of different presets on each track. (But needed to figure out how to change the default settings) Does ANYONE have UN-synched tracks as a default? Why?
And seriously intrigued (but not enough time to try) by the scripts thing.
One of my current techniques is to fire a bunch of midi notes at my EDP from my drum-machine. I regularly have pre worked-out sequences for example... that overdubs then changes the 8ths setting then goes half speed, reverse, normal speed, forward, multiply... then 25 undos in a row. Now Im NOT SURE if scripts will let me do the same thing... but I think so... and more besides... record on track one after an 8th, switch to track 2, repeat across all tracks, wher all tracks are pre pitched to different notes, THEN after one bar stop record on one and insert one space later... bla bla bla...
What does "Shuffle" do? Button didnt seem to do anything.
I am yet to be able to say how it FEELS... This has been one of my things in previous posts, that just like a favoured guitar, where you love the action or the tone, and how it sits against your knee, a looper has FEEL. The EDP to me has lots of FEEL, I play WITH it, forget it, it surprises me, yet never tricks me. My OTHER looper the repeater, has NO FEEL, I like its features, but I must treat it like a tape machine, I switch it on, it records, it loops, it does what I tell it, but I cant forget it, one Undo, and 4 tracks means I lose myself in where what is, I need to remove something and take down the wrong track
Now... with Mobius inside Mulch... with different tracks coming out to different bubbleblowers? shiiiiiiiit..
So im not there yet... would like some feeback on these questions, but I will probably joint the Mobius list and hang out for a bit...
Need to borrow a new soundcard witha midi IN and try it with FCB.. maybe the FEEL is ok... man...
By the way.. where is the Mobius list, couldnt find it at Yahoo...
thats it for now... good first impresions... but scared what the future might bring (in more ways than one - see 3rd paragraph)
Later kids, dont stay up to late..
Mark
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www.markfrancombe.comhttp://uk.youtube.com/user/markfrancombe
http://www.myspace.com/markfrancombewww.looop.no
