Hints for Sync (still about Live Looping in an ensemble context)

[Matthias Grob <matilists@atarde.com.br>]

Can you believe I have 120 drafts of mails I did not send to Loopers- 
Delight, since 2001?
mostly because I wrote them late, did not finish and the thread was  
already passed
or because I was not sure about my writing and wanted to improve it  
"when I have more time"
or because I was blocked and depressive between 2003 and 2007

So I just searched the drafts for "sync" and found 20, of which I try  
to finish some the next days.

for a start:
I wrote this in July 04, mostly about BrotherSync but also interesting  
for non EDP users:

It seems to me that the time for this basic functionality is coming.
Many found ways to play well alone.
Depending on music and instruments involved, it may be interesting to  
use loops with non looping musicians, but it tends to unbalance. I  
feel like driving a car and making a friend run along.
And I feel exhausted, when I join a rhythmic loop and cannot sync to  
it. Its a strong limitation. I can still do some coming and going  
coloration (reduced FB), or non rhythmic atmosphere, or manually  
resync when I am obviously off, but I cannot really support my friends  
rhythm which leaves me sad.
[some friends are going to say now: "but its intersting to hear the  
unsynced loops drift..." Ok, sometimes it is, but not during a whole  
show, not for a public used to straight rhythms!]

So please give me a BrotherSync or at least a MIDI clock when we play,  
its a lot of fun to groove together!
Don't you feel that the loops support you to play solo more relaxedly?  
Similarely, to play in sync makes you relax about keeping the brothers  
tempo.

But I also observed that its not totally easy!
The connection is easy. Also to set the Sync parameter. For EDP  
BrotherSync, you don't even need to care since its default comes right  
for that, out of the box.
But it takes some practice to make it go smoothly. Just like with most  
of the other functions. If you go to the sound check with the manual  
and try for the first time, you may succeed - or feel some confusion  
at the gig :-)

Here some tricks and observations:

- Avoid to start out with very long loops, since its hard for the  
brother to come in and leaves him no freedom to select his loop length  
as any multiple of your basic rhythm. If I want to start with a long  
harmonic turn around, I better just play it live until my percussion  
brother creates the basic loop, so then I can loop my turn as a  
multiple of it. While this, he layers some instruments so by the time  
my harmonies are recorded we are ready to really play :-)

- Remember to Reset when your loop ends (by fading or mute). Otherwise  
you continue to send a useless timing to me. If I dont watch out, I  
screw up a new base because its rounded to a multiple of the obsolete  
beat :-(
I can escape from it by pressing Overdub, but lets try to be  
"polite"  :-)

- Remember to Reset before you start a new base, because if my loop  
stayed longer than yours, your machine thinks that there are syncs  
coming and thus may try to sync to my previous loop.

- Remember that the clock coming from the brother makes your unit  
become aware that it should sync to it. So if you Reset and then  
Record immediately, you dont sync. In LOOP IV, wait for the Overdub  
LED to become yellow. In LOOP III, wait for the first flash of the  
green Sync dot.

- If you do a new Record without Reset, you go on in the old timing.  
If your brother changed timing and you want to sync to that, you need  
to Reset and wait for a clock of his (at Cycle end).

- Functions that change the loop length like UnroundedMultiply (Record- 
Multiply) throw you out of sync permanently. You can only go back to  
sync by resetting.

- Functions that change your StartPoint (HalfSpeed, Reverse,  
StartPoint, Mute-Insert, Mute-Undo, Next without SwitchQuant) only set  
off the StartPoint in relation to the Brother but keep you going at  
the same speed, so you don't drift.
To come back to the original StartPoint, you can use ReAlign (Mute- 
Multiply). Best press it right after your own StartPoint passed (flash  
of the KeyLED in LOOP IV) to make sure that you wait for the brothers  
StartPoint to Retrigger on, and not your own again.

- If you only have one unit and want to get the feel of sync before  
you go to a meeting, practice by syncing to a MIDIclock. Its not quite  
the same, since the Sync parameter has to be IN and the clock comes  
immediately, but still, you see SyncRecord working and can try the  
function of Overdub in Reset.

- In case you want to use the EDP MIDIclock output to control the  
speed of some sequencer or the Repeater, you need to bring the clock  
into a reasonable range, by choosing the 8th/beat (8th/Cycle) that  
fits your loop length. Or maybe easier: Start with a loop length  
around 2-4 sec if you leave 8th/Cycle at the default of 8.
If you sync two EDPs by BrotherSync and use the MIDIclock-Out of one  
of them, the others 8th/Cycle does not matter.

- Unfortunately not all EDPs sync up between each other because Gibson  
kept changing the manufacturing place and staff, and thus the  
tolerances of the main clock crystals. To make sure they sync up on  
sample base, try with a short loop and watch the flashing LEDs. If  
they drift, replace the crystals of the old units by new crystals from  
Andy Ewen. All EDPPlus (black ones) are made by him, so they should  
sync fine.

Matthias