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Looper's Delight
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Rhod, I don't know squat about the current capabilities of the Jamman - I figure others can advise you there. Without having the precise bluesy musical goal you have, I have done essentially what you are after by various means over the years technically. Along with the various loopers I have owned and used for the "live looping" thang, I have sometimes found it useful to have canned loops as well. Back in the pre-desktop computer '80s I used keyboard samplers to record an array of rhythmic loop snippets across the whole range of keys and had a latching "hold pedal" to enable me to use it as a "phrase" sampler before such a thing was invented. That was a rather unwieldy solution for me as a guitarist - believe you me. Later on, when those phrase and/or groove samplers came out (from Raoland, Akai, Korg and others) I traded my keyboards in. I've now have owned both Akai and Roland boxes and have found them all quite usefull in their own ways (and also with each their own peculiar shortcomings). I can guess that for you, it might be tempting (for simplicity's sake) to try to get ONE DEVICE that does both things you want to do. But consider this . . . sometimes it pays off in the end to have TWO DEVICES that each does its job really well rather than just one that does a half-assed job at both (or of one of them as an afterthought). As far as hardware loopers go, the EDP and LP-1 (among few others) are without peer for all the editing and slicing and dicing you can do right there on stage as you are making your live loops. They are complicated, but they are capable . . . and fun. That's why so many of us on the LD list use them (I've been an EDP user since '96 BTW). I don't know, but I suspect, that the ability of a certain device to add in the capability to save in and play a lot of different canned loops (enough for a whole set or two of songs) will short-change you in some other aspect further down the line. On the other hand, using any of the small phrase samplers out on the market would give similar benefits (in some of them at least) because you could definitely save lots and lots of loops and also edit and effect those on-board canned loops on the fly as you play. Plus, some of those phrase samplers (say a used Roland SP-303) can be had easily and cheaply on Ebay. They are small, light and unobtrusive on stage - and you can work out the bugs and match musical keys and BPMs on your computer at home before you load them. If you really want a ONE DEVICE solution that really does a thorough job at what you want to accomplish, a laptop with Abelton Live is probably the answer. But I'd suggest that if laptops and software seem overly complicated, you may find it better to get TWO DEVICES - one that is a full-featured live looper of some sort (that you will be happy with for a long time), and the other a full-featured groove/phrase sampler of some sort (with some opportunity for flexibility and creativity beyond just being a simple beat box). I guess it all depends on how "deep" you want to get into it. Best regards, tEd ® KiLLiAn Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence. – Norman Podhoretz http://www.myspace.com/tedkillian http://www.reverbnation.com/tedkillian http://www.pfmentum.com/PFMCD007.html http://www.CDbaby.com/cd/tedkillian http://www.guitar9.com/fluxaeterna.html http://www.indiejazz.com/ProductDetailsView.aspx?ProductID=193 http://guitarplayer.com/article/y2k6-international-live/Jun-07/27768 Ted Killian's "Flux Aeterna" is also available at Apple iTunes