Re: New to looping..

[Stephen Scott <loopingsteve@yahoo.co.uk>]

--- On Wed, 16/9/09, nemoguitt@aol.com <nemoguitt@aol.com> wrote:

>  The RedSound
> Soundbite XL.....sez steve
 
>  steven.....this looks like a kool tool.....could
> you give a "blow by blow" description of how you
> use it?.....thanks.....m


It currently sits in-line, the main unlooped signal passing out through 
the headphone jack,  the looped OP going into a separate mixer channel.

The sample time has to be punched in before any looping takes place. This 
is determined by setting the BPM value.  The sample 6 pads are labelled as 
number of beats, with default values of 1,2,4,4,8 and 16.  Therefore, at 
60bpm, this equates to, 1,2,4,4,8 and 16 seconds for the pad sample times 
for the XL.  The Pro and Micro versions allow user definable sample times, 
but the overall sample memory is no more, I believe, and there are only 4 
sample pads on the micro.

btw, the BPM can be changed incrementally at any time, this giving a 
corresponding loop speeding/pitch raising or slowing/pitch drop effect.

To record a loop, press a pad.  When the recording gets to the end of the 
preset time, the loop will cycle until you press the pad again to turn it 
off.  Next press turns it back on again, or you can choose to re-sample it.

Most loopers on this group will probably be cringing at this point, 
because of these fixed sample lengths.  However, to a certain extent, I 
have adapted my style of playing to accomodate this limitation.  
Typically, I will record a couple of rhythmic things repeating on the 1 or 
2 second loops, add some ambience on the 4 second loops, maybe a bassline 
on the 8 second loop, and some melody perhaps on the 16 second sample.  

There is NO MIDI sync at all.  However, believe it or not, this and my EDP 
(with tempo set the same as the Soundbite) stay in sync for as long as I 
need, several hours if neccesary :)  So I can do all the usual EDP stuff 
in conjunction with my little loop sampler.

On the Soundbite XL, once a loop is playing, it can be turned off (and 
comes back perfectly in sync when turned back on), reversed, volume faded 
up or down, but only in 1dB increments.  Any loop can be time slipped back 
or forth relative to the other loops, or all loops can be time-slipped 
together.  Finally, there is also a filter which works on the loops, this 
can be set to HP, LP or Bandpass, with 32 step conrol of resonance, and 
sounds quite sweet BUT affects all loops unfortunately.

The Soundbite Pro offers a few more features, mainly loop slicing and 
offline computer connectivity - check the online manual for more details.
 
There is no IP gain control, it seems to use some sort of auto-gain 
control, but this isn't as bad as some.

So, definitely not first choice for a conventional looper, but does offer 
a lot of fun.

Stephen
www.myspace.com/sylvianfisher