Re: EDP loop capture

[Mark Hamburg <mark@grubmah.com>]

On Dec 20, 2010, at 4:53 PM, William Walker wrote:

> "Would it be possible without a lot of fancy footwork to use either the 
>Looperlative or the RC-50 to do loop capture from an EDP (or a stereo 
>pair of EDPs)?"
> 
> ????? Mark  I feel this question is a bit vague so its hard for me to 
>answer, but I'll try.  Of course its very easy to run one looper in to 
>another and resample loops, I do this all the time using the M-9 to 
>create a loop and resample it using my Looperlative, I assume it would be 
>just as easy with an EDP or two feeding an RC-50, looperlative or other 
>stereo looper, however the RC-50 is somewhat limited in what it can do 
>compared to the Looperlative and I'm not sure if it has a true stereo 
>input, someone chime in please..  But fancy footwork? By that do you mean 
>having one controller control both units? I personally prefer having 
>separate control surfaces for separate loopers, though I'm no Savion 
>Glover,  it takes the guess work out of  having to figure out which loop 
>you are controlling from one midi pedal.   I  thought you went so far as 
>to buy a looperlative?

Okay. Some more clarity.

Yes, I've got a Looperlative. While it works well as a multi-track looper, 
I haven't found it as natural for evolving and manipulating loops as the 
EDP with Loop IV. I find the operating modes approach of the EDP to work 
better for me than the command sequence approach of the Looperlative.

(A certain tendency on the part of the Looperlative to crash -- a problem 
Randolf Arriola and I seem to share but you don't suggesting we're pushing 
it in different ways than you -- has also made me cautious with the 
Looperlative. It feels like there are ragged edges in the software and/or 
system demands and it isn't entirely clear where they are.)

So, that then leads to the question of how could I leverage the two 
together and the seemingly natural thing to do is use the Looperlative as 
a way of capturing various EDP built loops and manipulating them.

This is basically a resampling problem and I'm well aware of loop 
resampling as a concept. The issues that I've been concerned with include:

* Getting the timing right seems to be relatively critical for avoiding 
pops and clicks at the boundaries.

* Having to execute lots of carefully timed operations is a distraction 
from performing. What I really want to say is, "I like this loop. Save it 
into a slot on the multi-track looper and start a new loop on the EDP" and 
I want to say it with as few operations as possible.

Can I get things to lock well enough using MIDI to get reliable, seamless 
loop capture?

How sophisticated a MIDI controller am I likely to need to make it all 
work?

As for the RC-50, it comes up because I figure I really only need a few 
loops beyond the EDP and it's basically self-contained which has a certain 
degree of attractiveness. (I'm seriously contemplating trying to figure 
out how to turn the EDPs into a floor unit...) But if I need a serious 
MIDI controller, then I probably might as well live with a rack for the 
EDPs and the LP-1.

Mark

P.S. Y2KX was interesting from the standpoint of working only with the 
looper in the M13.