Re: Vox Dynamic Looper VDL-1 Review

[Mark Hamburg <mark@grubmah.com>]

On Jun 21, 2011, at 7:34 AM, andy butler wrote:

> First thing to do with a new looping device is plug it in, you'll have 
> no problems tapping in that first loop, just 2 presses of the same 
> easily accessible foot-switch ("Rec/Play/Overdub").
> A second switch ("Stop")lets you stop the loop with a press, and once 
> stopped if you hold the switch down the loop is erased. Hence to 
> re-record a loop that you're not happy with is far from a seamless 
> process, and very far from the ideal of simply being able to hit a 
> switch that starts a new recording right away. Another slight down point 
> is that the loop won't stop until you release the switch, not a problem 
> when you get used to it. Once stopped the loop can be restarted with the 
> Rec/Play/Overdub switch.
> There's also three alternate "Stop Modes" available if you don't want 
> the loop to stop right away, either it can play to it's end before 
> stopping, the loop can fade or the loop can stop a with delay applied. I 
> didn't think those modes added much with the fades not sounding very 
> smooth.

There's an interesting UI design problem in loopers about how to get as 
much functionality out of as few buttons as possible. It gets worse when 
one wants to support multiple tracks -- particularly more than two -- and 
probably depends on whether one is designing for the phrase sampler/serial 
looper space or the multitrack overdubbing space.

I think Line6 managed to nail it for the single track, overdub focused 
looper with Rec/Overdub and Play/Stop with erase being implied by hitting 
the former while stopped. This doesn't, however, translate as cleanly to 
any looper that wants to support things like bouncing to the first empty 
track because then it becomes vital to have a way to erase a track without 
recording to it.

Mark