Re: Minimum Requirements

[Mark Hamburg <mark@grubmah.com>]

First loop capability = the ability to set loop length at record time?

I guess I just sort of assumed that as a defining characteristic of a 
looper as opposed to a delay.

Interesting to see the mention of the DD-20 as one of the few pedals with 
feedback control given that it doesn't offer foot control.

One of the other interesting problems in these minimum requirements is how 
many buttons can you get away with? One button for Rec -> ( Overdub -> 
Play )* seems to work pretty well. Rec -> ( Play -> Overdub )* less so. 
But this is more for the single track looper (even if it's stereo). When 
you got to multiple parallel tracks, you start needing stop/start support 
per track which is probably why the Boomerang ended up with Rec -> ( Play 
-> Stop )* though this makes seamless loops tricky.

And then there's the question of how many things you can tolerate as long 
presses. These can impair timing or have to be carefully structured so 
that an action can start on button press but can transition cleanly when 
the press turns out to be a long press. But, for example, a long press of 
a Rec -> ( Overdub -> Play ) button after a loop was recorded could undo 
any material overdubbed during the long press and instead double the 
length of the loop. This works as long as the loop isn't too short. Or it 
could transition to EDP-style free multiply when entering overdub, but it 
might then be difficult to drop back into overdub. It's a balance between 
having too many buttons to remember and excessively complicated operations 
using the buttons that are available.

Mark