Re: Percussionist and EDP seeker

[Catilyne <catilyne@icicle.net>]

At 09:13 PM 4/9/2004, Damon Grossman wrote:

>QUESTIONS:
>Is there another looping product besides EDP that gives you independence 
>of
>tracks and stereo?
>How can i buy two EDPS?
>How much per EDP should I expect to pay?
>Should i buy new or used?
>ebay? I just saw one go for around $630 used. Aren't they around $1000 
>new?
>West La Music, a local music store?
>Direct from Gibson?

Damon, I'm sure a lot of other people will chime in with their thoughts, 
but since it seems to have been a whole two hours with no reply <*gasp*>, 
I'll go ahead and get things kicked off.

First, the EDP+ is listed at Musician's Fiend for $799 even as we speak, 
but from what I understand there's a supply-side problem with actually 
getting them in the stores.  A quick peruse through the archives should 
fill in some of the blanks, or perhaps some of the individuals more 
closely 
linked to the situation will step in.  It does seem as if a lot of the 
users here recommend Alto Music, however, and they may be a good bet for 
an 
EDP purchase once they begin coming back into the stores.  Used units on 
Ebay may go for cheaper, but make certain they've had their memory filled 
up (the new units come with max memory, if I remember correctly).  Also, 
you may have to pony up for a foot controller if your don't already have 
one.

Next, I must say that I agree wholeheartedly with your philosophy 
regarding 
stereo (these days, I mostly play synths so all my sound sources are 
stereo).  With the EDP, you do have to buy two units and brother sync them 
together to achieve stereo functionality.  For that reason, I'm not an EDP 
user myself.  Personally, the stereo thing is the one issue that always 
blew the EDP's price-to-value ratio out of the water for me.  If I've got 
to save up almost two grand to get a stereo EDP, then I'll save for a bit 
longer and get an Eventide or, better yet, a Kyma.  Anyway, end soapbox -- 
as always, YMMV and there are others here who certainly feel differently.

Also, there is evidently an effort in the works to port the EDP's 
operating 
software over to the Soundarts Chameleon.  While there will be obviously 
be 
some limitations of other sorts on that platform, at least it'll stop 
myself and various others from whingeing on about the EDP's lack of stereo 
support at a reasonable price-point.

As for alternate options, you should start by going through the 'Tools of 
the Trade' section of the Loopers Delight website ( 
http://www.loopersdelight.com/tools/tools.html ).  My personal choice is 
the Electrix Repeater, which is a favorite of many others here on the list 
as well.  It features four independent tracks which can be used separately 
or linked into stereo pairs, as well as some nice extras (effects loop, 
ability to shift time and pitch independent of each other, loop 
storage/recall via CFC, etc.).  Though discontinued, you can still find 
them on Ebay for around $800 these days.

Some of the other options that take stereo into account:  On the upper 
end, 
you've got the aforementioned Eventide Orville or the Symbolic Sound Kyma, 
both of which will allow you to at the very least reconfigure the 
algorithms in order to customize the box for your task (heck, the Kyma is 
actually a programmable hardware platform which can be customized to be 
just about anything you want -- effects or otherwise).  Then you've got 
the 
old dependable Lexicon units -- like the Jamman or the PCM-42 -- which 
still perform well.  And at the low end, you've got quirkier boxes like 
the 
Cycloops.  These may not exactly be your cup of tea or they may be exactly 
what you're looking for.  As I said before, YMMV.

>Other percussion loopers unite. I am looking for other loopers who are 
>also
>percussionists. It seems that the majority of members of this group are
>guitarists.

There are a good deal of guitarists here, but there are a lot of other 
instrumentalists as well -- bass, synths, winds, orchestral 
strings....  There are also quite a few kickass looping percussionists 
hanging out here too, but I'll let them step up and introduce themselves 
in 
their own time.  Welcome to the list; I don't think you'll be disappointed 
in the least.  :)

         -c-

_____
"i want to reach my hand into the dark and *feel* what reaches back"
                                                 -recoil