Re: Line6 Echo Pro

[Todd Pafford <calenlas@gmail.com>]

Agreed.  I got my EchoPro for a great price and absolutely love it. 
Great echo effects, but at this point mine's pretty much dedicated to
looping.  Midi control via a footcontroller like the Behringer FCB1010
makes using it a breeze.  It lacks the more advanced looping features
such as Insert, Multiply, Undo, and Feedback, but I've been able to
craft slowly evolving loops with it anyway.  Definitely worth a small
investment, but keep in mind that you'll want some sort of Midi
control too which will effectively add $150+ to the price.

Todd

On 12/29/05, mech <mech@m3ch.net> wrote:
> At 5:13 PM +0100 12/29/05, RPGfreak@web.de wrote:
> >Does anyone know or use that thing? How suitable
> >is it for looping? Can feedback be controlled?
> >How is MIDI control or control on the device itself?
> >I was thnínking about getting one since it's
> >rackformat is handy. SInce I play ambient music
> >with lots of evolving textures, a long loop time
> >would be nice.
>
> If it's a decent price, grab it.
>
> Go through the list archives, you'll see lots of
> posts regarding the Line 6 Echo Pro and DL-4
> (they're pretty much 90% the same machine, only
> in different form factors).  Also, I think there
> are some write-ups on the main LD site.
>
> I've got two of the Echo Pro's, as well as a DL-4
> I use in a busking rig.  In short, I think think
> they're wonderful (I love the Line 6 stuff; it's
> dead simple and sounds great).  Essentially, the
> Echo Pro is the same engine as the DL-4 stompbox.
> The main differences are that with the Echo Pro
> you've got an expanded 60 seconds of loop time or
> 120 seconds if you begin recording in half-speed
> mode, better audio quality (IMNSHO) with an
> improved S/N Ratio due to the balanced I/O, and
> full MIDI control of the front panel parameters.
> Also, I'm another person who prefers the
> convenience of having everything in a rack,
> rather than dealing with a mess of spaghetti on
> the floor, but obviously YMMV on that last point.
>
> Downsides are that, just as on the DL-4, the loop
> algorithm squashes everything down into mono
> (why, Why, WHY did they do that <*grumble*>). I
> deal with that little design flaw by having two
> Echo Pro's running together as a "pseudo stereo"
> pair.  And while you can control all the
> parameters via MIDI you still can't sync the loop
> itself to MIDI clock.  As for Feedback, you don't
> have a Feedback control on the looping presets
> per se, but you can get the same effect (each new
> overdub squashes the older layers a little
> further down into the murk, er... mix) by playing
> with the Mix control as you record into the loop.
>
> You say you play ambient music with a lot of
> evolving textures, so here's an example to which
> you might relate: I have mine dedicated solely to
> my E-mu Morpheus (controlled by a Yamaha G-10).
> Using just the distortion guitar patches on the
> Morpheus into the Echo Pro's, I can pretty much
> replicate the classic Frippertronics sounds from
> Fripp & Eno's "No Pussyfooting" or "Evening
> Star".  So, that should give you a (very) raw
> baseline.  Now start updating the sounds you're
> feeding into the Echo Pro and you can take it
> into some really cool directions.
>
> Just do it!  ;)
>
>         --m.
>
> --
> _______
> "Take a packet of seeds.  Take yourself out to play
>   I want to see river of orchids where we had a motorway..."
>
>