I've dabbled at looping a handful of times...currently using an EH Stereo Memory Man...I also record with Ableton Live...etc. Handy tools but we're not in the realms of mutliple Echoplex here

I've noticed a recurring pattern: drop a neat bassline or progression...add another layer...a few frills here and there...maybe tweaking to raise/lower octaves or reversing parts along the way. Suddenly, the loop is 'full enough' and I play over the top of it for a while. This is great fun but it feels pretty static. I imagine if I put a set of looped improvs together that things would quickly get samey.

Any ideas for moving on from here? Tricks and tips, etc? I think that my approach could mature and I could be much more minimal...instead of throwing everything in. I would like the loop to evolve...keys changing...feel changing...let's talk!

I'm subscribing to this.

I'm not a "looping" musician, but I have a Boss DD20 and you can do some thrilling things my this device. Set two different delay programs with a time relation between them : by exemple, set the delay time at 1800 ms for the first one and 1200 ms for the second one, and for both of them a nearly infinite feedback. Choose for both of them a delay with some character, like a Tube Echo or an analog delay. The nice thing about this device is that when you stomp from the first to the second delay, echos of the first delay continue until they are dying. During this time, once you've stomped to go to the second delay, you add some layers but with a different tempo. And so on... You can switch to the first delay back, and then add some layers. As the delay feedback is NEARLY infinite, but not completely, the layers decay slowly...
I don't know if it's very clear. I should perhaps try to record something and put it on my Myspace.

No one else find that funny???? I'm just weird I guess!

Yea, it is...

Mr. Kettle - something else you can try doing is work on percussive sounds and rythms - tapping, slapping, scraping, skronks, etc. If you have a looper that will allow you to go half-speed or double-speed you can get some really neat percussive effects...then build your bass/progression/pads on top of that. I was using Mobius (PC s/w looper) which supports multiple loops and what is really neat is fading individual loops in and out at different times - helps keep interest in what is going on.

Dave

I repeat myself when I'm distressed...

Good suggestions so far.



You're talking about basing off of some kind of 'amorphous' blanket?

Trying to convince myself that I DON'T need to buy an extra gadget...but fading between multiple units sounds really smart...unless you do this with delay feedback, it must have to be automated in software?

Observation: when doing speed/reverse tweaks, anyone unfortunate enough to be listening will really lose the plot during the transition as you turn your main loop on its head.

David,

One of the cool things (and, yeah, there are a lot of cool things) about Greg's method of looping is to have his delay feedback set to gradually fade out the repeats over time. This allows him to have this organic, always-evolving soundscape to improvise with.

Check out "Big Bang 4965" for an example of this - http://www.stick.com/onlinevideos/bigbang.html

The EH 16 Second Digital Delay will allow you to get that by adjusting the Feedback in the Mix section. My friend, Jim Schreck, will hook one of his 16-Sec Delays to his AdrenaLinn unit via MIDI to sync up the effects and drum patterns to the delay loops.

The other options are to go with the Digital Echoplex, Electrix Repeater, or a software-based looping solution.

Now, back to setting up my newly acquired AP-13!


Take care,

Paul

http://www.myspace.com/paulwaltersstick

method?? what method?

I better subscribe to this too, given that I bought the first EH MMwH!

Have only played with looping a little bit so far and still have a lot of skills to develop, but yes, I've already discovered that if you leave a complex/melodic loop going too long, everyone in the near vicinity will want to rip your arms and legs off!

Ghosted or rhythmic loops are probably less annoying, but definitely not as much fun and not much use for soloing. Units like the EH MM only have limited loop editing/removal functions, so when it comes time to change or stop the loop, you don't have many options. I guess you can fade the loop volume out completely or reduce the decay time, plus you can always tweak the speed/modulation settings and make that part of the performance. I particularly enjoy running reverse loops, they don't seem quite as boring, plus you can always try the old Dalis Car/Mick Karn trick and attempt to play the reversed Stick part.

Cheers,

Jus