------------------------------ Loopers-Delight-d Digest Volume 97 : Issue 202 Today's Topics: re:Hello and RE: DOD FX-98 [ Ken Fletcher ] Sick vortex [ malhomme ] tape loops (was: Hello and RE: DOD F [ Haible Juergen ] Multivox [ Kevin Miller ] Re: Hello and RE: DOD FX-98 [ Tom Spaulding ] Re: Hello and RE: DOD FX-98 [ Tom Lambrecht ] Re: speaking of tape based delay... [ "Michael P. Hughes, Ph.D." ] sick vortex [ malhomme ] On being complete nerds [ Kim Flint ] RE: On being complete nerds [ Tom Attix ] Re: On being complete nerds [ "Matt McCabe" ] Administrivia: Looper's Delight **************** Please send posts to: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Don't send them to the digest! To subscribe/unsubscribe to the Loopers-Delight digest version, send email with "subscribe" (or "unsubscribe") in both the subject and the body, with no signature files, to: Loopers-Delight-d-request@annihilist.com To subscribe/unsubscribe to the real Loopers-Delight list, send email with "subscribe" (or "unsubscribe") in both the subject and the body, with no signature files, to: Loopers-Delight-request@annihilist.com Check the web page for archives and lots of other goodies! http://www.annihilist.com/loop/loop.html Your humble list maintainer, Kim Flint kflint@annihilist.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 22:14:21 -0800 (PST) From: Ken Fletcher To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: re:Hello and RE: DOD FX-98 Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Mon, 17 Nov 1997, Bret Moreland wrote: :::Welcome Ken. Audio collagist, I like that phrase. I never heard it put :::so succinctly. I do this also, but never realized how to describe it. I was a paper collagist before getting into audio-play, so for me it was a natural term. It's also great because the term is so evocative and versatile: it "labels" you without limiting you! And it's intriguing. It gets people's attention and piques their interest. Of course, when they actually HEAR your stuff they might wrinkle their noses and think of OTHER terms! :) (This has happened to me...with dear friends who were somewhat at a loss to know how to react to my stuff...without hurting my feelings, so now I try to gauge a potential listener/victim's tolerance/appetite for "experimental" sounds before handing them a tape or pressing the play button!) :::Sorry I can't give you advice about the single tape machine loop. ::: :::The 2 deck looping arrangement you describe I can describe. The tape goes Thanks, Bret, for the great 2-deck-tape-loop instructions! Now I regret passing on a recent local classified ad that listed the same exact R2R deck I have (Teac A1250), in new condition for $150. I coulda been long-looping quickly and cheaply already. Ah, well, I should probably save my money for one of these fancy digital machines. On single-deck looping, I have tried simply mounting a short loop of tape through both reels and the play/record head, using (in this case) a bent goose-neck desk-top mic stand to keep the tape from drooping. It works as a static infinite loop: basically just a simple looped sample. But the tape quickly wears out, especially at the splice point. And I've wondered if this technique is harmful to the machine because of the very light load on the transport system (one reel spins very fast, and I wasn't sure if that was good for the machine over time). (The point I had previously not understood about the two-deck system is that there is no actual >tape< loop--the loop is achieved electronically and via the two heads. Now I get it!) And actually, my SU-10 does simple (up to four simultaneous and different-length) loops so well I don't even know why I'm thinking about one-deck tape looping! It's a real-time, dynamic looping environment that I'm wanting to explore, with two tape decks or with JamMan, Echoplex, FX-98, or whatever I can get ahold of. My ART DXR, with its 2-sec delay has given me a pretty good taste of that kind of looping: now I want more!! Thanks again Bret! -Ken Fletcher ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 09:30:22 +0000 From: malhomme To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Sick vortex Message-ID: <34715FFB.31B2@infobiogen.fr> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Oh, I know pretty well the problem, since when my brand new vortex, at the time flew from US to France, it arrived with the same problem. It is the encoder rotary pot in itself that is guilty. It becomes intermittent, and the factory preset are difficult to get, and especially to keep. The user one (if you dial through footswitches) are posing no problems. It is just the selection of programms through the encoder that is nuts. You "just" have to change the encoder. An iron, a little solder stuff, or ship it back to lexicon, if it still is cevired with warranty. Otherwise, try to find such an encoder. Those are the same used on reflex/alex/ maybe even jamdudes. Their are knowm to be sometimes faulty. Not often, just, it felt on us. That's life.... Olivier Malhomme ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 12:39:28 +0100 From: Haible Juergen To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: tape loops (was: Hello and RE: DOD FX-98) Message-ID: <1BF5E20E0C4DD111BBAB00805FE2D5820E5C66@nbgm336a.nbgm.siemens.de> Content-Type: text/plain >On single-deck looping, I have tried simply mounting a short loop of tape >through both reels and the play/record head, using (in this case) a bent >goose-neck desk-top mic stand to keep the tape from drooping. It works as >a static infinite loop: basically just a simple looped sample. But the >tape quickly wears out, especially at the splice point. And I've wondered >if this technique is harmful to the machine because of the very light load >on the transport system (one reel spins very fast, and I wasn't sure if >that was good for the machine over time). I think I should build a switch into my Roland RE-201 Space to disable the HF oscillator that feeds the earease head. The RE-201 is a tape echo with a tape loop of a few meters. It's intended to produce short echoes with a distance of a few centimeters between record and playback heads; the long loop is just to prevent the tape from wearing out too soon. Which makes me think of several modifications: (1) disable the earease head. Would add new sound to old sound (after the _long_ delay of the whole tape length), but no idea to which amount, compared with previous recordings. (?) (2) probably it would be an improovement to make the hf current thru the erease head _variable_, and fade previously stored signals out by partially deleting it. (Again, no idea what this would do to frequency response or distortion of a partly ereased signal ... any clues ?) (3) Now this would be a tough one (and I think I would not dare to do this to my "mint condition vintage space echo" (;->) ): Exchange the location of the heads: (a) original order: tape comes from storage box, passes erease head, passes recording head, passes several playback heads, dissapears into storage box. (b) suggested new order: tape comes from storage box, passes playback head and (plays what has been rcorded half a minute before) passes erease head, passes recording head, passes remaining playback heads (still usable for normal echo operation, only with one tap less than before) dissapears into storage box. This last one looks *very* tempting ! The feedback would then be established electronically, with all its accuracy and possibillities. (I love to put my latest toy, a frequency shifter, into a delay's feedback loop !). Please tell me what you think. Things like that must have been done before! Especially (3) would be interesting. Anybody to share his experience ? JH. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 07:41:50 -0800 From: "Matt McCabe" To: Subject: Re: Hello and RE: DOD FX-98 Message-Id: <199711181531.HAA00186@gw1.bi-tech.com> Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > From: Ken Fletcher > 2) I was in a local music store (I live in Eugene) today and asked one of > the clerks about the DOD FX-98. He let me play with a DFX-94 while he > called his rep, and he found out that a) the rep was surprised anybody had > heard of the 98 because it was still supposed to be a secret (right!), and > b) the unit has not started production yet--it won't be on the market > until January. When the music store guy pressed, the rep confirmed that > it has an 8-second sampler/delay and that its SRP will be $119.95. He > didn't know about a reverse-sample feature. I pass this on for whatever > it's worth.... What? This I don't understand. How many of us have seen the FX-98 in Musician's Friend...or was it American Music Supply? Five? Ten? I never thought I'd be on the "inside loop" just because I get a mail order catalog!! Why is this bothering me? I don't know..... Matt ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 11:29:49 From: Kevin Miller To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Multivox Message-Id: <3.0.2.16.19971118112949.320f73f0@postoffice.mail.cornell.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I don't recall anyone on the list ever mentioning the Multivox. It was manufactured in the '70s, I believe, and it was a tape delay device. There was actually quite a substantial length of tape crammed into a box that was roughly shoebox-size (maybe EEE hiking boots) and the delay time was on the order of 30 seconds or so. Though it was sound-on-sound, I'm not sure you could adjust the regen.- the echoes were quieter, but what echoes! If one were to play some fancy little descending lick, the echo would be slightly smeared and produce something quite ethereal. I think it would be difficult to use this as one's main looper unless I'm remembering wrong and the regeneration could be cranked up, but to produce an ambient carpet of changing sounds, it would be a nice addition to a looperister's rig. Does anyone use this box, or even remember such a thing? Just curious... Kevin ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 10:50:52 -0600 From: Tom Spaulding To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: Hello and RE: DOD FX-98 Message-Id: <97Nov18.105121cst.26881@gateway.gibson.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The FX-98 may very well be in catalogs now and not available until January. The lead times necessary to produce a catalog the size of Musician's Friend or AMS is long. Any manufacturer who wishes to be included must have materials to the catalog company well in advance. If DOD expectes to launch the FX-98 at the Winter NAMM in January (I'm guessing about that), it makes perfect sense to appear in catalogs that are hitting the street now in order to take advantage of the Christmas buying fervor and to create advance interest (which they are certainly doing). Has anyone actually taken posession of this pedal yet? Tom "It Won't Be Long Now" Spaulding @ Oberheim At 09:41 AM 11/18/97 -0600, you wrote: >> From: Ken Fletcher > >> 2) I was in a local music store (I live in Eugene) today and asked one of >> the clerks about the DOD FX-98. He let me play with a DFX-94 while he >> called his rep, and he found out that a) the rep was surprised anybody >had >> heard of the 98 because it was still supposed to be a secret (right!), >and >> b) the unit has not started production yet--it won't be on the market >> until January. When the music store guy pressed, the rep confirmed that >> it has an 8-second sampler/delay and that its SRP will be $119.95. He >> didn't know about a reverse-sample feature. I pass this on for whatever >> it's worth.... > >What? This I don't understand. How many of us have seen the FX-98 in >Musician's Friend...or was it American Music Supply? Five? Ten? I never >thought I'd be on the "inside loop" just because I get a mail order >catalog!! Why is this bothering me? I don't know..... > >Matt > > > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 12:09:46 -0500 (EST) From: Tom Lambrecht To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: Hello and RE: DOD FX-98 Message-Id: <199711181709.MAA27343@cliff.concentric.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 07:41 AM 11/18/97 -0800, you wrote: >> From: Ken Fletcher > >> 2) I was in a local music store (I live in Eugene) today and asked one of >> the clerks about the DOD FX-98. He let me play with a DFX-94 while he >> called his rep, and he found out that a) the rep was surprised anybody >had >> heard of the 98 because it was still supposed to be a secret (right!), >and >> b) the unit has not started production yet--it won't be on the market >> until January. When the music store guy pressed, the rep confirmed that >> it has an 8-second sampler/delay and that its SRP will be $119.95. He >> didn't know about a reverse-sample feature. I pass this on for whatever >> it's worth.... > >What? This I don't understand. How many of us have seen the FX-98 in >Musician's Friend...or was it American Music Supply? Five? Ten? I never >thought I'd be on the "inside loop" just because I get a mail order >catalog!! Why is this bothering me? I don't know..... > >Matt > > > It would not be the first time that either company had something in their catalog that was not yet in existence (or many other non-music mail order palces as well) They need to anticipate the lag time between catalogs as well as the vagaries of bulk mail. Like I posted before, when I talked to DOD before getting my '94, he said " maybe the end of the year". Then aganin if AMS said two weeks, I'd order one and see what happens. Tom Tom Lambrecht hideo@concentric.net ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 12:18:38 +0000 From: nyfac2 To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: speaking of tape based delay... Message-ID: <3471879E.3420@nyfac.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Anybody try out the Matchless delay unit? I saw a picture of it the other day, and it looks like a closed unit (so no tinkering with the tape head), but if it is like the rest of the Matchless stuff, it should be outrageously expensive and very nice sounding. Trevor ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 19:07:54 From: "Michael P. Hughes, Ph.D." To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: speaking of tape based delay... Message-Id: <3.0.1.16.19971118190754.27879916@rank-serv.elec.gla.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 12:18 PM 11/18/97 +0000, you wrote: >Anybody try out the Matchless delay unit? I saw a picture of it the >other day, and it looks like a closed unit (so no tinkering with the >tape head), but if it is like the rest of the Matchless stuff, it should >be outrageously expensive and very nice sounding. Errr.. yes, and yes. I've seen quotes that it sounds wonderful, followed by a mention of a 750-pound price tag... that's about $1250, or the price of a new Strat Plus... Michael ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 11:36:42 -0600 (CST) From: Dave Stagner To: djdowling@earthlink.net cc: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com, dstagner@icarus.leepfrog.com Subject: Re:becoming a small, mobile, intelligent unit Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sun, 16 Nov 1997 djdowling@earthlink.net wrote: > For those who care to read no further, the subject is : playing guitar > and guitar synth without conventional amplifiers etc. I'll just keep that warning... > Desired outcomes: to play guitar with multiple effects, looping > capability and guitar synth without 500 pedals and 8 speakers and an > amp. > What it seems that I need: > A cool effect processor (with excellent distortion, etc.) > Some kind of SansAmp device (does such a device make a separate > distortion unnecessary?) > Speakers that are guitar and guit synth friendly > Echoplex (or jman etc) > Gr-30 (this I have) > > What is a hypothetical set up for my needs? > What does the signal path look like? First, break the problem up into smaller problems... tone sources (guitar, synth), effects, looping devices, routing, and amplification. Now, what are the needs for each sub-problem? It appears you have two different tone sources... the guitar, and the synth. For the guitar, I assume you want standard electric guitar tones, clean and distorted, with good dynamics. The classic electric guitar sound comes from a tube amp and a guitar-oriented speaker. No preamp device, no matter how clever, can give you quite that tone. However, you CAN get close enough for rock'n'roll. Your playing is probably limited to the guitar with the synth pickups, right? Find a preamp that sounds good with THAT, and your personal playing style. This sort of thing is very sensitive to picking technique, tunings, and all sorts of personal subtleties. I think the SansAmps do a damn good job at replicating raw amp tones, but again, it's what works for YOU that counts. Another idea is to add a line-out circuit to a regular guitar amp, as was discussed here recently. Ultimately, you want a line-level output of your raw, unprocessed guitar tone, with a sound that is satisfactory to you. Preferably, it shouldn't make noise on its own (as a guitar amp and a microphone will). As for the synth, I assume you DON'T want that passed through a guitar amp simulator, which will change its sound. The synth itself should already provide nice line-level outputs. Okay, now we have two separate line-level tone sources. Where do they go? You may want separate effects chains for each tone source, or you may want them to share effects. Ultimately, you'll probably loop both of them, and want them to share looping devices. Either way, you'll need a mixer of some sort. This can be as simple or as complicated as you like. Several companies sell small, inexpensive mixers with very flexible routing and good sonics. Some of these can even be rack-mounted. You can put different effects into the effects sends and inputs of the mixer, and build very flexible chains of effects and looping. A mixer is almost an instrument itself! As for effects and loopers... just get whatever you like, and can afford! Ultimately, the mixer should produce a stereo output... again, I'm assuming you want stereo. Things can be mixed to mono, of course, and if you want more than two channels of sound, that's a whole other ball of wax. From the stereo line mix, you run your amplifiers. Again, I'm assuming you don't want your synths treated like guitar signal. Therefore, you want something clean and hi-fi. A high-quality stereo amplifier and speakers are essential here. Consider the listening environment... is this for home use, or live performance? PA speakers generally sacrifice accuracy for volume. For home use, use good studio monitors. For live performance, you might want to use your own monitors, and run an additional line out to a regular PA. Finally... do NOT let this get too complicated! If it's a pain to use, it'll interfere with your playing. > How do I become (as Fripp would have it) a small, mobile and intelligent > unit? (I understand that only I can account for intelligence...but you > can help me to be informed.) Small and mobile? Keep your performance tools as self-contained and independent as possible. If you are mobile, this means reducing setup and teardown times, and insuring reliability as well. Intelligent? To me, that means understanding WHY you choose to do things the way you do. Although I wasn't thinking with Fripp in mind, I made conscious decisions toward smallness for my new band. Guitars must be acoustic, and drums must not be a standard trap kit (we're using congas and bodhran for now). Sticking to acoustic guitar keeps me from falling back on the ease of playing and stock sound sthat electric guitar brings. The same goes for the drums... without snare, kick, and hi-hat, we have to think differently to achieve standard rhythms. On top of this, it makes playing setup very easy, and practice sessions are at very reasonable volumes. Eventually, I'll start looping the acoustic guitar, but even then, I can't play louder than the limits of the congas. These self-imposed limits of smallness force creativity and enhance the performing environment. -dave By "beauty," I mean that which seems complete. Obversely, that the incomplete, or the mutilated, is the ugly. Venus De Milo. To a child she is ugly. /* dstagner@icarus.net */ -Charles Fort ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 19:34:04 +0000 From: malhomme To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: sick vortex Message-ID: <3471ED5D.2883@infobiogen.fr> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Oh, I know pretty well the problem, since when my brand new vortex, at the time flew from US to France, it arrived with the same problem. It is the encoder rotary pot in itself that is guilty. It becomes intermittent, and the factory preset are difficult to get, and especially to keep. The user one (if you dial through footswitches) are posing no problems. It is just the selection of programms through the encoder that is nuts. You "just" have to change the encoder. An iron, a little solder stuff, or ship it back to lexicon, if it still is cevired with warranty. Otherwise, try to find such an encoder. Those are the same used on reflex/alex/ maybe even jamdudes. Their are knowm to be sometimes faulty. Not often, just, it felt on us. That's life.... Olivier Malhomme ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 11:27:59 -0800 From: Kim Flint To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: On being complete nerds Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" once again, Looper's Delight is pushing the geek-o-meter way into the red. Now I certainly deserve some of the blame, but even I reach my limits with endless babbling about this and that feature about whatever the latest gadget is. Now I know you're all capable of much more enlightened conversation, so let's have it! 1. How about this: What are the approaches you take improvisationally / compositionally in creating and building a loop? Is there a structure to it all? And leave the gear specifics out! 2. Top 10 lists are lame, I know. But I am really fascinated by the way this list brings together people with quite different musical backgrounds and styles. We're using similar techniques to create totally different kinds of music. Rather than babbling about which delay pedal we use, I'd like to hear more about the diversity of styles and interests that we are all pursuing. I think there is a lot to learn from people doing things that are different from what we do, yet somehow still similar; it opens up new ideas to bring back to our own music. One cheap and easy way to get a picture of musical interests is current listening habits, so toss in a list of the cds/tapes/tracks, whatever that you're listening to! For me, the stuff I'm listening to is always the stuff I've recently bought, because my attention span is only a few seconds long and I get bored with stuff very fast. A few things will hang around longer, that usually means I really like it. Anyway, in no order, here's some interesting music I've listened to lately, with no commentary since I don't have that much time: Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst Paul D. Miller - Viral Sonata (that's the guy who's aka dj spooky doing an ambient album) Meat Beat Manifesto - subliminal sandwich dj krush - Meiso Grooverider Presents: The Prototype Years Photek - Modus Operandi Metalheadz - Platinum Breakz Squarepusher - hard normal daddy dj dara - rinsimus maximus Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante voivod - nothing face Miles Davis - 4+More (miles, george coleman, ron carter, herbie hancock, tony williams, tony was only 18, and it just rips....) suicidal tendancies - the art of rebellion (good punk metal nostalgia kick...) Tom Rupolo - Loop 7 (tom is just a guy on the list who sent me a tape, nice loungy trip-hop something, dripping with fender rhodes...) anyway, comment freely.... kim ______________________________________________________________________ Kim Flint | Looper's Delight kflint@annihilist.com | http://www.annihilist.com/loop/loop.html http://www.annihilist.com/ | Loopers-Delight-request@annihilist.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 11:46:47 -0800 From: Tom Attix To: "'Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com'" Subject: RE: On being complete nerds Message-ID: <41DE695CE6FCCF11AD1000805FCCF8EC56BA74@sf-01-msg.dns.microsoft.com> You know, if you put a little piece of green tape over the red part of your geek-o-meter, everything will be just fine! > -----Original Message----- > From: Kim Flint [SMTP:kflint@annihilist.com] > Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 1997 11:39 AM > To: Tom Attix > Subject: On being complete nerds > > once again, Looper's Delight is pushing the geek-o-meter way into the red. > Now I certainly deserve some of the blame, but even I reach my limits with > endless babbling about this and that feature about whatever the latest > gadget is. Now I know you're all capable of much more enlightened > conversation, so let's have it! > > 1. How about this: What are the approaches you take improvisationally / > compositionally in creating and building a loop? Is there a structure to > it > all? And leave the gear specifics out! > > > 2. Top 10 lists are lame, I know. But I am really fascinated by the way > this list brings together people with quite different musical backgrounds > and styles. We're using similar techniques to create totally different > kinds of music. Rather than babbling about which delay pedal we use, I'd > like to hear more about the diversity of styles and interests that we are > all pursuing. I think there is a lot to learn from people doing things > that > are different from what we do, yet somehow still similar; it opens up new > ideas to bring back to our own music. One cheap and easy way to get a > picture of musical interests is current listening habits, so toss in a > list > of the cds/tapes/tracks, whatever that you're listening to! For me, the > stuff I'm listening to is always the stuff I've recently bought, because > my > attention span is only a few seconds long and I get bored with stuff very > fast. A few things will hang around longer, that usually means I really > like it. Anyway, in no order, here's some interesting music I've listened > to lately, with no commentary since I don't have that much time: > > Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst > Paul D. Miller - Viral Sonata (that's the guy who's aka dj spooky doing > an > ambient album) > Meat Beat Manifesto - subliminal sandwich > dj krush - Meiso > Grooverider Presents: The Prototype Years > Photek - Modus Operandi > Metalheadz - Platinum Breakz > Squarepusher - hard normal daddy > dj dara - rinsimus maximus > Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante > voivod - nothing face > Miles Davis - 4+More (miles, george coleman, ron carter, herbie hancock, > tony williams, tony was only 18, and it just rips....) > suicidal tendancies - the art of rebellion (good punk metal nostalgia > kick...) > Tom Rupolo - Loop 7 (tom is just a guy on the list who sent me a tape, > nice loungy trip-hop something, dripping with fender rhodes...) > > anyway, comment freely.... > > > kim > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > Kim Flint | Looper's Delight > kflint@annihilist.com | http://www.annihilist.com/loop/loop.html > http://www.annihilist.com/ | Loopers-Delight-request@annihilist.com > > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 11:53:41 -0800 From: "Matt McCabe" To: Subject: Re: On being complete nerds Message-Id: <199711181943.LAA06831@gw1.bi-tech.com> Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > From: Kim Flint > 2. Top 10 lists are lame, I know. But I am really fascinated by the way Top 10 lists are lame....but....I'm bored at work. Do I have to list 10? Are we going to be graded on this? 1: Andy Summers -- The Last Dance of Mr. X 2: The Fixx -- Happy Landings (their new EP) 3: U2 -- Pop 4: Black Light Syndrome (Steve Stevens, Terry Bozzio, and Tony Levin) 5: Mild Seven -- various songs in progress (okay...I cheated...it's my band....but I listen to our half-song fragments more than anything else right now) 6-10: TBA Matt --------------------------------