------------------------------ Loopers-Delight-d Digest Volume 97 : Issue 93 Today's Topics: Re: gear schmear, music is best [ improv@peak.org (Dave Trenkel) ] Re: Recommended Recordings [ improv@peak.org (Dave Trenkel) ] Re: The LoOpDoctOrs scream HELP!!! [ james rhodes ] Re: gear schmear, music is best [ Michael Preston ] RE: ?really exciting new ebow effect [ "Ott, John" ] "exciting e-bow effect", etc. RE: ?r [ fred marshall ] Re: gear schmear, music is best [ treefrog@ptel.net (Steve Cloutier) ] interactive loops [ UFO WALTER ] Re: gear schmear, music is best [ "Paolo Valladolid" Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Ok, how about this :) > >Anyone familiar with African M'bira music? A friend of mine >just introduced it to me. Very nice ostinato-based. The notes >are in patterns of 3, but the accompanying shaker beat is >in 2. > >Jim Ohh yeah, I played in a marimba band for 3 years that played music derived from the Zimbabwean M'bira tradition. really fascinating stuff. Actually there are 2 main shaker, called "hosho", patterns in the Zimbabwean styles, one is 2 against 3, the other is in 2. But there are some really deep 2 against 3 and 3 against 4 polyrhythms in that stuff, and some wild interacting parts. We played some gigs with Ephat Mujuru, a Zimbabwean master M'bira player, and one of the most transcendental people I've ever known. There's a good ethnomusicological study on theis music, called "Soul of the M'bira", sorry, but I can't remember the author right now, that goes deeply into the music and it's cultural/spiritual meanings. Very interesting stuff! I've got a M'bira from Zimbabwe, with a cheap electrostatic pickup. Makes great looping fodder... ________________________________________________________ Dave Trenkel : improv@peak.org : www.peak.org/~improv/ "...there will come a day when you won't have to use gasoline. You'd simply take a cassette and put it in your car, let it run. You'd have to have the proper type of music. Like you take two sticks, put 'em together, make fire. You take some notes and rub 'em together - dum, dum, dum, dum - fire, cosmic fire." -Sun Ra ________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 11:30:05 -0800 From: improv@peak.org (Dave Trenkel) To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: Recommended Recordings Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >In the dj spooky vein, I recently got Aphex Twin's new album, titled >"Richard D. James Album." (that's his real name) > >It's really cool, sort of experimental electronica. a lot pushing the drum >n' bass concept to a new place, while being very musical. Aphex Twin is >always known for being very experimental and creative, this is one of his >best albums. (at least as far as I know) A very interesting pallette of >sounds, very creative rhythmic textures. > Yeah, I second that. The new Aphex is very interesting, manages to be fairly lo-fi, abrasive, sophisticated and charming at the same time. The Girl/Boy remixes at the end are really killer. Actually, earlier Aphex stuff has not moved me all that much, despite his being highly recommended by friends, but the "Richard" album is great. ________________________________________________________ Dave Trenkel : improv@peak.org : www.peak.org/~improv/ "...there will come a day when you won't have to use gasoline. You'd simply take a cassette and put it in your car, let it run. You'd have to have the proper type of music. Like you take two sticks, put 'em together, make fire. You take some notes and rub 'em together - dum, dum, dum, dum - fire, cosmic fire." -Sun Ra ________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 14:51:52 -0500 (CDT) From: james rhodes To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: The LoOpDoctOrs scream HELP!!! Message-Id: <199706191951.OAA13281@mail2.texas.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" hi, assuming you have not broken any of the clips that hold the simm chips, it would seem that you have a bad simm chip or chips. try some different memory ,,,that would eliminate the possibility of a bad echoplex unit. if you use the instructions that Kim Flint posted,, you should be able to eliminate your problem. good luck james rhodes At 11:45 PM 6/18/97 -0700, you wrote: >Hi Kim: > >Thanks for your usual help and good graces. > >There's nothing obviously broken. I get a flashing "LD-3 3.1" code when I >turn the unit on and then sometimes it just keeps blinking, while other >times it shuts itself down. > >Eight chips on the SIMM and the code says: > >KOREA >414Y >KM41C4000C3-7 > >These look used. I suspect a simm problem. > >Best, >The LoOpDoctOrs > > > > > ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 15:09:53 +0000 From: Michael Preston To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: gear schmear, music is best Message-ID: <33AA9D41.7E03@erols.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dave wrote: > There's a good ethnomusicological study on theis music, called "Soul of the > M'bira", sorry, but I can't remember the author right now, that goes deeply > into the music and it's cultural/spiritual meanings. Very interesting > stuff! The book "The Soul of Mbira" was researched and written by Paul Berliner, and was published by the university of Chicago Press, 1993. There is also a sort of accompanying CD, titled "Zimbabwe: The Soul of Mbira" on Nonesuch,1995 (originally released in 1973: Nonesuch H-72054). Excellent reading and listening! Dave, thanks for posting on your marimba experiences. I heard (and danced to!) Dumi and Balafon many times when I lived in Portland, OR. But, I'm sorry I never got to hear Balafon when you were a member of the band. I have made several mbiras over the years, amplifying some with piezo pickups. My favorite Mbira lately has been one I made with bamboo keys. The bamboo was a suggestion from Matthias. (thanks again Matthias!) I'm currently working on a tandem model for two facing players. Dave, have you made any acid/ambient/trip/hip/hop/jazz recordings with your marimba and mbira, and your Zimbabwean sensibilities? A synthesis of that sort would surely sound great to my ears. Jim, thanks for asking about mbira. Anyone else use 'em? make 'em? Any recipes out there? Preston ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jun 97 16:54:24 -0600 From: "mmason" To: Subject: Ąreally exciting new ebow effect! Message-Id: <9706198667.AA866757499@fsmtp.faulkcomp.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I thought some of you out there might be half way interested in a nifty little trick I discovered today with my EBOW....... I've had the same battery in the thing since december and its just now running out, so....I decided to start playing with it. Ebows make a really cool sound when their battery is about to die!!! It sounds like a square wave-distorted octave box-synth-type thing. Really cool. Then I discovered that you could get normal ebow sounds when you pressed the drive cannel closer to the strings. When you wanted the weirdo sound, you backed the drive channel away from the string. Then the battery totally died. Really cool sound! Wow. Boris or Jay mmason@faulkcomp.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 18:03:00 -0400 From: "Ott, John" To: "'Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com'" Subject: RE: ?really exciting new ebow effect! Message-ID: >> > > I thought some of you out there might be half way interested in a > nifty little trick I discovered today with my EBOW....... > > I've had the same battery in the thing since december and its just now > running out, so....I decided to start playing with it. Ebows make a > really cool sound when their battery is about to die!!! It sounds like > a square wave-distorted octave box-synth-type thing. Really cool. Then > I discovered that you could get normal ebow sounds when you pressed > the drive cannel closer to the strings. When you wanted the weirdo > sound, you backed the drive channel away from the string. > < I've seen this also, but I did not play around with it I just changed the battery. At first I though sometime was wrong with my signal chain, go figure. The problem with this effect is it is short lived. Unless you can change at lot of almost dead batteries quickly? later >john > > > > ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 15:20:55 -0800 From: fred marshall To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: "exciting e-bow effect", etc. RE: ?really exciting new ebow effect! RE: ?really exciting new ebow effect! RE: ?really exciting new ebow effect! Message-ID: <33A9BED6.10BA@fredmarshall.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit - "The problem with this effect is it is short lived. Unless you can change at lot of almost dead batteries quickly?" - put a pot on it? mmmmm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 17:09:04 -0700 (PDT) From: Paolo Valladolid To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: Recommended Recordings Message-Id: <199706200009.RAA19828@waynesworld.ucsd.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit As far as electronica goes I've purchased The Orb - Orblivion DJ Krush - Meiso Chemical Brothers - (forgot the title but it's a very recent album, might even be their current one). Please note I am not very knowledgeable in this field, having had a past life as a guitar-strumming caveman who didn't think much of electronica. ^_^ My impression of the Chem Bros so far is that their CD would be great for working out. This is not an insult; it's really beat heavy, uptempo kind of stuff. The way different sounds fade in and out of the mix and are frequently looped remind me of the Orb's style. DJ Krush's CD is more straight hip-hop. The best track for me is the duet with DJ Shadow, with the two engaging in creative dialogue. I can't tell the difference between good and bad hip-hop (other than bad remakes of previous hits like the new rap tune that totally rips off Grandmaster Flash's classic). But, I do like this CD. The Orb's new CD seems to have a darker, even more dub-heavy feel than previous releases; this might be due to the new lineup of Alex Patterson plus two guys who weren't members before as far as I know. What remains the same is the creativity that this group has become known for. Paolo Valladolid --------------------------------------------------------------- |Moderator of Digital Guitar Digest, an Internet mailing list |\ |for Music Technology and Stringed Instruments | \ ---------------------------------------------------------------- | \ finger pvallado@waynesworld.ucsd.edu for more info \ | \ http://waynesworld.ucsd.edu/DigitalGuitar/home.html \| ----------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 03:10:56 +0200 From: Leonardo Cavallo To: Subject: never ending questions Message-ID: <19970620011055265.AAA256@Default> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi all thanks to all who took the time to reply to my questions about loop devices. I asked: >- This is vital. I'd like to let grow my loops in spontaneous ever changing >compositions. Does the Jammark allow you to start with loop 1, add a layer >as loop 2, add another layer as loop 3, erase loop 1, add a new loop 1, >erase loop2, etc., all without interruption? For me continuity should be >essential... The little I tried was to change loop number STOPPING the last >loop and adding a new one. THEN you could shift from a recorded loop to >another. This seemed a big limitation for me...I'd like to add a new loop >while listening the other ones. ...and Bob kindly replied: >The released version of the JamMan software does not do this (the upgrade >will). If you need this functionality now, the Digital Echoplex is >probably your best bet. I believe it currently provides this >functionality. Now I'd like to know for sure if the Echoplex can do all this. To have different loops going on simultaneously AND the possibility to switch to one from another and to modify each one or erasing one and letting the others going on. I'm looking for this kind of features... After months of search I've found a good deal to buy an Echoplex here in Italy so I'd like to be sure about what I'm going to purchase.... And what about the Echoplex pedalboard?? Thanks in advance Ciao Leo P.S. My girlfriend just bought me as a gift a black baseball hat with the white sign KILLER LOOP on it... cool!!! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 22:38:08 -0600 From: treefrog@ptel.net (Steve Cloutier) To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: gear schmear, music is best Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Somebody pleeeeez start an interesting thread about music...anything! I'd >do it but i'm too busy and exhausted to think at the moment. anything but >gear...... > >kim [Although gear is still referred to in the following note, I believe it is only superficially.] Hello Loopers, I see this as an opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Steve Cloutier. I'm a fingerstyle acoustic guitar player and maker. I've been on the "Loop List" for a couple of months but haven't contributed because frankly alot of the tech talk has been beyond me. Also my music may be a little more traditional (sedate?) than most other's on the list. I'm definitely not looking to push the musical envelope. I'll leave that to you younger folks. My gigging guitar is equipped with an L.R. Baggs pickup system that combines the output of a piezo transducer with that of an internal microphone. I always try to maintain the acoustic sound of my guitar. The first time I saw anyone loop was in 1989. I attended the American Fingerstyle Guitar Festival and saw acoustic guitarist, Pierre Bensusan. He had a small rack of gear and a whole slew of floor pedals. His delay unit at that time was made by T.C. Electronics w/ 40 sec of memory added.(I've noticed a JamMan also in his rack recently) ...but the music! During Pierre's set his music would sometimes build into this gorgeous crescendo of huge swirly, counterpoint, chorused guitars that filled the concert hall with a perceived depth of a symphony orchestra! His system must have been all stereo because you could definitely sense the movement of the chorus/flange when he used it. The experience totally twisted my head around. I lusted heartily after one of them gadgets! I can't remember what he had said the delay cost him at the time but it was alot more than I could've scraped together then or now. I've been using the JamMan (w/32 sec) for over two years now. In fact, I credit my JM for inspiring me to get out and gig again. Since getting one, I've written quite a few songs expressly for it. In most of my tunes, I try to minimize the repetitive nature of looping in any way that I can. I feel that some of my most satisying compositions use the longest loops. Some of them get dangerously close to the 32 second limit. (I would be happy with 60 seconds of memory.........I think. :) The first time I looped in public was on the radio. I did my usual solo guitar stuff and saved one JM song for last. When the time came, everything went fine. I put down my first layer. I had a couple of beats of free time before starting my next part so I looked up at the show's host (who was wearing headphones) and raised my hands as if to say, "look ma...no hands!" She was so startled by my guitar "playing itself" that she almost jumped out of her chair! I'm always pretty conservative when I'm recording a loop but get considerably more adventurous with my non-looped improvisations. (I'm sure you've all experienced the obvious clinker that comes back at you umpteen times --- a truly painful thing.) My improvisation has also improved 100% since working with the JM. I find that the experience of looping in concert to be both terrifying and exhilarating. Terrifying because of the potential of creating a musical train wreck but at the same time I find it very exhilarating to weave a whole orchestra of acoustic guitars. And for the first time I'm playing in an ensemble where all the members are on the same wavelength. :) It's definitely worth the terror. Sorry for writing a book. Steve Cloutier * * * * * Visit my wacky "Music Repository" at: http://www.means.net/~treefrog @..@ (----) ( >__< ) ^^ ~~ ^^ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 23:45:17 -0400 From: UFO WALTER To: "INTERNET:Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com" Subject: interactive loops Message-ID: <199706192345_MC2-18CA-5E37@compuserve.com> Content-Type: text/plain Content-Disposition: inline Hi Matthias. ^ I do solo performances,so the jamman is always occupied with musicbacking work. If i want some loop stuff in between,i am using the MPX as a loopdevice. Itīs a kind of call and response thing.I play a lick , and dub or delete it just with a footcontroller. A very good thing about the MPX is the patching.You can define different pedalpositions and use envelope controllers for this "interactive"control. It is like the Vortex Looper,for example:you can use an A/B switcher. A is a delay and B makes a loop out of it.You can define the loop point on your pedal and change gently between loop and delay,Itīs very good for solos: repeat the last notes and screw the delayfeedback through a weired effect and loop it.There are many surprises ,if you check out the patching and the internal controllers of the MPX and PCMīs.Never justic a box by itīs presets. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 21:40:19 -0700 From: "Stephen P. Goodman" To: Subject: EBow Maintenance Tips #1 Message-Id: <199706200440.VAA25139@usr03.primenet.com> Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Having heard enough EBow discussion to slightly water down the Jamman/Echoplex love feast, here's a few cents from me. At some time you will get around to replacing the connector to the battery. I've had mine for over 6 years, and, between use, plastic age, and somehow an increasing amount of batteries with the terminals bent to hold too tightly (and the resultant stress associated with replacing each battery), one of the connector's terminals popped off the hard plastic seating. I was at a remote location and had no way to fix it, and the damned battery wouldn't let go. When I got back to town I replaced the hard plastic battery connector with a flexible one, making sure to solder the wires together completely. As I had found the leads to it too short in the first place, leading often to a difficult changing scenario, I left an extra inch or so on the leads that I soldered on. It's been a lot easier since I did that, especially since a battery change doesn't mean some trepidation that I might bust something, anymore. (By the way, my web page below now has streaming 28.8 RealAudio!) Stephen Goodman * Download The Loop Of The Week and more! EarthLight Studios * http://www.primenet.com/~sgoodman/Studios *--------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 21:49:58 -0700 From: mgsam@wave.net To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: The LoOpDoctOrs scream HELP!!! Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Thanks for your help, James... The 'plex is fine with the old memory in it, but we find it HIGHLY curious that all four simms were bad. Might it not be as simple as "any old 30 pinn > then 120 nano second Simm will work? We're trying out a three chip simm next. This will cost us $16 more dollars, but will hopefully get our looper memory enriched. Best, the LoOpDoctOrs ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 22:25:00 -0700 From: mgsam@wave.net To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: gear schmear, music is best Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >>Somebody pleeeeez start an interesting thread about music...anything! I'd >>do it but i'm too busy and exhausted to think at the moment. anything but >>gear...... >> >>kim > Okay, okay...we've calmed down about the bad simms, since we got our Echoplex back up and running with the old memory... We are skepticized by the notion that we have two bad pair and wonder if the Echoplex is perhaps more finicky about the 30 pin SIMMS that go into it then is advertised in the manual. We're going to try the three chip kind next. One thing that helped calm us was a visit last nite to the local Presbyterian church where we heard a choir sing the adapted works of a woman's choral "orchestra" originally performed during WW2 in Japanese prison camps in Indonesia. The music was traditional Western classics...Bach, Mozart...24 pieces, actually, that one of the women who was a camp organizer and obviously one smart cookie, recalled from earlier London music days and transcribed with the help of a young woman musician interned in the camp who was a graduate of the Royal Academy. The music was painstakingly written out for the ad hoc prison camp choral and then practiced every night for several months until it was finally performed at XMAS 1943 if I remember right. The Japanese were quite taken with the beauty and there is a book about the choir just publised, a memoir written by a Dutch/American woman who was in her early twenties when she and her sisters were interned. It's called SONG OF SURVIVAL. It's an interesting and quick read. We can recommend it and the music too. It has been recorded. I didn't get the CD so I can't provide details. The women were slowly starving to death and by 1944 the choir had disbanded because too many members had died. Still, all the camp survivors agreed that the music was an indisputable morale builder and ultimately life saver. One thing that struck us as we listened. The human voice is such a pitch delicate instrument. The quavers, wavers, modulations and oh so subtle de and retunings were just amazing to listen to in the big vaulted church. We want a choir at our next gig! But we seem to want everything, as you looper designers well know. It did make us think of one of our favorite "ambient" recordings. Thomas Tallis and his motets for 40 voices. We have an old EMI recording (vinyl) that serves as an inspiration. On another note, compositionally, on guitar, we've become quite interested the last couple weeks with "dropping" thirds. Just leaving them out. In the upper chord sets on guitar, this produces a kind of "primistive" dronal/model sound...reminds you of dulcimer music. Check it out. Try doubling roots, leaving sevenths or varionts thereon, but dumping that third. We've always been fans of the "fourth" sound in jazz that the likes of McCoy Tyner has exploited, but this sounds different again. Finally, we had a chance to jam a couple of weeks ago with a harp player (string kind). Beautiful instrument but the range and feedback problems were problematic. Made us ruminate on the deeper philosophical issue of adapting instruments to work with all this electronic gadgetry. While the LOopDoctOrs are quite fond of our solid body guitars, we are disturbed that the the first thing we thought of was telling this woman to get a solid body harp. Sure, the feedback thing would be moot, but are we in danger of eventually all playing the same stringed instrument? Attack and scale are different, but how much do you lose by taking the harp and plugging it for the sake of plugging in? Best, The LOopDoctOrs ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 22:43:05 -0700 From: "Paolo Valladolid" To: Subject: Re: EBow Maintenance Tips #1 Message-Id: <199706200545.WAA21053@waynesworld.ucsd.edu> Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > From: Stephen P. Goodman > To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com > Subject: EBow Maintenance Tips #1 > Date: Thursday, June 19, 1997 9:40 PM > (By the way, my web page below now has streaming 28.8 RealAudio!) > > Stephen Goodman * Download The Loop Of The Week and more! > EarthLight Studios * http://www.primenet.com/~sgoodman/Studios Stephen, I tried to listen to your RealAudio files and I got a "this is not a RealAudio document" error. I'm using Internet Explorer with Windows 95. Paolo ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 23:45:41 -0700 From: "James Reynolds" To: Subject: Re: Recommended Recordings Message-Id: <199706200651.XAA30332@dsp.net> Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I may have mentioned a couple of these the last time this thread came around... Anyway, I tend to lean towards the deep, dark, textural, groove-based stuff: -- DJ Krush's "Strictly Turntablized" is a must for tweaked-out abstract instrumental hiphop. Sort of East Coast style meets Japan meets Pluto. -- "Zander" is the latest release from Scorn, and features some deep messed-up beats with minimal loop-type sounds fading in and out of the mix. -- Meat Beat Manifesto's latest "Subliminal Sandwich" is INSANELY good. Much more experimental and abstract than previous MBM albums, lots of swirling sonic soup with almost-identifiable ingredients (but not quite) accompanied by neat beats. -- Paul D. Miller's (aka DJ Spooky) "Death in the Light of the Phonograph" is the "soundtrack" from an art exhibition he did. Not many beats on this one, but the looping textures are amazing. Pretty much every sound originates on vinyl, then gets all messed up by Mr. Miller. -- Paul D. Miller's "Viral Sonata" also contains a mind-boggling collection of sonic collages. It lists among its elements "audio translation of human DNA", "20 layers of television static", and "backwards jajouka"... James ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 22:49:15 -0700 From: "Paolo Valladolid" To: Subject: Re: gear schmear, music is best Message-Id: <199706200658.XAA21412@waynesworld.ucsd.edu> Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Sorry for writing a book. > Steve Cloutier No need to apologize. I always enjoy reading about folks' looping experiences. Paolo --------------------------------