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Re: Repeater vs EDP (what I like about the Repeater)



None of the following is at all intended to resemble a face-slapping
gesture!  :)

Stuart Wyatt wrote:

> My gripes with the Midi implementation might be a little biased. I agree
> that with the correct hardware (intelligent Midi controllers and lots of
> pedals), you could have an amazing level of control - however, I'm on a
> limited budget and currently only have access to an FC200. Its
> frustrating that I can only use 50% of the features hands-free :(

It's true that really good floor-based MIDI controllers, with truly
comprehensive implementation, are a fairly rare thing.  Have you looked
into the recent Behringer MIDI pedal?  Or investigated the long
out-of-production (but immensely powerful) Digitech PMC-10?  They're
both pretty cheap (relatively speaking...)

> The loop extending feature is the reason why I purchased a Repeater.
> Basically, my rhythm sucks (it is non-existent), so a way to get around
> this is to record a short loop with a single attack, and extend that to
> 16/32/64/128/256 beats - a kind of organic metronome.

The EDP does this too... it's called Multiply in the EDP OS.  Each
multiple is called a "cycle," and there are scores of ways to add new
cycles of brand new material onto old ones (using the Insert function),
remultiply from one number of cycles to another (larger or smaller)
number, and even perform "unrounded multiplies," so that you can get a
loop that's, say, 3 and 7/16ths cycles long (or .001 cycles long!), and
thereby completely redefine the basic cycle length you're working with. 
The cycle-based loop structure is one of the key foundations of the EDP
architecture, and one of the things that sets it apart from the pack.

> Try dreaming about this unit for 2 years, reading the advertising, 
> planning how to use it for all of this time. Then, suddenly being in a 
> position to borrow a Midi footpedal and effects unit, then the worlds 
> best electric violin (in my opinion - no wars about my judgement on 
> this).... and then in 24 hours, received enough donations from followers 
> of my project to buy a Repeater.....
> ...And then I get it, and cannot use it in the way that I had been lead 
> to believe I could. 

That's actually precisely the same basic position a lot of people found
themselves in when the Repeater was released in August of last year...
except most of them didn't rustle up donations for it!  ;)

The issues you're describing have been very widely discussed on both
this list and the Electrix boards for well over half a year, so this
information is very much out there and available.  I'd recommend
researching the EDP a bit more before you get too gear-lustful about it,
just to be clear on the feature set and avoid another case of
disappointment when you finally get to using it.  

The list archive is a great resource, though with five and a half years
of material it could take some time to sort through (it's worth it!) 
Depending on what you're trying to do, you might need multiple units, or
even a software program, in order to pull it off...

Anyway.

--Andre LaFosse
http://www.altruistmusic.com
IMI-IBI