Re: Why I love the Repeater

[Goddess <thefates@earthlink.net>]

  Yeah, I've got a spare too, but it's still in the box.  I was also
thinking of doing the 8-track thing as well.  Lemme' know if you get there
first, K?  <smile>  -Actually, just had an idea.  in the case that the midi
clock is too flakey from one repeater to another, you could simply synch to
a drum machine or whatever, and then use the midi through on the first
repeater into the second.  I'd think they should synch just fine.  

Smiles,

CQ

At 03:00 PM 8/25/02 -0400, you wrote:
>You make me *so* glad I just bought a backup Repeater, Mark  :)   And if
>I'm able to get them to sync well enough to have an 8-track looper, I'll
>be sure to let y'all know!!  Won't get a chance to try for a while
>though, since I just loaned "looper jr" to a friend :)
>
>Elby
>
>
>> Subject: Why I love the Repeater (was;Re: Repeater spotted for sale)
>> Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 11:07:56 -0700
>> From: Mark Sottilaro <sine@zerocrossing.net>
>> To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
>> Jon Wagner and I had this talk yesterday.  After an amazing EDP day,
>> we
>> still looked at each other and said, "God, the Repeater is amazing.
>> What will happen if ours were to break!?  THE HORROR!"
>>
>> So where do I start?  First synching.
>>
>> While the Repeater's output clock is dubious, a lot of devices don't
>> seem to have an issue with it, including the EDP.  Both Jon Wagner and
>> I
>> have done this successfully. But that's not the Repeater's strong
>> suit.
>> It's how it synchs to other devices.  With the EDP you can imagine
>> your
>> loops are made of fine spun glass fiber.  You can splice more or take
>> chunks away, but try to stretch it and BLAM.  Totally rigid in this
>> respect.  Now the Repeater's loops are like Silly Putty. (Who here
>> has
>> not experienced the joy that is pressing Silly Putty on to the Sunday
>> comix to make Snoopy look like an Robert Crumb nightmare?!)  Slow
>> down
>> your sequence (within reason, but pretty far) or speed it up, and the
>> Repeater behaves like an obedient puppy.  It might take a few moments
>> for it to catch up with you, but it will stay by your side.  Your
>> pitch?  Stays the same.  Artifacts?  Some, but totally usable and
>> damn
>> good compared to a lot of other devices that try to do this in real
>> time.  I never realized how I took this for granted until I put the
>> EDP
>> in my rig.  If I've got an EDP loop going, I'd better not touch that
>> BPM
>> slider on my Roland MC-307 unless I'm preparing to get weird with the
>> tempo.  I must admit, not having Loop4 does prevent me from going
>> back
>> to my original tempo and doing a realign command.  This does open up
>> possibilities for sure.
>>
>> So, what else?  You can time stretch and compress and pitch shift in
>> a
>> very fluid way.  The inverse of the above is the pitch thing.  The
>> EDPs
>> half speed and double speed pales in comparison.  Sorry kids.  The
>> Repeater will run rings around any other looping device in this
>> arena.
>> Name the interval and you're there.  Play your loops with a MIDI
>> keyboard.  I think you get an octave up and two down.  Your tempo?
>> Right on.  Oh LOOK AT ME!  I'm now playing my loop backwards at 80%
>> of
>> it's  original tempo up a fifth.  WEEEEEEE!
>>
>> And who can forget STEREO.  Sure, the Repeater and EDP now cost about
>> the same but I don't care who you are, if you plan to record music it
>> will be played back on a stereo system.   The Repeater is STEREO.
>> Sure
>> you can post process your loops with a stereo effect, but trust me,
>> it
>> isn't the same.  Also, I'm not just looping guitar, I've got 1028
>> juicy
>> stereo sounds that come from my synth, as well as the output of the
>> AirFX and AirSynth.  To bump those down to mono would be a damn
>> shame.
>> Believe me, it's one of the main reasons I haven't really hit the EDP
>> that hard since I got it.  To me this is VERY important and I don't
>> have
>> the cash for another one.
>>
>> While were on it, forget stereo, the Repeater is a multitrack device
>> that can deal with 4 tracks, how ever you'd like to deal with them.
>> Two
>> stereo pairs, one stereo pair and two mono, whatever.  You can take
>> each
>> track and "slip" it in relationship with the others, while all the
>> time
>> still maintaining the tempo!  Really useful.
>>
>> Stereo Effects loop.  YUM.  To do what I do with the Repeater, I'd
>> not
>> only need another EDP, but some signal routing device like a mixer
>> with
>> stereo aux sends or a Switchblade router.  Switchblades START at
>> $750!
>> That means I've spent $2050!  YIPE!  If you don't care about an
>> effects
>> loop, you can route each track to it's own output for quad looping
>> madness.
>>
>> The 16 meg it comes with is nothing.  OK for my grandmom's looper.
>> Get
>> an $80 smartmedia card and you've now got 128 meg!  8 minute loop
>> length
>> limit!  Longest out there of any hardware looper.  The end.
>>
>> And you still get a lot of the functionality of the EDP with things
>> like
>> Loop multiply, different overdub modes, undo, ect.  You don't get the
>> yummy insert modes though.  This ability to splice bits onto your
>> loop
>> is where the Repeater lacks.  I never knew I needed these until
>> yesterday though!  I'm still not sure I can even use them much, as
>> they'd screw up the MIDI synch that's so much a part of my deal.
>>
>> Last, but not least, for those DJs out there that need to take bits
>> of
>> what they're mixing and loop it, the Repeater's Beat Detect is really
>> good.  For fun, I'll put it in beat detect mode and just play into
>> it,
>> changing my tempo making the Repeater CRAZY trying to find me.  Oh,
>> it's
>> get's weird quick.  All the time, I can be in Record too.
>>
>> OK, I'm sure there's more, but I'm tired of typing.
>>
>> Mark Sottilaro
>>
>
>


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