Re: kim's post, athlon processors, et. al.

[Suit & Tie Guy <erwill@suitandtieguy.com>]

i wrote this before i read the two follow-ups. now i feel like i've 
ganged up on Rick. hopefully he appreciates our input.

On Aug 2, 2004, at 6:59 AM, loop.pool wrote:
>  I imagine that if you bought a dual processor G5 with maximum CPU 
> speed and
> a good
> MOTU audio interface that you could probaby be humming in the first 
> week of
> owning the system.   Just be prepared to lay out $3,000-$4,500 for 
> such a
> system.

i think those numbers are completely unfair. the most effective price 
point for a dual G5 is $2000 (1.8 gHz). a non-apple display would be 
another 500, and a used 828 is like 400 now.

ok, so they're not COMPLETELY unfair, but keep in mind that i mix 
albums of 16 or more tracks with effects on every track with my laptop, 
a 1gHz G4 17" (identical to Robert Fripp's laptop), with no 
difficulties whatsoever. you can buy an eMac for 800 dollars new and a 
used 828 and be up and running with most of the power you need for 1200 
dollars or so.

and then he wrote:
> It's concievable that we just don't have the numbers to make a live 
> looping
> box viable economically so I imagine that, imperfect as it is,  the 
> future
> of this movement technologically will be in software developement 
> which is
> cheaper to develop (sans the hardware manufacturing costs).

if Eventide would build a "looping toolkit" with looping-specific 
modules i don't believe this would be an issue. we would all be saving 
pennies for DSP7500s, and probably be happy about it. and they would 
probably be able to afford a new programmer to port all their stuff to 
plug-ins which don't discriminate (ie NOT TDM).

Italo, if you're reading this, I appreciate the effort which you put 
forth in evangelising the 7k series as a looping platform but it only 
works as a looping platform for people like me. most loopers want 
something more like a Boomerang/EDP/Repeater situation. i am saving my 
pennies for a 7500, but most people aren't.

of course, i was interested in the Chameleon, but i don't know if 
Matthias will be able to get the LoopIV software running on the old 
platform. i'm not interested in a tabletop Chameleon.

in other news, i just noticed in this Tangerine Dream bootleg from the 
early 70s that the Mellotron is run through a Leslie.
---
Eric Williamson
www.suitandtieguy.com