Re: Products, Services, and Looping Gear "Packages"

[Joshua Carroll <josh@infinivert.com>]

Jesse,

What audio I/O hardware are you using?  Is it ASIO?  I'm using the ASIO4ALL driver with my laptop's built-in sound card right now, and latency isn't an issue at all.  Sound quality is, and that's why I'm saving/shopping for a firewire interface (anybody got one for sale?), but the latency just isn't a problem, and I'm a pretty rhythmic player.  Of course, my machine has one of the new CoreDuo processors, so maybe that helps too.

--Josh



noone@jbro.us wrote:

I agree... with the I/O latency issues that plague current computer audio
setups, I can't see going out of my way to buy a laptop for use as a looper.
Since I already own one, though, I use Live and Mobius occasionally at home.
However, the latency issue keeps me from incorporating it into my live rig.
This is, in my opinion, the primary advantage hardware units have over
software setups right now (aside from perhaps durability/stability issues to
some extent).  Personally I have never quite grasped why cheaper, slower
hardware units measure their I/O latency in picoseconds, while our much more
powerful computer systems have noticeable delays.  That's a bit OT, though.

Krispen - are you running some type of parallel setup with delay
compensation to combat the monitoring latency?

Jesse

-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Zwicky [mailto:cazwicky@earthlink.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2006 10:42 AM
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: Re: Products, Services, and Looping Gear "Packages"

Krispen,

I think that the rationalization behind software looping is that you 
already own a computer, and that the interfaces which you need to get 
it all working can be used for some other purpose down the line.  Is 
it possible to interest someone in an entry level laptop for a 
specific application? Why not run some numbers by us so we can see if 
it is  even feasible to offer such a package?




  

I got to thinking wiht my day job hat on, and these days when it is 
becoming harder and harder to make money off of technological 
products, because of competition, pricing preasures, consolidation, 
and the overall commotization of consumer products, the long term 
money is in services.

How do services pertain to looping gear?  I may be giving away a 
great marketing/business opportunity here, but it seems to me if 
someone had the resources they could sell "laptop looping packages". 
Part of the problem with some folks getting into laptop looping is 
that it can be painful buying a laptop that will do the job, buying 
all the gear to connect to it and get started, upgrading, etc, etc. 
These things take time for the looping consumer, and time is money. 
And there are risks that come along with building your own laptop 
system, such as teh overall system not working as expected because 
of hardware/software compatibility, and so on. And this too equates 
to time or rework, which again equates to money.

So basically the "laptop looping package" would be a system that 
someone experience and knowledgeable would construct and test, and 
then sell as a ready to go looping system. You could sell different 
types and grades of packages, For instance, a very basic setup might 
include an entry level laptop, inexpensive cardbus soundcard, Mobius 
installed, and a cheap MIDI controller like the MIDI Mouse, MIDI 
Moose, or some other small controller. Then your totally kick ass 
package might include a screaming Intel Duo machine, an external 
firewire audio/midi interface, and a Behringer controller. Or better 
yet, the deluxe pacakge would include a VST host and a ton of free 
VST effects, all ready to work.

The Service here, which you can't bottle up or put in a box, is the 
expertise and knowledge of constructing a looping kit or ensemble 
that works right out of the box.  So, if I were a new looper 
interested in getting a laptop looping system, I would buy one of 
these package, turn it on, and it would essentially work 
immediately, everthing down to the Behringer buttons mapped to 
Mobius functions, buttons labeled, etc. Then of course, I could 
customize it after that point.

It wouldn't take much to get started on this idea. I don't have the 
time to do it, but if I did I would assemble just 2-3 looping 
packages and sell them...and then use the profit to buy more 
packages, etc.

Incidentally, there are a lot of smart cookies making money hand 
over fist using this re-packaging concept on eBay. Folk are actually 
buying products on eBay, packaging them up based on a theme of some 
sort, and selling them for a profit. Why would people buy something 
like this when they could buy the individual items themselves? Well, 
this sort of answers the question...the value is in the service or 
the convienence of not having to do the research or spend the time 
to do this.

**************************************************************************
Krispen Hartung / Improvisational Looping Guitar
www.krispenhartung.com / www.myspace.com/krispenhartung
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info@krispenhartung.com / 1.208.724.5603
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