Re: looping in GR

[Mark Sottilaro <sine@zerocrossing.net>]

Welcome to the world of laptop looping!   It's not as scary as   
people say.

Mark

On Aug 25, 2007, at 2:57 PM, steve wrote:

> i did my first solo looping gig last night
> i did it using my instruments, my G5 running Guitar Rig
> and a pair of EV SxA100 powered monitors
> (+ one SM57 into sx202 into one side of GRs stereo in)
>
> not in any way recommending this as an ideal setup or anything
> but i had a good experience and i thought i'd share it
>
> my background with looping;
> i made an extended tape machine once a very long time ago
> but it was unstable and i didn't really get into it
> i picked up a dl-4 a few years ago but didn't do much with it and  
> let it go
> so while of course i use looping in my normal composition and  
> recording
> i've not been a real time or live looper but ya know always aware  
> of it
> and recently keenly interested in trying it again
> (hence i rejoined this list a month ago)
>
> i have some friends that are local la leche league leaders
> and they hear me noodle/practice alot at family park get togethers  
> and such
> they asked me if i would play for the summer art show gala
> and i figured it would be a great time to give live looping a go
>
> i started looking around at looping devices with 4-500 being about  
> all i was willing
> to spend on the project, there where several options that seemed  
> appealing and
> among them was the loop machine in GR, i have used GR and like it,
> GR is on sale with the controller and all for $350 so i jumped
>
> out of the box i had loads of pop and crackle and such but by using  
> the suggestions
> on NIs site and working the G5 specifically for GR it worked fine
>
> my orig idea and long term approach would not be to use GR  
> exclusively for sounds
> but it sounded good enough that for this project i did
> for the most part on this night i would be using simple acoustic  
> guitar,
> clean bass and jazz box sounds plus one guitar synth patch i  
> couldn't resist
> instruments used where a guild acoustic F-45, a custom headless 5  
> string fretless
> bass and an ibanez GB-10, i also had a mic setup and was able to  
> build a couple
> patches in GR that had the mic brought in and processed  
> independently of the
> guitar signal and then mixed, i ran an EQ, light comp, and a little  
> room verb to the mic
> and it sounded very good, i sang thru it on a couple songs, they  
> did some anouncements over it even
> i was impressed
>
> the loop machine does not have advanced sound mangling tools
> what it does have is a clean and just stoopidly easy to use simple  
> looper
> there is a mapping function for most any parameter in GR and the  
> loop machine
> was easy to use with rec/play/dub, stop and undo mapped to 3  
> switches on the FC
> for the purpose of recording and repeating parts live is was fantastic
>
> i was doing "music for the masses" as its been put here recently
> mostly improvised and working over themes of mine
> a few songs but for the most part just playing background  
> instrumentals
> most of it done by starting with a guitar pattern or phrase,  
> looping it
> jamming on fretless till i find a pattern, adding that to the loop
> then playing over that on the guild or GB-10, i also did some  
> pieces with just
> 2 bass parts and didn't realize just how much i would like that!   
> big fun!
> music was well received and a gent that was watching me pack up  
> marveling
> at the computer was humming a melody i had played in one of my  
> better pieces
>
> i had no glitches, no pops and cracks that i heard during the  
> entire 2.5 hours
> i only had to touch the mouse a couple time to adjust vols and with  
> a better controller
> that wouldn't be an issue, i realize i didn't put the demands on it  
> some might
> but the whole thing went smooth as could be
> caveats:  i had to pull my MOTU 424 and driver out of the G5 to get  
> GR to function well
> with its built in audio on the controller, the controller is  
> sluggish and apparently NI
> has trouble making drivers that get along well with others (sim  
> issue with kore)
> so i'm pretty certain that i will not be using the audio I/O or the  
> controller.
> and if i continue to do real time looping(and as much FUN as i have  
> been having....)
> i will explore superlooper and other SW options but i was very  
> impressed with GRs
> loop machine for this sort of basic and i would imagine common  
> looping app
>
> i'm sold on using the computer live, it just went so smooth
> simple set up elegant look, easy to use with a midi controller
> made it a really great night, UUC dome art center is a beautiful space
> really great people and a wonderful organization
> my first live looping experience was a joy
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