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RE: Boss looper contest in Germany
>
> You people were funny at first but now your guffaws of snobbery and
>elitist technocratic behaviour are really starting to take their toll...I
>mean what are "we" about here....does it have anything to do with making
>music? I am starting to wonder...I guess it has become unfashionable
>among the "Technocrati" to loop with a BOSS pedal...hmmmmm
I haven't been following this thread too closely, but my impression was
that the amusement at the Boss looping contest was due to several
aspects of their support for looping. The comments here were generally
related to mocking the idea of an olympic-style competition from a
community that largely has moved away from evaluating looping in terms
like those used in the rampant guitar 'gunslinging' phenomenon.
'Competition' is largely an anachronism here on LD.
Over the years Boss product developers have been rather unresponsive to
input from the looping community regarding the design of their loopers -
resulting in three designs that don't incorporate some of the most
important requirements for looping anything other than accompaniment of
pre-recorded loops, or for a looping paradigm that plays a static loop
over and over. This is true of many/most of the mass-production looping
products (Digidesign is another company that comes to mind).
The Boss RC-50 is an improvement but as it turns out, a feedback control
feature was only implemented using a technique developed and documented
by a determined looper (from this board, I think). My point is that
they produced design after design without supporting any more than the
most simplistic concept of what is actually available in more
sophisticated hardware or in largely free software loopers. From the
top of my list is MIDI sync, saving a loop on the fly, upload of saved
loops, and the aforementioned feedback control.
So Boss representatives might well be judging contestants in gunslinging
contest using tools supporting a limited palette -and their designs
suggest a lack of some degree of expertise to boot.
I think you will find the participants here are overall very generous
with their expertise and focused on making music. I don't even agree
that the members of LD can be counted on to disparage gear choices of
those using other units than their own. Many wonderful compositions get
posted here from loopers using simple delays, tape machines, and
re-purposed musical toys.
I think perhaps Akim read too much into a little light-hearted fun at
Boss's expense.
Dan Ash
White Plains, NY