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Backing tracks: A confession
Okay. I don't use pre-recorded loops. But I think I am coming to
appreciate why most of the loop pedals out there (the LP2 soon to be an
exception) are so feature limited.
Once upon a time, I made have use of my EDP and played with feedback and
next loop and all the rest. Hey, it was there, it was easy to grab, it was
my first real looper in a long time. Fripp's Let the Power Fall had given
me a taste for the 5-10 second loop with the feedback control at less than
100%. Etc.
Then the EDPs drifted out of my rack. First to try to make room for an LP1
and then because I was trying to go rackless and ended up using the looper
on the M13.
Now I find myself fairly routinely recording a loop, closing it in overdub
mode purely to avoid cutting off the sound, maybe overdubbing a bit more,
and then showing a tendency to just let it play while I
improvise/noodle/whack-off (choose your description). And you know what? I
like working this way. The loop fills the sonic landscape in, but it lets
me concentrate on the guitar rather than on the loop.
So, I've got the LP1 and it does all sorts of wonderful things and under
pressure from Bill I've even jury rigged myself a MIDI foot controller (I
now have a very confused EDP). What do I do? I record static loops and let
them play. Maybe I throw them into reverse of half-speed. Maybe I turn on
scramble. And I generally set up multiple loops often of different
lengths. But after getting a few loops going and mixed, it all just
becomes backing tracks.
When does my Looper's Delight membership card get pulled? When do I stop
getting invited to Santa Cruz to perform? ;-)
Or in the quest for a rackless system, maybe what I need is a simple
looper or two to do the backing tracks thing and a long delay line with
feedback and a way to mute the input to do the Frippertronics-style thing.
The only issue is that I'd like the latter to be syncable to the former so
that it doesn't all just become a mish-mash of unsynced loops -- though
that can be fun in its own right. The LP2 might actually be a great choice
here given support for things like quantized replace, but last I knew it
wasn't stereo friendly the way even the DL4 is (although it's a mono
looper) which means I'm back to worrying about needing mixing/routine
support and the benefits of shedding the rack may start to fade.
So, it's probably stick with the rack, look for a real MIDI foot
controller solution, and try to better exploit the LP1.
I've got visions of an LP1 and my Korg AM8000R shoved inside something
like the M13 with a really tuned performance model and control set, but
that isn't going to happen and given the confession above, I have to ask
whether I would really exploit it. But I'd certainly plunk down the money
for it within reason...
Mark