POST your loop songs covers or original HERE?

Started by sean_b, November 15, 2012, 06:03:55 AM

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Syph

Howdy folks,

Been a while since I posted any updates so here is something short, sweet, and demonstrating why crazy custom looping rigs are fun.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3EIjMKkAwA&ab_channel=BassSyph

HecticArt

That's cool as hell! What a fun groove.
Is that you?

Syph

Thanks man :)

And yeah, that's me. It was at a local bar a few nights back at the weekly open mic night I've just started to do on the regular as I need the practice performing with this rig. Since my performances are all stream of consciousness style improv, it also doubles as a good way to make some jingles. Audio in the video is just the stereo out I was sending to front of house, with a little bit of room/camera mic blended in, no subsequent post processing or mixing.

Although I have a full multi track recorder built into the rig as well, so in theory I/anyone can remix any part of any performance, or build sample banks out of some of the silly FX noises, or go through and re-amp all the bass tones and get a real drummer in etc, etc.....

Fancy loopers are a punk to build, but dang do they do some neat tricks!

aliensporebomb

#53
I did this at ConvergenceCon back in 2013 which was the last gasp for my old loop setup before I went to the multi-loop setup.

Pardon the bad camerawork - the guy I conscripted had been pulling all-nighters to finish his costume for the sci-fi-con competition and I wasn't aware he'd done that so he was falling asleep during the performance and it didn't help I was using super ambient floaty sounds most of the time.

This one is Roland Ready Strat into the VG-99 (with a boatload of custom patches) with FC-300 then into a Boss Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai into a stereo direct box into the PA.  This was the first one of those devices I've owned and there is no undo.   So there was no forgiveness for any errors.   Anyway, check it out.   All sounds VG-99 including the distorted ones.

My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

whippinpost91850


Syph

Always love your pretty noises Mr Bomb!
And yeah, I'll admit to appreciating the upgrades you made in your rig enough that it's been ages since I checked out your stuff from the memory man days!
You were living on the edge trying to do that on a memory man, that's such a limited pedal. I used to use the undo function very occasionally with my RC300 to strip layers on muted loops, though my current rig doesn't have an undo.          ...though I might be able to build a few different types of undo into it I guess.... *shrugs*

Anywho!

A) I'll admit to preferring your later stuff like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpzqCS542F8&ab_channel=aliensporebomb

B) In that vid are you playing through studio monitors?

and C) Dare I ask why you never went to software loopies, and I guess Mobius in particular?

I seem to remember you being a bit of a Frippertronics fan, and digital emulations of the echoplex are kind of where it's at for all the jazz. I'm barely touching the list of things Mobius can do in my rig, I am mainly using it for the easy scripting environment to implement custom behavior. Like I have my loopers default to what I think of as classic RC300 style multitrack looping,  a rec/dub/play button plus a fade/stop/delete button per loop with all the staple LED feedback on my controllers like flashing red for cued to record, solid red for recording, flashing orange for cued overdub, green for play etc. I may have also accidentally built a selectable single track play mode function, loop aging, and probably a few other things I can't remember. And this is before we start talking about adding resamplers and FX chains pre/post loop and all the other fun jazz.

Ah, sorry, I just noticed that it's midnight here and I started ranting about my rig tech. I think both those facts might be cues to stop harassing the nice people on the internet and go to bed...

aliensporebomb

Yes, studio monitors for that one.  At that gig there was no PA - but the smaller speakers I had were not quite big enough for such a large space.  So the studio monitors have worked far better than I ever imagined.   If I could find purpose-built giggable FRFR (I guess the Headrush might fit the bill) I'd get those.

That particular gig got captured on this particular record in studio quality:  https://aliensporebomb.bandcamp.com/album/after-sleeping
Tunes you heard on the video was "The Baron" and "Circulation".

Loopers I went with RC-300 and I also have a Pigtronix Infinity but I probably should have gotten an RC-505. 

I did figure out how to do frippertronics style looping on the RC with the use of an external cable courtesy of shawnb:  Video here

Didn't go software loopers for live because that meant a laptop for live gigs and that's just one more expensive piece of gear to lug to dodgy environments.   
I do use expert sleepers augustus loop in the studio though I haven't updated it in quite a while.  I think I have an old version of Mobius but never really dug into it too far.

Now that I have my SY-1000 I'm working on programming and writing new music and not anticipating gigging again for at least a year so it will be a way off.
I'm also woodshedding on the guitar again now that I have this time.




My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

Syph

Studio monitors are wonderful to play full range rigs through, assuming they can handle the volume of course. I'm finding it's taking a bit of work to shift my rig from studio monitors to big PA, even though both are apparently full range. Or maybe it's just the volume thing, like how our ear responds differently to different SPL sounds etc etc....

Those were good times where we were all playing with the RC300 and discovering all it's odd little quirks. I ended up making a multitrack version on the frippertronics set up using a bunch of assigns but it was always just a little quirky and weirdly unpredictable, so I ended up only using it for noodles at home.

I used to feel nervous or hesitant about using a laptop live, but most of that was to do with the quality of people walking past when I was street performing. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say I didn't trust the levels of inebriation of the people passing.... That's also why I never seriously considered the 505, the plastic build made me feel like it was going to break when one drunk person tripped on it.

I've found as a soloist the laptop is pretty comfy live. When I used one in bands years ago I found it more stressful, as you can only fit so many musicians on small stages and shenanigans were way too common with bands... But solo I find it's pretty easy to tuck the lappy off to the side and feel surprisingly comfortable. I can also appreciate the extra complexity of adding a laptop to a VG99 rig or multiFX setup. Side stepping that by building everything into the digital rig seems like the logical way to deal with that, so there are only midi controllers connected to the laptop, but while it's easy to build psuedo multiFX/amp emulation into a digital ri I don't think the same can be said about VG rigs (or other multi string processor for that matter).

Anwyho, pardon the blatant self promotion. Here's an improvised set from a local open mic night on Wednesday just gone, warts and all:



I'd recommend ignoring my talking.
That applies to both the above video and if you ever meet me in person.

Hopkins

Hey, Syph!  It's been a while.  That was a superb performance.

I've done bits and pieces with music over the last decade, but tend to use the RC-300 exclusively as a compositional tool these days which is partly a shame - but not really because it does that so well too.  In fact, it's invaluable for composition, I find.  Especially with the weird time signatures you can use and the way you can set up syncopated loops, which I recall we spent some time discussing many years ago!

Guitar-wise, I've complemented the all-singing Steinberger Demon with the minimalist Dean KS "Black V" which has scalloped frets, one pickup and nothing else - not even a volume control.  Yes, I still like black and pointy :).  That said, I finally managed to resurrect my sunburst Steinberger Spirit after trying about six different springs for the R-Trem, although I think that the blades or pivots need sharpening because it doesn't return to the centre after pushes or pulls.  (Reminding me partly why I ditched trems in the first place!)

That said, I've recently moved house, so all of my music equipment has been stuffed in a corner for a couple of months and will likely remain there until I've finished unpacking and can relax slightly.




Loopmaster B.

Ok, so I post my looping covers here. Here is my last video:




And here you can find the full collection of my looping videos, steadily growing:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbwbuEtdNNkxWhKcpl7OmQQ/videos

philjynx

#60
Quote from: Syph on November 15, 2020, 02:17:55 AM
....

Damn you Syph, I'm supposed to be designing gear, now I'm sat back with a beer listening to and thouroughly enjoying this.
Fantastic.
Are you still using Circular Labs?

Syph

philjynx,

Funny you should ask as I just replaced Mobius in my rig. I was always planning on rebuilding my rig as it was a learn and build as I go kind of process, and things were really due for a good tidy up anyway. Add onto that the occasionally janky scripting environment and a few other weird little bits of jank, and, well.

So I stumbled on ClyphX Pro when I was searching for a way to delete clips in Ableton via midi, and that very quickly turned into a month of staying up until sunrise gutting and rebuilding my entire rig...
Oops.

So my rig is now all Ableton based, with ClyphX Pro used for all fancy controller behavior like loopers, drum sequencers, resamplers, FX stuff, etc etc. Basic looping is happening with looper devices, with other looping stuff happening in clip slots. I now even have a button that will record either a stereo mix or full multitrack of a live session, and name and date all the files when they finish recording. I should have examples of the new rig up online in the next month or three, but in the mean time I'd just recommend ClyphX Pro. It only works on Ableton 9 or 10, no 11 yet, but it's the best way I've found to get access to Lives API functionality and build custom behavior. Basic control is easy to get going, but I'd recommend learning to make user actions. But then I never had a good sense of moderation, sooo...

Oh, and Hopkins, hope you have managed the time to relax and unpack the music gear! I also suspect you'll enjoy the feature set of my current set up, which makes me think I really should do a walk through vid of my rig at some point... Damn, that sounds like a lot of work!

Anywho, off to mow the lawn. Yay!

kimyo

Quote from: Syph on March 17, 2021, 09:36:57 PMBasic looping is happening with looper devices, with other looping stuff happening in clip slots.
do you find that ableton is very slow to load livesets when using multiple looper devices?

i'm using live9 and for looping purposes i use clips instead of the looper because of this issue.

Hopkins

Quote from: Syph on March 17, 2021, 09:36:57 PMOh, and Hopkins, hope you have managed the time to relax and unpack the music gear! I also suspect you'll enjoy the feature set of my current set up, which makes me think I really should do a walk through vid of my rig at some point... Damn, that sounds like a lot of work!
Yes!  I have get set up and started to play again.

I would love to see a walk-through of your rig.

Syph

@Kimyo, I did try deleting the loopers from my rig and reopening the session but I couldn't notice any appreciable difference in the load times. But considering the joyous nightmare that my ableton session has become I can't say I am exactly surprised I couldn't notice a difference in load times. I keep meaning to do more testing, but then get distracted with other things.

@Hopkins, I'll try and convince myself to make a little walk through vid for you at some point. It amuses me that on one hand I want validation and recognition of my fancy rig, but on the other hand I want to keep it hidden so no one can judge me and my cheap tricks :P
That being said, you can see a bit in my latest upload. I've been sorting out an A/V capture system to use live, so now my rig has 3 iphones in addition to the 3 ipads and a macbook...
*hangs head in shame*
I promise I actually do hate Apple, despite owning 5 ipads and 3 iphones and 2 macbooks...

Anywho! If you'll pardon the blatant self promotion, I'll admit that I am actually kind of maybe a tiny bit proud of this one: