Playing with looping pedals

Ed Alleyne Johnson video - I think this is the use of a looper *and* a delay - the bass line etc never goes away - until he brings it back ( I think he has the looper on a volume pedal) - thats a loop. The longer bowed notes later on that seem to fade with time - that's a delay set to the same tempo I think.

funnily enough Ed Alleyne Johnson came up to me after a gig I was playing at around this time (not a theremin gig) and was a really nice guy.

Chris--thanks for the demo.

I dusted off my GigaDelay this morning, and now I remember why I use it strictly as a delay.

As Chris's track demonstrates, if you use the device as a delay, then each iteration of previous material fades (with the amount of fading controlled by the "feedback" knob setting).

The good news is that this prevents distortion (resulting from saturation). The bad news is that you can't loop the result as an accompaniment for soloing; you have to keep feeding the device something to echo, or else it'll fade to silence.

If you put the device into Sound-On-Sound mode, you face the opposite problem: Whatever you record does NOT fade with each iteration. Depending on the pitches you're using, saturation (and distortion) can occur with as few as four passes.

The Boomerang combines the best of both worlds: You can overdub (by activating its "stack" function), and each pass will fade with each iteration. If you switch off the "stack" function, then it'll repeat whatever you've recorded without fading.

So, f'rinstance, you can use "stack" mode to create a chordal drone, and then revert to ordinary "play" mode to play a solo over the drone.

P.S. DiggyDog--I checked the Boomerang website, and (alas) they aren't announcing any new upgrade there. It looks as though the "new version" you mentioned is the 2002 version 2.0 of the operating software. It definitely offers more options than version 1.0 (mid-1990s, I think), but it's still limited to a sampling rate of 24KHz or lower.

Too bad... I would kill for a Boomerang that samples at 48KHz or 96KHz.

the only thing I;d add Terrecaster, is that with the gigadelay you can set the feedback to full so that it keeps coming back forever.

One day I'll have the spare cash to have both. I would on paper loopingwise go for the Electro-Harmonix 2880 coz i like the ability to tweak the faders, pan etc. etc with my hands whilst loops are up and running and still have basic start/stop/record ability with the feet. All I need now is the spare 365pounds :-)

I've been reading up on the Boomerang and it sounds pretty good. With my gigs staring up again, I'm thinking about getting one.

Andy

Thanks everyone.

Another thing Teracaster (or anyone else here): Can you describe me/us the exact settings on the DD20 to achieve this special effect I am searching for of progressive decaying of long layers?

Thanks a lot!

I set my gigadelay DD20 to pan delay (if I;m in stereo going thru my hifi - otherwise any delay will doOK) time = 24secs (tho when i bagan with the theremin I found it easier to set it up at 10secs - depnds on the lengths of phrases you are using) - output and feedback knobs both to about 3 o'clock. That's it.

Thanks.
Is it possible with the DD20 to set the end of the first loop by foot, or it has to be pre-selected previously its exact length by hand ?

with the sound-on-sound function (which doesn't fade away) - you set length by foot as desired. With the delay function, the delay time must be chosen beforehand.

too bad... I see myself buying an expensive and old boomerang...