Re: [Harp-L] Morphine

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Burke Trieschmann wrote:
<Great track Richard, and I really like the octave effects on the harp.  Having watched several talented loop based performers recently at a local <Showcase/ Open mic show I run here in Albany, CA, I'm curious how you are triggering the drum and harmonica loops and if sync is an issue?  It sounds <like the drum loop is external (not one of the internal RP drum patterns) which would give you the looper and the overdub looper track to play with <on the RP 355.
<
<Are you running the drum loop wild and just keeping the RP looping in rough sync, or do you have a way to hard sync the units?

Hi Burke,

The looper I'm using on this piece is not the one built into the RP355.  I pre-recorded the drum loop and imported it into my Digitech JamMan Stereo looper; the harp tracks are then recorded into the JamMan, overdubbing on the drum loop, during live performance.  The advantages here are that 1) I get a better sounding drum loop than I can produce via beat-boxing, and 2) the length of the loop is already set when I start the performance.  A loop Nazi or two has told me that this is "cheating"--i.e. a "real" looping master would generate all the parts from scratch in real time--but I don't expect anybody to ask me about it on Judgement Day, and I'll take the quickest path to an effective performance when it's available.  I perform a few pieces where I beatbox, but on this piece in particular there really isn't much in the picture besides the bass motif and the drums, so the drums better be solid.

Sync is not an issue with this approach, since all the harp parts are recorded over the drum loop as it plays. If I play my parts in time, it's synced.  I would never advise anyone to run a drum loop on one piece of hardware and try to manually sync a loop on a different piece, because even very, very slight differences in the timing of the loops will become painfully obvious after a minute or so.

The JamMan stereo is a nice tool for this approach, as are all the Digitech loopers, because Digitech supplies software for managing a loop library, importing and exporting audio and loops, etc.

I use 3 different harmonica sounds on this piece, and all of them have either the RP's pitch shifter or whammy effect (essentially a continuously variable pitch shifter) engaged.  Morphine's music is dark, ain't it?

Regards, Richard Hunter