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Musolomo is great! I've only been using it for a couple of weeks and already it's really starting to grow on me. However, here's a quick feature suggestion I'd like you to consider.
By way of background, I do a lot of what's called Live Looping (live improvisation using hardware loopers such as the Electrix Repeater, Line 6 DL-4/Echo Pro, Lexicon Jamman, or the Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro, amongst others -- more details available at http://www.loopers-delight.com/ if you're interested). Musolomo already emulates many of the capabilities of those devices quite nicely. In fact, it's the closest thing to a software version of the Repeater that I've come across, for instance. There are only a couple of features implemented on those devices which are missing on Musolomo.
One vital feature on hardware loopers is what's known as "feedback". On any device based on a delay-line (such as most of the above) the feedback parameter controls the amount of the output fed back into the input again. For any feedback setting less than 100%, the older looping material gradually fades away into nothing as it repeats. Of course, Musolomo isn't based on a delay-line architecture -- being much more like an extremely interactive performance sampler -- but I think I've figured out a way you could implement this nonetheless.
What I would like to suggest is an "Auto-Envelope" function. This would be a simple global AR (attack-release) envelope that could be applied to each sample as it looped. In this scenario a long release time, for example, would emulate a gradual fade-out of the sound as it repeats (or fade-in, if the attack parameter were tweaked) just as the feedback function would do otherwise. While this isn't the same physical mechanism as that of other hardware loopers, I think the result would be the same. And, due to Musolomo's existing architecture, adding an attack parameter is possible here; that's not something that's easy to implement on delay-line-based devices (read: very kewl).
Also, I think if you tried to implement individual ADSR's on every sample, things would become overly complicated way fast. However, two global Auto-Envelope parameters that would affect every loop should be very effective, yet still be very simple to control.
If you're still with me by this time (and haven't yet written me off as another random nut-job ), I'd like to humbly request two more minor considerations here:
First, please make the attack-release settings accomodating to very long times. Many Live Loopers I know use phrases which gradually fade into oblivion over the course of several minutes, for example.
Second, if at all possible, make those same parameters respectful of interactive tweaking. What I mean here is that if someone is already using a release time of, say, 120 seconds, then wishes to wrap up the passage rather quickly and adjusts the release to 10 seconds, that this new release time is also now respected *by those samples already triggered and looping*. Many Loopers actually link a footpedal to the feedback amount and ride this continuously to interactively control the rate at which the looped phrases are fading.
Sorry to be so long-winded, but I'm really starting to enjoy Musolomo a lot (otherwise I wouldn't take the time and effort to write all this up). I think, with just one or two new features like this one, you could see Musolomo adopted and appreciated by yet another new group of musicians.
Good luck with all your future development, and thanks for listening!!!
Re:Auto-Envelope - 2005/03/20 20:11thankyou mech for your feedback.
Nothing wrong with being a nutcase. I am a nutcase, but due to my persistance, niceness and absolute good luck, musolomo was born. So continue to provide feedback.
I am familiar with hardware loopers. there are some good Echoplex etc emulations around, the newest being
but there are others which i can't seem to think of right now. As you guess, musolomo was never desgined to be a hardware looper, however it can do the task in a rather nice way.
We are looking at envelopes, and I have been thinking along your line of thought as well. (we are also looking at generating clock out, so musolomo can be more like a hardware looper if required, controlling the DAW)
I challenge you Mech, to be even more creative in your suggestions.
What would you have a looper do in your wildest dreams. After all, in musolomo you have
-realtime re-pitching -realtime time-strecthing -realtime random access -realtime reverse -realtime control of sample structure - Fully polyphonic player, with legato if required - 50 Mb of sample RAM - peripheriral vision feedback - Audio feedback (yes it's there on a separate channel already, in a basic way)
My concern is the very limited thinking currently around computers in live music.
There is a wonderful plugin called dfx transverb, put out by the smartelectronix bunch. It's free too. You can set it up like a delay unit, which plays one copy at twice the speed, with looping, and one at half speed.
The effect is like a bach-counterpoint for every simple line you play. Really very amazing. stuff like that interests me a lot.
Be FREE!
some ideas - A looper which has a randomize button, which changes how the many loops fit against each, other, in volume and in rhythm
- A looper which re-structures each loop as it decays, moving notes here and there.
- A looper loops a certain number of times, and then tranposes the loop, perhaps making a sort of cadence
I'm yet to get really creative with these ideas, maybe you can.
Re:Auto-Envelope - 2005/03/27 09:15songcarver wrote: thankyou mech for your feedback...
I challenge you Mech, to be even more creative in your suggestions...
Thanks for the feedback, We await more!
Heh! I'll bet you guys thought you'd scared me off, eh? Well, no such luck, hahahahaaa.
I will say that the above challenge has left me greatly honored, very excited, and, quite frankly, a little scared all at the same time. I've spent the last week contemplating a few other suggestions that I hope meet your approval. I'll be trickling those onto the board in separate topics (so they can each be considered on their own merits).
I can say that one priority for any of my ideas is to maintain Musolomo's immediacy and performance-orientation. The last thing I want to do is help turn it into a piece of bloatware. That said, I'll probably start with a few things to help with streamlining core functionality, then progress on to the really whacked-out stuff.
Of course, I don't wish for you to feel there's an obligation tied to any of my ideas. It's your software, and ultimately your decision for what does and does not become implemented. I just view it as a wonderful opportunity to have my suggestions taken seriously in this forum.
Thanks again for the chance to jabber about while I consider a really cool piece of software. Stay tuned...
), I'd like to humbly request two more minor considerations here:
