What you see above is still, in my opinion, the best way to do this. Those pedals, in that order, with that amplifier, provide enough sonic options for me to do pretty much anything I want to with an electric guitar. There’ a lot I’m not capable of, in terms of both technique and technology, but right now my focus is on documenting what I can do, instead of encroaching into the territory of what I can’t. Quite simply, i want to be able to come home, plug a guitar into that set-up, and, should the moment so strike me, press the record button and have a document of that evening’s inspiration.
Now, of course I have the capacity to do just that with the present technology. Even if I don’t want to set up the computer and the A/D converter and Logic (or even GarageBand), I can just do like FBdN and record right to iPhone OS. Or I could use the old minidisc. I could even go right to an old cassette multi-track.
The problem is TIME.
Not that these things take time, but rather that I want to be able to take whatever I’m doing and bring it back into a digital audio workstation later. That’s no problem, unless there are going to be loops. And there are always loops. If a song sketch is off by even a tenth of a second, that means that after a minute, the deviation is 6 seconds – that’s not music, that’s chaos.
So the question now is: how can I get a master clock associated with an impromptu recording of a song sketch? Playing along with a metronome is not enough. Whatever device records the initial jam has to associate a bpm with that snippet, which can then control other music. I’m not sure this is possible.
The more sensible approach would be to take the impromptu performance as inspiration and then properly construct music around that, starting with the beat and locking in the time. Of course, this means recreating that moment of creativity in a very sterile setting. Much less fun and much more time consuming.
All of this would be a piece of cake if I (a) had no day job and (b) were fabulously wealthy.
Wasting away, the moments that make up the dull day.
That rig looks powerful. Powerful!
Very interesting post. Time is key. I remember when I discovered, I think when I took a couple of guitar lessons back in college, that my sense of time was nowhere near as good as I thought it was. Dispiriting.
I think we all need to strike it rich, retire to some nice locale, and figure these matters out.
Here, hear! I think it doesn’t matter how good one’s time is. When we’re playing with machines, we give up the ability for ANY deviation. It’s a shame. The real solution is to keep you and the sturj nearby so we can generate those moments in a fuller way, much fuller than anything I can manage on my own.
I do love my big, loud amplifier, it’s true. No software can replicate the experience of moving air the way a big amp can.
First, in terms of defining the perfect setup, please define your input channel — it’s a little hard to see the pedals in the picture and I’m curious. And I guess I’m not enough of a pedal hound to know them all by sight. I think I see a tuner, a RAT and maybe a Leslie emulator on the end?
Second: no wah-wah in a “perfect set-up”. That’s not meant to be judgmental – whatever floats your boat. More of an expression of surprise that a wah (or a volume pedal for that matter) doesn’t figure into the “perfect” setup.
Third – what in the world is that amp? I’m not familiar with it.
Now, on to the substance of your question — now, I’m not a loop guy, but I’m trying to get inside your composing style and you said loops are inevitable, so……..what about taking the original moment of inspiration jam and, when necessary, stretching the time by a second or a half-second in order to match it to the bpm of the loop your looking for. The last time I tried doing this, the pitch correction that went along with the time stretching wasn’t really up to snuff, but that was more than 10 years ago and I imagine that pitch correction has gotten much better since the industry has trained everyone that they don’t need to sing in pitch anymore.
Anyway, maybe that’s a wacky idea, but I’m trying to brainstorm…..
-HK
Whoah. I think you have a lot to teach me. I did have my third guitar lesson tonight though!
And I am also interested in what pedals you have there. In my household we have the metal pedal and that’s it.
HK – don’t make me do it! These sorts of conversations can go on for weeks! Let me start with two points:
(1) I don’t really know what my ideal setup would be because everything is always changing. What’s shown in that picture is an effort to be somewhat streamlined (!) and economical with my footsie.
(2) Back in high school a friend used to ask which of those pedals was the one that played the guitar for me.
So, what you see up there is an input line that goes from guitar to tuner (Boss TU-2) -> auto-wah/LFO (Source Audio Tri-Mod Wah) -> overdrive (HAO Sole Pressure) -> distortion (Tech21 XXL) -> flanger (Ibanez FL9) -> analog delay (Aria AD-10) -> digital delay/looper (Electro Harmonix Stereo Memory Man) -> LAB SERIES L5 2×12 (100w, solid state).
The Source Audio is a nice option for my no-wah setup. I have two fantastic and unique wah pedals (Morley Power Wah Fuzz and Snarling Dogs Mold Spore), but they need a little love and attention. Ah, the joys of ‘vintage’ equipment.