Loop change, tempo change on the fly

aminco · Post by **aminco** » Sun May 29, 2011 8:28 pm

I like oriental drumming so I got the Wavedrum Oriental model. I got a belly dancing troupe interested in experimenting, but ran into an unexpected difficulty. The thing is, with belly dancing (and most oriental tunes) you have changes of tempo on the fly. As far as I can tell this can't be done on the Wavedrum loops - even if you stopped hitting the drum and reached for the loop selection knob, there's always a "hickup" that's sure to get you an ugly look from a dancer.

Has anyone gone down the tempo change road? Any ideas for workarounds?

WaterDrum · Post by **WaterDrum** » Sun May 29, 2011 8:57 pm

there will always be a hickup, the WD takes the time to load the next
playalong song.thats what they are and not for live changes.

workaround :hardware looper maybe?

Bertotti · Post by **Bertotti** » Sun May 29, 2011 9:09 pm

Prerecord it with the changes then play it back through the aux input so you can still play with it. I think you could edit out the hiccups this way. Loaded into an ipod ipad mp3 player you could have multiple tracks prerecorded and pick whichever with ease.

Kaden · Post by **Kaden** » Mon May 30, 2011 12:50 pm

A hardware looper with tap tempo is pretty much the only way to go; the WDs loops are fixed tempo unfortunately, and the switchglitch is unavoidable under any circumstances.

The Wavedrum is sorely missing footswitches for stuff like loop on/off and delay tap tempo

WaterDrum · Post by **WaterDrum** » Mon May 30, 2011 5:53 pm

another combination might be small hardware sampler with pads,
different sections of your songs on the various pads in loop mode,
and a "silent" pad to stop playback (Roland SPD-S ,but expensive).
so you can record the playalongs or make your own loops
best would be foot control to switch through the chain of your "songs"

aminco · Post by **aminco** » Mon May 30, 2011 11:12 pm

Guys, good ideas - but what I was whining about is this. The Wavedrum is a performance instrument, it's an essential part of what's great about it, and it's a huge success because of the performance potential. Unfortunately the loop gallery was not intended for performance. It fooled me because the loops sound really awesome. But you can't play for belly dancing, or kirtan, or even some traditional Brazilian stuff I heard last week because they all change tempos and wouldn't have it any other way.

Re: programming pre-planned loops - that contradicts the concept of a performance instrument. I am kind of addicted to the performance aspect. And re: tapping a looper, I wouldn't use tap on stage. Would you? Not predictable enough, and you have to stop playing.

What I would like to see is a pedal where a click causes a preset decrease or increase in tempo to happen at the very end of the bar, building up or down within a couple seconds to sound natural. The amount of increase or decrease does not need to be too varied. I'll bet the amount of slowdown/buildup does not change much within a certain style of music. A study of some popular tunes in each ethnic style should be able to discover the right amounts that would make dancers and kirtan leaders happy. Or you could program your own.

Since music-wise you expect the tempo to change at the end of a bar, the tempo change needs to be triggered by the machine that plays the bars.

Kaden · Post by **Kaden** » Tue May 31, 2011 12:44 am

Dunno what to say... there *are* hardware based solutions, but they're never gonna be exactly like your idealized version of the Wavedrum.

Ever consider going the duo route and adding another percussionist?

aminco · Post by **aminco** » Tue May 31, 2011 8:27 am

Idealized version? Meaning it looks too complex to manufacture or that's it's not really that useful?

As for another percussionist, certainly, I'm not going to give up on a gig just because WD is missing a feature I need.

Kaden · Post by **Kaden** » Tue May 31, 2011 12:05 pm

You gave the impression you were looking for solutions to your problem now, rather than just voicing a feature list you'd like to see implemented in the future. That's why we were offering suggested work-arounds.

aminco · Post by **aminco** » Tue May 31, 2011 9:06 pm

And I thank you for that. I guess I was frustrated, and I apologize.

WaterDrum · Post by **WaterDrum** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 4:49 pm

there is shure no need to apologize on this forum ....be easy

I read through your threads and www stuff cool
now Ive seen the problem and the level and not only for your arabic music
the following MIDI file was created with a footpedal.(up and down)
and it changes the mastertempo of my Boss gt3 guitar multieffect
maybe your RC50 looper will accept these mastertempo changes.
(if working at all, probably too slow .......)
If you dare , you can playback a loop and feed this to your rc50 per MIDI.
I dont take any responsibility for any damage ,of course ...so backup before

http://www.speedyshare.com/files/287556 ... Change.mid

Please report back, if you dare or not