We get so caught up in the exotic sound of electronic music, it’s easy to forget that visuals are important to a performance as well. At the Maker Faire last weekend, I quickly tired of watching a knob-twisting groovebox duo and even a VJ competition. But it was fun to see Rick Walker (a.k.a. Loop.pooL) snatch an endless stream of wacky objects from the stage and run their noises through his digital looping setup. Here are a few photos I took, as well as a movie clip.
Walker's looping gear included an Electrix Repeater and Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro (in rack), plus what looked like an Alesis inEko and pair of Line 6 DL4s on the floor. See the Looper's Delight Tools page for background on this and much more looping gear.
A toy voice changer generated eerie sounds when run through the loop pool. Note the colorful microphone sheath, designed to add interest to the performance.
Walker remarked that a cheap brass candy bowl contains more metal than a cymbal. He then layered and looped the sounds of a quartet of increasingly smaller bowls, ending with this one. Notice the color-coordinated pocket massager he's using to vibrate the bowl. (Click the image to see a 648KB QuickTime movie.)
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Read More Entries by David Battino.
Rick Walker just wrote to add: “What a great write up!!! Thanks so very much. I’m really flattered. You were right about all of my gear. The only thing you missed was a Boss Inteli Shifter stomp box for pitching things.”