Music Looping Hardware

I’ve been tossing around the idea of looping with hardware for quite a while, basically since I first heard of it a few months ago. It would allow me to perform music with much more flexibility than just me playing a single instrument, and it is a lot of fun, too. I am now at the point where I have to decide what kind of setup I want to use, and work on getting it functional in my setup.

If you’re interested in this kind of thing, there’s three routes you can go: a dedicated looping pedal, an analog tape delay (or equivalent), or a computer with software. Here’s a brief look at the three, and why I chose the last one.

Looper Pedals

These would include pedals by Digitech, Boss, Line6, and a few others. Each company makes a few different models, each with more buttons/features than the last. The two most popular are the Boss RC Series, and the Digitech JamMan series, both of which come in different sizes and with different features. Continue reading “Music Looping Hardware”

Inconvenient Truth

I was recently involved in one of those wonderful “phone survey” calls from someone reading from a script. It didn’t take long to realize they were working for British Petrolium, and it was quite obvious the way the questions were worded that they wanted to skew the results to say what they wanted. By the end of the call, I was disgusted. It went something like this:

Them: “Who do you think is doing a better job of cleaning up the oil spill, BP, or the Federal Government?”
Me: “Neither one is going to clean up the oil, once the cameras leave, they will forget all about it and we’ll be left to fend for ourselves, just like after Hurricane Katrina.”
Them: “Sir, you must pick one or the other.”
Me: “No I don’t.”

It went on like this for a half an hour. None of the questions were really helpful, but I gave the most honest answers I could. Too bad you can’t fit opinions into “Very, somewhat, not very, or not at all satisfied.”

It made me think about the basis of our country, such as it is. It made me think about the Federal Government/Corporation. It made me think about the mega corporations that run everything now. It made me think about how much America has traded its soul for the convenience of cheap LCD TV’s. It made me think about the hypocrisy of the common person. It made me think about how people aren’t allowed to think anymore.

It makes me want to cry.

The “Inconvenient Truth” is this: we no longer own America as a country. We spend “money” that is backed by nothing tangible, to buy things we don’t really need. We eat food that is bad for us, drink water that is poisoned, take vaccines that could kill you, buy things without thinking where they come from, and take medicines that do more harm than good. We read things that serve no purpose, we watch things that reenforce amoral behavior, we listen to idiots who say what we want to hear, and gosh darn it, we’re happy about all of this. Why? Because our masters told us so. Or maybe it’s the lithium they’re planning on putting into the water supply.

People don’t care enough about anything to get involved anymore. They’d rather be comfortable, even in prison, than have to deal with doing anything on their own. They are sheep, fodder for the machine that will spit them out like so much waste when their monetary usefulness is expended. The few people that speak up against it are silenced, ridiculed, and in some cases, killed.

Is it stoppable? Not if things continue the way they are now. If you’re mad about the way the government is letting companies and lobbyists destroy our country, are you mad enough to do something about it? Are you mad enough to live intentionally, and learn about what is going on in the world around us? Are you mad enough to stop pumping money into mega-corporations for no reason? Are you mad enough to make your voice heard?

Live intentionally. Shun consumerism. Think objectively. Love deeply. Fight for justice.

Our country, and your freedom, depends on it.

You Know I’m Lazy When…

Cause it’s taking me forever to finish editing my book. Yes, I “finished” writing it in November of last year. However, the ending was horrible. I decided to redo it. That re-write of the last 4 chapters has taken me close to 8 months to complete.

If you follow writers, this shouldn’t surprise you. They rarely write a book (worth reading) in less than a year. It’s just a massive feat, and anybody who says otherwise obviously hasn’t tried it.

However, I’m actually finishing mine up now. It will get sent to a few select readers who can give me unbiased eyes, and I will do the last few corrections… and then it will be ready to format for print.

Holy cow! It’ll be finished just in time for November, when I’ll have to write another one… :P