Rowin Twin Looper, Empress Effects Zoia, Zoom MS-70CDR, BASTL MicroGranny, Akai MPX-16.

Also appearing Groovesizer MB, and Novation Circuit.
Mostly just overdub looping experiments, trying to even out levels and see how terrible this sounds recorded through a phone mic.

[@thedigitallost]

Nice. How's that looper treating you? Love seeing a $40-$60 cheapo pedal paired with an Empress Zoia! You also mentioned in the description about recording through your phone; I would totally listen to more of this if you made a more polished/complete copy. But I'm not sure if you're just into noodling or are planning on getting something out there. Either way, is fine! Some questions about your other equipment as there are some things I've been looking at:
- The micro granny and mpx16 are both samplers? Like, load samples, hit buttons, play sample? How do they compare?
- Do you use the novation circuit to sequence external gear? Just as a drum machine? I've been looking at either that or the Electribe sample and maybe knocking out a drum machine, sampler and sequencer in one hit.
Cheers.

[@cameronleggett]

I got the Twin Looper to take the Zoia off Looper duty and free up it's CPU for more exotic functions... I lusted after the EHX 95000 but decided that I just need a single stereo pair and 1 layer of undo/redo... I built a 4 layer looper patch on the Zoia and I was really enjoying it... but you can't currently export/save/load a loop/sample on the Zoia, (that might change one day though.) I like the single mindedness of the Rowin Twin Looper, it contrasts nicely with the totally nuts "what do you want to me to to do" nature of the Zoia... even the MS-70 is pretty flexible, I find myself doing the crazy things I always wondered about... what happens if you stack 4 tremolos running at different rates with a delay and reverb at the end... can you actually tune the rates to make something? I'm always shocked that an MS-70 can be sold cheaply. Admittedly the Zoia definitely has better algorithms, processing, and infinitely more flex... but for the caveman in me the MS-70 can get to certain common effect chain styles in a briefer more painless way. My ears aren't as finicky as most analog purists, and I actually enjoy some artifacts when they are under control, intentional, and part of the natural process.
The MicroGranny and the MPX-16... though they are both samplers with built in Microphones and Audio Inputs, they are in fact polar opposites in the sampler genre...
The BASTL MicroGranny is very immediate and hands on, but it's Monophonic in the sense of a single sample or sound can play at any given moment. That sample can be over a few minutes long though (I heard 30 minutes was the limit but don't quote me.) The MicroGranny can record 8bit samples (Casio SK Quality, when sampling through mic or line I think there is a 20 second limit.) through it's line in and built in microphone, it runs on a 9v battery or 9v center positive external power. It's got character and it's not super clean or pure. It works best with .WAV samples loaded onto to it's micro-SD card (16bit 22Khz) since those samples are higher resolution. the Samples are stored and played directly from the micro-SD card so there are no loading times to speak of (the .WAV files must be Mono 22Khz 16bit and named with alpha-numeric 2 digit names ie. 00.WAV, 01.WAV, AA.WAV, A0.WAV.) MicroGranny stores 60 banks/kits of 6 samples. Each button sample has an amp Attack and Decay envelope, a Pitch control (playback speed), Bitcrush amount (distortion), Grain Size control, and Grain Shift speed and direction, Sample Start position, and Sample End position, also Loop on/off, and whether the Sample will playback tuned (using a MIDI keyboard with it's 5-pin MIDI in port) or simply play back the Grain Slices at the recorded pitch across the keyboard. Samples can be latched to just continuously loop and grainshift making it an ideal Lo-Fi drone monster. The sound of the MicroGranny is my favorite thing about it... unapologetically digital and Lo-Fi, clippy harsh, zero crossing ignorant, trashy granular leaps... while at the same time it has one of the most meditative patch programming workflows ever invented. It's poetically awkward and devoutly non-commercial. It's the most punk rock sampler ever built. I will never sell mine... I would definitely replace it, if I ever lost it.
The Akai MPX-16 is 32 voice multi-timbral and polyphonic (you can hit all 16 pads at the same time and they will all sound) it's pads are velocity sensing. If you put a 16bit 44.1Khz Stereo/Mono Sample on it's SD card it will read it and play it (as long as it is named with 8 dot 3 naming convention.) Here's the rub though... It reads the samples from the SD card into RAM as Kits... and it can take a good 90 seconds to load a Kit. The sounds can be pitched up and down, it has seperate Attack and Decay envelopes for Filter and Amp... (the Filter Envelope can be used to Pitch samples in positive or negative direction by an adjustable amount as well) The MPX-16 also has a built in Mic and Line inputs (I find that I use a computer to load samples more frequently though). I doubt that you'd want to put a sample that is more than 30 seconds long on the MPX-16 as it takes some time to load the samples for playing. I tend to use the MPX-16 with the Groovesizer which is the device with the round candy colored buttons, since my finger drumming skills are fairly unsophisticated. The main problem with Akai MPX-16 is that while it has a clean sound and plenty of power and parameters to tweak they can not be tweaked in real-time... you cant even load swap samples into a kit while a sequencer is playing it's engine. This usually leads to a user spending time making entertaining and pleasant kits and then trying to tie those together with similar sound types (kicks, snares, hats, chimes, guiro, timbale) in similar positions on the button pads then swapping between the kits... but even that's not super ideal as the MPX-16 sound engine is muted while it loads in samples. It definitely interrupts composing flow... but if you're more into standardized kits and then using finger drumming techniques to generate beats it's definitely got some juice. With a good rhythm sequencer it gives you plenty of power... but it's a static and set sort of power. I love the clean sound and accurate purity of the Akai but if it went missing I'd prob'ly find something else to replace it or just use my Volca Sample. I like it, but it's eminently replaceable by other gear or a laptop. It runs off a 5v DC positive tip adapter or USB power. it has 1/4" jacks and 5pin MIDI IN/Out. I think the MPX-16 was made with the live finger drummer in mind... though the pads can be set-up as latching to go for a pile up of repeating loops also. If Akai had given it a built in sequencer it would've been a contender. The MPX-16 did not inherit the external clocking and sequencing issues that the MPX-8 had, thankfully. If you find one in good shape and it's affordable it's pretty nice as a drumming pad or to trigger loops and one shot sounds... you just have to give your kits some attention in advance as real time tweaking is limited and not really accommodated.

[@thedigitallost]

@@cameronleggett Great! I appreciate your thorough reply! You not only answered my questions, but also answered questions I didn't know to ask, so cheers! I'd been looking at the MicroGranny for a good, long while now. It seems right up my alley. Glad you're into the rowin looper. As you know, I love (both of!) mine. Thanks again!

[@cameronleggett]

@@thedigitallost I might get another Looper as well (maybe the more affordable monophonic one to use as a pre-FX looper with a 5 channel BASTL DUDE mono mixer since there are definitely Mono positions in my setups as well as Stereo sections.) I'm still kind of working out how to incorporate everything into a flexible but compact setup. I like devices that are multi-function and small. I doubt you'd be disappointed with a MicroGranny. It definitely benefits from a Delay, FX, and Looper down chain from it, but you definitely get some great unexpected sounds out of it as an isolated unit as well. Just don't expect it to be perfectly well behaved and clean sounding... that is not it's nature. It's more inspirational than controllable.

[@thedigitallost]

@@cameronleggett "Just don't expect it to be perfectly well behaved and clean sounding... that is not it's nature. It's more inspirational than controllable."
Considering that the tune I did today was run through a dirty, old, crackling Realistic 42-2108 reverb unit that hisses and fuzzes and cuts in and out, this sounds perfect!
You ever consider doing any review/demos for some of your gear?

[@cameronleggett]

@@thedigitallost I'll prob'ly do some gear demos in the future. I'd like to have a couple camera angles though, and definitely stereo sound. The whole post production editing thing is a bit daunting though.