Help Me Glitch with Midi Loops

GreedySpark

I like to record a few live loops then "DJ" them, by applying various glitch effects, delays, reverbs etc. Currently, I use apps like Looperator and Turnado, which apply these effects in a rythmic, but pre-programmed manner.

The new midi looping, especially the quantization, has me thinking that I could "play" the rythmic glitchy effects into a midi loop and that loop would trigger effects in a rythmic way. For example, I could play a pattern on midi controller strike pad, and that could apply a ducking effect to certain audio loops.

So...I'm hoping for a bit of help brainstorming before I get too far down the rabbit hole. A couple of questions:

1) Since these effects need to trigger rapidly, am I better off having the midi note trigger the effect on/off, or am I better off having the note adjust a parameter within the effect (e.g. turning dry/wet mix to 100%)?

2) Besides compressor ducking, can you think of any cool glitchy effects I could do with this concept?

3) Would it be possible to use Loopy's reverse feature on individual loops using such a setup, to make a split second of the loop play in reverse?

RetroNewb

Looperator & Effectrix can both be played by triggering different patterns manually ,
(with buttons via midi notes )
if synced to host the patterns will be switched at the continuing part of the loop ,
if not synced to host they will retrigger from the start of the newly switched pattern .
Either method allows realtime glitching of your loops .

Turnado is different & more complicated to explain as different control methods are possible per preset & per effect , but I would argue it is less “preprogrammed” than Looperator .
Ironically it is more designed for realtime playing but also more difficult to control if repeatability is required ,
partly because turning knobs gives different values & therefore different outcomes each time .

So one strategy I am investigating , which would also fit your proposed workflow is that by using buttons at set values you can achieve more predictable results -
there is a further complication with the Loopers that to trigger them , even using LFO/ENV , that the knob must
increase past a positive value (say 10) to be on , but to empty the buffer it must be turned off -
using a button set to a fixed value also solves this .
So you could e.g set 4 buttons to different values with the same PitchLooper & play glitching between them.
Still working on this myself , not sure how note offs affect things yet ,
just quickly sharing thoughts .

wim

@GreedySpark said:
I like to record a few live loops then "DJ" them, by applying various glitch effects, delays, reverbs etc. Currently, I use apps like Looperator and Turnado, which apply these effects in a rythmic, but pre-programmed manner.

The new midi looping, especially the quantization, has me thinking that I could "play" the rythmic glitchy effects into a midi loop and that loop would trigger effects in a rythmic way. For example, I could play a pattern on midi controller strike pad, and that could apply a ducking effect to certain audio loops.

So...I'm hoping for a bit of help brainstorming before I get too far down the rabbit hole. A couple of questions:

1) Since these effects need to trigger rapidly, am I better off having the midi note trigger the effect on/off, or am I better off having the note adjust a parameter within the effect (e.g. turning dry/wet mix to 100%)?

If you put the FX on a send, then you can mute and unmute the send. That should be instantaneous and should avoid most glitches that might happen by triggering the FX on and off. But the best approach really depends on the FX being used, and experimentation will be needed.

2) Besides compressor ducking, can you think of any cool glitchy effects I could do with this concept?

That's a hard question to answer in a few words. There are so many FX that you could use. A really simple and cost effective place to start would be Koala FX.

3) Would it be possible to use Loopy's reverse feature on individual loops using such a setup, to make a split second of the loop play in reverse?

Yes, definitely. You can create a button that would reverse the loop, then reset it at any time. You can also muck about with the playhead position, slow down, speed up, etc. Once you have your widgets set up, you can midi learn them to be activated by a hardware controller if you like.

wim

You mention glitching with midi loops. That also brings to mind the excellent, though somewhat steep to learn, GlitchStep. GlitchCore is also great for audio madness.

GreedySpark

@wim said:
You mention glitching with midi loops. That also brings to mind the excellent, though somewhat steep to learn, GlitchStep. GlitchCore is also great for audio madness.

Ah yes, I've enjoyed GlitchCore. Maybe it's time to give GlitchStep a try.

GreedySpark

@wim said:

@GreedySpark said:
I like to record a few live loops then "DJ" them, by applying various glitch effects, delays, reverbs etc. Currently, I use apps like Looperator and Turnado, which apply these effects in a rythmic, but pre-programmed manner.

The new midi looping, especially the quantization, has me thinking that I could "play" the rythmic glitchy effects into a midi loop and that loop would trigger effects in a rythmic way. For example, I could play a pattern on midi controller strike pad, and that could apply a ducking effect to certain audio loops.

So...I'm hoping for a bit of help brainstorming before I get too far down the rabbit hole. A couple of questions:

1) Since these effects need to trigger rapidly, am I better off having the midi note trigger the effect on/off, or am I better off having the note adjust a parameter within the effect (e.g. turning dry/wet mix to 100%)?

If you put the FX on a send, then you can mute and unmute the send. That should be instantaneous and should avoid most glitches that might happen by triggering the FX on and off. But the best approach really depends on the FX being used, and experimentation will be needed.

2) Besides compressor ducking, can you think of any cool glitchy effects I could do with this concept?

That's a hard question to answer in a few words. There are so many FX that you could use. A really simple and cost effective place to start would be Koala FX.

3) Would it be possible to use Loopy's reverse feature on individual loops using such a setup, to make a split second of the loop play in reverse?

Yes, definitely. You can create a button that would reverse the loop, then reset it at any time. You can also muck about with the playhead position, slow down, speed up, etc. Once you have your widgets set up, you can midi learn them to be activated by a hardware controller if you like.

Good point on muting/unmuting sends, that definitely seems like a more reliable approach than toggling the effect on/off. This wouldn't have been a practical approach a few weeks ago, but now with the 2.0 update bus-to-bus routing, this will work!

GreedySpark

@RetroNewb said:
Looperator & Effectrix can both be played by triggering different patterns manually ,
(with buttons via midi notes )
if synced to host the patterns will be switched at the continuing part of the loop ,
if not synced to host they will retrigger from the start of the newly switched pattern .
Either method allows realtime glitching of your loops .

Turnado is different & more complicated to explain as different control methods are possible per preset & per effect , but I would argue it is less “preprogrammed” than Looperator .
Ironically it is more designed for realtime playing but also more difficult to control if repeatability is required ,
partly because turning knobs gives different values & therefore different outcomes each time .

So one strategy I am investigating , which would also fit your proposed workflow is that by using buttons at set values you can achieve more predictable results -
there is a further complication with the Loopers that to trigger them , even using LFO/ENV , that the knob must
increase past a positive value (say 10) to be on , but to empty the buffer it must be turned off -
using a button set to a fixed value also solves this .
So you could e.g set 4 buttons to different values with the same PitchLooper & play glitching between them.
Still working on this myself , not sure how note offs affect things yet ,
just quickly sharing thoughts .

Interesting. I do currently have a button grid setup in LoopyPro to switch presets in Looperator. Is that what you're referring to? I guess I was looking to apply a momentary effect with each button press (e.g. a single glitch) as opposed to triggering a specific pattern of effects that applies to the whole loop.

Agreed that it's difficult to recreate interesting Turnado effects when you discover a fun combination. Now that I'm thinking about it, the new automation feature in the 2.0 update could help with this. So you could drag around the XY pads in a rhythmic fashion to get desired glitchiness, and then record those movements as an automation loop. If you want to revisit that effects combination, the automation loop would get you there.

espiegel123

You might want to check out Tim from the border’s loopy projects on patchstorage:

https://patchstorage.com/platform/loopy-pro/?search_query=Tim&tax_platform=loopy-pro&tax_post_tag=&orderby=modified&wpas_id=search_form&wpas_submit=1

RetroNewb

@GreedySpark said:

Interesting. I do currently have a button grid setup in LoopyPro to switch presets in Looperator. Is that what you're referring to? I guess I was looking to apply a momentary effect with each button press (e.g. a single glitch) as opposed to triggering a specific pattern of effects that applies to the whole loop.

>

yes ,switching presets with button grid . Looperator is designed for quick switching (with remote list ) ,
Make an empty pattern to default back to if you don’t want continuous glitching ,
but you can quickly switch between different patterns to “play the fx” in realtime .
Effectrix is also designed like this but with built in 12 midinote triggered patterns per preset .
So make a set of patterns with differently timed fx e.g (1/4, 1/8,1/16,1/32) & switch between them as you like .