zvex lo-fi looper

[adelphi710]

im really interested in the zvex lo-fi looper. i'm just curious though, are there any mods that can make it a hi-fi looper, so that the loop sounds just like the original tone of your amp?

[whoismarykelly]

That would defeat the purpose. The lo-fi component is designed in, its not a flaw in the design that has been marketed. If you want high quality looping get an RC20 or a Boomerang, they offer a lot more features and better preserved sound quality.

[adelphi710]

i just really dig the ptp wiring of the zvex and it's analog design over the digital boss and boomerang loopers. i can't imagine swapping the lo-fi component for hi-fi component would sound worse than something digital. i'll of the digital loopers seem to loose any life and become thinner and more brittle. thanks for the reply!

[whoismarykelly]

None of the ZVEX stuff is point to point, if youre referring to the way menatone makes pedals. All the ZVex stuff is PCB. The thing is this - analog is low fidelity. Listen to an analog delay compared to a digital delay, the fidelity is much lower and the noise levels are higher. When you say "replace the lo-fi component" that would be replacing the whole looper. It isnt one chip that makes the pedal lo-fi, its the entire design of the pedal. Additionally, a "hi-fi" component would be digital, not analog. Finally, the ZVex isn't in the same league as the full-featured loopers on the market. It doesn't allow overdubs, it only records 20 seconds, and it doesnt have many of the functions of other loopers. Basically, if you want looping you have to deal with the little tics of the pedals on the looping market. Theyre all on all the time and they all compress signal to some extent because theyre recording to a chip or a little flash drive. The Lo-fi compresses just like the others. The compression is just covered up by the low fidelity recording quality.

[drolling]

Originally Posted by adelphi710

i just really dig the ptp wiring of the zvex and it's analog design over the digital boss and boomerang loopers. i can't imagine swapping the lo-fi component for hi-fi component would sound worse than something digital. i'll of the digital loopers seem to loose any life and become thinner and more brittle. thanks for the reply!

At 20 seconds of loop time, the lo-fi Junky's definitely a digital looper. Longest analogue delays on the market clock in at about 1 second.. Zak's just added some alogue filtering to *funkify* the sound. I can get a similar effect by running my BoSS looper station thru' some distortion & modulation effects...

[malabarmusic]

Originally Posted by drolling

At 20 seconds of loop time, the lo-fi Junky's definitely a digital looper. Longest analogue delays on the market clock in at about 1 second.. Zak's just added some alogue filtering to *funkify* the sound. ...

The designer would seem to disagree. Samples from Zack's website:

Has real clocked-analog recording with no analog-to-digital conversion.

Has hiss! Lots of it! It’s analog, remember, with no noise-reduction, and it’s lo-fi. 8^)

I’ve always been bothered by digital loopers.

That’s because it uses really bizarre technology that literally crams analog signals into static digital storage cells without a-to-d conversion. That’s right… THERE IS NO ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERSION. It’s pure analog storage, just like the old bucket-brigade technology, for 20 seconds straight.

http://www.zvex.com/junky.html for the full details.

- DB

[g-nem]

Zaach used something like the ISD1420P Voice Record and Playback IC (20sec), which I think IS analog, as zach claims, but I don't understand how that is since it still uses sampling. Regardless, it is really a unique way to do looping, and zach as always did a very tasty job putting it together and giving it the functionality it has. It is a drag it won't do sound on sound, as well as reverse, but that is the nature of the chip.

DON'T but it if you want a hifi looper- that's not what it is- but do buy it if you want a different kind of creative tool.

And watch zachs video demo on his site- way cool!

[Funky Monkey]

I've got a new RC-2. And though it has been on my list a lot longer, I will eventually get a Loop Junky...and most of the presets of my RC-2 will be Loop-Junky generated loops. Nothing else currently available can give the cool lo-fi sound that the Loop Junky does. Just fantastic to me. And its memory limitations will be remedied by combining it with the RC-2. Not a big deal to me as soon as I'm able to pay to have both.
I think it is silly to want to alter the Loop Junky's fidelity in any way. It is perfect to me as-is.

[yeahyeahyeah]

Originally Posted by drolling

At 20 seconds of loop time, the lo-fi Junky's definitely a digital looper. Longest analogue delays on the market clock in at about 1 second.. Zak's just added some alogue filtering to *funkify* the sound. I can get a similar effect by running my BoSS looper station thru' some distortion & modulation effects...

I've looked into building my own analog "lo-fi" looper but never got around to it because it is very complex. But i've done enough research to know that there are some analog chips that can record up to a full minute.

[drolling]

Originally Posted by malabarmusic

The designer would seem to disagree. Samples from Zack's website:

Has real clocked-analog recording with no analog-to-digital conversion.

Has hiss! Lots of it! It’s analog, remember, with no noise-reduction, and it’s lo-fi. 8^)

I’ve always been bothered by digital loopers.

That’s because it uses really bizarre technology that literally crams analog signals into static digital storage cells without a-to-d conversion. That’s right… THERE IS NO ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERSION. It’s pure analog storage, just like the old bucket-brigade technology, for 20 seconds straight.

http://www.zvex.com/junky.html for the full details.

- DB

Originally Posted by yeahyeahyeah

I've looked into building my own analog "lo-fi" looper but never got around to it because it is very complex. But i've done enough research to know that there are some analog chips that can record up to a full minute.

OOOOO-WEEEE!! I stan' Keeereckted!

Just listened to those clips & I don't think I could quite nail those "lo-fi" tones w/a regular looper & a chorus pedal.. gonna give it a shot, tho'..

I'm thinkin' there may be some ZVex in my future

[Teahead]

Originally Posted by drolling

OOOOO-WEEEE!! I stan' Keeereckted!

Just listened to those clips & I don't think I could quite nail those "lo-fi" tones w/a regular looper & a chorus pedal.. gonna give it a shot, tho'..

I'm thinkin' there may be some ZVex in my future

If I recall correctly, you're actually right, in a sense.

Zach mentioned on HC, where the search function is disabled, that the Loop Junky uses some kind of answer-phone recording chip and while there's no a/d conversion, it is somehow digital.

Hopefully he'll drop in here to explain it properly.

EDIT... Perhaps most importantly, the Loop Junky sounds warmer, fuller and more distinctive than any other looper I've used. Forget all the limitations, it's a wonderful tool that forces you to treat the loops as throwaway samples which you have to erase and reproduce at will.

[drolling]

Originally Posted by Teahead

it's a wonderful tool that forces you to treat the loops as throwaway samples which you have to erase and reproduce at will.

Hey, all this "non-volatile" memory's a relatively new thang to me - I cut my teeth looping on an 8 second sampler that dumped everything on powerdown.. Also had no way to determine the loop start/stop point, either! And altho' it was digital, the sound quality was very lo-fi by today's standards..

But, I still use it to this day!

In fact the original Lexicon JamMan & the 'Rang+ don't save loops, but I still use 'em AND like 'em both better than the new ones w/all that storage capacity.

[The Everlove]

Originally Posted by Teahead

If I recall correctly, you're actually right, in a sense.

Zach mentioned on HC, where the search function is disabled.

yeah, what a bummer. that whole "no search" crap is killing me!

[adelphi710]

yeah, its so much easier to search the HC classifieds than to "finger" through each page