Decay for overdubs

Is it possible to implement overdubs decay? So once you made an overdub, some kind of Fade out it’s applied according to the setted Decay Value. This is one amazing feature that could take the aeros to another level.

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The infinity had a ‘loop aging’ feature that would allow loops to fade out gradually with each play through. Is that what you mean? Because that would be cool.

At this point, for soundscapes, some sort of fadeout when pressing stop would be great… currently, the suggestion is to manually fade out with the wheel.

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That’s is exactly what I meant :slight_smile:

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@sharifkerbage do you mean that each new overdub would make the previous overdubs fade in volume by a set amount? This would include the original ‘base track’ recording, correct?

What do you think should be the range of decay? A volume percentage? Like if I choose 20% then a new overdub will make all previous recorded layers turn down in volume by 20%?

Exactly!

Eitherway would be fine! because i’m thinking it more of the overdubbed track as a layer from another track, so… once all overdubs finished fading, it is only gonna be the last overdub in that track.

Yes, but with the possibility of reaching 100%. The most crucial thing is the decay rate itself, how much time it gets to the overdub to reach that selected volume porcentage decay :thinking:.
Would be nice having the control over this rate.

@sharifkerbage so if the setting was 100%, as soon as you finish overdubbing, the previous layer is completely silent?

No, more like a gradual thing.
Suggestion: Having 2 setting, Decay (%) and Rate (this’d be on ms, or also a quantized per number of Loops until it reach the desired Decay).
So, if you choose Decay at 100% and Rate on 3 Loops, the entire track (except the last overdub) will reach 100% of decay when the current track played 3 times.
Tell me if all this make sense

Hi :slight_smile: I think that the decay could only occur once a new overdub or track is recorded. Each time there’s a new overdub, the previous track (base track) volume is reduced by a slight amount (in my case that would be helpful especially to avoid clipping due to many layers)
But the idea to set this decay on a specific number of loop could be cool also (as long as it can be infinite number of loops)
cheers!

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@DavidPackouz Fading overdubs is a hot feature. It behaves likes the feedback parameter on a delay, but here applied on a loop.

Now, this fading overdubs are “destructive” as far as I understand this feature on other loopers. It means that as long as you record on overdub mode, you will hear the earlier passes fading away (or not, depending on the decay parameter - 0% to 100%) and once you leave the overdub mode, the audio is frozen in one single file. If there were 3 overdubs and decay was set to 50%, that frozen file would be made of 100% of last pass, 50% previous one and 25% of the first pass.

When you play back the loop again (Play mode) the looper would play back the frozen 100%/50%/25% mix - not the building up history. This is why I refer to this process as destructive.

Now you hear me coming. IT WOULD BE AWESOME IF EACH PASS WAS SAVED AS AN INDIVIDUAL AUDIO FILE - for archival purposes and subsequent tweaks in a DAW for a studio release for example.

This would allow a DAW to reconstruct the whole “history” of the recording-in-progress, if one ever needs too.

Because fading looping decays are fantastic, but even more so, when you can hear them building up from the start.

Now, if you find a way for the Areos to allow that build-up too, it would be awesome, but I think maybe unnecessary for most musicians. And will probably give the Aeros a hard time, exceeding the number of files the CPU is able to deal simultaneously. That is why I am suggesting the archive mode.

But I can definitely see myself, pulling out the archived passes in my DAW in order to keep on working on a song, for a studio album release.

This would be actually a killer feature compared to the competition.

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I thought about this more in terms of Live Performances. Would be another way to overdub, without freezing them. The overdubs added this way fade out until they are gone.
So, if the Overdub Decay is set to 0% (no fade out), the overdub is gonna stay as it is now.
I don’t know if this could be set by Track, on the mixer screen maybe.
I understand this is a really tough feature to add.

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Control over feedback is very useful from a practical as well as artistic standpoint. The Electrix Repeater handled this well, with both a default feedback (94%) that ensured successive overdubs wouldn’t overload, and the ability to set feedback anywhere from 0% to 100% via knob or MIDI.

The Electrix implementation applies a straight multiple to the existing audio after the first pass: your initial audio is recorded at 100%, then when the second pass starts (when you return to the loop start point in overdub mode), your incoming signal is recorded at 100% mixed with the existing audio at 94%. The third pass continues to layer incoming audio at 100%, with the first pass at (94% * 94%) and second pass at 94%, etc. This seems like a fundamental prerequisite for any sort of overdubbing, otherwise the audio will overload after just a pass or two.

I enjoy using 60% to 70% to do layered and evolving textures, or continual melody/harmony passes. If I get it right I can return to the primary melodic figure every 3rd or 4th pass through to reinforce it, then spend the other passes making clouds of harmony around it.

The only disadvantage to the Electrix implementation is that the existing audio volume immediately drops at the loop start point, which isn’t so noticeable at 94% but is at 60%. Adjusting the source volume to swell in and out works when ambient. I love the idea of an adjustable ramp down in playing volume triggered at the loop start point - even 500ms would make it less abrupt. But not sure how practical that would be and haven’t thought out the implications of changing feedback of the recorded audio versus playback volume.

Your code might also address the desire to “punch in” on loops to replace existing material (feedback to 0% could wipe the existing audio and replace with the incoming signal). Depending on how you structure this you might be able to hit two feature requests at once.

The Electrix implementation worked slightly differently in that they distinguished between playing volume and feedback volume - overdubbing at feedback 0% would still play the existing audio, but would replace it in the loop so you would hear the new audio on the next pass through. In contrast, punching in in non-overdub mode would mute the existing audio, so you’d only hear the incoming signal. More at the top of page 20 in this manual:

http://www.florian-anwander.de/electrix_repeater/repeateruserman.pdf

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I’d love to see this functionality as well. Maybe you could just have to option to set a decay on the second track and define the amount beforehand or by holding a button and turning the wheel on the side.

The Ditto and Infinity 2 have this functionality and it was a key part in my performance. I was surprised to not see it on this pedal.

Has this feature been implemented in the meantime or is it planned to be implemented? I’m thinking about buying a looper this week and while the aeros looper is my favorite in almost all regards, not having decay for overdubs is holding me back at this point.

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I second third and fourth the suggestion!! It boggles my mind that anybody would make a looper without a loop decay function, but I guess there are lots of different ways that people use these things. I never just want to set a groove and jam over it, I want a constantly evolving soundscape, and that can’t happen Unless the loops underneath fadeaway as you add new loops. Just think of it as a delay pedal but with a very long cycle.

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That and boggles my mind how something so advanced didn’t have midi implementation and reverse / speed options right from the beginning like most brand loopers do. :frowning: still waiting on all of this.

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Another way to do it is set a number from 0-9. 0 is no decay

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Not that it means much but … +1 on decaying overdubs. Like my old boomerang used to do. Slowly bury the volume of older overdubs as I add new ones to a track. I could see locking a one bar rhythm track, building up Parts A and B and having a Part C for organic soundscape where the overdubs fade out basically allowing me improvise into something else and eventually go back to Parts A and B. Basically my strange version of a grateful dead jam.

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I also want to request these features. Decay time on a loop is wonderful and is a real miss on this device. Also missing other key features like in the midi area, reverse and speed. These are all items you should really see if they could at all be added please.

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I think at this point we’re all just dreaming… people been asking about decay, reverse and speed options since this device came out and not one has made it into aeros 1 1/2 years or so later which is strange since those features are ones majority of people use in loopers… so I am thinking they can’t do it for some reason. However new midi implementation should be coming next hopefully sometime probably in june as I figured. If I get that then It’ll be worth keeping for me. I still want decay and reverse/speed options but i can do that in my zoia loopers or helix looper and run them into aeros. It’s baffling that it’s not in a now $700 aeros looper already though.

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I hope they find a way - it would really make this looper meet all the needs and keep it in one box. Crossing fingers .

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