Our recorder/looper with mic input, 3W output speaker, and battery power for portability is back with the following newness:
Now has six playback modes. It ships with three speed manipulation modes and three effects.
Playback / effect modes are customizable! Modes are coded in Pure Data. Users can create their own modes or upload modes shared with the community.
Looping continues during recording so you can build up layers of sound with just one Kaleidoloop.
Smaller form factor: just as fun, just as loud - but more portable.
USB-C Power
The new Kaleidoloop is perfect for all kinds of recording situations, exploration, and experimentation. Use it in the studio or on the go with battery power!
This animation from the original Kaleidoloop doesnât show the new features such as different playback modes, additional controls, or the ability to re-record the playback, but the spirit is the same!
Regarding whatâs stated in the manual and in quotes below, Iâm not clear about what is meant by âother powered instrumentsâ. Specifically, the C&G Microphone comes to mind, which seems like an ideal companion to Kaleidoloop for a lot of reasons⌠Is noise to be expected when plugging in âother instruments like synthesizers, mixers, electric guitarsâŚâ
"The included microphone receives a small amount of phantom power from the Kaleidoloop. This is important to know for two reasons:
The Microphone will only work with the Kaleidoloop.
If you connect other powered instruments to the input jack, this phantom power can introduce noise into your external instrumentâs audio.
That said, you can use this input jack to record audio from other instruments like synthesizers, mixers, electric guitarsâŚ"
Thanks for pointing this out, the manual is updated for clarity.
Basically the input is designed specifically for the included mic, and it is not a line input. It is a high gain input with small bias voltage, so you might get mixed results connecting other sources. But it does work well with the C&G powered mic.
Iâve been checking out the kaleidoloopâs version of mother.pd and the factory playback modes and I think this is absolutely possible, just replace the [waveplayer~] object in a given module with an [adc~] or add it in parallel. The only issue would be an increased potential for feedback between the mic and speaker.
Disclaimer: this would be for the âeffectâ modes like distortion + lowpass, reverb, and delay.
Thanks. This is super cool! I think it means we can actually turn this into 6 parallel effect box mix with input and its own loop and effect model. Just placed an order.
Hi, just wanted to see if I could get a little more clarity about what it sounds like to plug an instrument (a synthesizer, guitar, etc) into the input - âmixed resultsâ meaning usable, with awareness that itâs not pristine? I donât mind a little bit of noise and understand itâs a mic level input so line could distort etc, but can anyone who has owned the previous model shed some light on what the Kaleidoloop sounds like when plugging things into it? If there is noise or distortion, is it abrasive or âcharacterfulâ (understand all of these things are subjective)?
Only other question I couldnât figure out from the manual - when something is plugged in is there any way to monitor the signal? Appreciate any help, excited for the new one. Thanks!
Thatâs how I would describe it. Iâve plugged an electric guitar and some synths into mine (the new version, just arrived yesterday) and with proper gain staging you can get some pretty decent fidelity out of the input. The distortive qualities of the amp and adc are pleasing enough to my ears.
As of right now there isnât a method for directly monitoring the input, probably because it would cause the mic to feed back whenever the volume gets turned up. If youâre not going to use the mic, then you could easily add an [adc~] in parallel with [catch~ outL] in mother.pd. This would make overdubbing impossible, though (or at least a lot more finicky)
Is your electric guitar plugged directly into it? And when it is plugged in youâre not able to directly monitor it as well? Thatâs the functionality Iâd be looking for. Thanks!
Yeah, from the factory you canât directly monitor the input from the output. The mod to mother.pd I described would fix that though, basically turning the kaleidoloop into a minimalist desktop practice amp. It bears repeating though that this would disable overdubbing without further modifications to mother.pd
Thanks so much for the additional info! Very helpful. How did you listen to what you were recording with your guitars and synths? Were you monitoring them separately and running an aux signal or send to the Kaleidoloop? How did you figure out gain staging without monitoring, just trial and error? Just curious really, I can totally figure out ways to hear what Iâm doing while recording even without monitoring on the unit.
Ordered one of the new ones with the idea that it could serve as a more tweakable replacement for my little marantz tape field recorder, very much looking forward to messing with it!
I was running everything through a small mixer with the Kaleidoloop being fed by an aux send and running into its own channel, for gain staging I just made a bunch of small recordings to retroactively monitor. Def would recommend a mixer if youâre going for the highest fidelity possible, but donât sleep on the mic! It definitely adds a vibe and sounds pretty dang good.
I was wondering too - shipping and taxes from the US is too expensive so I thought about waiting for the Kaleidoloop to end up in a local music storeâŚ
Mine was $30 for shipping. Totally worth the investment. Time is money!! And when you can start building lo-fi jams on the fly, youâll forget about the cost of shippingâŚ
