Calling all loopers

I got a mail the other day from someone who was looking to duplicate the kind of long, fed-back tape delays that Pauline Oliveros used in “II of IV”. I
initially suggested a Max/MSP program, or perhaps Supercollider, but, as he put it, “I use a computer as something to write on”, and I can understand that.

So, has anyone got a good hardware-based suggestion? Apparently good two-track reel-to-reel tape recorders are hard to come by nowadays, so what he’d be looking for is a setup which mimicks the following:

  1. recorder 1 gets input on channel 1; this is monitored and fed back to channel 2 (resulting in a short delay determined by the distance between record and playback heads)
  2. the tape runs across a gap (TBD by the performer) to a second deck
  3. Channel 1 on this machine is fed back to channel one on the first machine
  4. both channels on machine 2 are monitored and amplified to produce what the audience hears

So I think we’re looking at a long-interval multitap delay, with some clever wiring to feed back parts of the delayed signal. I’ve suggested a couple of
software solutions, but Real Hardware seems to be indicated. Any takers out there?

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