An analog tape looping technique introduced to guitarist Robert Fripp by Brian Eno. Used extensively in improvisations by Fripp in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Culminated in the masterful "Let the Power Fall."

While a production manager at a college radio station, I often hosted local talent making random noises rather than bothering to spin records. This was the best way to kill time on the grueling 2-6 AM shifts.

The way we achieved Frippertronics was to use two reel-to-reel decks, running the tape through the air from one to the other. Running at 7.5 ips, we got about a 20 second delay feeding back the playback. Pop that through an SPX-90 effects processor, popping a nice fifth down/fourth up pitch shift into the feedback, play a kazoo with lots of distortion and reverb into it, and you've got a nice way to kill several hours of radio time.

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