Loopers

Sampling at 48KHz, the III records for 8 minutes 46 seconds in mono. Sampling at 24KHz, the III records for 17 minutes 32 seconds in mono. Using the octave down function, the record time can be extended to 35 minutes. Stereo recording cuts all times in half. Serial Play Style - loops play one after the other like the Rang™ Plus Serial Master Play Style - In addition to playing loops one after the other, there is a cool type of sync in the Serial Play Style where two loops can play simultaneously. If loop 3 is recorded first, it will become the master loop, otherwise it's just another loop and there is no master. If loop three is master, it can play along with the other loops. So at one time you can play loops 1 & 3, 2 & 3, 4 & 3, but not 1 & 2, etc. Loops 1, 2 and 4 will be created so they are a multiple of the length of the master. For example, if master loop three is 4 seconds long, the other loops will be 4, 8, 12, 16... seconds long. - Here's the purpose. For serial style loopers it's nice to have a rhythmic background behind the melodic loops. Mute the strings and record a short "chika-chika" or beat on the sides of your acoustic axe. This rhythmic master loop can then play along with any other loop. Sync Play Style - all loops can play simultaneously and are synced so they stay together Free Play Style - all loops can play simultaneously and are NOT synced; this is great for creating ambient soundscapes 3 or 4 loops - your choice Stacking - "stacking" is adding a part to a loop Undo/Redo - the last part stacked can be muted, then played again or rerecorded Erase - loops can be erased one at a time or all at once; one loop can be erased while another plays Copy Loop - a loop can be copied whether it is playing or not Copy Live - this enables "re-sampling" and is very powerful; the pedal's output is routed to a new loop Octave - loop plays at half speed and an octave lower Reverse - loop plays backwards Once - loop plays one time through then stops or if already playing, it stops at its end Fade - loop fades in or out with one button press; fade time can be 3 to 43 seconds Reverse Solo - this is a built-in effect and enables you to create reverse leads live Two Sample Rates - 48KHz or 24KHz, both use 20 bit samples; through signal is always 48KHz / 24 bits Thru Mute Function - turns off through signal Expression Pedal Volume Control - plug in an expression pedal for foot control of playback volume Loop Playback Volume Knob - this is always available to set loop playback volume Decay Rate Knob - sets the rate at which earlier parts fade when new ones are added; continuously variable from 0-100% Stereo or Mono - recording and playback will be stereo or mono depending on which of the Smart Jacks you use Smart Jacks - the Rang™ III senses which jacks are being used and provides different signal routing options UTILIZATION This pedal is incredibly deep. DEEP. It does one thing - realtime phrase looping, and it does it better than anyone. With nearly 35 minutes of looping time, it can record most anything you can throw at it short of a whole gig. It can record up to 4 loops that can be played simultaneously, synced or unsynced. It can play in reverse on the fly, or an octave down (or octave up!). It can do stereo loops. This box is fantastic. SOUND QUALITY At 48k sampling, it pretty much spits out the exact sound it gets put into it. It does not color the tone at all. With a loop going, one can play leads over the top, or harmonies, or additional riffs. With more than one loop going, one can get really interesting ambient soundscapes. Since this pedal will do up to 4 different loops, one could record into it an intro, a verse, a chorus, and a bridge rhythm part, and then play higher melodies on top while cycling through the pre-recorded loops in song order. Cool! OVERALL OPINION This is bar none the best realtime phrase looper out there. The only competition for it in my mind is the older Boomerang II, and this improves on most of that pedal's functionality. The only think I wish the 'Rang III had is the volume rocker that the II has, but in leaving it out, the box has a much smaller footprint, which is handy in preserving pedalboard space. It's quite expensive, but it is the perfect tool for the job. I unabashedly love this product.

The Line 6 JM4 is a loop and delay foot pedal that is designed for use with any electronic instrument, and also has the capability to be used with a microphone. Since the pedal has an XLR input for a microphone you can use it for singing and do some pretty awesome overall. In addition to the XLR input, it also has a variety of 1/4 inch connections for inputs and outputs. It is a digital pedal that isn't rackable because it is a foot pedal. UTILIZATION Using the Line 6 JM4 for its basic features isn't too hard at all, but diving deeper will take some time simply because there is so much that you can do with this pedal. For starters, you have the parameters to control your tone including knobs for amp modeling, drive, bass, mid, treble, as well as effects like chorus, flanger, phaser, and tremolo and different types of delays like tape echo and sweep echo, which are two of my favorite modes found on the Line 6 DL4 delay pedal. In addition to these tone parameters, you then have all of the controls for recording and looping your sounds, which are in digital form and can take some time to understand everything that it going on, but is fairly simply to do basic recording and looping. The manual is helpful and is definitely worth having around if you are trying to learn everything about this pedal. SOUND QUALITY The sound quality of the Line 6 JM4 is pretty good overall. While it does sound good in terms of the recording and the playback as it won't color the tone too much other than how you set the parameters, the effects sounds like they are digitally processed, which of course they are. They aren't all that realistic, so I tend not to use them that much because I have other pedals that I can use if I want other effects, so I really only use this pedal for looping, recording, and storing. OVERALL OPINION If you are someone who loves to loop things and play around by playing over things you have prerecorded, this pedal is for you. The price is reasonable as it is about the same price of the other pedals in this line. While you get a taste of the looper on the DL4, this pedal has infinitely more capabilities in terms of the time that you can record and the amount of information that you can store. I love having the capability to record all of my ideas and play off of them within a single pedal as I find it great for coming up with ideas. While there are a bunch of similar types of pedals out there, the Line 6 JM4 is put together well and I would definitely recommend checking it out along with some of the other loopers out there on the market like the ones made by Digitech and Boss.

The DigiTech JamMan is a looper pedal designed for players who want to sample and loop parts over each other. It is a digital unit that provides a great deal of control over what you can do. While most people use it for guitar, in addition to 1/4 inch connections it has an XLR mic input as well for vocals. It also has a USB port and is powered by the power supply that comes with it. It isn't a rack mountable piece of gear as it is a foot pedal. UTILIZATION The configuration of the DigiTech JamMan isn't too hard to understand and figure out, although there are a lot of features available. The pedal has knobs for loop level, rhythm level, mic level, and instrument level, as well as a slew of buttons for various controls. It has two separate foot switches - one for recording and overdubbing and one for stop and tempo tapping. While this isn't the simplest pedal to use, its vast array of parameters make it a versatile pedal that contains a ton of great features. The manual for this pedal is thorough and is a good idea to have if you are new to this type of pedal. SOUND QUALITY The sound of the DigiTech JamMan is fine and suitable for what it does. It will portray your samples accurately and with the same sound quality that they are played at. I've used this pedal both with electric guitar and a microphone and I'm always happy with the way things turn out. While the direct and instrument inputs will record at a much higher quality than microphone, all of the recording possible with this pedal sounds pretty good. OVERALL OPINION I've only had the DigiTech JamMan for about six months, but I've been very happy with it since I've had it. I love recording and looping parts over each other as its not only a cool and interesting thing to do, but helps me to write and get ideas for songs. The price of the DigiTech JamMan isn't cheap, but if you are someone who loves to loop things and will use it a lot I believe its worth the price for the serious player. This is one of the best looping pedals I've seen and used out there as I like it better than the Boss looper. I highly recommended giving this pedal a try if you are big into guitar sampling and looping.

This is Digitech's smallest of their new line of JamMan Looper series pedals. You can record 35 minutes worth of mono CD quality loops over 99 presets. The upper models offer stereo. With an additional memory card you can store even more loops and presetes. It accepts the same standard SDHC memory cards as a camera or portable device. I bought this to help me practice some ideas. I record chord progressions and play ideas over them. It has really helped my creativity for soloing.I bought this new online for $200. <a href="Resource id #1">Resource id #1</a> I can connect this to my computer via a USB cable and edit my settings through the software that came with the pedal. The software is called JamManager JamMan library. It works with both PC and Mac computers. Also the unit came with a power supply. It will take some getting used to, to find where you put your loops and how to pull them up etc. The upper line of pedals is a bit more user-friendly, but for the price it's a cool pedal. Well built. Solid box, jacks, knobs and power. A great pedal to dive into the world of looping. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this at a clearance sale for Alans Music in Adelaide, Australia for only $600 - thats about 33% off. It is pricey after this discount but I would be skeptical over paying more for it. There is not a lot to offer other than the great 5.30 minutes of instantaneous repeat time. This is crazy. Its easy to use and will broaden any song ideas if you know how to use it properly. It has a microphone and guitar input. Soon I will be using it with another amplifier so that I can send a loop to one amp while playing lead through the second. This can be done on the one amp but the signals tend to clash and you get a mess. You can even plug ear-phones into this thing. A bonus feature is the 'reverse' button. It also has a tap timer and you can speed the tempo of your recorded tracks (11 slots available) without it getting warped. Its digital so there is no mucking around with tape. The greatest potential for this thing lies in the ability to plug a CD player into it - or your own samples made on the computer. Ive made sound effects that I can trigger easily. You have to pay a bit of money for a synth to hold this potential. Finally, you can layer track after track on this machine and if you follow a sensible, disciplined approach you can create lavish soundscapes that digital delays alone can not dream of. - Use this with a digital delay. Its potential is limited. BOSS could have made this far more interesting with an extra send/recieve loop for more options. The tap tempo should work on a dial instead of holding down a button. Im not sure if you can play over a running CD too. Rather the CD passage must be recorded onto one of the tracks. Needless to say, Boss has a fine reputation for its quality of construction. There seems to be no exception here on the surface. But I certainly wouldnt try dropping this thing knowing its nature. It has a 1.5 gigabyte chip in it. Dont drop it. In fact, I'll be making its own little case to cushion the bumps. It is so great because 5.30 minutes of repreat time is more than anyone could ask for. It is expensive for its limited functions and yet it seems to be the cheapest unit on the market for what it does. It serves well as a note pad to get down those ideas but go buy a proper digital recorder if this is all you intend to use it for. Personally, for me and my soundscapes, this is essential. You have to know how you are going to use it before you buy it because - that guy gave it such a good review. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I purchased this pedal at Spotts music store in Dubois Pa. for $499.00 Where do I begin? I love the 2 loops, You can lay down a rythym part, solo over it and then lay down a chorus on the second loop and solo somemore, and wait you can stack on each loop independantly.You can sound like a whole band and more just yourself I wish the loops were saveable, and the unit would hold them in programs, also I wish that recording loop (a) wouldn't also erase loop (b) Good solid construction, with five easy touch foot switches along with an easy roller volume control. No need to get that annoying guy from down the street, or that kid who's always bummin strings off you to play rythyms while you practice your leeds. This unit will do away with all those practice hours wasted on showing other people your licks. Throw down your own rythyms and rock on! This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The RC-20XL is a looping effect system. It only offers the capability of looping phrases/samples, no other effects are on board. This unit cannot be edited through a computer. It uses digital flash memory technology to store your samples and loops. The RC-20XL has 1/4" inputs and output for audio and pedal controls. It also offers an 1/8" input for audio as well. It is not rackable in any traditional sense. UTILIZATION Everything is accessible from the front face. There are several knobs for adjusting volume input/outpt and loop selection. Switching through loops is much easier live when using a separate foot switch (such as the FX-6). You also have all the options of what happens at the start and the end of your loops which can be edited using multi function buttons. Normally that is a pain but they made it a little easier by adding bright light indicators indicating what selection you are making. The manual is clear (which can't be said for most Roland manuals) and extremely helpful, especially if you want to learn how to use all the functions including auto fade, reverse and such. SOUND QUALITY I use this mainly with my acoustic guitar for solo singer songwriter sets. I also sometimes use it in my main electronic rig to loop noise samples on the fly. It is almost impossible to perfectly sync up with a steady beat like Ableton generates, so I use it on the noise samples as they don't require perfect sync to do whats intended. I feel like the sound is in fact colored a little as the mids and lows get a little muddy and the lowend gets a little cut. It works for live purposes for me as my solo acoustic sets are not played in large upscale venues. But I don't think I would bring it to a big gig, if I ever have one :) OVERALL OPINION What I like most about this unit is how quickly and easily I can start looping with it. All my other looping gear requires a lot of units turned on including a computer. With this little guy, I just plug in my guitar in one end, the amp in the other and I'm good to go. What I don't like is the fact that the sound quality does suffer. I also wish this thing had Midi sync. Despite the sound quality issue, I would use it a lot more if I could sync it with ableton. I also had the RC-50 for awhile but it suffered from a host of bugs and other issues that eventually caused me to sell it. I would buy this again seeing as I got it for 1/2 of what they sell for.

This pedal is the exact same pedal as the Boss DSD-2. The only thin that has changed in the number two is now three. What had happened back then was the price of the components of the circuitry chips lowered. Amazing because everything today increases in price. So the chips lowered and instead of dropping the price of the Boss DSd-2 they decided to make a new pedal that was the reincarnation called the Boss Dsd-3. They exact same pedal in every way. This one howevere was made for two years in stead of one for the previous model. UTILIZATION Specifications Controls: E.Level, F.Back, Delay Time, 4-way Mode switch Connectors: Input, Trig. In, Output, AC Adaptor Current Draw: 55 mA (DC 9V) Weight: 400g/0.88 lbs. Input Impedance: 1Mohm Residual Noise Level: -95dBm (IHF-A) Effect -100dBm or less (IHF-A) Direct Recommended Load Impedance: 10kOhm or greater Delay Time: 50 to 200ms in S Mode, 200 to 800ms in L mode PCM System: 12-bit plus analog logarithm compression Sampling mode: Frequency Response: Sample/Delay 40Hz to 7kHz (+1/-3 dB), Direct 10Hz to 60kHz (+1/-3 dB) Recommended AC Adaptor: PSA Series SOUND QUALITY gain this is the exact same sounding and functioning pedal as the Boss DSD-2.There are two delays setting in this pedal S mode did small delay repeats from about 50 to 200 ms. Where the L mode did repeats from 200 to 800 ms. The pedal does sound good if you like the Boss DD-2. This would be one of Boss's most famous pedals and best digital delay to date. These two pedals shared the same internal circuitry chip which gives them the same basic tone for the delays. So if you are a fan as I am of the Boss DD-2 then you would like this pedal. If you don't want to spend the money on a Boss DD-2 which fetch more money that these pedals then you can go for this one is you are using the basic delay functions. OVERALL OPINION These pedals were only around for about one year. You can still find them in the classifieds and on ebay all day long. They usually fetch about $120 to $130. Which is about $10 more for than the previous model. I would recommend this to anyone who wants the tone of a Boss DD_2 and also the looper function. Its a good pedal fro someone who likes recording live and playing over that recorded riff.

This is one of the first mutli looper delay pedals from Boss. This pedal would allow you to record multiple samples and play over them with the delay function. this pedal was made only for one year and though they did make a lot of them they just didn't catch on. They seem to be a bit confusing to people as there was a lot of modes and functions written on the front and just wasn't a plug and play item. You really had to go over the manual and understand how this pedal worked and what all the functions meant and how they could be used in a live setting. UTILIZATION Specifications Controls: E.Level, F.Back, Delay Time, 4-way Mode switch Connectors: Input, Trig. In, Output, AC Adaptor Current Draw: 55 mA (DC 9V) Delay Time: 50 to 200ms in S Mode, 200 to 800ms in L mode PCM System: 12-bit plus analog logarithm compression Sampling mode: Frequency Response: Sample/Delay 40Hz to 7kHz (+1/-3 dB), Direct 10Hz to 60kHz (+1/-3 dB) Recommended AC Adaptor: PSA Series SOUND QUALITY There are two delays setting in this pedal S mode did small delay repeats from about 50 to 200 ms. Where the L mode did repeats from 200 to 800 ms. The pedal does sound good if you like the Boss DD-2. This would be one of Boss's most famous pedals and best digital delay to date. These two pedals shared the same internal circuitry chip which gives them the same basic tone for the delays. So if you are a fan as I am of the Boss DD-2 then you would like this pedal. If you don't want to spend the money on a Boss DD-2 which fetch more money that these pedals then you can go for this one is you are using the basic delay functions. OVERALL OPINION These pedals were only around for about one year. You can still find them in the classifieds and on ebay all day long. They usually fetch about $110 to $120. Some for more if they can get it but the average is right around there. I would recommend this to anyone who wants the tone of a Boss DD_2 and also the looper function. Its a good pedal fro someone who likes recording live and playing over that recorded riff.

Zvez is a boutique pedal builder who builds some great pedals with funky paint jobs. The LoFi Loop Junky is an analog looper or recorder pedal. I like to refer to these types of pedals as phrase samplers since some people confuse them with true bypass loopers. The pedal allows up to 20 seconds of recording, the ability to stop/start, the ability to adjust the volume, the tone, depth and even the speed. UTILIZATION It's kinda hard to judge this pedal in terms of utilization. In one sense, it's not nearly as versatile as a Boomerang or other phrase sampler out there, but it's not exactly meant to be. This is meant to be a lo-fi analog audio looper filled with all that nitty gritty-ness that occurs with the lower fidelity stuff. There are no frills to this pedal like some other loopers have -- it's a standard looper that any idiot could use without reading a manual. In a sense, Zvex created exactly what he set out to create. SOUND QUALITY The sound is what separates this pedal from most other pedals out there. For one, it sounds like an analog sound instead of a digital sound. There's some natural compression that occurs when you record with this, and it's much more musical than other loopers out there. The extra tone and speed features really help make this a unique pedal, too. You can record a riff, speed it up like crazy and create all kinds of weird sound effects. Zvex effects are probably the best "noise" making devices on the market. OVERALL OPINION If you're looking for a crystal clean looper with tons of play time, lots of features and layering capabilities, look elsewhere. This pedal is meant to do one thing -- create a musically rich loop that's played back with some natural compression. He also threw in a few tone shaping knobs to help get that unique sound you're looking for. How usable this pedal is depends entirely on what you're looking for, but considering how unique this pedal is, I think there could be a spot for it on anybody's pedal board.

This is a sampler/looper with three seperate looping channels. It is completely digital. There is a lot of editing options for this thing (i.e. individual phrase volume, tempo, reverse options, etc.) and you can hook it up to a computer, but you only do that to add audio files on to the device ( I am not sure if you can use it to control playback and recording of loops on the computer for I do not use a computer in my rig). This thing has 1/4&quot; inputs/outputs for audio and expression, one XLR with phantom power, miniplug input, Midi in and out, and USB. It is not rackable, as well as it shouldn't be, its a floor pedal. UTILIZATION I opened it up and started looping right away, but there are quite a few options to this thing so I would say you should study the manual to use its full potential. The playback sound is great and there are a lot of knobs for real time tweaking which makes it pretty user friendly. The manual is actually pretty good for a Roland manual. I have had bad experiences with their manuals in the past (i.e. VS 1880). SOUND QUALITY As a hardware, stand alone looper, this thing is great. I use it for quick ideas and also for live looping. I run this after my multi synth/alt. vocals mixer and it reproduces everything very well. The nice thing is you can set it up so that every new loop coming in is slightly quieter than it was when you were recording it. This reduces the volume increase that usually happens after every additional loop. OVERALL OPINION I have had this for two years and it has been a great tool for writing, live looping and just having creative fun. I love having three seperate looping channels. You can run them together, or set it up so you get one going, then switch to the other loop. What I absolutely hate is the restricting time measures. Sometimes I right in crazy time signatures like 29/4 (I know that might sound weird, but its true) and I don't expect it to have that measure built in, but having a 1/4 time measure would solve the problem. The lowest you can go is 2/4. I know you can count in half time and record that way, but why wouldn't they have a 1/4 time sig. It seems like so little to expect. Also, if you sample something at a certain volume and need it louder, you CAN increase the volume with the individual phrase volume knobs, but then everything you record on top of it gets increased also. They should have solved this by letting you resample a loop at a higher volume, saving it, and having that be your set volume. That would have saved me a lot of frustration because when I right a loop in Ableton Live 7, I don't know what the volume out put will be until I disconnect it from the computer and play it through an amp. It turns out to be a long and arduous guessing game. If these two things weren't the case, this would be the most amazing hardware sampler ever.