Looping was once the domain of boundary-pushing rock musicians, and left audiences in awe. There's an enduring history of recording and layering riffs in a loop in this way, like Robert Fripp of King Crimson’s infinitely repeating tape dub ambiance, Ian Williams of Don Caballero’s dueling Akai Headrush pedals stacking knotty guitar lines against propulsive math rock, and Dave Knudson of Minus the Bear’s unorthodox use of multiple
Line 6 DL-4s as glitchy one-shot samplers. Not everyone is a visionary, but anyone can now buy a looper to build their own arrangements with ease.
Ed Sheeran has sold more than a reported 170 million records worldwide and could support a robust touring band. But the musician typically goes it alone while playing sold-out arenas across the US and abroad, bringing to life his deep catalog with little more than his own guitar, voice, and Looper X. A looper you, too, can get.
Looping is an incredibly personal art form that can bring a song to life in myriad ways. Each person’s idea for the best way to do it is disparate. A one-size-fits-all looper is a technical impossibility, though Sheeran’s $1,300 girthy hunk of plastic and metal makes a commendable effort at being just that.
Ready, Set, Record
The 16-pound Looper X is the flagship model in the Sheeran Loopers lineup, occupying a 13-by-22-inch footprint. It features an average-sized pedalboard with a sturdy plastic-and-metal chassis. The eight rubberized foot pedals are well-spaced in a four-by-two grid. Each pedal's slight upward-sloping angle allows you to easily click without worrying about accidentally bumping something else. A rotary push dial cycles through items in the menu, though you’ll probably use the handy touchscreen to drive the menu. Four gain knobs boost the signal from each of the four XLR-¼-inch hybrid input jacks on the back, and a pair of knobs control the volume going to the main and headphone outputs. There’s also a gain knob for the ⅛-inch auxiliary input, which is a simple throughput that does not route to any of the looper tracks—one of the frustrating quirks of this machine.
<small>Source: Wired</small>
