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WIREDRouting options are robust and intuitive. Pedals are tactile and easy to press. “Mode” switch customization is clutch. Touch screen makes setup a breeze.TIREDTracks can’t be stopped one-by-one, only muted. Linking inputs is awkward. Built-in FX are inflexible and chintzy. Pricey for what it is.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.
Photograph: Pete CottellThe 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.
Getting started without the manual is simple enough. Plug a microphone, guitar, synth, or whatever else you want to loop into one of the four inputs on the back. The clearly labeled track buttons on the top row dictate the virtual track you’re looping on.
By default, each input feeds each track, but you can change this in the routing options. Press the Record + Play button to start recording, at which point the halo around the rotary knob will turn red. Press that same button again to enter Overdub mode, which turns the halo orange. Press it one more time to stop overdubbing, and the halo turns green to indicate you’re in Play mode. Select another track and repeat until your power ballad about the stars or the ocean or whatever is ready.
Photograph: Pete CottellTo maximize the key powers of the Looper X, you’ll first need to learn a few terms and workflows. Looper X uses the term “loop” in a way that similar pedals may use “preset,” “song,” or “project.” So when it’s time to switch from “You Can Call Me Al” to “Collide,” you’ll click the Function button, select “load,” then choose the loop named “Collide.”
To understand how your loops behave, you’ll want to be well-versed in the settings, which you’ll find by pressing the small grid icon in the top-left corner of the screen. The default setting is Multi, which is allegedly Sheeran’s personal preference. In this setting, your first loop's length dictates the maximum length of other loops in your track. If your first loop is two bars, for example, then the next loop you record will immediately stop recording and enter playback mode after two bars.
In Sync mode, your first track serves as the primary, and the other tracks function in multiples or divisions of the primary. So, if I started with a two-bar loop as my primary, a subsequent track could host a double-length four-bar loop or a half-length one-bar loop, and so on.
The Song setting lets each track length work independently, and Band mode is a hybrid of Sync and Song. The final mode, Free, leaves all four tracks unsynced, which is fun if you’re inclined to crank up a ton of effects and drift into space with layered soundscapes rather than structured normie music.
Three main views are available to help you keep track of your looping: Track, Wave, and Mixer. Your preferred view can function as your home screen. Track displays the level of each track's loop and input in a vertical bar that changes colors based on its state. Wave is what I’d deem the most useful of the three views, showing a horizontal waveform and a scrolling indicator that follows each loop's progress in real time. The Mixer view is similar to Track, with buttons for “mute,” “solo,” and “FX” available for each track, as well as a vertical volume-trim slider for each. The mute and solo buttons both display a clickable symbol to add a backing track from the internal library, which you can fill up via file transfer using the USB-A connector and your computer or the SD card slot.
Akai offers a free file converter app that offers drag-and-drop functionality to make sure your loops and backing tracks fit the device’s required 16-bit 44.1 kHz WAV file specs. Anyone who’s spent hours tearing their hair out while praying their Roland looper or sampler accepts a given sample will appreciate this nice little bonus.
The customizable Mode is the most notable function, helping you navigate the device and tailor it to your exact needs, whether that includes the reverse feature, built-in tuner, the loop-multiply button, or otherwise. Using it, you can specify what the eight buttons do when you press the Mode pedal. The settings are saved per loop rather than globally, meaning each loop can have its own customized Mode with just one foot press.
Photograph: Pete CottellConsidering its size and cost, I expected the Looper X to have a raft of onboard effects in place of the various stompboxes I’d use in a more piecemeal looping arrangement. Each track can include its own “rack” of effects, with a variety of prebuilt racks for drums, vocals, guitars, and the like. A given rack has a series of virtual pedals laid out in a specific, unmovable order. Unfortunately, all the effects proved rudimentary, and I wouldn’t recommend relying on them, save for the occasional compressor or reverb unit on vocals or drums. You’re much better off with an outdated Line 6 Floor Pod you can find at any nearby Music Go Round or pawn shop for $100 or so. You’re looking at a minimum of $1,500 for the Looper X, plus whatever you need to get your rig gig-ready.
Also worth noting is that the built-in effects eat up an impressive amount of digital signal processing (DSP). The little central processing unit (CPU) gauge in the corner of the screen went haywire when I enabled all nine effects included in “Ed’s Rack.” Just one track hit 65 percent with each effect on. Another issue I take with the Looper X is its inability to stop tracks rather than mute them; it’s a baffling miss.
Photograph: Pete CottellBut does the good outweigh the bad here? Admittedly, many of my quibbles with the Looper X are minor. But the remarkable cost of this unit kept reminding me that I’m almost always better-served by a patchwork of gear I can coax into doing exactly what I want, no hacks needed.
If you’re willing to cooperate with the Looper X and buy into its worldview that includes a few technical demands, you’ll have a lovely time vibing out all by yourself. It has almost everything you need in one convenient, albeit hefty, pedalboard-shaped unit. The routing options are wonderful: it’s the easiest looper to use for interfacing with your computer and uploading backing tracks. The menus are thoughtful and easy to access via the beautiful touchscreen.
If you’re looking for a single unit to replace your mishmash of add-on effects and loopers to offer something sonically superior, you may want to consider an alternative. But if you want to build derpy pop songs from the ground up, just like Mr. Sheeran himself, then cough up $1,300, and you’ll be on your way.
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