Free The Tone Releases the Motion Loop

February 1, 2021 · 5 sources

Free The Tone announced the Motion Loop, a pitch shiftable short looper pedal that the maker describes as a "PITCH SHIFTABLE SHORT LOOPER"¹. Guitar.com called it "a unique take on the loop pedal format," and reported that the pedal lists for $350².

Unlike a conventional looper, the Motion Loop samples a brief section of your performance and loops and manipulates it in real time, applying effects such as pitch shift, delay and filter to the looped sample⁵. Delicious Audio found that its real-time processing lets the pedal be handled like a musical instrument, and that random processing of sampled waveforms can create accidental sounds⁵. The pedal is digital, loaded with what Guitar.com called "a powerful DSP allowing for much stranger sounds than normal loopers allow"².

Its main features as announced:

• Pitch shift of up to two octaves up or down, with a portamento function that creates a glissando effect (the sample's speed changes with it, so there is no time stretching)⁵
• Delay with subdivisions, filter (hi-pass and lo-pass), reverse playback, and an Envelop effect that shapes the loop's attack⁵
• Reverse and Retrigger functions for the loops³
• A Random function that makes repeats skip randomly between different sections of the loop, creating unexpected textures⁵
• 128 user presets alongside 35 factory presets, including a "simple loop" preset that repeats a small section of your playing indefinitely to play over²
• An expression pedal input for controlling any one parameter hands-free²

The loop can be retriggered by footswitch or automatically by a detected attack, so every new string attack restarts it. In Manual mode the pedal works much like a delay, with the loop's length matching the rate set by the Rate knob, while the Level function sets how fast the loop fades out at negative settings, holds steady volume at zero, or gradually increases in volume at positive settings⁵.

Guitar Pedal X highlighted the pedal's stereo support, with TRS cable support on the single input and full L/R stereo output, and noted that the right-hand footswitch alternates between two presets. The site's writer characterized it as "very much a Micro-Looper style of pedal with extended Parameter control," and said it reminded him of a cross between a DigiTech Whammy Ricochet and a Chase Bliss Audio Mood⁴.

Delicious Audio also pointed to a demo video by Ambient Endeavors as doing a great job of showcasing the Motion Loop's creative potential⁵. The pedal ships in a bright green enclosure⁵.