Discomfort Designs Iceland Spar Loop Refractor

The Discomfort Designs Iceland Spar Loop Refractor is a dual looper with experimental options, described by Pedal of the Day as "a complex but easy-to-use dual looper with a ton of experimental options baked inside"¹. It sits in the experimental corner of the looping world: rather than a straightforward record-and-playback pedal like the TC Electronic Ditto Looper or the Boss RC-1 Loop Station, it is built for players who want to mangle and reshape their loops as they play them.

What it does

The Iceland Spar carries a pair of loopers that "work mostly independently of each other, but share a common entropy"¹. That shared entropy is what sets it apart from conventional dual loopers: the two loops are separate, but something of one can bleed into the other, which is where the pedal's experimental character comes from.

Its core behavior breaks down like this:

• Two loopers that work mostly independently of each other¹
• A common entropy shared between the two loops¹
• Infinite overdubs on both loopers¹
• Independent loop knobs for blending and meshing the two loops¹
• Buffer clearing that erases a loop permanently¹

Both loopers record overdubs infinitely, and clearing a buffer erases that loop permanently. Independent loop knobs let you blend and mesh the two loops to taste¹, so you can run one loop quietly under another, push them together, or shift the balance as a performance moves along.

Pedal of the Day summed it up as "a looper's dream unit…especially if you love quirky, odd effects that take it to the next level"¹. Players drawn to that kind of experimental looping may also want to look at the Chase Bliss blooper or the Death by Audio Total Sonic Annihilation 2, which approach loop manipulation from similar directions.

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