The Free The Tone Motion Loop ML-1L is a pitch shiftable short looper pedal: it samples a brief section of your performance, then loops and manipulates that sample in real time while you keep playing1. Where a conventional looper records long passages and plays them back untouched, the Motion Loop grabs a short snippet and immediately subjects it to effects such as pitch shift, delay and filtering, so the repeats evolve rather than simply recur12.
Free The Tone describes it as a short looper that performs short-term sampling and real-time effect processing, and the press coverage around its early 2021 launch agreed that its real-time processing lets it be handled like a musical instrument rather than a recorder2. Random processing of the sampled waveforms can create accidental sounds, which is part of the point: the pedal is built for discovery13.
What the Motion Loop does
The core idea is short-term sampling with real-time effect processing. The pedal captures a short loop of your playing, then applies its effects to the looped sample as it repeats1. Guitar World's launch coverage listed the effects on offer: a two-octave pitch shift, delay, filter, fade curve effect, reverse, soft clipping and slowdown7.
Delicious Audio walked through what several of these do to the sampled loop1:
- Pitch shift: shifts the sample up to two octaves up or down, with the speed of the shift changing too, and a portamento function that creates a glissando effect13
- Delay: comes with subdivisions1
- Filter: hi-pass and lo-pass1
- Reverse: the loop plays backwards1
- Envelop: affects the loop's attack1
- Loop level: a volume increase or decrease setting for each repeat of the loop3
Because everything happens in real time on a dedicated DSP, the pedal can be played rather than programmed. As Pedal of the Day put it, random processing of the sampled waveforms creates exciting accidental sounds, and the short looper can be used as a tool handled like a musical instrument3.
Controls and modes
The front panel keeps its controls close at hand. A Rate knob adjusts the sampling duration for the loop operation, shortening or lengthening the loop manually17, and an E.Level knob controls the balance between your original sound and the effect level7. A Level function sets how the loop's volume behaves on each pass: negative settings set the speed at which it fades out, at zero it keeps playing at the same volume, and at positive settings it gradually increases in volume1. Mini switches cover Home and Left/Right functions5.
Several modes change how the loop behaves1:
- Manual mode: works pretty much like a delay, where the length of the loop coincides with the rate1
- Random function: the repeats skip randomly from different sections of the loop, creating unexpected textures1
- Simple loop preset: a small section of your playing repeats indefinitely for you to play over6
The loop can also be retriggered by footswitch or, automatically, by detected attack, which means every new string pluck can restart the loop1. That is what makes the pedal playable in the moment: you drive the repeats with your picking hand instead of waiting for them to come around.
A preset footswitch lets you switch between assigned presets, and the unit holds 128 user presets along with 35 factory presets, giving you plenty of stored configurations to work through76.
Expression pedal control
An expression pedal input lets you control any one of the Motion Loop's parameters hands-free6. Functions for the knobs and the expression pedal are freely assignable, and this is configurable in each preset, so a different parameter can be under your foot in every stored setting3.
Free The Tone recommends expression pedals of 10k to 25k ohms, and its product page names compatible models4:
- Boss FV-500L
- Roland EV-5
- Electro-Harmonix Expression Pedal and Dual Expression Pedal
- Jim Dunlop DVP-3 and DVP-4
- Moog EP-2 and EP-3
- M-Audio EX-P4
How it differs from a normal looper
A standard looper records a passage and plays it back faithfully; the Motion Loop is closer to a granular performance tool. Guitar.com called it a unique take on the loop pedal format, loaded with a powerful DSP that allows for much stranger sounds than normal loopers allow6. Gearnews framed it as one of Free The Tone's more unusual pedals, a box for mangling your waveforms and looping them5.
The "simple loop" preset is the one place it behaves conventionally, letting a short section of playing repeat indefinitely to jam over6. Everywhere else, the pitch shifter, filter, reverse, slowdown and random skip functions push the repeats somewhere a plain looper will not go17.
Price
The Motion Loop ML-1L listed for $350 at its launch in early 202176. Free The Tone's Japanese product page lists it at 41,800 yen including tax4.
In use
Delicious Audio highlighted a video by Ambient Endeavors as doing a great job in showcasing the Motion Loop's creative potential, worth watching if you want to hear the random skip, pitch shift and retrigger functions in action rather than read about them1.
"Its real-time processing enables this short looper to be used as a tool handled like a musical instrument."
For players who want Free The Tone's take on more conventional time-based effects, the company's delay pedals include the Flight Time FT-2Y and Future Factory FF-1Y; the Motion Loop sits alongside them as the experimental corner of the range.
Videos
Brett Kingman
Ambient Endeavors
Pedal of the Day
News
Questions
Is the Free The Tone Motion Loop analog or digital?
It is digital. The Motion Loop runs its short-term sampling and real-time effect processing on a dedicated DSP, which is what allows the pitch shift, filter, reverse and random manipulation of the sampled waveform to happen as the loop plays.
Does the Motion Loop have an expression pedal input?
Yes. An expression pedal input lets you control any one of the Motion Loop's parameters hands-free, and the functions are freely assignable per preset. Free The Tone recommends expression pedals of 10k to 25k ohms, such as the Boss FV-500L, Roland EV-5, Moog EP-3 and M-Audio EX-P.
How many presets does the Motion Loop have?
It holds 128 user presets along with 35 factory presets, and a preset footswitch lets you switch between assigned presets on the fly. That gives you a lot of stored configurations to experiment with across the pedal's effect modes.
Can the Motion Loop retrigger a loop automatically when I pick?
Yes. The loop can be retriggered by footswitch or automatically by detected attack, meaning every new string pluck can restart the sampled loop, which turns the pedal into something you can play like an instrument rather than a set-and-forget looper.
How far can the Motion Loop shift pitch?
The pitch shifter moves the sampled loop up or down by as much as two octaves, and the speed of the pitch shift is adjustable, with a portamento function that creates a glissando effect as the pitch slides.
What is the Motion Loop's list price?
The Motion Loop ML-1L listed for $350 when it launched in early 2021. In Japan, Free The Tone's product page lists it at 41,800 yen including tax.
Sources (7)
- Free The Tone Motion Loop, Delicious Audio, 2021-02-22
- Free the Tone Releases the Motion Loop ML-1L, Premier Guitar, 2021-01-29
- Free The Tone Motion Loop ML-1L Pitch Shiftable Short Looper, Pedal of the Day, 2021-01-05
- MOTION LOOP / ML-1L｜Products 商品紹介｜Free The Tone, Free The Tone
- Free The Tone Motion Loop ML-1L: Mangle your waveforms and loop them!, gearnews.com, 2021-01-30
- Free The Tone launches the Motion Loop, a pitch-shifting looper pedal, Guitar.com, 2021-02-01
- Free the Tone introduces intelligent pitch-shiftable short looper, the Motion Loop ML-1L, Guitar World, 2021-02-01
