DataLooper bridges the worlds of electronic and traditional music
The DataLooper takes the familiar form of a traditional looper pedal and syncs up seamlessly with Ableton Live.
Looping is an incredibly widely used technique in both the guitar and vocal world, from the ability to create layers to quickly switch between song sections, loopers give solo musicians control over multiple sound sources. If you’re a music producer or live performer, or if you’re just familiar with Ableton Live, this workflow probably seems somewhat familiar, and it is – so one wonders why there are so few pedal options for controlling Ableton when so many traditional musicians are starting to incorporate laptops into their performances.
DataLooper is a new crowdfunding campaign that aims to change the game for traditional looping artists who aim to incorporate Ableton Live into their sets. The concept of DataLooper is a robust pedal-style controller that gives you immediate control over Ableton Live’s built-in Sampler device. The system controls three individual Ableton channels, each loaded with a Sampler device, this is great because it means you can apply all sorts of edits and effects on top of your loops or drag them into a new track to arrange your jam into a full track.
How is DataLooper different to traditional looper pedals that have MIDI?
This project is a great concept for various reasons, if you have tracks you’ve already created, and you want to jam some loops over it, because of the fact that DataLooper essentially just controls your Ableton project, any loops you record in will automatically sync up to your project tempo. Furthermore, you can link multiple Ableton systems over Wi-Fi using Ableton Link, that means that multiple artists could all record and overdub loops perfectly in sync!
The DataLooper is powered via USB, so only one cable goes to the pedal, no more spaghetti piles to evade while trying to get to the pedal. The system is highly customizable, from being able to control recording and looping to playback of different clips, much like a Launchpad for your feet.
For more information check out the DataLooper’s IndieGogo page.
