The RC-500's many setting options ensure that you can adapt the rhythm patterns however you like, and you won't get bored very soon. I think what Boss needs to do in a software update is to make it ignore the slight BPM changes of an incoming clock, average across time and disable the time-stretching algorithm for decimal point clock variation, or at least make it an option to disable time-stretching without disabling the Tempo Sync. In fact, for solo performances, you could even viably use the onboard drum tracks in a live setting.

Boss have an excellent reputation when it comes to loop pedals, and with the new RC-500 loop station, they've really excelled themselves. The effects are more focused on how the loops play back than traditional effects, including repeat (playing one of the beats over and over), shift (which shifts the playback by one or two beat-lengths), scatter (which literally scatters the phrase around in time with the beat, kind of weird but it can be effective) and a vinyl flick option (which sounds like a quick flick of a turntable bringing the sound to a stop). If you’re a low-frills type of looper, this is pretty much all you need to know: You can lay down a phrase, build on it, make a basic song-type structure with the two tracks (or play them simultaneously), and handle all of this without having to unceremoniously bend over and tap away at buttons on the device by hand. Plus, with 13 hours of stereo recording time, there's plenty of space for extended creative journeys. We especially like the option of connecting a microphone to record vocals / beatbox / percussion or acoustic guitar.

And finally, practice, any musician wishing to hone their improvisational skills can on the fly record a progression into the looper and practice soloing. For most people, it usually takes up to an hour to assemble the piano and requires two able-bodied persons.

Great looper, not instantly user user friendly, more complicated than the single pedal, just takes time to learn how to use it,.Featuring best-in-class 32-bit AD/DA and 32-bit floating-point processing, the RC-500 from BOSS captures your personal sound with full fidelity and keeps loops crystal clear, even with multiple overdubs. If you've only used devices with conventional MIDI connections so far, you might need to get an adapter cable for the RC-500. Chris Corfield is a journalist with over 12 years of experience writing for some of the music world's biggest brands including Orange Amplification, MusicRadar, Guitar World, Total Guitar and Dawsons Music.

We apologise if this causes any inconvenience, but we may refund card payments where the funds are authorised, but where either the 3D secure ( or verified by visa) has not been successful, the address check comes back with any anomalies, or where there is a request to send to an address other than the billing address. What I do have is a BOSS RC-500 Loop Station, and after spending countless nights trying to coerce it to loop, I have to conclude it's unusable to me. They mention that it's very straightforward to use, pretty basic at first, and has a user interface that is easy to navigate. Nevertheless, we would have preferred the device to work with a rechargeable battery instead of regular AA batteries.The LC display has a coloured backlight switching colours in accordance with the current mode of the device.