Looping is one of the fastest and most intuitive ways to create music. It has always been great for improvisation and invention, but why not try it with MIDI messages this time?

The Bastl Midilooper is an experimental device that helps you do just that. It listens to control information about notes, dynamics, and other parameters, and loops them in the way an audio looper would process audio segments. Since the MIDI loops remain in the control domain, many other processes can happen simultaneously on top of them – allowing you to explore timbre modulation, envelope adjustments, and much more.

We designed the Midilooper’s controls to be easy to access so the device is handy and enhances your music-making flow. Your fresh ideas are just a few button presses away: “[The Midilooper is] highly recommended if you’re trying to simplify your workflow and/or get away from menu-diving outside of the computer,” says a recent review in The Waveform Magazine, and we couldn’t agree more.

Plug & Play

The device fits into any playful production workflow and can be synchronized with other gear like synths and controllers either by MIDI clock or analog clock, or it can also run on its own clock (tap tempo/free running).

The Midilooper offers 3 voices that can each be assigned to a different MIDI channel, allowing it to control 3 other devices. Each voice can be individually recorded, muted, overdubbed, or cleared as you go.

The Midilooper also offers some basic processing of the recorded information: transposition, velocity locking and shifting, quantization, shuffle, humanization (random variations of velocity), adjusting the length of the loop, or doubling and halving the playback speed.

In addition, it features CV and trigger inputs to integrate with modular synthesizers so you can reset, re-trigger, manipulate velocity, and transpose. It can also be controlled by connecting a foot pedal.

Features:

• 3 independent voices (each assigned a MIDI channel)
• overdub/overwrite
• transpose mode
• octave transpose
• quantize, velocity lock, shuffle, humanize
• odd loop lengths, time stretch
• mute, clear, erase
• one MIDI Input and two MIDI Outputs
• clock input (accepts analog clock or TRS MIDI Clock)
• 3.5mm TRS MIDI TYPE A input
• analog reset input
• metronome output
• CV input connectivity (transpose, velocity, re-trigger)
• pedal control (record, clear, voice selection)
• USB powered
• adjustable divider/multiplier for the analog clock

Tutorials

• Performance Midi Looping // The Bastl Midi Looper
• BASTL MIDI LOOPER = Inspiration Machine!
• Beyond Looping - workshop for Signals Festival by Václav Peloušek/Toyota Vangelis

Technical details

• power: 5V via Micro USB
• dimensions: 125 by 80 by 35 mm
• manual pdf
• 日本 (nihon) manual pdf
• latest firmware