First in the batting order is the Boss RC-500, a new flagship looper for Boss that packs a stereo looping engine with 13 hours of recording time into a sleek firetruck red chassis. It marks yet another addition to Boss’ acclaimed 500 series of processors, with 32-bit AD/DA and 32-bit floating point processing providing impeccable audio quality with any source.
An LCD display lets you keep track of your loops, while effects such as repeat, scatter, shift, reverse and vinyl flick help you get a bit creative when stacking sounds on. There’s also mono/stereo inputs and an independent XLR microphone input with phantom power, as well as plenty of I/Os for expression pedals, footswitches or MIDI controllers.
Finally, the Boss RC-500 packs 16 onboard drum kits with 57 rhythm presets, and there’s onboard storage for 99 phrases. Loops can be saved and loaded via a USB connection port, and power is supplied by four AAs or an AC adapter if you’ve got one handy.
Next up, there’s the RC-5, which seeks to cram some of the more impressive features of its big sibling into a more compact package. Like the RC-500, this bad boy features 13 hours of stereo looping time, as well as 32-bit AD/DA processing and a reverse function.
The RC-5 also offers seven drum kits with 57 preset rhythms, as well as MIDI I/O, slots for footswitches and expression pedals, an LCD back-lit screen and onboard storage with 99 slots. You can also back up and load loops through USB, making this little thing a no-brainer for any compact looping applications.
Check out both units in further detail over at Boss Australia.
