The Definitive Guide to Tabletop Loopers

When most people think of a BOSS RC Loop Station, they envisage a big red stompbox. Floor-based loopers are excellent for instrumentalists who want to loop, but still need their hands free. However, in recent years, DJ/beatbox artists, vocalists, producers, and many others embraced a huge new movement in the looping scene: tabletop loopers. Enter the BOSS RC-202 and RC-505.

Tabletop to the Floor

On the face of it, the distinction between floor and tabletop loopers is pretty self-explanatory. One sits on the floor and users operate it by foot, while the other sits on a tabletop, or a stand, and users operate it by hand. In reality, using a tabletop looper is a whole different experience. It’s more tactile than using your feet. At the same time, it’s visually engaging for the audience, allowing you to create an immersive, impressive performance.

It’s this combination of skill and showmanship that propelled loop artist Sam Perry to win The Voice Australia in 2018, armed with his trusty RC-505.

Feature Parity

BOSS’s RC-202 and RC-505 tabletop Loop Stations have all the features you’d expect in a BOSS Loop Station, including:

Approximately 3 hours of record time
Onboard phrase memories
USB for importing and exporting loop phrases
Onboard rhythms

Effects Engine and Mixer

However, the beauty of a tabletop looper is the tweakable onboard effects engine and mixer section. Furthermore, they offer an extra level of control not found on your regular stompbox looper. Let’s have a look at these features in more depth and explore how we can use them to enhance a loop performance.

Mixing

In a regular stompbox Loop Station, there is only one way to silence a track without stopping your performance. That’s getting down to floor level and hitting the stop pedal. However, this means that if you want to bring the track back into your performance. Basically, you need to start it from the beginning of the loop.

Mixer Faders

On the contrary, this isn’t the case with a tabletop Loop Station. The RC-202 and RC-505 have dedicated mixer faders on every track, allowing you to fade in and out while keeping your loop running. There is also a pan feature available in Track Edit mode, giving you full control of your stereo field. All in all, these features and others turn the RC series into fully-featured production machines.

Effects Engine

The RC-202 and RC-505 tabletop Loop Stations both feature an extensive array of effects. You can use these effects in your loop performances in two ways.

Before recording a track as INPUT FX
After recording a track as TRACK FX

Wet/Dry Knobs

Both input and track FX have dedicated wet/dry knobs, so you can add as much or as little effect to your performance as you want. The RC-202 has two Input FX and two Track FX channels. Conversely, the RC-505 has three Input FX and three Track FX channels. In short, this means you’ll have plenty of options when it comes to making your loops more interesting.

Master FX

As well as this, both tabletop Loop Stations feature a Master FX section. This can add reverb and compression to all the tracks at once. In other words, you can instantly drop some sparkle and glue your tracks together.

At this point, you might think that a tabletop looper is only useful if you don’t play an instrument. But as with any piece of gear, there’s not just one right way. For example, Dub Fx creates fantastic music in real-time using the RC-505 Loop Station and the GT-10B Bass Effects Processor.

Now you’ve got an overview of how a tabletop looper’s unique feature set can expand your creative possibilities. Next, let’s look at which of the two BOSS tabletop loopers best suits your needs.

BOSS RC-202 Loop Station

Like its floor-based brother the RC-500, the RC-202 is a dual-track looper. However, it’s built into tabletop looper format. This design is to appeal primarily to vocalists, DJs, producers, and beatbox artists.

Tabletop Control

The tabletop looper enables more control elements right on top of the unit. As a result, for musicians who are not encumbered with an instrument in their hands, the RC-202 provides fingertip control. This allows for maximum on-the-fly creativity.

Underneath the hood, the RC-202 has some powerful new features for the hands-on looper:

Simultaneous Input FX / Track FX

The RC-202 comes with a full complement of BOSS DJ-style effects, split into 2 sections.

INPUT FX affects the sound source coming into the RC-202 and record as part of the loop
LOOP FX affects the loops during playback only

Simultaneous Effects

Both the INPUT FX and LOOP FX sections feature four effects styles each. Additionally, you can use them all simultaneously. That’s up to eight simultaneous effects in total. Moreover, both FX sections feature a large dedicated control knob. This allows for real-time manipulation of FX parameters during performance.

On-the-Fly Memory Access

The RC-202 allows loop saving and recall during performance, without playback ever having to stop. In the end, this allows for seamless creation of different song structures or ever-evolving arrangements.

Expandable Foot Control

Some guitar players and other musicians love the RC-202 feature set but require hands-free operation. To that end, the RC-202 configures for use with foot controllers. Up to two control pedals or one Expression pedal connect to the CTL out jack. You can assign this to perform a wide variety of functions.

For complete control, you can connect any MIDI controller (such as the Roland FC-300). In essence, this allows you to access all the RC-202’s functionality, right at your feet.

RC-202 is best for:

Hands-free musicians who wish to explore looping
Vocalists/Producers/DJs who wish to incorporate looping into live performance
Musicians who require a powerful, compact hand-operated looper

Industry Standard

Not surprisingly, the RC-300 enjoys lauded status as the finest of all floor-based loopers. It is less well-known that the RC-505 packs substantially more firepower into a tabletop format.

As a tabletop looper, it is well-suited for use by club DJs, beatboxers, and vocalists. In a few years, it has become the industry standard looper for these applications.

MIDI Compatibility

It has extreme onboard power along with full MIDI compatibility. As a result, pairing the RC-505 with a MIDI Foot Controller (such as the Roland FC-300) has the potential to create a powerful looping setup. Ultimately, this is more advanced and functional than anything else available on today’s market.

Five Stereo Tracks

At the heart of the RC-505 are the five tracks available for loop creation. Each track has dedicated control buttons and level fader control on the top control panel. Furthermore, even more brilliant is the fact that you can assign all five tracks with completely independent SYNC and PLAYBACK options (ref: RC-300). This provides an almost unlimited range of looping behaviors. Many are impossible on any other Loop Station), giving the user unbridled loop creativity options.

Simultaneous Input/Track FX

Like its little brother the RC-202, the RC-505 comes loaded with a variety of INPUT FX and TRACK FX. Up to 3 effects each in both the INPUT FX and TRACK FX section work at the same time, for a total of six simultaneous effects. Additionally, the RC-505 features global Compressor and Reverb effects. Overall, this provides a polished, “mastered” sound.

Control Assigns

Track/memory switching, FX parameter adjustment, and multiple track control are only the start. Indeed, each memory patch on the RC-505 configures up to 16 control assigns across dozens of parameters.

Whether used as a tabletop looper or in a rack with a MIDI floorboard, the RC-505 has the power to satisfy the needs of the most advanced looper.

RC-505 is best for:

Beatboxers & Vocalists who wish to create complex compositions
Musicians that desire five tracks of completely flexible looping freedom
Advanced loopers that desire the most powerful Loop Station available

Loop Station Accessories

A key feature of all BOSS Loop Stations is the ability to expand their functionality by adding additional control pedals. Let’s take a look at the BOSS / Roland footswitches that are directly compatible with Loop Stations: