pigtronix Infinity looper, User Manual

Page 1: ...Infinity Looper User s Guide All contents c Absara Audio LLC 2014 ...

Page 2: ...unctions 7 2 1 Footswitches 7 Loop 1 7 Loop 2 7 Stop 8 2 2 Toggle Switches 8 Stop Mode 8 Arm All 8 Full Trail Fade 9 Input Split 9 Series Loops 10 Sync Multi 10 2 3 Knobs 11 Master Volume 11 Preset 12 Loop Volume 1 12 Loop Volume 2 12 2 4 Jacks 13 DC Power 13 1 ...

Page 3: ... 16 Multi Segment Digit 17 Decimal Point 17 3 Infinity Rules 19 3 1 Arm 19 3 2 Record 19 3 3 Jump Record 20 3 4 Play 20 3 5 Stop 20 3 6 Erase 21 3 7 Overdub 21 3 8 Sync Multi 22 3 9 Series Loops 22 3 10 Series Fade Modes 23 Trails 23 Overdub 23 3 11 Input Split 24 3 12 Presets 24 Loading 24 Saving 25 Copying 25 Erasing 26 3 13 Loop Aging 26 ...

Page 4: ...Instant Erase 35 4 6 Varispeed Remote Control Menu 35 5 Expression Pedal Functions 39 5 1 Loop Volume 39 5 2 Loop Aging 39 5 3 Varispeed 40 5 4 Expression Pedal Assignment 40 6 MIDI 43 6 1 MIDI Sync 43 6 2 Time Signature 44 6 3 Commands That Sync to MIDI Clock 44 Record and Play 44 Stop 44 Start 44 Overdub 45 6 4 Commands That Ignore MIDI Sync 45 6 5 Full MIDI Mapping 45 Cycle Toggle 46 Mapped 46 ...

Page 5: ...MIDI Note Control 48 7 Infinity Looper Application 49 8 Firmware Updates 51 8 1 Automatic Update Using the Looper Application 51 8 2 Manual Firmware Update 52 9 Minimum and Maximum Loop Times 53 10 Acknowledgements 55 11 Pigtronix Limited Warranty 57 ...

Page 6: ...s superior headroom and discreet transistor based limiting circuitry to prevent digital distortion even at extreme signal levels To put it succinctly this looper sounds great It will not ruin your tone like so many other looper pedals that have come before Of all the innovative features found in the Infinity Looper perhaps the most notable is the Sync Multi function which allows Loop 2 to be a mul...

Page 7: ...tch will begin recording immediately Once the loop is recording pressing the Loop 1 footswitch again will close the loop and begin playback During playback pressing the Loop 1 footswitch will open an overdub layer on Loop 1 Once an overdub is recording pressing the Loop 1 footswitch again will close that overdub layer and continue playback When a loop has been recorded but is stopped pressing the ...

Page 8: ...will toggle between Full Trail and Fade modes Arm All In All mode the Stop footswitch will stop playback on both loops The All functionality also applies to the erase command With ALL selected holding down the Stop footswitch will erase both loops The All functionality also applies to the Play command Once the loops are stopped hitting either loop footswitch will resume playback on both loops In A...

Page 9: ...e audio will stop immediately when you push the Stop footswitch In Trail mode pressing the Stop footswitch will stop the loop audio when it reaches the end of the current loop cycle In Fade mode pressing the Stop footswitch will steadily decrease the loop audio in volume until the end of the current loop cycle All three Stop modes obey the Arm All setting In All mode when audio has been recorded o...

Page 10: ... switch once Sync Multi is on cycles through the sync multiplier factor When Sync Multi is off none of the sync multi lights are lit In this mode the lengths of the two loops are unrelated and playback is not synchronized When Sync Multi is on the lengths of the two loops are synchronized The length of Loop 2 will be a multiple of the length of Loop 1 as set by the multiplier factor indicated by t...

Page 11: ...ever turning Sync off after that point allows you to start playback of Loop 2 at any time not just at the start of Loop 1 Keeping Sync Multi on means that Loop 2 will always replay from the start Loop 1 During recording whichever loop is armed will automatically close once you hit the maximum allowable length Overall recording time for Loop 1 is dependent on the multiplier value you ve selected fo...

Page 12: ...ve recorded one For full instructions on how to Load Save and Copy presets please see the Infinity Rules preset sections page 24 Loop Volume 1 Sets the Loop 1 output volume Loop Volume 2 Sets the Loop 2 output volume The Loop 1 and Loop 2 Volume knobs are calibrated so that 12 o clock is unity gain for Loop audio Turning either of the Loop Volume knobs above 12 o clock will result in Loop Audio th...

Page 13: ...pply is likely to result in a damaged pedal In 1 Looper input 1 This is normally the input to use unless you are using both inputs for stereo or two instruments In 2 Looper input 2 Use this input for the second input of a stereo signal or a second instrument using Input Split When nothing is connected to Input 2 the signal from Input 1 is automatically passed to Input 2 Out 1 Main pass through loo...

Page 14: ...send to a drummer bandmate or FOH mixer Undo Connect a dual momentary remote switch here using a TRS balanced 1 4 cable not an instrument or speaker cable to enable Overdub Undo Redo Reverse and Varispeed We recommend the Infinity Remote www pigtronix com products infinity remote switch For details on how to use the remote switch please see Remote Switch Functions page 33 Expression This is the TR...

Page 15: ...er every feature complete MIDI mapping For more information and instructions go to page 43 USB This provides a connection to a PC or MAC computer for loading and offloading loop audio preset management audio routing configuration and firmware updates There are no drivers to install just connect to your computer and you re good to go For more information go to page 49 When the USB port is connected...

Page 16: ...ck is used the Arm LED for the currently selected Loop will blink at the received tempo Stop LED The Stop LED will glow red when loop audio is stopped When stopped if no audio is recorded the Stop LED will not be lit Clip LED This red LED between the Loop Volume knobs will indicate when the input signal is reaching the maximum headroom of the Infinity s recording engine and begins to trigger the a...

Page 17: ...hat audio has been recorded to a preset bank When changes have been made to a preset but not saved the decimal point will blink Once the changes have been saved the decimal point will return to solid When a delayed command has been initiated the relevant footswitch Arm and Stop LEDs will blink repeatedly to indicate a pending action and will turn solid in color once the action is taken At the end ...

Page 18: ...a loop is armed pressing the footswitch for that loop will be gin recording The corresponding loop LED will glow red to indicate recording You must record to Loop 1 first You will be able to record on Loop 2 once there is audio recorded on Loop 1 Pressing a Loop footswitch after the loop has started recording will stop recording and immediately begin playback The loop LED will glow green to indica...

Page 19: ...next time you hit the Loop 1 footswitch 3 4 Play When a loop has been recorded but is stopped pressing that loop s footswitch will restart playback The corresponding LED will glow green to indicate playback The Play function is tied to the Arm All setting see page 8 3 5 Stop Pressing stop will stop audio playback The Stop function is tied to the Arm All setting see page 8 Double pressing the Stop ...

Page 20: ...inal loop Pressing the Loop footswitch when a loop is playing back will start overdubbing The corresponding footswitch LED will glow orange to indicate Overdub Pressing the loop footswitch during an overdub will close that over dub After closing an overdub you can choose to reopen it by pressing the loop footswitch as long as the loop cycle hasn t ended yet At the end of the loop cycle all audio r...

Page 21: ... the Sync Multi switch determines the length of Loop 2 relative to Loop 1 At x1 the lengths of Loop 1 and Loop 2 are identical and they begin and end at the same points At x2 Loop 2 is double the length of Loop 2 Etc When Multi Sync is on and the Loop 2 footswitch has been pressed recording on Loop 2 will automatically begin at the start of the next Loop 1 cycle and close after the selected number...

Page 22: ...utton is pressed until the end of the current loop cycle and also cue the newly selected loop to begin playback automatically at the end of the current loop cycle Overdub When recording an overdub the overdub will not save until it is closed and a loop boundary has been passed As a result when Full is selected in Series mode switching loops right after recording an overdub will result in the overd...

Page 23: ...inity Looper allows you to store and recall up to 50 presets which consist of audio that you ve either recorded by playing through the Infinity or audio you ve loaded onto the pedal from your computer using the app Each preset includes a Loop 1 as well as a Loop 2 if you ve recorded a second loop The 50 presets are organized into five banks of 10 Loading To Load a preset simply turn the Preset kno...

Page 24: ...ning the encoder to select a different preset slot Settings for Preset 0 can be changed using the Pigtronix Infinity Application The decimal point will illuminate to indicate that audio is present in a Loop bank When changes have been made but not saved the decimal point will blink If you want to keep your changes simply follow the save process explained above without changing the selected bank Wh...

Page 25: ...conds to enter the Loop Aging Menu The digit will flash between A and indicating that Loop Aging is currently turned off Turn the rotary encoder to select the desired Loop Aging value Digits 0 9 represent variable feedback decay The lower the number the faster the loop decays For example a 0 means no feedback so an overdub disappears after one playback cycle shows that Loop Aging is turned off Pre...

Page 26: ...oop Aging that you let happen during an overdub no matter how many times you let the loop cycle 3 14 Click Killer Within the Loop Aging menu press and hold Input Split an option has been added to enable or disable the loop boundary Click Killer If it is on the menu will show C If it is off the menu will show c Click Killer defaults to C Pressing the encoder while on this option will toggle the loo...

Page 27: ...ased both the pitch and length of the recorded audio changes The sample rate is a global parameter and affects both loops simultaneously Playback Sample Rate Recording Sample Rate 12 kHz 24 kHz 48 kHz 48 kHz 2 Octaves Down 1 Octave Down Same Pitch Default Quarter Speed Half Speed Same Speed 24 kHz 1 Octaves Down 1 Same Pitch 1 Octave Up Half Speed Same Speed Double Speed 12 kHz Same Pitch 1 Octave...

Page 28: ... changes All of them change both the pitch and length of recorded material See the table on the next page for a listing of how pitch changes relate to loop length When using Varispeed the expression pedal provides control over the complete range of sample rates It is mapped to control the sample rate using Expression Mapping page 39 or while in the Varispeed Remote Control Menu For more precise ch...

Page 29: ... of the footswitches can be pressed during power up to enable and disable a specialty global setting on the Infinity Looper These settings are sticky and will remain set even after removing power from the Infinity Auto Zero Record Hold Loop 1 during boot to toggle Auto Zero Record With Auto Zero Record off Loop 1 LED is off during boot the MIDI downbeat is reset on the first received note or MIDI ...

Page 30: ...er outputs in stereo Default With Mono Mixdown on Loop 2 LED is lit red during boot both input channels run into a single output Both Outputs 1 and 2 will receive the mono mix of all recorded material Stutter Hold Stop during boot to toggle Stutter Stutter replaces the functionality of the Reverse button on the Remote Switch see page 33 With Stutter off Stop LED is off during boot the Reverse butt...

Page 31: ...CHAPTER 3 INFINITY RULES 30 Reformat Hold the Series Loops switch during boot to reformat the microSD Card to 50 Presets Caution This erase all saved presets and recorded loop audio ...

Page 32: ...cable Pressing the Reverse button triggers reverse playback at the begin ning of the next loop cycle according to the Arm All setting see page 8 Pressing Reverse while recording will instantly trigger reverse playback once the Loop footswitch is pressed Pressing Reverse while playing a reversed Loop will revert it to its normal play direction after the next loop cycle Once you are in reverse playb...

Page 33: ...merged with the initial recording will not be undone When an overdub is playing back Loop LED is green pressing the Undo switch will remove that overdub instantly and the overdub is retained for Redo if desired You can only undo your most recent overdub once you open and then close a new overdub the previous overdub layer will be merged with the base layer at the end of the current loop cycle and ...

Page 34: ... mally would to close the overdub when desired and begin regular play back 4 5 Instant Erase When one or both loops are stopped hitting Undo will trigger an instant erase of the currently armed loop This lets you simply leave the unit in All mode and retain the option to clear individual loops by pressing the Undo switch after the desired loop has been stopped 4 6 Varispeed Remote Control Menu For...

Page 35: ...io respectively This interval can be changed using the Remote Mapping Menu ac cessed by pressing the Series Loops switch for 2 seconds The digit will flash three horizontal lines and a number to indicate the current intervallic change Turn the preset encoder to select a different inter val and press down on the Preset Encoder to finalize and exit The intervals are displayed as a number and decimal...

Page 36: ... Control Menu the Remote Mapping Menu sets the Expression Pedal assign ment as described on page 39 Caution Press and hold functionality on the Reverse and Undo switches in this menu prevents actions taking place immediately when pressed While in the Varispeed Remote Control Menu short press actions are executed when the Reverse and Undo switches are released ...

Page 37: ... 1 Loop Volume This is the default function of the Expression pedal while not in the Varispeed Remote Control Menu This mapping controls the audio out put level of both loops simultaneously Moving the expression pedal towards the heel will turn the loop audio down for both loops from the level set by the individual loop volume knobs 5 2 Loop Aging For basic Loop Aging functionality see page 26 Thi...

Page 38: ...Varispeed Remote Control Menu are used Once the Pitch Up or Down functions have been used the Expression Pedal must first Catch Up the the Remote Switch setting before it begins controlling the sample rate again 5 4 Expression Pedal Assignment When shipped from the factory or Reformatted as described on page 32 the Expression Pedal is assigned to control Loop Volume ex cept while in the Varispeed ...

Page 39: ...ent when NOT in the Varispeed Remote Control Menu If the Varispeed Remote Control Menu is entered while in the Remote Map ping Menu the Remote Mapping Menu will set the Interval Change of the Varispeed Remote Control Menu as described on page 35 Using the Application the Expression Pedal can be assigned to control separate parameters while inside the Varispeed Remote Control menu and while outside...

Page 40: ... time signature If the MIDI clock signal does change tempo the Infinity will react and adjust the sample rate gradually The MIDI actions of the Infinity are quantized to the measure when MIDI is running by default in 4 4 time Any action that is meant to obey MIDI clock will be applied at the beginning of the next measure not necessarily the end of the loop cycle So it s best to cue the MIDI comman...

Page 41: ...mmands initiated using the Infinity s footswitches will be automatically quantized to the beginning of the next MIDI Measure Record and Play Appropriate action is executed at the start of the next measure after the switch has been pressed Stop The Stop footswitch closes loops and stops loop audio at the start of the next measure after the switch has been pressed Start Starts loop audio at the star...

Page 42: ...ock 6 5 Full MIDI Mapping To select a MIDI channel press and hold the Stop Mode switch as the Infinity Looper turns on The Looper will learn the MIDI channel of the next MIDI signal it receives and only respond to MIDI signals that come from that channel We ve seen how you can control tempo and pitch change by synching to an external MIDI beat clock MIDI can also be used to control many specific f...

Page 43: ...Loop Assignable Specific values of these MIDI CC Note messages triggers the action for Loop 1 Only 0 Loop 2 Only 1 the currently Armed Loop Only 2 or Both Loops 3 Switch The value of these MIDI CC Note messages determines whether the message acts like a switch press or delivers a specific type short or long of switch press A value of 0 is not pressed a value of 127 is pressed For MIDI controllers ...

Page 44: ...ies On Off 19 Toggle Split On Off 20 Toggle Sync Multi 22 Switch Stop FTSW 23 Switch Loop 1 FTSW 24 Switch Loop 2 FTSW 25 Switch Undo 27 Switch Reverse 28 Switch Stop Mode 17 Switch Pitch Up 29 Switch Pitch Down 30 Switch Pitch Center 31 Toggle Stutter 48 0 Triggers Erase 49 0 Triggers Erase Rec 50 0 Triggers MIDI Real Time Messages Sending a MIDI Stop command stops all loop audio regardless of Ar...

Page 45: ... 12 and 48 khz The looper starts at 48 kHz so if you want to raise the pitch of a sample lower the sample rate before recording MIDI Notes C2 to C4 change the sample rate between 12 and 48 kHz and Stutter the loop see page 31 So playing these notes will change the pitch and replay the loop which creates a mellotron like sound Like above the looper starts at 48 kHz so if you want to raise the pitch...

Page 46: ... PC or MAC from the on board drive and then click on the LooperApp exe file If using Windows 7 please right click and choose Run As Administrator To update the Infinity Looper application on your Infinity Looper download the updated version at the following URL www Pigtronix com SPLapplication and replace the appropriate folder on the Infin ity Looper with the new version of the application 45 ...

Page 47: ...on the appropriate MAC or PC folder then double click the Space Pig icon to launch the Infinity Looper Application Make sure your computer has an active internet connection Choose the firmware update option from the Tools menu within the Infinity Looper Application Choose the automatic option Close the Infinity Looper Application Power down the Infinity Looper eject first on MAC and then discon ne...

Page 48: ...s storage device Download the latest Firmware update fwupdate dat from the follow ing URL www pigtronix com SPLfirmware Open the drive that appears and double click on the LOOPERFW directory Copy the fwupdate dat file into the LOOPERFW directory replacing the current file of the same name Power down the Infinity Looper eject first on MAC and then disconnect the USB cable from the Infinity Looper W...

Page 49: ...numbers of presets and other SD card sizes the general formula for maximum loop time is t 0 91 d 3s 65 s m 1 where d s and m are Disk size in MB number of slots and multiplier value respectively For a 16GB card these values are approximately doubled and for a 32GB card these values approximately triple Loop 2 maximum recording times are the maximum recording times of Loop 1 multiplied by the Multi...

Page 50: ...itable that there will be software updates to the Infinity Looper over time that will expand the pedal s functionality Please run the firmware update function on the included application or sim ply check the Infinity Looper product page on the Pigtronix website for downloadable firmware updates We hope you enjoy your new Infinity Looper pedal As always we welcome your input and value customer feed...

Page 51: ...air charge What you must do First contact us directly via email and describe the problem to us If the problem cannot be resolved we will have you send the pedal directly to us for servicing How to contact us for warranty service Email tech pigtronix com Phone 631 331 PIGS 7447 Warranty Limitations This warranty does not cover defects resulting from improper or unreasonable use accident unauthorize...