Superduper Loopers and the ‘Free for Feedback’ Release Model

Live looping, the real-time recording and playback of audio loops, has become part of the modern musician’s performance toolkit, particularly for singer-songwriters. However, the standard mass-marketed live looping performance setup has significant limitations, namely the creation of backing with limited loops of fixed length, fixed tempo and fixed dynamics, as well as rudimentary overdubbing into tracks requiring manual control and few options for arrangement variation. This chapter describes the development of the SuperDuper Looper (abbreviated to SDLooper from this point) devices that combine with reactive backing tools to create a new performance environment that aims to afford the structured and evolving aspects of a backing track, and the spontaneity of loop pedals. Also, a new model for commercial release called ‘Free for Feedback’ is introduced here to collect usage and satisfaction data, as well as suggestions to improve the SDLooper devices and measure impact.