The Gloop, the debut module from Cutlasses Instruments, is a tape‑style looper based around an ingeniously simple idea — instead of having one playhead, the Gloop has four. You record a loop using the big red recording button, and then use the four clickable encoders to change the start point and loop length of the four different channels. You can also change the playback speed (either as a ratio or in semitones), the playback direction and ‘jitter’ (how faithfully — or not — the loop will adhere to its start point) for each channel. The four knobs beneath the encoders give you volume control over each channel. There. Simple.
Except it’s not. Well, the idea is simple — rather brilliantly so — but the results it produces are not. Record a simple 16‑step sequence, say, shuttle through the four channels by pressing the first encoder, changing loop lengths, pitch, etc, and very soon your simple sequence is nothing of the sort. For example, imagine channel 1 is reversed and running at half speed (Hainbach style), channel 2 is looping around three notes, channel 3 is pitched up by two octaves and channel 4 is showing re‑runs of Property Ladder, sorry, I mean is playing half the loop length, but the position of the loop is being controlled by CV.
Controlled by CV? That’s right. There are four CV inputs and a healthy list of things you can control with them, either for all channels or individually. This includes, but is not limited to, playback speed, loop start point, loop length, volume and pan. Pan? Yep. the Gloop is stereo, at least on the way out.
While all this is going on you can use the four level knobs to create a performance, fading the double‑speed version subtly in and out and taking full advantage of the built‑in effects. Effects? Oh yes. Pressing the small white button takes you through pages for delay and reverb, bit‑crush and bit‑depth, tape‑style effects (wow and flutter, saturation, hiss and age) and Degrade.
Anyone For Frippertronics?
Degrade deserves its own paragraph as it’s essentially a very good implementation of Frippertronics. In the Gloop version you record a loop, stop recording and then press record again. The recorded loop will now fade as you record more parts over it. Turning the Degrade knob affects the speed at which the loop fades — the further the quicker. the Gloop can do two things that tape‑based Frippertronics cannot, though. Firstly, you can turn the Degrade control down at any point to arrest the loop at its current level, and secondly you can record with reverse enabled so that you’ll hear what you play in forwards as it’s recorded, but then backwards at every subsequent playback. A mixture of forwards and backwards channels and adjusting levels as you go is a lot of fun.
Speaking of fun, the Gloop’s Trigger input will start recording when it receives a trigger, and stop recording when it receives another, and there’s also a grid mode. Combining these things means you can record in‑time loops and then mess with them. And yes, you should try it with the Amen break. And lots of other things beside.
It’s very easy to grasp the idea behind it and get interesting results straight away, but there’s a lot more to explore when you want to.
So, not really so simple after all, but perhaps the best thing about the Gloop is the balance between immediacy and depth. It’s very easy to grasp the idea behind it and get interesting results straight away, but there’s a lot more to explore when you want to. And the process of exploration seems to happen without you noticing it. Yes there are menus to navigate, but they’re mostly self‑explanatory and don’t detract from the experience of using the Gloop. And like all the best modules, the more you use it, the more ideas you’ll have for how to use it.