BOSS Audio Systems RC-505 Loop Station

I wanted to write a review because I relied on them so much before I purchased the 505. I am not a DJ. I am a musician. I play guitar, piano, and sing. . Plus a few other things like harmonica and flute from time to time. I was torn between this and the 300. As a hands on musician, I was leaning towards the 300 for the hands free but I just kept coming back to this. I did not want to buy the 300 and then wish I went with the 505 due to the 5 phase banks instead of 3 and the overall extra things the 505 does that the 300 does not. Plus, I knew I could buy an Boss FS-6 pedal to connect with the 500. I am 100% confident I made the right decision. This looper is a beast. Not in the build but the functionality. I mean, it has opened up so many different things I can with my music. I absolutely love it. It will take time to get to where you don't have to look at the manual to know what and how to do things but the manual is super easy to follow.Pro's:- easy to navigate the settings/easy to follow manual- options for creativity are endless- light weight for transport to gigs- outside pedal compatible (but not a cake walk to set up)- so much control on each phase bank individually- ton of internal space. I can not image you would run out of space to record or have presets for gigs.- buttons are nice and qualityCons :-Its plastic. I would invest in a case if you gig.- my FS-6 pedal is not as functional as I would like it. It's a bit tricky to set up and to use.- no RCA compatible for speaker out.I highly recommend this! It's amazing! I will most likely purchase the 300 as well just for the pedal/hands free but I am so glad I purchased this. Totally worth the money. Get the extended warranty. Being that the build is a bit lightweight, seems reasonable to spend 70 bucks on a $500 purchase. Gives you an extra 4 years.

The Boss RC-505 loop station is incredible! The first day I got it I was extremely impressed with the attention to detail. The knobs and faders are smooth, there's a simple interface for ease of use, and system edits allow for a vast amount of options to customize your pedal. I am a guitar player, but often I have all my pedals at "arms length" to adjust levels etc. With this product, if you time it right, you can press the triggers with your hand and have time to play the desired loop with the guitar, mic, drums, etc. A lot of reviews discourage this pedal from being used by guitarist, and push the RC-300. However, the RC-300 only has 3 tracks, and an expression pedal. Willing to forfeit the expression pedal for two extra tracks worked out great, and I feel the interface is much easier to use. Despite the reviews I have seen, the "play/record" buttons on the pedal are easily triggered by your foot (don't have to stomp it) and the tweaking of the levels and knobs is no different than those you would have to bend down to change anyway if it was a standard guitar pedal. Don't be discouraged to use it if you are guitar player, and want to add a powerful loop station to your collection. It has opened up my sound to new endeavors, and given me hours of better quality practice time with my instrument.

Had it up and running in fast order. Checked the system info and everything is already up to speed. Arrived right on time and it didn't take long to employ vocals and an external synth loops and move right along into a cool sounding set. If you have prior knowledge like working with FL studio and many of the plugins etc this unit puts a lot of cool options at your fingertips for a more hands on approach to tweaking and modifying your sounds. I read up on it before purchasing to make sure it's what I wanted in my arsenal of fun gadgets and it stands up to it's name. I already blew an afternoon away dabbling over my setup and am sure to drop in many more hours just playing around. Awesome product!

This is a great piece of gear for anyone looking into getting into live looping performances, as well as those already experienced. I've taught many beginners how to use it, and many pros who I know of also speak very highly of this.

I started off with TC-Helicon Voice Live Touch 2. Upgraded to Voice Live 3, and finally landed up with Boss RC-505. I like this product over previous TC-Helicon products because of accessibility. So, I would compare the two in this review. During live performances, everything is right there as knows and controls at your finger tip rather than buried in a maze of menus. Note that this looper is designed to be a desktop looper for beat boxers. TC-Helicon's Voice Live 3 is more of a guitarist and vocalist. If you intend to use a guitar, this is not the best product for effects. On VL3 I could play only two loops at a time. This one plays FIVE for less money!! In spite of many complaints about plastic construction, the product seems solid to me.Boss has done a so so job when it comes to effects. VL3 has crispier effects. For example, the chorus effect in this looper is hardly noticeable. I am hoping that someone at Boss notices my feedback and release a new firmware with better sounds.If you are just starting out in the looping world, look for tutorials by Swissbeatbox on YouTube, it will make you a better performer.Over all, RC-505 is a decent product for beat boxers with minor shortcomings. There is no other better product out there for this functionality. The price could have been lower.

A good variety of input options. Connect a mixing board to the RC 505 and the possibilities for looping are pretty infinite. All in all, a really cool and easy to use device. The user manual is one of the best I have encountered in many years of manual crawling for electronic devices.

Everything I bought this for is everything it is. I have no issues at all, this thing is perfect and now it takes maybe 5-10 minutes to make a pretty dope sounding beat/instrumental. I love it.