BOSS RC-5 Loop Station — modern, compact looper with first-class sound quality, 99 phrase memories, 57 rhythms and optional MIDI control. Perfect for guitar, bass, electroacoustic

Very impressive build and sound quality. Nice compact size. I have home DIY fitted couple of switches to replace the external footswitches for more control onboard.However,Drums are just start and stop. Please don't expect any fills, transition, intro or outro. Keeps you on time though. Single loop only. Need to install software in your mac/pc to upload backing tracks, its NOT drag n drop. Also, the file has to be converted to Wav format. Extra hassle, but it is a very handy pedal (recommended) for those who likes to play along backing tracks.The main thing i dislike is that; when you are clearing a recorded loop, after stop; you press and hold the pedal, at this moment the track plays for about 1-2sec before its cleared. So your crowd may not appreciate that.Overall its a good pedal, it does OK for my need but i guess the hype is more than what it really does, unless you spend a good fortune on midi controllers. Don't always go for brand. Get what satisfies your need.

I will start by saying I use this for backing tracks not looping. I had to do a bit of research into what would work for me and this is close to perfect. 99 tracks and plenty of storage. Simple to load the tracks (using either the app or just drag and drop.). It has one big let down and that is you can only load and delete tracks using the app, you cannot change any settings/name the patches etc. Meaning you can spend a long time clicking through options on the pedal itself which is really fiddley. Also you will benefit massively by buying a boss footswitch (don't make the mistake of thinking a normal footswitch will work it needs to be powered). This will allow you to change the patches up/down or other settings without touching the pedal.

Came very quickly, nicely packed, feels very good quality as you can expect from a boss product.Lots of features still getting to grips with but would definitely recommend.

I bought specifically for the MIDI functionality so I could use with an external MIDI foot controller but it appears it is missing the functionality to trigger overdub recording from an external MIDI controller. This is the case even though in the RC-5 settings you can assign a MIDI receive address to ‘DUB’, this does not appear to start/stop overdub recording when triggered.Separately from this, the fact that when you are overdubbing (triggered from pedal itself) the display colour is the same as when you are playing is a really bad design. They used Red for initial recording, Green for when playing, but they also used Green for when playing when Overdub is active. They needed to use a different colour like Purple here otherwise it is impossible to know whether overdub recording is on or not.

A lot of fun, and makes doing one-take recordings of your favourite songs a blast. The complaints I have don't completely ruin it, but are certainly things I wish the other reviewers had mentioned.The controls are pretty odd to use - it doesn't come with an instruction manual, so you are constantly going online to find basic commands e.g. undo previous take, save a memory etc. I spent a long time on a memory until I was happy - then I accidently scrolled to the next memory, and so corrected back to the original, to find it completely gone. I have no idea what I pressed that could undo everything instantly!You have to buy a separate charger - which is absurd. No other charger works with it, meaning that the price you pay for it is wrong as you have to pay another £30 or so for the "special" charger. Don't bother with the battery it includes - it lasts roughly 4hrs before running out of juice.The rhythm tracks are severely lacking. 4/4 beats are OK but many have odd drum fills, toms, cymbals etc. that ruin the track. Good luck with 3/4 - apart from the metronome, none of the tracks actually do 1,2,3,1,2,3 - instead doing jarring and badly cut 4/4 beats.Uploading tracks to play along to is impossible. The default volume of an uploaded track is so absurdly high that even after lowering the track down to minimum volume and gain on Audacity, to the point where I cannot hear it through headphones/speakers, is still painfully loud coming through the amp - so imagine how loud it was without this editing!But the main function of being a loop pedal is achieved, and is easy to set up and use (once you have figured out the controls!). Well worth it if on heavy discount, but not at full price.

Excellent pedal but be prepared to spend time learning how to use it . Watch you tube videos ect otherwise it’s very complicated. If you want a simple pedal get the boss rc1 that’s super easy to learn

Loads of fun . Really helps get the creative juices flowing. Great beats & lots of control & some good effects like the reverse which is interesting to use. Unfortunately mine glitched occasionally so I sent it back but I will get a new one because I love it. It takes only a little learning to use it & you can record anything that comes into your mind.

The form factor and options on the Boss RC5 are what appealed to me but it is let down by some essential features. The biggest fail is not being able to vary the length of your overdubs - ie: if you record a 4 bar loop you can’t overdub an 8 bar loop over your first loop. This makes it very limiting when you import a wav file that is, for example, 4 bars long and you want to jam a longer phrase over the top. Also, very strange is that when importing a wav file to loop over you cannot undo your overdub without stopping and erasing the whole loop ! There were a few audio glitches with the pedal when I tried it out and I thought it too unreliable to use in a live performance. Its a real shame Boss cannot get it right with this pedal - it would be a real winner if they fixed the limitations . Happily I was able to return it without any hassles - which is why I always buy my guitar gear from Amazon.