Included with Ableton

At first glance, it might seem that the stock looper has more functionality and might be more useful as a looper. This is not necessarily the case though. By being simpler, the Clip Slot Looper allows for powerful hands-free looping in Ableton. It converts all the clip slots on a track into loopers. This is helpful for musicians who want to trigger a loop and then have both hands free to play their instrument. Additionally, the Clip Slot Looper turns all of Ableton’s clip slots into loopers if desired.

Just choose the number bars you want to loop and the clips slots, once triggered, will automatically stop recording at that length. This makes Ableton’s clip slots much more useful and eliminates the need to drag loops from the stock looper up into the clip slots. This allows to you to get away from the computer screen and focus on making music, either at home or on stage. The Clip Slot Looper helps Ableton’s clip slots to function the way you would think that they should, turning Ableton into the monster looper that it should be!

This site provides instructions on how to combine the Clip Slot Looper with hand and foot control for unprecendented looping control.

• Takes Ableton’s functionality to new level
• Can be placed on multiples tracks to set up simultaneous multiple instrument and vocal looping
• When used with MIDI controller, optional foot control, and optional Global Quantization clock,  frees you up from having to focus on your computer.
• Works in any time signature
• Simple and powerful functionality that musicians need
• Frees up your hands for instrument playing
• Converts Ableton’s clip slots to loopers
• Every clip slot becomes capable of looping
• No dragging with mouse needed
• Facilitates song writing, particularly when paired with MIDI controllers
• Can be added to default Ableton templates for instant, custom loop setups

• Included free with Ableton
• Allows for audio overdubbing
• Allows loops to be manipulated (i.e., change speed, reverse)
• Supports loop tempo independent of song tempo

• Requires mouse interaction to drag loops up to clip slots
• Doesn’t integrate naturally with MIDI controllers like the APC40
• Doesn’t allow clip slot loop recording

Ableton is a wonderful, powerful piece of software. Out of the box though, it’s unable to make use of its own inherent power as a looper. I spoke with Ableton and their response was that the stock looper should be adequate. I don’t think they understand that there’s a paradigm shift here.

I didn’t come up with the Clip Slot Looper all on my own.

Back in 2015 I started playing around with an iOS app called Loopy. What was incredible about that little app was that it laid out loops on the screen. Up until then, loops had always been contained in a pedal on the floor. So having a visual palette of loops was revolutionary! I chased that solution for years (literally), trying to get it to work as a reliable part of my guitar rig. I bought different audio docks and connectors and adapters, ultimately to no avail. The iOS ecosystem will never be able to compete with a professional level DAW like Ableton. I was constantly running into hangups trying to use iOS apps.

So I created the Clip Slot Looper to combine the joy of that app with the power of Ableton. No more hangs ups. No more limits.