Electro Harmonix 1440 Stereo Looper

Craftsmanship: The usual EHX tank-like build quality, but the small illuminated buttons feel flimsy and unstable. This is a downgrade from the larger illuminated buttons found in the other EHX loopers. The display screen and the push encoder feel solid and good quality.

Sound: Sound is excellent.

Operation: Basic looping is great, you just need to get used to the overdub triggering on switch release. MIDI sync works, but it needs some work. Some combinations of settings work perfectly. Some cause sound glitches. Record start on the first measure only is unwieldy, especially when closing loops. The effects are great but the way they work seems counter-intuitive to me.

Features: As far as I know, 1440's combination of features is unique. Some of the main selling points for me were MIDI sync, loop decay and the ability to store loops - no other looper can do all three in this price range, you need to spend over double the money if you want all that in one device (even the new BOSS loopers don't have decay function). There are of course more features than that, including an app for easy file transfer to and from your PC. If it had a rhythm option it would be great, but I don't think EHX ever did that in any of their loopers.

Price/Performance: As said already, if you want this specific feature set there is nothing else anywhere near this price. If you don't care about this exact combination of features it is still a good price for a looper that goes beyond the basics.