Tosin Abasi has announced the release of a new looper pedal, the Boomerang III Phrase Sampler.

The guitarist, who is currently on tour with Animals As Leaders in support of their forthcoming album The Madness of Many, said it was a “long time coming” since he first developed the idea for the new pedal two years ago.

“I’m so excited to finally be able to share this little beast with everyone,” Abasi said in a video posted to his Facebook page. “It’s been a long time coming.”

Abasi said he first began working on the Boomerang III Phrase Sampler in 2015, when he was touring in support of Animals as Leaders’ last album, The Joy of Motion. He said he was inspired by other looping pedals being used at the time and wanted to create his own version that was “more functional and easier to use.”

Abasi explained that the pedal will allow him to create loops live on stage without having to rely on backing tracks or pre-recorded samples. “The main thing I wanted to do with this pedal is have it be a live performance tool,” he said.

Animals As Leaders’ new album The Madness Of Many is due out November 11 via Sumer

NAMM 2011 marks the first year that Tosin Abasi has had his own booth. Most of the time we found him hanging out at the Godin booth and talking shop with fellow artists or just watching other artists visit his booth.

It was here he introduced his new looper pedal (he won’t tell us what brand it is). The looper pedal allows him to play a rhythm part, improvise over it and then build upon that in a live setting.

“I am still learning how to use it,” he said. “But I was able to come up with some really cool things that I couldn’t do before.”

The two songs he showed us were masterfully crafted, dynamic pieces that were as beautiful as they were heavy and technical. He would enter into a melodic clean part, create a loop, add another layer and then start shredding over the top of it all. It sounded like three musicians playing instead of one guy with a loop station.

The key to Tosin Abasi’s sound is his use of a looper pedal. As evidenced by his many instructional videos, he uses the pedal to layer riffs and harmonies that compliment his rapid tapping style. Abasi’s newest video blog shows off his new looper pedal, which he says has a lot of new features that are useful in live situations.

“I’ve been a long time user of the Boss RC-series loopers, but in the last year or so I found myself not using my looper as much,” says Abasi. “The reason for that is that there were too many buttons for me to deal with on stage, and I would rather focus on playing than having to remember what button does what.”

Abasi then went on to say that he met with Digitech who showed him their new looper pedals, and after trying out some of the pedals he was sold. He now uses the JamMan Express XT on stage.

Last year guitarist Tosin Abasi released his first solo album, Animals As Leaders, an instrumental progressive metal record that saw him working with a looper pedal more than ever before. This became obvious during his performances live and on recordings like “CAFO,” which features the band playing in unison before breaking apart into different sections.

Now Abasi has announced that he is endorsing the Pigtronix Infinity Looper pedal, a device that will no doubt factor heavily into his work in Animals As Leaders as well as his other band, Reflux. He says:

“My search for the ultimate looping experience is over! The Pigtronix Infinity Looper gives me control over every aspect of my loops and some new ideas to explore! A sweet addition to my board.”

Abasi Guitars have launched the Looper, their first effects pedal. The device is designed to be used on stage and in the studio.

Designed by company founder Tosin Abasi, the Looper allows players to record a phrase in real time with unlimited overdubs.

The Looper can record up to 15 minutes of audio at a time, and has a USB port for backing up your recordings or transferring them between devices.

It also features six onboard effects: chorus, flanger, phaser, vibrato, filter and auto swell. The pedal can be synced with an external MIDI clock and features stereo I/O.

Abasi has launched a demo video showing how the Looper can be used in different applications, ranging from ambient textures to more difficult two-hand tapping passages.

I’ve been searching for the perfect looping pedal for a couple of years now. I had a Jamman, then an RC-20XL, and most recently, an EHX 2880. The 2880 is an AMAZING machine but once you get into serious looping and composing, it starts to feel like you need two or three of them to achieve your desired effect.

I was thrilled when I found out that Pigtronix was coming out with a looper that had infinite overdubbing (layers), MIDI sync capabilities, and could change the tempo of loops on the fly in real time. In addition, the Infinity Looper has 3 different modes: Reverse, Half Speed, and Undo/Redo. This makes it easy to write while “jamming” with yourself in the moment and then layer over those ideas seamlessly. Previously I’d have to record my idea as a separate loop and then bring it back in with a tap tempo switch that would not always be right on time with my other loops.

The reverse function is particularly inspiring since it can flip your riff around on the fly so that you can hear what it sounds like going backwards. This can lead to some pretty interesting results when you re-record the reversed riff