AITONE Phrase Loop AT07 guitar looper review and tutorial
Transparency notice: AITONE emailed and offered to send a looper pedal to me for free to review, which I accepted. Consider this a sponsored review.
Any time I accept a pedal for review, it has to offer something good that separates it from other like pedals. With the AT07, it offers are few good things I really like.
At the tail of this is my full video review, but here's a quick rundown of how it works and my thoughts on the AT07.
Transparency notice: Consider this a sponsored review since AITONE sent the pedal to me for free. I was not paid, but did actually get something (the pedal itself), so yes that technically counts as sponsored.
For what this is, it is priced reasonably.
Before getting into the features, operation of the AT07 is thankfully easy.
Recording a loop: Pick a record slot with the center knob, stomp once to start recording, stomp again to stop. Any slot with a recorded loop is indicated by the LED light blinking blue. For any slot that's free, the light stays out.
Playing back a loop: Pick a slot with a recorded loop on it, stomp once to play back, stomp twice to stop playback.
Overdubbing: Pick a slot with a recorded loop on it, stomp once to play back, light illuminates blue. Stomp once during playback, light changes to red indicating overdub recording has begun, record, double stomp to stop.
Undo: Record overdub first. Play back loop. A long press of the footswitch is undo.
Redo: Undo first. Play back loop. A long press of the footswitch is redo.
Using the bank toggle switch: This is what the top toggle switch is for. You have bank 1 slots 1-16, bank 2 slots 1-16 and bank 3 slots 1-16. This is how you get 48 record slots out of the AT07.
Adjusting volume: Use the Level small knob at top left.
Using the threshold function when auto-recording: See the video below for instruction, as it's better to see and hear that in action to understand how it works.
Good things that the AT07 brings to the table:
Being able to set an audio threshold is a very welcome feature, and every looper pedal should have this. This feature defeats a common annoyance with loopers where you can manually set the auto-record audio level so it doesn't start recording accidentally. Very nice to have.
What I like best however is the fact the AT07 operates using no screen whatsoever. You get 100% access to all the functions it has without having to read a screen, and that's great.
In addition, you get to your loops faster than if you were using a pedal with a screen on it.
Take the BOSS Loop Station RC-5, for example. Yes, it has 99 slots. But if you're in a situation where you want to go from loop 3 to loop 47, that requires looking directly at the screen, turning the knob and finding the number you want. You have to read the screen.
An example of the same situation with the AT07. You want to go from bank 1 loop 1 to bank 3 loop 5. Flick of the bank switch to bank 3, turn the big knob so it points left to 5, done. The only reading you have to do is to look at the number printed on the pedal, and that's optional. You can almost operate the AT07 100% by feel alone.
Also, you don't have to think of numbered loops in the AT07 as 1-16, 17-32, 33-48. Bank 3 slot 1 is not "loop #33". It's just bank 3 slot 1, which is easier to remember where you are in the pedal when locating loops you recorded before.
If you couldn't tell, I am a bit anti-screen when it comes to pedals. It's always better whenever something can be done on a pedal the no-screen way, and the AT07 absolutely gets it right.
My only complaint is that it's a mini pedal. Great for pedalboards to save space, but it would be nice if a full-size version of this was offered. Other than that, this pedal ticks all the right boxes. It's easy and it offers other genuinely useful features that other loopers don't have.
i beat the crap out of my keyboard
There was a time when I was all about mechanical PC keyboards. I stopped with all that nonsense once my hands started hurting from use of one of those. I would keep bottoming/"thudding" the keys. It did not matter what switch type I used. If the keyboard was mechanical, I would bottom the keys. Not good.
I switched back to regular PC keyboards, and yep, no more hand pain. But I had to find the right one, which I did.
I use a Perixx keyboard. It's a model that's no longer made. This keyboard is my favorite kind, which is USB wired backlit type. Perixx has since since introduced a new "plain" model and you'll see that from the many different types they make. I actually very much like the wide selection they have. Everything from regular to roundy keys to split ergonomic to scissor laptop-style keys and everything in between. They even have one that's literally split in half so you can make the separation as short or long as you like. Nice.
When I got my Perixx keyboard, within less than a week I immediately bought another. It's still in the box. I only took it out once to make sure it worked, then back in the box it went. When the one I have finally wears out, then I'll use the second one.
But yeah, I beat the crap out of my keyboard. The comma and period keys are the ones where the keycap coating started to wear off first. My down and right arrow keys have similar rub-off, and the S is showing some slight wear now. All the other keys are still holding up fairly well.
Performance of the keyboard is more or less the same as when new. While true I have 7 backlight colors to choose from, I just go with white. Of the three brightness settings available to me, I use the lowest setting, and that's enough to see what I'm doing.
I also very much appreciate the layout is NORMAL. No crazy/wacky stuff going on. The arrow keys are the standard inverted T, the Ins/Home/PgUp/Del/End/Pgn is in a standard 3-over-3 cluster, number pad is normal, F keys on top are normal, Enter is a single rectangle and wide, backslash is about half that length and normal, and so on. It's just all normal. Normal is good. It also has a Win-key on it, which I use for keyboard shortcuts often. Again, good.
It's very nice that there are many choices for a cheap backlit wired USB keyboard. Perixx is just one brand as there are many. And, thankfully, a lot of them have a STANDARD layout without any wacky crap going on.
I also love that keyboard makers finally wised up and started offering large print versions of them. The keys are the same size but the text on them is larger. Even if your eyesight is good, these are way better than the standard print size an always have been. Why? Easy answer. What they did is copied the print size that old typewriters used to have on their keycaps.
Yeah, it took going back to the past and looking at typewriters to finally get a proper appearance everybody can use for computer keyboard keys. It took a long while to get there, but we have them now, and they're cheap. That's a win.
chipotle has the worst chips i've ever tasted
For a while now I've been avoiding eating at Chipotle mainly due to it being complicated. That restaurant is one of those places where you have to know how to order before even going in there. Some say that Chipotle is basically Subway, but instead of sandwiches it's burritos, bowls and tacos. Eh... sort of.
I finally went to a Chipotle. And it sucked.
I ordered two soft tacos and a side of chips and queso. In the tacos I had chicken, lettuce, tomato salsa and sour cream. Nothing too crazy.
The tacos were meh because the chicken was just average and the sour cream had barely any thickness to it.
But those chips... yikes.
So I take a chip and dip that into the queso. I've had actual real queso before made by an actual Mexican chef and this was definitely not that. What Chipotle tries to pass off as queso only qualifies as "cheesy sauce".
I eat a chip and my face started contorting almost immediately seconds later. Why? These chips had a hit of what I think was lime. And by hit, I mean a smack-you-in-the-face hit in a real bad way.
You're probably thinking, "Dude, haven't you had lime chips before?" Yes. I've had the no-heat lime chips and the kind with heat on them (i.e. jalapeno or habanero). But never in my life have I had a chip with what I can only describe as an ungodly amount of lime.
I'll put it to you this way: These chips had so much lime that it busted through the cheesy sauce/queso dip. It didn't matter how much sauce was on these things, because whoever made them just dumped on ALL the lime. Obviously, I didn't finish them.
To recap:
Two soft tacos that were only slightly above high school cafeteria grade, queso that was nothing more than cheesy sauce, and chips with so much lime on them that they could choke a goat.
That was my first experience at Chipotle. And my last.
i'm very happy this printer type is still being made
Many moons ago, I got exposed to one of the best damned printers ever made, the HP LaserJet 4 Plus. People love this thing so much that they are STILL reconditioned and sold on eBay to this day, STILL have new toner cartridges manufactured for them, and STILL have repair kits and replacement parts made to fix them. That's the staying power of the HP LaserJet 4 Plus. It's that good even though it was made 30 years ago.
What made the HP LJ 4+ so good is that it just worked. Black-and-white printing only, reasonable print speed and rock-solid reliable. They were built for office use and cranked out print after print with no complaints.
But can you get this with a new printer now for the home?
Yes. Thankfully, there is the Brother HL-L2460DW.
The advantage of getting the Brother over an old HP LaserJet is that it's new and wireless is built right in whereas on the HP it obviously isn't.
Like the old HP, this printer does one thing. Print black-and-white. No color. And that's fine because all anybody cares about is black ink and not the color crap. It uses the 830XL toner, and replacement toners start around $50. That's actually pretty darned good considering how insanely priced inkjet carts are.
To note, the L2460DW is not cheapest version. There is also the HL-L2405W. On the higher end is a model with built-in scanner and fax, the MFC-L2820DW. That one costs more, but for people that want a scanner/printer with reliable black-and-white printing, oh yes, that will do just fine.
When you're sick of inkjet crap, you go laser and stay there.
Everybody knows that inkjet printing is a racket, both for the printers and replacement ink carts. Many thousands of people get frustrated with their printers daily, mainly because it's always the COLOR carts that run out first when all you want to do is print in BLACK.
Anybody who prints at home regularly eventually learns that monochrome laser printing is what works best. Yes, you could try your luck with a portable thermal printer. Those do work, but thermal paper is annoying to deal with. You're better off with tried-and-true monochrome laser. The print quality is better, it's a proven reliable way to print, and you don't go into the poorhouse buying ink carts over and over again.
Casio WSB1000 has one fatal flaw
On paper, this thing sounds darned near perfect. But there's one thing about it that's not-so good. Bad, in fact.
I really like that Casio has been introducing a good amount of squared-off digitals lately. There's nothing wrong with round, but LCD digits by their very nature are angular, so a square/rectangle shape totally works with it. The WS1700H is a good example of that, as that model is big, square, and not sorry about it.
But then comes the more reasonably sized WSB1000. 46.2mm lug-to-lug, 41.3mm case, 11.6mm thick. Nice dimensions all around.
The WSB1000 has a trick up its sleeve. You can connect it with Bluetooth to your phone to sync the time. At top, you see STEP TRACKER. This watch will track up to 999,999 steps. That's not a typo. Step goal ranges can be set from 1,000 to 50,000 using 1,000-step increments. It also has a step reminder feature that will show on the display and beep at you if you like. There's even a step count graph on it at top left. When active, it replaces the weekday display.
But even if you don't use the step tracking feature, this is still a good looking digital with nice big buttons on it for easy operation.
What's the flaw?
Two-year battery life from a CR2016.
True, CR2016 batteries are dirt cheap, but I'm totally used to Casio watches with a 10-year battery life.
I did look up to see if there are any more Casio Step Tracker watches that have a longer battery life. The one that stuck out was the WS2100H. That's a bigger watch, but also has the bigger CR2025 battery which Casio claims lasts 3 years instead of 2. The tradeoff is no Bluetooth sync with that model.
As far as I can tell, no Casio watch exists that has the step tracker feature and 10-year battery life. Not even for G-SHOCK models. The GBX100 has a 2-year battery life. If you want a longer battery life, you have to go solar. Two of the few models I know that has step tracker along with everything else and the kitchen sink and is solar powered is the G-SHOCK DWH5600 and G-SHOCK GBDH2000. Those are cool watches, but at that point you're going far beyond just having a basic step tracker.
The WSB1000 is cool and I like it. I don't like the short (for a Casio) battery life. But I do like the step tracking and the very low price point to get a plain digital watch where you can sync the time with Bluetooth. That's just a nice feature to have.