BackLine Engineering has announced a significant feature update for RiffBox, its popular looping device designed to enhance the capabilities of performing musicians.

The firmware 5.0 update includes the following five most requested feature enhancements:

• While recording a new layer, you can now abort the recording with the simple press of the footswitch.
• An auto-start option has been added to for manual loop recording. This is in addition to the five automatic recording modes that cannot be found on any other looping device.
• A new operating mode 77 has been added which allows you to continuously record and playback new loops without having to stop and start the record process.
• MIDI ‘note on’ messages can now be used to time the loop length. If you want to use a MIDI setup, RiffBox can use these messages instead of recognizing the notes or chords that you play. This gives you the option to time your loop recording to a MIDI track instead of your playing.
• If you don’t like the last layer that you just recorded, you can now erase it using MIDI.

With the ability to time loops to your playing, automatically recognize rhythm and note progressions to create a loop, and 76 loop playback modes, RiffBox is designed to be an ideal tool for live performances.

These new features will work with any of the 76 different looping modes that are currently available and are included in RiffBox Firmware version 5.0, which is available free to existing users from the Backline Engineering web site.

Pricing and Availability:

RiffBox is shipping today at a street price of $319.