How to Use the Online Looper Pedal

Everything the free browser looper can do, in one page: recording, overdubs, the metronome, every keyboard shortcut, and how to fix the two problems that ruin loops (latency and a silent input).

▶ Open the looper

1. Getting started

When the app loads, pick your input device and press OK. Your browser will ask for microphone permission — the input is only used to record your loops, nothing leaves your device. If device names look generic ("Default"), grant access once and reopen the list: proper labels appear after the first permission.

You can loop anything the input hears: electric guitar through a USB interface, acoustic guitar or vocals through the built-in mic, bass, keys, beatbox. A laptop mic is fine for a first session. An audio interface is the one upgrade I'd actually spend money on — see below.

2. Quantized vs Free mode

Quantized (recommended): recording starts and stops exactly on the tempo grid you set (BPM × beats × bars), after a count-in. The loop cannot drift.
Free: you define the loop length by ear, starting and stopping manually — like a classic hardware pedal. Use it for ambient textures or when the music shouldn't be locked to a click.

3. Tempo and metronome

Tap the tempo bar at the top to open tempo controls: type a BPM, drag the slider, or hit T repeatedly to tap the tempo in. Set beats per bar and the number of bars for your loop. The metronome (M) plays through your speakers but is never recorded into your loop — it runs on a separate audio path. Changing BPM while the metronome runs keeps the pulse continuous.

4. Record your first loop

Press the big red button or hit Space. In quantized mode you get a count-in; play until the bar count completes and the loop closes and starts playing instantly — with zero gap between repetitions. Press Space again to stop, or Esc mid-take to cancel it.

5. Overdubs and layers

With a loop playing, press O (or the OVERDUB button) to record a new layer. Overdubs align themselves to the loop automatically. Each one appears in the Layers panel with its own volume slider, mute and delete — a bad layer never forces you to start over. Backspace deletes the last overdub.

In Settings you can choose whether an overdub starts at the click or at the next loop start, and chain several consecutive overdubs hands-free.

6. Keyboard shortcuts

Hands-free tip: USB footswitches that emulate a keyboard (page turners for tablets) work out of the box — map your foot to Space and it behaves like a real looper pedal.

7. Fix timing: latency calibration

If overdubs land slightly early or late, that's input latency — the time your signal takes to reach the browser. Open Settings → Latency adjust (ms) and calibrate once: turn the metronome on, record its click with your mic, and adjust the value until the recorded ticks sit exactly on the beat. Positive values shift recordings later, negative earlier. I redo this calibration every time I change mic or interface; it takes two minutes and it's the difference between layers that lock and layers that flam.

8. Troubleshooting

No input signal: check the IN meter. If it doesn't move, your browser is listening to the wrong device — open Settings and reselect the input, and make sure the browser has mic permission (padlock icon in the address bar).

USB interface on Android shows silence: some Android vendors don't expose USB audio interfaces to the browser at all. If your interface delivers silence, it is an OS limitation, not something the app can fix — use the built-in mic on that device, or loop on desktop where USB audio just works.

Page won't record at all: the looper needs a secure context — use the live site (https) in a current Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox.

Recommended gear

Keep learning

New to looping as a technique? Start with the online looper overview (what it does well, what it can't do yet, and three practice routines), then the loop station guide for the step-by-step workflow. Or learn how the looper works under the hood.