Cutlasses Gloop is a new performance-oriented 4-playhead looper module with slicing and built-in manglers for Eurorack.
The Bristonnica 24 event was a few months ago, and our focus is already complete on the next Superbooth 25 in two months. However, I only noticed one interesting module from the last Bristonnica edition.
Scott, founder of the new company Cutlasses Instruments, has introduced Gloop, a new performance-oriented hands-on looper for Eurorack with a neat feature set.
Cutlasses Gloop
Gloop is a 16HP performance looper module for Eurorack. It uses the best-known Electrosmith Daisy Seed microprocessor with 48Khz 24-bit digital audio that runs as a newly developed looper engine. A highlight of the Cutlasses Gloop is the ability to playback recorded loops with four simultaneous play heads.
Recording is very straightforward. Press the red record button or use the record trigger input, and you’re ready to go. Gloop’s memory can hold up to around 2 minutes of continuous audio. That is not massive, but it is enough for the targeted concept. Plus, you have overdubbing with the same button.
Each playhead is very flexible and can have different settings, including the position of the loop, different speed/pitch, direction, and volume. Playing a different area or sub-loop of the main loop is also possible in a playhead. This allows you to create layering textures and granular-style loops.
Then, the grid mode gives you the option to slice your loop into regions, with all loop positions and sizes quantized to a grid of either 4, 8, or 16 regions.
Sound Mangling
Deeper audio manipulations are also possible on the Cutlasses Gloop. One of the latest firmware updates refined a dedicated tape effects section that takes your loops in a time machine: wow and flutter (wobble), tape saturation, and age (tape hiss and random dropouts).
In addition, you can find a number of built-in effects, including bit-crusher, tape saturation, degrader, delay, and reverb, to sculpt them further. Since the release at the end of last year, more features and improvements have been added, including separating the effects into mono and stereo.
Great! Thanks to independent physical controls for each play, you have full volume and mixing control over your sounds. Playheads can be assigned to either mono outputs or sent to both – allowing for creative effects routing or stereo control when paired with a panning mixer.
More advanced control gives you four CV inputs on the Cutlasses Gloop that can be assigned to modulate the speed, position, or volume of individual or multiple playheads. This infuses the playheads with tons of movements, making them very flexible. Thus, you can create your classic looper things and go in the experimental direction as well.
First Impression
This is an exciting looper module with a very hands-on design. I like that you can control individual play heads directly without navigating through big menus. The latest updates released since the beginning of the year show that the project continues and the module is becoming more comprehensive.
Cutlasses Gloop is available now as a built module for $419,99/£325 (excl. VAT) or as a DIY kit at Thonk for £185 (excl. VAT).
More information here: Cutlasses Instruments
Available at my partner
Records mono sources only?