Pigtronix Infinity 3 Looper Review

Summary

• Pros: The Pigtronix Infinity 3 lets you seamlessly record and switch between song sections, or record loops in parallel. It has excellent sound quality and MIDI synch.
• Cons: No undo/redo without an external footswitch; no rhythm patterns; some hiss at high volumes.
• Overall: One of the best two-track loopers you can buy, but you need the external footswitch to unlock its full potential.

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• Amazon: Pigtronix Infinity 3 Looper
• Guitar Center: Pigtronix Infinity 3 Looper

Full Review

Pigtronix made a big mark on the looping world through the Infinity 2. Now they’re aiming to build on the successful formula with the new version. And it definitely looks great: clean, well-presented, with rugged metal footswitches but not too much cluttering up the body. It touts features like the option to run dual loops in parallel or series, the ability to easily switch up the pitch or speed of your loops, new synchronization options, and more. But is it really all it’s cracked up to be? Can they justify charging more than the Boss RC-500, for instance – or could you get better value for money elsewhere?

Design and Layout

First off, the design of the pedal is hard to fault. It has a completely black body, with three metallic footswitches at the bottom (one for each loop and a dedicated stop). There are six buttons across the middle – just above the cool “Infinity 3” logo – and four dials at the top to control the volume and choose presets. It really strikes an ideal balance between letting you control all of the features and preventing things from feeling cluttered. Contrast this with something like the Boss RC-505, which was a great pedal but insane in terms of busy design.

But the Pigtronix Infinity 3 walks this line expertly while still remaining impressively compact: it measures just 5 by 7.4 inches. Overall they’ve done a great job with the design, even if some features need to be activated by hand. 

The Features: Old, New and… Missing?

So the Infinity 3 looks great, yes, but this isn’t a beauty contest. What can it do as a looper? Well, it does the old stuff you’d find on the Infinity 2, some new stuff that builds on what the second incarnation could do and, unfortunately, some great features from the second that are now more difficult to access. Let’s dive in.

Core Looping Features, Executed Perfectly

If you’re familiar with looping, you’ll be right at home with the core functionality in the Infinity 3. To create a single loop, it’s as simple as it gets. Just hit a footswitch to start recording, play something cool, then hit the footswitch again to start playback. If you’ve just laid down a rhythm and you want to add more, just hit the switch again to overdub. This is the core of looping – stacking your sound to produce something full, layered and complex at the other end.

The Infinity 3 doesn’t stop there, though. Like the last version, it has two separate tracks for looping. This makes it a fantastic songwriting tool. It also gives you options for stacking both loops together (more on this in a moment).

Additionally, it has a dedicated stop footswitch. You can use the “Arm/All” button to say whether you want commands like “stop” to apply to only the “armed” (think “active”) loop or to both loops simultaneously. This was all possible on the Infinity 2, but it was bundled with other functions so it wasn’t as accessible.

Improvements from the Infinity 2

As you’d expect – or at least hope – the new version builds on what the Infinity 2 did. The most obvious way it does this is with the dual-track functionality. One of the biggest gripes with the Infinity 2 was that, although you could record two independent loops, you could only play them one at a time. This is great for recording loops for different sections of a song, like a verse and chorus. The Infinity 2 was somewhat limiting, however, because you weren’t able to play two loops in parallel to create more complex loops. This issue has thankfully been addressed with the Infinity 3, which lets you record two loops, each with its own overdubs, and then play them back either in serial or parallel mode.

All taken together, this is the most important improvement for the Infinity 3. If you want a verse-chorus song structure, you can set it to “Series” and build up the song one piece at a time. This is an especially nice option because of the 50 preset locations on the looper – you can work on the sections for as long as you want, store them both in the same location and bring them up whenever you have a performance or want to practice again. Significantly, in “Series” mode, loop 2 can be multiple times longer than Loop 1. So, for example, your verse and chorus sections can be different lengths.

Better Octave Funtionality

There’s also an improved version of the old “Octave” feature on the Infinity 3. Instead of a single-button activation, the Infinity 3 does it through a sample rate adjustment. It automatically records at 48 kHz, but you can manually set it to 24 or 12 kHz too. After recording, the same button controls the playback, and through this you can adjust pitch and speed. For example, if you record a double-speed bassline (on your guitar) at 24 kHz, then drop it down to 12 kHz during playback, the speed will half and the pitch will drop an octave. You can do the opposite to speed it up, with a maximum two-octave range and four times as fast (or slow) as your original recording.

Undo/Redo Needs an External Footswitch

The biggest downside in terms of the features on the Infinity 3 is the undo/redo feature. This is pretty useful for live looping. Not only does it help with fixing mistakes, but for removing and bringing back your last overdub layer. On the Infinity 2, you had to select this as an option for the second footswitch (and lose your two-track functionality as a result). However, on the Infinity 3, you need an external footswitch to even get the feature. While perhaps not everybody uses this feature as much as I do, it’s a bummer not to have it included without having to buy another piece of hardware.

Why not just combine it with the “Stop” pedal? It’s also used for deleting the current content (from one or both depending on your Arm/All setting), but a double-tap could have activated undo/redo. Or there could be a button to toggle between deleting when you hold or undoing the last layer.

No Rhythms for the Pigtronix Infinity 3

Not everyone needs it, but if you want a looper with built-in drum rhythms, then you’ll have to look elsewhere. For example, the Boss RC-10R and the Boss RC-500 are both two-track loopers with built in drum patterns, which is excellent for home practice and simple rhythm backing in live situations.

Fortunately, the Infinity 3 does have MIDI synch, so you could always use a hardware or software drum machine, or even a beat pedal like the Beat Buddy. Still, it would have been nice to have at least some built-in drum patterns.

The Connections You Need

The back of the pedal contains all the connections you need. These include stereo ins and outs, aux outs for each channel, a MIDI controller or beat clock sync jack, an expression pedal jack and one for an undo/redo, reverse and/or Varispeed pedal. There’s also a spot for the (included) power jack.

It’s good to point out that you can use the two ins in either “Stereo” or “Split” mode, where you either take it as a single stereo input, or where you split them so one jack is for Loop 1 and the other is for Loop 2. Again, this opens up many possibilities for looping.

There’s also a USB port you can use for firmware updates and for importing or exporting presets.

Intuitive Interface

In terms of actually using the Infinity 3, the overall interface definitely deserves praise. It’s easy to control the core looping functions – record, play, overdub and stop – totally hands-free. The other options are controlled through the push buttons. Although you need to operate these with your hands, the red/green coloring for the top/bottom feature makes it easy to see what features are active. Unless you’re doing something fancy, you can arrange these settings before you start and handle the rest with your feet. Of course, more footswitches would be nice for live players, but for more casual use this is ideal.

How Does the Pigtronix Infinity 3 Sound?

The Infinity 3 has a 48 kHz sampling rate and a 24-bit depth, so the audio is about as good as you can realistically expect. With the right settings for the dedicated loop-level volume controls and the master volume, the sound of your guitar comes through crisp and clearly. This is more than enough for more casual, home-based players, and even stands up well for most live use.

There’s a bit of an issue, though, in that setting the “Master Volume” dial much beyond the 12-o-clock position in front of a cranked amp will lead to audible white noise in your signal. This is pretty common among looper pedals and reduces at lower output volumes. Overall, however, this is a downside if it’s important to you to loop at very loud volumes.

Is the Pigtronix Infinity 3 Worth Picking Up?

Despite a few niggles, Pigtronix has made a really fun looper for composing songs. The incredible sound quality, lack of latency, and ability to switch between serial and parallel loops will attract serious musicians. That said, having to spend more for the Pigtronix External Footswitch to get the undo/redo feature is annoying. Also, the hiss at high volumes can be an issue for those who need to use it with a cranked amp.

If it was a little more affordable, it would be a no brainer. Unfortunately, the high price limits its audience to those who need the series/parallel loop features, octave functionality, auxilary inputs, or other unique features. It is a great looper, but there are less expensive options for those who don’t need exactly what it offers.

Where to Buy the Pigtronix Infinity 3?

• Buy on Amazon: Pigtronix Infinity 3 Looper
• Buy from Guitar Center: Pigtronix Infinity 3 Looper

Pigtronix Infinity 3 Looper Product Video