TC Electronic’s diminutive one‑knob, one‑switch Ditto looper has proven very popular, but TC still wanted to improve it — and indeed they have. The Ditto 2 has the same form factor and control layout, but the pedal now has a larger, redesigned footswitch for more positive control, as well as a new toggle switch that changes the operational mode from that in the original Ditto to a Ditto 2 user profile, as set up using a free smartphone/tablet app. A sprung position on the switch allows for Bluetooth pairing (hold up the switch until the status LED pulses blue and your pedal should link to the app), but USB‑C can also be used for app connection and performing firmware updates. Pairing has to be initiated from within the app, which had me fooled at first — simply holding the pairing button and looking in your tablet/phone devices menu doesn’t show anything until the app is running and a TC device selected. The output, which is mono, can be set to buffered or true bypass and there’s now 10 minutes of loop storage at 32‑bit/44.1kHz resolution. A standard 9V pedal PSU capable of applying 100mA is required for operation, but not supplied.
The normal Ditto pedal mode goes Record > Play > Overdub > Play > Overdub, with a double‑tap to stop and a maximum loop length of five minutes. The LED changes colour to indicate the current status: white for clear, red for recording, green for playback and purple for overdub. In Stop mode the LED shows yellow and holding down the footswitch clears the memory, albeit playing a second or so of the stored loop in the process. To restore the last loop during playback, the footswitch can be held down. To clear a loop while it is playing involves double‑tapping the footswitch, holding down the second tap — both very practical additions.
A smartphone app allows you to change the looping mode.As before, the instrument signal passes through at unity gain and the high input impedance provides a good match for electric guitars. The rotary control adjusts the playback volume of the loop without affecting the dry sound.
The user profile settings offer two useful alternative modes of operation, each with or without ‘LoopSnap’: conventional Ditto looping or SingleTap looping. LoopSnap helps avoid a problem that everyone who’s used a looper before will have experienced — slightly misjudging the loop end point. LoopSnap uses intelligent beat tracking to correct the loop start and end points, so as long as the input isn’t too rhythmically complex, it could get you out of trouble. The LoopSnap algorithm can move the start and/or stop point up to 150 milliseconds in either direction, based on timing information detected in the recorded loop.
SingleTap mode uses the footswitch to cycle round record, play and stop/delete, making for very simple operation if you don’t need to overdub loops. By default the LoopSnap function is turned on along with SingleTap looping in the user switch position, though this can be changed via the app. Though the mini manual doesn’t seem to mention it, the last loop is stored at power down in either looping mode.
The Ditto 2 is a delightfully simple and affordable looper.
In summary then, the Ditto 2 is a delightfully simple and affordable looper, designed to meet the needs of those who don’t need a Ditto Plus or something more esoteric. It’s compact and easy to use, and the sound quality is excellent. Having the status LED change colour to show the current operating status is also very practical. The LoopSnap function works well for most conventional music as long as your timing is somewhere close, and the app is very easy to use if you need to switch the user mode from the default. In all, it’s a worthy update to TC’s popular looper.