This appears to be an incredibly useful critter, although the criticism is that it's noisy and/or not really true bypass. Anybody have any experience with them?

It can be set for true or buffered by-pass. The buffer can be switched out of the system.

Have you tried one? If so, how did you like it?

The Octaswitch looks pretty cool. But, it also looks pretty big. Check out these:


http://www.musictoyz.com/guitar/pedals/catswitch.php

The Pedalracks let you pick a Looper of the size you want.

And some of the others are programmable, I think.

It looks huge, you're right. But the dipswitch controller idea is inspired, I think. I think probably a clean/dirty looper's in my future, along with a looper/switch for the stuff I use in the effects loop of my Lonestar Special.

quote:

Originally posted by Fleabiscuit:
Have you tried one? If so, how did you like it?

Haven't tried one in person only read the specs.

In general, these things use relays for switching. Good relays are expensive cheap ones often aren't good and can produce crackling noises during switching. Relays with bounce free contacts don't come cheap, like 10$ a piece vs 1.5$. Therefore, in switching/looping systems price can be a quality indicator.
Ask the manufacturer what type of relays they're using, don't bother with mil spec BS, wait for them to say the magic words "bounce free contacts".