So, as part of my re-commitment to this whole blog thang, I’ve finally gone back and extracted the results of the 2005 Looper Survey that I setup online last year. Interestingly, respondents have submitted data even as late as 2 weeks ago, so maybe we can consider my complete neglect of this survey as an attempt to capture as much data as possible…

As opposed to trying to run every statistic possible on this data, I’ll only provide a summary of a few things I find interesting. Those of you with inquiring and scientific minds may want to download this spreadsheet, which contains all of the raw data, and a PivotTable that makes exploring the data easy (once you know how to use a PivotTable, that is!).

Demographics:

182 people responded to the survey, representing 24 countries. Only 5 of the respondents were female (c’mon ladies!). The average respondent had almost 7 years of looping experience, and all totalled the respondents represented 1,199 cumulative years of experience! Imagine tapping into all of that knowledge…

Here’s a chart of the distribution of respondents by country and sex:

And here is a chart of the age range of respondents, by sex:

And finally, a chart showing the average years of looping experience, by primary instrument of the respondent, and by sex:

Looping Devices:

Here are the Top 10 Looping Devices reported by the respondents, and the total number of devices reported:

2. Echoplex Digital Pro - 98
3. Line 6 DL-4 - 56
4. Digitech RDS 7.6 (or similar, incl PDS series) - 45
5. Ableton Live (software) - 44
6. Electrix Repeater - 43
7. Boss RC-20 (or RC-20XL) - 41
8. Lexicon Vortex - 37
9. Boss DD-3, 5 or 6 - 36
10. Boss DD-20 - 33
11. Electro Harmonix 16 Second Delay (new or reissue) - 26

And just to give you an example of the kind of things you can do with the PivotTable, here’s a chart of the Top 10 Looping Devices, totalled by age group:

Comparison to 2003 Survey Results:

The comparison of 2005 results with a similar survey taken in 2003 is very interesting. The complete 2003 Looper Survey results can be downloaded here, in PDF format.

Although the methods were different, the online communities polled were the same (Looper’s Delight mailing list, the HCFX forum at Harmony Central), and the resulting increase in respondents is striking - it basically doubled (94 in 2003, 182 in 2005).

Here’s a summary comparsion of 2003 vs. 2005. Note a couple of clear trends:

• The number of respondents doubled
• The number of devices per person went up, from 3.3 in 2003 to 5.1 in 2005
• The Echoplex Digital Pro stayed at the top of the list
• The Electrix Repeater dropped significantly, overtaken by the Line 6 DL-4, Ableton Live, and some sort of strange nostalgia for the Digitech RDS or PDS units
• The Lexicon Vortex rose in popularity, while the Lexicon Jamman fell completely off of the Top 10
• The Boss DD units (DD-20, DD3, 5 and 6) all moved into the Top 10, pushing the Boss RC-20 off of the list
• The Electro-Harmonix 16 Second reissue made a big enough splash to enter the Top 10 in 2005

2003 Looper Survey results:

 

94 people responded
310 total devices were reported
(3.3 devices per person)

2. Echoplex Digital Pro = 68 devices
3. Electrix Repeater = 36 devices
4. Line6 DL-4 Delay Modeler = 33 devices
5. Lexicon Jamman = 19 devices
6. Kaoss Pad I or II = 11 devices
7. Ableton Live = 11 devices
8. Boomerang/Boomerang + = 10 devices
9. Akai Headrush - 6 devices
10. Boss RC-20 - 6 devices
11. Lexicon Vortex - 6 devices

In 2005’s survey, these were the results:

 

182 people responded
922 total devices were reported
(5.1 devices per person)

2. Echoplex Digital Pro - 98 devices
3. Line 6 DL-4 - 56 devices
4. Digitech RDS 7.6 (or similar, incl PDS series) - 45 devices
5. Ableton Live (software) - 44 devices
6. Electrix Repeater - 43 devices
7. Boss RC-20 (or RC-20XL) - 41 devices
8. Lexicon Vortex - 37 devices
9. Boss DD-3, 5 or 6 - 36 devices
10. Boss DD-20 - 33 devices
11. Electro Harmonix 16 Second Delay (new or reissue) - 26 devices