A device designed to record and play back a short snippet or snippets of audio. In many cases, the term can be used interchangeably with “looper.” But in other cases, a phrase sampler is designed for structuring and processing audio clips for one-shot sample playback, such as for sound effects, drum hits, or other non-looped events. A phrase sampler may be a standalone device or phrase-sampler functionality may be incorporated into another device, such as a synthesizer or keyboard. Many phrase samplers include extensive audio processing and effects capabilities fror modifying audio during playback.