Loopy Pro: Create music, your way.
What is Loopy Pro? — Loopy Pro is a powerful, flexible, and intuitive live looper, sampler, clip launcher and DAW for iPhone and iPad. At its core, it allows you to record and layer sounds in real-time to create complex musical arrangements. But it doesn’t stop there—Loopy Pro offers advanced tools to customize your workflow, build dynamic performance setups, and create a seamless connection between instruments, effects, and external gear.
Use it for live looping, sequencing, arranging, mixing, and much more. Whether you're a live performer, a producer, or just experimenting with sound, Loopy Pro helps you take control of your creative process.
Download on the App StoreLoopy Pro is your all-in-one musical toolkit. Try it for free today.
Comments
Looks COOL.
the 2 key feature are Midi & Velocity so how about... * VELOMIDI
But I agree with Doug, I think Phil's MIDISM (IN/OUT) works great as a name.
MIDISM is good for sure, but which is more likely to be tapped in the Guitarism IAP Store?
MIDISM
or
Not Your Mother's MIDI Out
C'mon people! Make this guy some money.
Then, later we will all happily purchase "Not your Daddy's MIDI In". Amirite? Wait, actually, maybe we should flip these.
Amazing work, @rhism. Can't wait to buy it.
Flip them...hahaha +1 for the innuendo
"maybe we should flip these" Comment of the day!
MIDI Trio
MIDI Comp
MIDIator
Although I do like MultiMIDI too.
I'd love to see a screenshot of the screen used to set up the three midi outs.
"MIDI is Awesome"
I'd click that too.
MIDI 3D
MidiMonster
MonsterMidi
AwesoMidi
PhenoMidi
Good on @Paul but maybe 3d midi.
The creativity in this group is through the roof. Love MIDIator and PhenoMidi! I still remember "Angry Bards", "Tempo Run", "Fret Ninja". I think I'm coming here for all my future app / feature names
@PhilW Love the "closest inversion" / "note range limit" idea. Not easy to pull off but would definitely be worth exploring.
@Trueyorky Midi in is a TON of work. I'll figure out how much to charge for it once I'm done with it, based on how useful it turns out to be and how much work it turns out to be. I estimate I need to charge about $10 for in+out combined to recover my time investment in them. I'd rather sell two smaller IAPs than one $10 IAP, so people can take what they want.
@syrupcore I'm gonna try to include that phrase in the description somewhere
Too long for the actual name but too good to pass up!
For this one I really like @mgmg4871's "Triple Play", without the "MIDI". It describes what it does, rather than what it is. The description will of course talk about this using MIDI to achieve the results, and including a standard MIDI Out implementation. It helps get away from the idea that you're paying for "MIDI Out" (which lots of people still want for free). You're paying for Triple Play, and it includes MIDI Out for free. Thoughts?
Yep, perfect. $10 says my names would sell more though!
Whatever you decide to name it, I will definitely purchase the MIDI out. I'm still undecided how useful the MIDI in will be to me though. But ya never know.
Good luck on sales and hopefully it will increase your income enough to continue developing this and other apps.
Thanks, my money is waiting. I'm looking forward to using this.
ps the MIDI needs to work in the background so we can continue to play while switching between Guitarism and other apps. Just a thought.
Re PhilW's suggestions re chord inversion, etc., please consider providing the facility to define our own chords? One other guitar app that I own has this feature but unfortunately it's poorly implemented. However, it does allow the user to define precisely the note content required, including muted/silent strings. Not all chords use all six strings. It may mean a less 'full' sound but it's more realistic.
While I'm on a roll: How do I turn off fret noise when changing chords? With a real instrument, few changes result in fret squeak and Guitarism's insistence on squeaking on very change is unrealistic and annoying. I appreciate that the fret noise only occurs when sliding between chord buttons but sliding between buttons is the most reliable and clean way of making fast chord changes - it's too easy to choke chords using discrete touches.
Lastly, I have to say that while the addition of 'buttons' to switch between chord sets is preferable to tilting, their current placement seems rather awkward (to me, at least, on an iPad). I appreciate that it may be a necessary compromise, in order to permit a universal app, but it's a pity that so much of the iPad's screen real estate goes to waste.
These relatively minor gripes aside, Guitarism is a great sounding app and Anil rightly deserves all the praise he receives. I look forward to the up-coming MIDI IAP(s) and other enhancements. Don't forget us fingerpickers though - strumming isn't the only way! :-D
@Trueyorky Why would you want it running in the background? To use the MIDI out you'd need to be playing guitarism live. Background mode is typically used for MIDI in, not out.
@Washboy Yes, custom chords is going to be part of an IAP soon. You can turn off the fret noises from the settings screen ('gear' icon from main menu screen).
The buttons for secondary chords on ipad would have been the same had this been an ipad-only app. They're not there because it's universal, they're there because that was the best placement for them I could find. Where would you prefer they be placed?
@Rhism When I am playing I like to switch between apps (to tweak Sunrizer etc). I was just thinking about using Guitarism as MIDI out, switching apps and back into Guitarism. I wouldn't want any interruption while playing this way.
@Rhism: Ah, great to hear of your plan to provide custom chords.
As for the secondary chord buttons, I suppose best placement depends upon how you hold your iPad for Guitarism. For me they would be best placed in the large space under the chord buttons (without trying it, I can't say if they should be two parallel strips, as now, but rotated 90 degrees, or adjacent, in-line buttons). Either way, they would be under the left thumb).
I'm principally a finger-picker (right-handed) so I find it's best to keep my iPad flat with the left side angled at 30-45 degrees further away from my body. That means that I use my left fingertips to press chord buttons and my left thumb to stretch to the secondary chord buttons. As it stands, whether I use my left thumb or a forefinger to reach the 'strips', my hand obscures sight of the chord buttons, unless I contort/arch my left hand and wrist. Thanks for listening, Anil.
@Trueyorky Since Guitarism doesn't play anything unless you are touching the interface, what do you expect to happen when you switch to another app? It's like getting up from the piano to go into the kitchen for a snack and expecting the piano to carry on playing without you...
@PaulB YES! I would pay a lot for that IAP, haha
@Trueyorky I think I understand what you're asking for. However it's important for most users to turn off MIDI sounds when leaving the app, otherwise people will find it very hard to turn off those sounds later. What I can do is to update the audition button that guitarism offers for the AB control panel, to have it work intelligently for MIDI settings so you can audition guitarism while tweaking your synth sounds.
@Hmtx Actually there's already an app that does this on iOS. It's called "Music"
Not on the bus though.
@Washboy I did experiment with dozens of button placements when working on the iPad interface, including having the secondary chord buttons below the primaries. I found it to be ergonomically very challenging. Right now the layout supports two kinds of postures fairly well. The first (which I think most people use, and close to what you're doing) is to have the iPad flat and angled straight. In this posture, you can keep your left hand horizontal on the screen and use three fingers for chord switching (fore-middle-ring, or middle-ring-pinky). With this kind of posture, the area underneath the chords is impossible to reach comfortably since the thumb would have to stretch inwards. On the other hand, the area to the right is naturally where the thumb falls, and forefinger too if you're using middle-ring-pinky for chords. The second posture, which I personally find a lot easier to use, is to actually pick up and hold the iPad like a guitar, chord hand fingers curling up from around the bottom. In this posture I use fore-middle-ring fingers for chords, and pinky for secondary-left. I don't use secondary-right in this setup (or if absolutely needed, trigger it with my strumming hand forefinger while strumming with my thumb). I get great finger-picking results with using this posture and the Smart Strings IAP technique. E.g. the acoustic picking in the All Along The Watchtower cover I did with Hans and Jesse was done with this second posture, using Smart Strings. Give that a try and let me know what you think!
Sounds good, thanks.
@Rhism: Thanks for the tip about Smart Strings. I didn't have it because I was put off by the way the image of the strings changes between pick and strum. I found it dazzling and distracting. Anyway, at your suggestion, I purchased the IAP and I have to admit it makes things a lot easier with my style of finger-picking. Thank you. I still wish the image didn't flicker though.
On the subject of picking style; I listened again to your picking in Watchtower and I'd call that flat-picking (where each note is discrete and could be played with a flat pick). The technique I'm trying to emulate uses a swing base/thumb and two or three, probably non-adjacent, strings are picked simultaneously. I think it's called pattern picking. The wider string spacing of Smart Strings makes it very possible and it works well.
As for the chord buttons and playing posture; I can't use your 2nd posture at all comfortably, I'm afraid (and I get a cricked neck, peering down to make sure my picking fingers are in the right place! :-)). I'm definitely part of the majority that needs to have the iPad flat in front of me. Like a rookie guitar player, I need to keep looking at my fretting hand in anticipation of the next chord change and I need to see the button labels.
I could rattle on for ages on the subject of playing ergonomics but I get the impression that you designed Guitarism primarily as a live accompaniment instrument with an emphasis on strumming and it serves that purpose admirably. I suspect I'd like it to be something different - and that's not fair ;-)
I sense that the Audiobus forum is not the place for this particular discussion so sincere apologies to Michael, Sebastian, et al. :-)
Nah, we discuss most AB compatible apps here.
Can't wait for Guitarism MIDI-out, will purchase it the instant it's available. I have to say I do like the "Triple Play" name the best.. elegantly descriptive and catchy. Kudos for going the extra mile with your implementation. There's a good reason Guitarism is one of the most popular choices in that "Top Ten Audiobus Apps" thread.
I prefer to play Guitarism using the "upright" posture for natural strumming motion (and switching chords feels closer to a real guitar as well), but I find it impossible to use the secondary chords when doing so... my pinky simply cannot reach the 2nd bar over. What would work better (for me at least) would be just like 2 more chord tiles right next to the main 6... so a grid of 8 tiles, with the rightmost ones switching to the secondary banks. Maybe something to consider as an optional layout?
Regarding the Smart Strings feature, I find it great for finger picking but I dislike the way it snaps back and forth between "loose" and "tight", and how that changes the sound of strumming. I need it to be a little LESS smart.
What I think would be perfect, is a performance control that lets you quickly switch between: "Tight", "Loose", and "Smart" (ie the current behaviour). Maybe in the unused space below the chords (I realize this is less feasible for the iPhone version).
And as long as I'm daydreaming and dumping all my feedback into one post, two other ideas I had:
How about an optional whammy bar in the unused space? (again, iPad centric suggestion. Although something could potentially be done with the accelerometer?)
As someone who's been trying to dive into music theory lately, I'd love an option to display roman chord numbers (like I, ii, iii, IV, V, etc) for the current key, in addition to the chord names.
@Washboy Thanks for the detailed comments. Understood wrt picking styles - guitarism allows you to pick (and even strum) simultaneously with all 5 fingers, so it should work for any finger-picking style you may want to try. That said, I'd encourage you to try playing with your eyes closed or looking away from the screen, once you learn the chord positions and get your chord hand into a stable spot. It's way more fun to play when you aren't actively thinking about where you're placing your fingers
@Morwynd It's true that the "upright" position doesn't allow full use of secondary chords. You can reach secondary-left with your pinky but not secondary-right. I tried really hard to find a layout that would support both, but it's just not possible. Having a grid of 8 tiles didn't work either, but the pinky just isn't large enough to reach the lower tile reliably and comfortably. As it stands, you can still get 12 chords (6 primary + secondary left, or 4 primary and secondary-both if you just don't use the left column of primary chords) which should be enough for most uses, or switch to the "flat" posture for the full 18.
A lot of folks have complained about the Smart Strings moving around because the movement is disorienting to see . However if I offered a "Wide Lock" option to keep the strings locked in Wide mode, strumming would sound really bad - the spacing would be too far. To counter this I would probably just disable strumming in "Wide Lock" mode. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
The roman chord numbers is tricky - the UI would get cluttered pretty quickly with that much text. Plus of course when people customize the chords it'd often break the numbering. So not too sure about that. But I like the general idea of imparting some music theory / guitar knowledge for those who are interested in learning. Will think about this.
Whammy bar is definitely something I'd like to add.
I have no problem reaching either secondary chord bar with my little finger when playing any of the 6 chord pads in upright strumming position. Do you guys have really small hands?
This is awesome! I look forward to the MIDI update! Another app to add to my update tab OCD ;-). Will you also include MIDI in @Rhism?
@K_Evo1 Thanks! MIDI in is not coming in this update, that will be a separate thing later on down the line. Been looking into it and it's a ton of work, so I will probably release a couple other things first which build towards MIDI in.
@PaulB Perhaps you have really large hands? Mine are about average size I think...
I have a 9.5 inch span at full stretch.
Well hello there big boi..