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
Yeah for me I think I'm in that initial exploration phase; I gotta find out what's good. But then if I actually whittle it down to what I use and what actually gets results, it's probably 1/10 of what I have installed on my iPad. So I would agree that more choice = less output. I've kind of give up (for now) on using many apps together reliably because I just don't have the appetite or patience to sit there getting it all working. The best results I'm getting are using specific tools for specific jobs; if a track on my main setup needs some cool glitches I go straight to Turnado or Effectrix. If I need a nice soundbed I go to Borderlands. If I need a cool top loop I go to Sector. That's where I'm at right now anyway. Maybe when I'm less busy with other projects I can take the time to learn how to use the iPad as an all in one music making device but right now it seems like a waste of time when I've got a system that does it better. So I just use the iPad for what it's really good at it!
"Less decisions = more work" can have a different meaning than intended in the above post. If you have only one tool for the job, it might be the wrong tool for the job and you will spend more time trying to get it to do what you want it to do than if you had the right tool for the job.
It is also interesting that some people like to blame the tools rather than themselves. Another way of saying "too many apps/choices/tools" might be "too little knowledge/self-discipline."
Choice is good if you have different tools for different jobs, but we are so spoilt for choice that typically we have lots of choices for each job. What we (I!) should do is select one app per function and restrict ourselves to that - and get on to make some music!
I think that when I get stuck in choice the issue is that I don't know what to do really. If you have a half precise idea of what you need, you would also know which array of tools could do the job, so you just pick one that clicks in that moment, what in that moment in your opinion will get you faster to some kind of result. Long story short: the same @MrNezumi just said about knowledge/self discipline
Well having more options is good in that I'm more likely to have the tool I need for a specific thing, I'd agree there. I guess you could liken it to a toolbox; you could strive to have something light and portable at the risk of not having the thing you need at the moment you need it.
As for lack of knowledge or discipline...I think everyone's different. I mean in my case, it's certainly not lack of knowledge - I started on Cubase when it was in black and white and haven't stopped since! Discipline? Maybe. I mean I'm on AB forums instead of working so that says it all really
Buuut, I am also someone who finds it hard to focus - being visually overwhelmed or swamped by choice just straight-up kills my creativity. And more often than not I have to make music quickly for clients, so anything that's a barrier to that has to go. But like I said everyone's different. I applaud anyone who can really make full use of everything at their disposal and stay focused enough to write.
I guess I'd also add that if the integration between various apps was a little more seamless/effortless, I might feel differently. On my Windows/Cubase setup I know everything will sync, receive MIDI, import and export more or less the same way. On iOS it's a bit more complicated still. Although it's definitely improving.
This is how it is for myself
I'm making a double album using only Hexaglyphics and samples of my cat.
The “choice is good” mantra can be an elephant trap, though. You get that all the time on Linux forums, someone asks “which x is best to do y?” and after the conditioned response of “define best” (“no, why don’t you look in the dictionary, idiot”) there’ll be a set of this, that and the other potential solutions. The newbie then naturally wants to know which one to try first. The community response then has to be “choice is good”. No, but which one? Choice is good. But which? Choice is good. What about this one, the first one you mentioned? Well, we can’t make your decision for you. And so on it uselessly goes.
The thing is, without any kind of evaluation or knowledge about why you might make this choice over that one, it becomes purely a lottery and nothing more. If it isn’t an informed choice, it is a lottery. Without information, you’re just picking which one has the best haircut or nicest name.
We're not alone...
I've been on forums like this since 2003. I've seen this thread on every single forum.
It's always the same recipe - limited time (kids, jobs) + too many tools = limited production. I'm right there in that soup.
I've had a little epiphany recently. I've realized that I enjoy fiddling around with apps and figuring out how they work. And I enjoy sharing what I know and learning from others on this forum. Like many here I have a window of somewhere between 0 and 2 productive hours in the evening that I could spend on music, but I'm often exhausted from work or have other household stuff that needs to be done. My goal is to still produce as many songs as I can manage, but I've stopped feeling guilty about "only" participating in music making by fiddling around. Just last night I figured out how Modstep is a great tool for multi-channel drum production.
I have a vocal sample in my library that goes "One million ways to die, Choose one."
This is a pointless choice, the reason it is pointless is that the end result is always the same.
This is what i meant when I said "less decisions = more work"
Having the right tools is good, Having the right spanner is good, having 2 of the same spanner when you need 2 is also good. Having to choose between 2 versions of the same spanner is not good.
Exactly, you are limiting your choices by knowing which apps you need or want to use. You are able to do this because you have experience of your apps and have an instinct for what is going to do what you need it to.
Spot on, if you do not know what the difference is between 2 choices, then how can you make that choice properly ? If you find yourself in this position, make the choice once, stick with it, until such time as you do understand the difference, then re-evaluate the tools with your new knowledge.
Exactly, It comes down to knowing the tools you have, learning their capabilities, and if think you have 2 that do exactly the same thing with the same results pick one (make a choice) and get rid of the other, otherwise you will be making those same choices each time you have that same job to do.
If you identify a job that you do not have a tool for, then if there is one, get a tool for it.
Having re-read my post after reading this I see what you mean, and yes if you do not have the right tools you will spend a lot of time trying to get the ones you have to do something they are not capable of. Being able to recognise this, and knowing when to add another tool to your toolbox is important. When you do this it will mean that you have identified a job that your current tools either cannot do or cannot do well.
Or we could just have fun with music apps and call in a plumber with his / her own tools
While we are being creative, do we have to worry about being productive unless we make money per song?
Worrying about being more productive, could be the thing that is really stopping your musical flow.
What will fill my head if I'm not constantly worrying? That's how nefarious spirits get in, when it's empty.
I can agree with this completely. I do actually enjoy the "new toy" aspect and figuring out how it works... even if I don't actually make anything with it.
Often, I'll just mess around with a few apps... make sounds... compose something... mangle it up... then completely delete everything I did even if it's half-way decent. There's something liberating about that to me.
For many years I made images out of pure artistic obsession. When I started making $ with it, it became work, and now I rarely make images unless I'm getting paid, or I have an idea for something that might sell. Not all the time.. sometimes I just take off and shoot for the joy of it still, but it's getting more rare.
With audio, I have no commercial purpose in mind at all. It's purely for the joy of tinkering with sound. It's all experimentation and playtime for me. I'm not trying to make anything for anyone other than myself. If I get something I like a lot, I'll post it, but I don't even care really if anyone even listens to it. That's liberating for me.
I'm also a fan of interface design, so it's fun to see how another creative mind worked to visually represent the sonic tool they created.
Some of you are going on about how great it is that you have so many tools, and having the right tool for the job.
My speculation is that some of us get inspiration from the tools themselves, and having too many to choose from can be a deterrent to actually diving in. Other's have the idea in their head FIRST, and then they look in the tool chest for the right tools to create the sonic vision they've already got brewing in their head. These are two very different approaches obviously. The latter would certainly benefit from a well-stocked tool chest, while the former needs to be roped in so that they're forced to use their imagination.
Ultimately... none of this is a problem. At least, not for me. It's an observation that I'm getting too focussed on the toy-collecting obsession, and need to stop and actually play with the toys I already have a little more.
I will be quoting this to my 10 year old daughter while pointing at the boxes of toys in her room in response to her saying "I'm Bored" while I am trying to tinker with ModStep and my Launchpad when really she isn't bored, she just wants my toys
I've come to a point where I do actually prefer learning an app or piece of hardware inside out to making music. I've been on hiatus from the music industry for nearly 2 years and am now enjoying my synths & drum machines much more, as there's no longer the additional pressure of deadlines, label nonsense, etc.
I'm still careful about what apps & hardware I purchase, but now I judge their value on how much pleasure they give, not how much money they'll help me recoup if I use them on a record.
So, while I still believe in streamlining your options, it doesn't have to be merely for productivity purposes....simple enjoyment and the satisfaction of learning a synth inside out can be enough to justify your purchases.
Sometimes I'll use a different app than my ' go to ' app for a particular sound , just to throw a random spanner in the works , or load a bunch of ones I haven't used for a whole into aum and get jamming . Generally though you get to know their strengths and weaknesses after a few weeks of fiddling
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I have been making stuff for a long time, in feast (many options) and famine (few options), and have been both productive and useless in both of those scenarios. The only thing that matters is setting goals. Making songs, building drum kits, whatever your deal is just tell yourself you have to make a certain number in a specific amount of time and just make it happen.
This.
and this
When I first got Audiobus and the appoholism that followed, I went through the "too much is killing my creativity" thing like many of you. After about a year of over-app overkill I became semi comfortable with having 80 bazillion sounds and effects and daws to put them into. Now I am comfortable cranking up audiobus and saying "let's use this daw because I'm comfortable doing a certain type of music with it" and doing the same with "let's crank up this synth", "the drum I'm looking for is over here on this app", "let's see, maybe I'll try this effect from page 9 on my iPad" and working with it. It's like getting used to the new underwear you just bought, it's okay that you have another pair somewhere...
Now I'm going to have to go and think about THIS for an hour
https://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice?language=en
That's excellent. Thx!
I could've been anything, but there were so many things to be
When I'm serious, I always start with hardware-the trusty guitar and my moog (and probably a kick snare loop in patterning). After that, everything else can be filled in later. If I'm not just experimenting and making weird stuff, then the key to staying focused is to start with what I know best.
@Nathan Same here. I keep feeling an urge to buy an app but realise there's nothing I need or even truly want. Maybe iElectribe, just out of nostalgia for the hardware version, but that's it. And it's not like I even have an enormous selection, more that the ones I have are great.
The only purchases I intend to make for now are Auria IAPs, but it seems it'll be some as-yet-unreleased wonder that'll take my money direct from the App Store (cough Korg, an iWavestation please cough).
Fake it 'til you make it Gentlemen.....
Way less production for me because it takes so much time to really learn all the apps and connections required. I thought that once I know what they all do and how they do it, I’ll just be firing up the Pad and getting right to the work of churning out hits. Damn.