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.
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Comments
That definitely makes sense, the contrast on mine is way over the top compared to the Model 15. That might in fact be a big part of the what I'm seeing and not liking about mine. Thanks for the tips!
Thanks! I have learned a lot from this thread as well. Great stuff. And yeah, the model 15 GUI is by far one of the best I've ever seen, particularly for an iOS app. There are so many subtle details in there. It's a thing to admire. And I agree, those Moog knobs are certainly handsome. In the top example I posted I am trying to replicate the knobs found on the Roland Space Echo (below). I don't think they are quite there yet, and will need to add the outer dials to seal the deal. But they aren't the best looking knobs to begin with. Though I would give my left hand for an actual Space Echo
Just looking at photos of space echoes via google images and it occurs to me that in real life when you look at a device like that you wind up seeing more or less of a knob's side, depending on where you're looking at it from. Even sitting right in front of a ~19" wide device, you wind up seeing more of the right side shaft on the left most knobs, no shaft on the center and...
But then when I look at the Model 15 image it doesn't attempt to replicate that at all yet looks totally 'right' for lack of a more descriptive word. I don't get it but that's part of the fun I guess.
@syrupcore it's called an orthographic view, meaning there is no perspective.
Yeah, it's interesting, with Model 15 it seems it would be difficult to have that perspective baked in due to the fact that the screen is capable of scrolling over quite some distance. Plus the deep zooming aspect. It might be a bit jarring if the perspective of the knobs didn't match the perspective of the viewport. Maybe one day we will have dynamic perspectives for these things. Wherein as you scroll the graphical elements shift their perspective views accordingly. That seems near impossible, maybe?
Check out an app called Physynth. It's old I think, and I don't believe it's being tended to by the developer anymore. BUT....the GUI does something remarkable that I don't believe I've ever seen any other app do. It uses the accelerometer / gyroscope to dynamically shift the lighting and shadows of the interface. It kind of does what I was just talking about, giving you a sense that it's a tangible object you're holding beyond the iPad itself, reacting to your environment. It's really pretty damn cool!
Also check out some of the GUI's from the Arturia V Collection. There are a number of applications and plugins that get the perspective view "right," but the Arturia stuff just happens to be some of my favorite. Like this one below:
Also, now I'm really noticing how the light differs on each knob on that GUI in my last post. Details sell it!
You can do this now with realtime 3D, in a game engine like Unity or Unreal. It's not quite at the stage where it can match the visual quality of pre-rendered assets, but one day...
There is no doubt that 3D programs can make totally realistic objects; or a good Photoshop retoucher can also simulate real objects from scratch. If I were responsible for creating the Model 15 iPad app interface, I would simply photograph a real Model 15, each of the knobs, ports, etc, individually; outline them in Photoshop and duplicate as needed.
There would be no need to recreate the knobs, stwitches, ports, etc. in 3D, when photography can do the job.
Not sure I agree with that. If that were the best solution there would be a lot more photo-based user interfaces in the wild as that method would certainly require less work. Photos are great to have as references to work from, and for providing real life textures and blemishes. And some elements could certainly be pulled from a photo and then retouched, sharpened, re-lit, etc., but for the bulk of an interface they simply don't provide comparable resolution, sharpness and consistencies to graphics / 3D-based elements.
The problem with photos is that the lighting is fixed. When a knob turns the lighting doesn't, so if you were using photos of knobs you would need to take a photo for every angle of rotation for the highlights to flow correctly.
Then each photo would need retouching etc and in the end the process would not be any quicker than just creating the artwork in Photoshop.
Well, you could halfway cheat, by making the knob a doughnut. The hole remains the same. Was knob a doughnut?
"What the fuck does this doughnut do?"
(Spoiler: it gets eaten)
@richardyot Great stuff. Do you have any animations with your own music online?
What music apps do you use for it? I remember last year you were trying out iM1.
I used iM1 and Gadget for a long project I worked last year, for an iOS app with 3D characters and environments. The app hasn't been released so I can't share any of it yet, but once it's out I should be able to post some examples.
In the end I didn't create as much music for it as I had hoped, the 3D part of the project took a long time to complete so I only created 2 short pieces of music, one for the characters and one for the environment. It was good fun though.
One day I would love to create a short film from start to finish, with animation and music, but sadly I have to earn a living so there is never the time.
@richardyot are you aware of any video tutorials that deal specifically with interface design common to audio plugins? I realize the fundamentals are the same regardless of what it is one is modelling, but the context might be helpful for someone like to me to begin wrapping their head around those fundamentals.
@brice I'm not aware of any tutorials for UI design (that doesn't mean they don't exist though). I would imagine the modelling would be pretty straightforward however, it's the lighting and shading that would be the more difficult aspect. It's not that difficult though, and you can borrow a lot from photographic techniques.
A few fundamentals:
Metals don't have any diffuse reflection in their shading, only specular (sometimes referred to as direct reflection). To make a believable stainless steel for example, you would use zero diffuse, and about 60% specular with a very slight tint of blue in the reflection colour.
When lighting very reflective materials such as metals, it's best to use large light sources (area lights, soft boxes) so that they show up in the reflections. You want some contrast in those reflections, so a dark environment with some very big visible lights to show up works well.
Here's a couple of examples that I made a few years ago for this tutorial:
Thank you for sharing this knowledge with me. Very helpful indeed.
Interesting side note: when I was growing up, my parents had a receiver that was identical to the one in your tutorial! It was a Marantz and I used to be captivated by it as a youngster. Still remember those blue VU meters and the "click" sound it made when you turned it on. Nostalgia!
To get realistic lighting changes on the knobs you're going to need to use a program with animation. This rules out things like Wings, Zbrush and Rhino. The polygon objects you will be making will be very simple - cylinders, planes and so on so any 3d app with UV texturing will do - which is just about all of them. Presuming you are doing this on a budget the two apps that come to mind are Blender (free) and C4 Prime which is a cheaper cut down of the main version - still more than capable for what you are looking to do. Modo which is almost double the price will also do this as well - personally I find its interface to be a bit confusing but I suppose it is what you are used to working with. Which ever one you get, be prepared for a very step learning curve and lots of time learning. Alternatively and this would be my recommendation - commission a 3d artist to do this for you.
Thanks for the tips @samboon I will definitely consider all of this in my decision making process. From the videos I've seen and what I've read, Modo looks pretty amazing. But for now it's way out of my price range as I won't be making any money from this venture for a while. I've entertained Blender because it's free, though I've read plenty of accounts that claim it has an unusually steep learning curve, on top of what I know is already going to be a steep learning curve for me. But to get my feet wet I may give it a go. I've got memberships to a couple of the online tutorial sites (Lynda.com, etc.), plus no girlfriend and a whole lot of patience, so I'm confident I can pick it up with time. On top of that, I am a graphic designer by trade, and I understand a great deal about space, texture, form and lighting, so I am jumping in with those skills already in place. For now, this is mostly a personal endeavor, another skill I'd like to add to my resume sort of thing. Thanks again for chiming in with these tips!