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.
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Ipad pro vs Surface pro, or ipad air with a laptop, please help me decide!
Hey I've been producing for years on desktop, however I'm tired of being confined to a room. I use all ITB stuff and midi compose in piano roll manually, I barely ever play stuff in so I do a lot of editing of the notes. Are there any apps that can do that? I primarily use FL studio, it has the best piano roll on PC for composing lol I also want to start drawing and the ipad pro looks rly great for this.
Can anybody with experince with both ipad pro and surface pro give me some advice? Is surface pro even powerful enough? is ipad powerful enough? I'd want to route like 9 synths into cubasis and use all midi to play them back on all channels same time, I'm use to mixing sounds together, like I'd use 5 instances of omnisphere to create a patch. I'm not sure if ipad pro or surface pro even could handle this.
I really for some reason want to go the ipad route, all the touch apps look fun and amazing, but I think I might get disapointed on how limited it is. With surface pro I could go my old desktop way anytime I want, but also take advantage of bitwig or some of the other stuff, TBH there doesnt seem to be much touch on surface pro, but I bet using a pen with fl studios piano roll might be pretty fun.
The other option is just an ipad air and a laptop, I get the best of both worlds about here, except I can't use apple pencil. I wanted start drawing, can you draw on ipad air with pressure sensitivity? I think the laptop route might be a better idea, since I'm use to using cpu extensive plugins, and the ipad air, for the fun of touch and integrating with the computer, but dang the pro looks really good. Maybe I should go ipad pro 9.7inch refurbished, but I really wanted the 12.9inch lol then a 900$ laptop, I'd be stretching my budget but I'm selling my desktop, I honestly think this is the best option for me right now, but the surface pro is still pretty cool and the all in one, one device to do everything, is pretty cool idea, but I don't know, there's so many cool apps for ios I bet.
Anyway, can you guys show me some workflows with IOS? Some cool apps, what you can do etc? Writing this post out kind of helped me think about my problem a bit more I think I may have figured it out lol
Comments
I don't think you're going to get the equivalent of 5 instances of Omnisphere plus 4 more synth plugins on any of these devices.
You might (correctly) guess that you're likely to get iOS leaning opinions around here. I think @Littlewoodg can probably give you a well balanced opinion.
If I were you, or the you you've described thus far, I'd probably go get a surface pro first. Mainly because you already own your favorite piano roll app and plugins you like so you can test out its performance with zero cash outlay. If it's not doing it for you, return the surface and be exactly where you are now. With iOS, there are no such luxuries. You can return the iPad but the apps are yours and, in the US anyway, there are no app returns. And I think even in the EU, if you try to return 8 apps at once they're going to take issue with it (but I'm not sure there).
Bad time to decide... I was first PC user (more than 22 years ago...) leaving it at FLstudio 7 or so to enter OSX with Ableton live, logic, mainstage... I lost the fast producing workflow from FL but started to learn other things and session view was amazing (remix decks in traktor later) until I started mess with LoopyHD first and lately with Blocs Wave.
Now I use Blocs Wave and GTL with other synth, samplers and tools (AudioBus, AudioShare, Link, midiflow...) and return to make some music (check my youtube channel for few examples) which I mix with videos made all inside the iPad (mini 4 64gb) then share to social networks in a bang!
It's the best workflow? It's up to oneself. For sure, to me, is the funniest since these days if not even more...
Double post, sorry.
Nah, it was just dub echo.
XD
@Koyoko1990
I can tell you that FL 12, and Bitwig, and Stagelight are all quite lovely on Surface Pro 3. SP4 has come out since, and there are sales on for year end. There are resources for your research, the best I think is Molten Musuc Technology's blog and YouTube channel, here's a link for Robins review of Fl Studios performance mode on Surface Pro (4 I think)...if you already have a license for FL this may put you over the top for a purchase of Surface Pro. I've heard that the 3 is actually better sorted for the music than 4,but that may be a rumor.
Bitwig built its touch version around SP3, and for touch production "nothing touches it" to quote Robins YouTube review of Bitwig.
But FL is FL...and FL 12 is just nuts. @BiancaNeve recommends Stagelight highly, partly for its cross platform powers, and it's also purpose built for touch...
There is a pretty good chance we'll see new iPads in early 2017. Might be worth waiting..?
you're asking a lot of questions, I don't know how to address all of them correctly and in an orderly fashion. I can tell you what I think hoping it will be useful.
I think most people on this forum will (surprisingly) recommend the surface pro 4 (even if most of them have never touch one). I have one (surface pro 3) and for me it's totally boring, touch it's an add on, the main interaction it's still mouse/trackpad, keyboard. As it has been pointed above, there are a few programs that have implemented decent touch compatibility, even fewer have good touch compatibility, 95% of programs will never implement touch compatibility for a variety of reasons. PC OSes were created with the mouse as main point of interaction and will remain there forever.
If you think an iPad Pro will not provide enough power (completely understandable) just go for the iPad Air - laptop combo, there are a ton of laptop more powerful than the surface at half the cost and as I said touch it's completely overrated.
For me it goes like this: my iPad Pro 12.9 it's my main computer, my iPad Pro 9.7 it's my tablet, my iPhone it's my phone and the MacBook (mid 2012) and surface pro are my legacy devices BUT I'm as far from the definition of "pro user" as there is.
I agree with @Lacm1993 I owned a surface and they are good but music software doesn't work well in general with the touch and by the time software is great with touch the surface 5, 6, or 7 will be availble
Everything looks so small on that video above - text, buttons, other controls... Seems like you definitely need to use a stylus
Ping @MusicInclusive
I tried to get a good music set-up on the original Surface Pro, and again with an SP Pro. It was always uphill--the apps just aren't designed for touch, and neither is the desktop. Got the iPad more than anything for a second monitor and midi/shift-ctrl-alt controller. Ended up just using the iPad more and more for music, & am making a lot more, and having more fun doing it.
Just got one of these
http://www.toshiba.co.uk/discontinued-products/toshiba-wt310-106/
For £120 on Ebay, Gen 3 i5, 128gb SSD, 4GB RAM
So there are definitely other options on the table
But i agree with ksound, Windows is utter garbage for Touch, example, Maschine Desktop, you can't move any of the dials with Touch, you cant navigate pop ups with touch, not too bad with Maschine because you can use the hardware (Most desktop software is the same story, crappy with touch)
I am just going to use Kore2 with this on stage, so that i can use Serum and so on.
If using a DAW on a Windows touch screen device, the best multi touch experience on a Surface Pro is Bitwig Studio. Bitwig is designed for touch based music making on a Surface Pro. My only issue with the Surface Pro is poor battery life. However, with the release of iWavestation and all the other awesome synths on iPad and Cubasis as well as AU and better battery life, I think the iPad is going to be the winner when it comes to multitouch based music making. Pity that file management is lacking on the iOS though.
I had most of my software not buyed and that's another point in favour of iOS. These apps are so cheap (most of them) that I don't need to worry about jailbreaks or nothing related. Just buy. It could be great the possibility to sell what I'm not using anymore but also there is "Family" in itunes tab at preferences which gives the option to share the purchases over 5 devices (not in-app included so)
I don't have in mind back to windows anymore. If I need a desktop/laptop again I will go for Hackintosh or directly linux but in my head I see dedicated hardware more and more sexy. I'm getting old without a doubt :V
Always gonna be some um new
Out with the old in wit the new
Time and money,
How you do?
@Flexinoodle that Toshiba looks pretty sweet for that price
@Littlewoodg I also like stage light because it's clearly been designed to work on a small screen. The Windows version runs vst plug in too which is nice.
MacBook Pro running Ableton Live + iPad Air with the Moog apps, maybe Samplr and Impaktor, and you're set.
Im really digging ableton + ipad. Tried using ipad alone, but its just too much hassle
+1
Ipad and iconnectAudio4 with Ableton Live on a laptop is a great combo for me. Eventually I will get a Surface book and an iPad pro 12" when I can afford it.
@Koyoko1990
Of course if you want to run Omni, or any vst synth at all, (except for the few that have been ported to iOS) you're out of luck on any iPad including pro.
This is true if you are hoping for a state of the art DAW as well. DAW available for touch laptops or mac far outgun anything on iPad. There's no comparison, not only given the above (hosting all available vst instruments and fx) but given power and features.
If you want full on touch, and state of the art DAW it'd be Bitwig. No mouse or pen or keyboard needed at all, the same touch experience as iPad.
It's set up so that lack of touch support in some vst doesn't matter, Bitwigs GUI allows touch access to all hosted vst parameters. And it has a linnstrument style keyboard onscreen, much cooler and more useful than anything on iPad.
That's the one downside of FL on tablet is it lacks onscreen keys (the rest of the FL GUI, size of text and buttons, the stuff people above noted about the small size of things, is all scalable for any size, and touch accomplishes everything mouse left and right click can do, as in Bitwig)
(By the way, Multiple instances of Omni are pretty easily handled by SP3, (Omni is actually not a CPU hog...) but iPads can't really handle more than two instances of the ported Fabfilter Twin inside iPads closest-to-pro DAW)
My experience with all these options is that on laptop, I'd had FL, Ableton, Bitwig, MTS (another DAW well sorted for touch including onscreen keys. $110). Computer music production on iPad led me to try out these pro tools. Discovering the incredible vst available on desktop/laptop (Omni, Synthmaster, Breaktweaker, Falcon, Reaktor, all the u-he stuff, Massive, Iris and on and on) blew me away and reset my view of what is possible. (So much more than what iPad can do, Pro included)
But having had iPad touch experience, I felt frustrated with mouse and qwerty, inspite of the superior firepower of these synths and DAW that could host them. I literally kept jabbing at the laptop screen to make things happen.I wanted both pro stuff, and touch, and seeing Bitwigs first videos on SP 3 got me to buy into that machine. Haven't gone back to laptop or desktop, and I stopped using iPad to finish on.
Here Thavius Beck uses pen for the 5d feature, but my pen went through the laundry and I don't miss it
Hi @Littlewoodg,
First of all I'm not the OP so no Omni in my comments, sorry.
Second I had mac mini with Mainstage (30€) and Traktor (a present from a friend) and that's all I miss (and even niether) so Bitwig or Ableton or even FL has nothing to do with my actual workflow.
LoopyHD, GTL, Blocs wave, launchpad app... make more than I need.
For Daw you can find Auria Pro (still cheaper than x86 counetrparts) or cubasis if you like linear composition. I can make all I need in this field with garageband.
What really changed in my mind since RME pci boards where in my PIV (about 13 years ago) that was even more fire-tattoed in my soul was the fact I don't need "protools" since it doesn't make me more professional. Professionalism is related to skills more than tools but even it doesn't care me yet. I was talking about FUN which al last is important to me when I make music.
It's common to try argue specs against functionality but by far iOS is the most fun and growing platform. Just check the "ecosystem" and numbers. I don't try to convince anyone to switch as I did (but IMHO is where the action is) so don't try to convince me about windows. I started doing music before it existed (msx lately 80's early 90's, Fasttracker in the middle 90's and Fruity 0.x from 97 to 2001 where I start messing with Ableton...
I know what I'm doing and I don't see myself going backwards to PC since needs and workflow also evolve. At this point of my life I look more into standalone samplers/arrangers (some of them old like variphrase or loopers) and raspberry pi standalone solutions for "one machine-one functionality" and in between of them as "computer" iPad is, to me (put some reverb on it), the king.
Where you see limitations I see Core Audio/Midi, meanwhile you talk about brute power
I found optimized OS build for AV from is foundation.
Edit: I re-read myself and find repeating myself! @Littlewoodg Did you miss it or directly didn't understand it the first time? How boring (feel myself about) these macvspc histories... I believed it will not going to happen on AudioBus forum hell dawn it!! (Read it again with Pewdiepie's voice)
Jokes aside. It's up to oneself tastes the tools choosen as I said.
@Dubbylabby
Sorry about the confusion - both my posts were meant for OP! (Hence the reference to Omni, FL, and Windows stuff in general)
Got confused!
Will edit accordingly.
All the best!
For Surface Pro music production coverage, this is the best spot:
http://surfaceproaudio.com
You'll find out that the SP4 is finicky compared to the SP3. This is a shame as Inwas close to buying one.
It's ok bro! Don't need to apologize
I see your points (in addition to the mess) and I think these are useful to the OP so that's the goal (cheers!) Don't edit them! It will make me seem more silly than I am!
Ok. Do it.
Just do it, I'm ready! XD
Also notice most of my argue make me laugh at myself and remember Pdp videos like this.
I will feel very happy if you imagine my voice going crazy like Pdp. I will love it xD
We need more laugh and music people!
@Dubbylabby
Have to thank you, This was my first intro to pewdiepie, and pewdiepie hate (!)...what a world this is!
iOS is great fun, i had teething issues in the early going but link has got me right back on board. But that's what i was use it for; fun, chilling on the couch, creating and editing stuff, productivity etc. It's a vital part of my set-up but all my 'serious' stuff is done on my DAW, i need the processing power to run mulitple tracks and fx and i use maschine, considering a Push as well.
If i was to go full touchscreen it'd probably be a Surface Pro but i'm also happy with the desktop and iPad, i even got an iphone recently so no issue with iOS but for ableton live till i die biotches!
Glad to share mental disorder for making this world a better place xD
World is plenty of cowards! Go full mobile a$$h0l3. Okno...sorry @musikmachine...
I hate mouse, that's it. I said it.
Jesus Christ... it's time to take me medicines.
End offtopic.
I have a SP3 and Air 2.
The SP3 is my main computer. I like it because it's powerful and portable. But, I use it as a computer with a BT mouse and keyboard 99% of the time.
I really like the idea of doing everything on the ipad, but for now, it's more a sketchpad, sound source or midi controller, and I use the SP3 and Studio One 3 for recording, editing and mixing full songs.
Main reason is that editing with a mouse and keyboard shortcuts is much faster and more accurate than a big fat finger that has no right click or keyboard modifiers. This applies to both midi and audio editing.
Ipad is great for capturing ideas and basic midi or audio editing, but more than a few times I've started editing in Cubasis or Auria Pro and it either get too tedious or it just doesn't work properly/do it and I end up copying the wav or midi to Studio One and editing in there.
As an example, I recorded a Geoshred riff in Auria Pro yesterday and my timing was a bit off in places so I wanted to correct it. In AP, to insert a bend marker, you have to position the cursor, tap on the edit menu, tap on Transit, tap Add New Marker. If you want to add more than a few markers, it gets tedious. Then, after adding a few and moving them around the audio got erratic - I think this was because I was using clip gain, so the unbent sectionsplayed at the adjusted gain level, but the warped sections played back at the original clip gain level. At this point I just copied the wav to Studio One.
In Studio One, you just use the bend tool and left click on the wave to add a marker. Drag the markers around with a mouse (with a keyboard shortcut to toggle snapping to grid). Took a couple of minutes to do what I'd seent almost 10 minutes trying to do in AP.
Similar experiences editing midi.
I think each device has its strengths, but if I could only have one, I'd keep the SP3.
I bought an iPad Pro 9'7" when I had the option and the money to buy then-current MBP. Portability is unbeatable, touch experience is unmatched, I can work anywhere (having good headphones surely help, so I invested the remaining money I'd have spent on a new AudioTechnica) and I have Auria Pro with all those plug-ins.
@Littlewoodg, I just layered 6 instances of Twin 2 without a hiccup. I wouldn't recommend that for live performances though (I'm not really into that Ableton Live paradigm of a DAW as a live instrument anyway), so if you have an iPad Pro of any size, perhaps CPU power won't be that much something to bother with.