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.
How are y'all getting piano sounds?
I was looking at the Korg Module, but it not being an audiounit means I can't use multiple instances in AUM. I was thinking of maybe just grabbing a multisampler and making banks from my Kontakt pianos on my computer. Has anyone managed to do anything like that? What would the best AU compatible sampler be for that kind of purpose?
Comments
I built myself some sampler instruments in BM3 for the specific keyboard instrument sounds that I was never really happy with on iOS (some great choices but they're either too CPU intensive or not quite right in terms of sound for me).
Plenty of great samples available in old gigasampler archives and when you import them into BM3 they retain their loop points (effective loop points are somewhat of an arcane art!). Because the samples were mostly made in an age of digital where memory was a scarce resource but digital audio production was already excellent (CD/DVD quality), the samples are incredibly CPU/memory efficient while sounding excellent. The modulation options available in BM3 allow you to bring this excellent source material onto a contemporary playing field. IMO, what you can craft for for yourself in a capable sampler is overall a step above what's available commercially -- even if the difference is just being able to tailor the sound to your personal requirements.
I'll host some of my instruments online in the future but it'll take a bit of work to make things ready for that, which I don't have the time to do at the moment.
UVI
Ravenscroft 259 (or something like this)
It’s an AU Plug with nice piano sounds
For Virsyns AudioLayer there is the Salamander piano (free) too
Ravenscroft definitely... best piano on iOS in my opinion. A bit CPU heavy but if you disable build in reverb, even old iPad2 can handle it...
I like the Salamander piano which I've got running both as an sfz in Lyra (Auria Pro's sampler) and AudioLayer.
Btw, AudioLayer can auto-map samples to notes and velocity zones if the samples have a name it knows how to map.
I have a broken-sounding plinky old piano sampled into the drum sampler of an op-1. If I want anything fancier, GarageBand.
I like the Neo-Soul Keys Studio app for electric piano sounds.
These best IOS piano products that have the AUv3 feature are:
Ravenscroft 275 $36
Colossus Piano (6 or so models ranging from $15-50)
BS-16i running an SF2's $8 (Salamander Yamahas, etc) SF2's tend to be general midi packages with 128 instruments so it loads up too much RAM, killing multiple instances.
I have used all 3 to make my AudioLayer ($25) piano instruments using an App called SynthJacker $4. SynthJacker works best right now if the total record tim is around 10 minutes or less. More than that and it has issues.
The developer is lookin at that. Most people make pretty tight sample sets
and 10 minutes gets you about 120 samples using the 5 second recording max with a 2 second release decay added. It doesn't add any looping details so mastering looping settings in audio layer is important.
Just to cover all the bases. Some of the DAW's have great pianos and the ability to load more:
Auria Pro has it's Lyra Sampler and can load EXS, and SFZ's.
BM3
NS2
Audio Evolution Mobile Studio - SF2's
DAW's can host AUv3's but can be impossible to record in another DAW.
That drives some people crazy because they ask for DAW's that are AUv3's.
There's a good technical reason why that won't work, I'll mention later.
@MrBlaschke has posted a process to do manual auto-sampling using AudioShare to record and slice the notes. So, that could help you move
existing samples faster by knowing the file naming tricks. Getting the loops
right helps play longer notes and that might need to be done manually in AudioLayer. I'm not sure how loop points are saved and how the various samplers manage that import. I think AudioLayer does it using it's own code
and some have complained it does pick up loops in existing samples with loops.
The number of notes sampled, the number of layers and the length, bit-rate of the audio contribute to a great piano sound and dialing in the right level of detail will allow you to run multiple AU's if that's key to you workflow or musical compositions.
With big samples you need disk streaming to make the 340MB limit of an AUv3 product work. It's 340MB for all currently running instances. Exceed that and the DAW will drop the AUv3 App. It's in Apple's spce so no single App can cause audio drop outs in the DAW's output. No usually a problem until you buy something like Colossus and learn what it means in a practical sense.
As iPads get more RAM and more Cores Apple is letting the 340 number go up for some of the newest models. An App developer might take advantage of that but buyers would post negative reviews, I think when they have older iPads and all the crashing issues come up as they do now with the 340MB limits. People expect to be able to run 3-5 AUv3's because the Synth Apps do but pianos use a ton of RAM to sound great.
For pianists here it's usually RC275 and Korg Modules' Ivory American Model D IAP. But only 1 at a time using DAW's that allow IAA App for plumbing them in via AudioBus as the too.
I'd like to hear more about why you want many pianos at once. That's unusual. If it's to have one handy. Korg Module has many piano types and let's you grab another fast.
As you add more use case info folks will help you dial it in. If you're a piano user I'd just create a shopping list and add a new one every month or two. They all have different benefits if you record and play a lot.
The BeatHawk acoustics are good IMO, tho I mostly use a combination of RC275 and the onboard Shigeru pianos in my Kawai keyboard. I use two pianos in different configurations. Often one piano will have the full midi piano track while a second will just have the mid upper range midi info. This allows me more flexibility to record a full piano range and then utilize parts of it to best advantage.
Ravenscroft 275 is certainly your best bet today if you need it to be an AU.
I've been through it, tried to convert a top-notch Kontakt piano to an AudioLayer instrument as good as possible but there are too many features missing like "intelligently controlled" release samples, control of sympathetic resonance samples and pedal noises.
You could hack together something with multiple AudioLayer instances and MidiFire/StreamByter but who really wants such a weird setup?
You can host multiple instances in Gadget though
1 - Ravenscroft 275
2 - Neo-Soul Keys Studio for electric piano
Wish I could return all of my Korg apps.
The Ravenscroft is worry-less. Just buy it, install it, use it. No issues with samples here and there, import crash and stuff like that.
Pick up and play!
Ravenscroft without a doubt! Don't go with the presets but set up your own dynamics etc. A good weighted-action controller with adjustable velocity curves is also a must, such as the Arturia Keylab 88. Nothing else comes close - I've even had respectable pianists and keyboard players ask how I get such a great piano sound.
Yamaha CP70
Kawaii Baby Grand
Use AudioLayer and make your own from your Kontakt pianos. Nothing can beat than imo, best option
At moment: Neo Keys Studio for electric
UVI for grand and upright
Thought I'd tack on a few additional thoughts, having played around with a few different apps. This is coming from the perspective of a beginner keys player who's been practicing for about 6 months now.
For overall sound quality and AUv3 integration, Ravenscroft 275 and Neo Soul Keys 2 are pretty much the top dogs, as many others have recommended. And I agree. You could buy just those two apps and have all your piano needs satisfied.
However... as someone who is spending a lot of time practicing, I actually spend the most time using iGrand and iLectric pianos (both apps by IK Multimedia.) These have very similar, simple and attractive UIs. They have a very immediate pick-up-and-play style to them. They always open how you left them, whether you minimize or quit the app. Both R275 and NSK forget what preset you had loaded on quit, meaning a few extra clicks to get back to it, and any unsaved tweaks will be lost. As far as I can tell, there is no way to make a preset the default on startup.
On top of that, NSK does not seem to prevent your iPad from sleeping. Pretty much every other audio app I use provides an option to keep the tablet awake except this one. It also has the ugliest mish-mash of UI styles. I mean it works and it's reasonably efficient, but it has a ported-from-desktop feeling.
Other features that iGrand and iLectric have that are nice:
Put all those features together, and for a practice session I can just tap the icon and be guaranteed to have all of that immediately, exactly how I left it when I used it last and start playing.
The complaints I have about R275 and NSK probably seem fairly trivial, but if you practice every day they're the kinds of things you notice more and more.
IK's instrument sounds are maybe a bit bright (not always a bad thing) and perhaps on the synthetic side, being older software. But still pretty darned good! Would actually love to see these apps add AUv3 support.
I am curious, has anyone rigged up a metronome practice solution for R275 or NSK?
In AUM I have three channels set up - one for R275, one for 4pockets Chameleon loaded with 12 tanpura drones and the metronome from Tonal Energy Tuner is on another channel. I use this as my daily practise tool (I’m a trumpet, and more recently, a sax player). The metronome in TE Tuner is really good - changing tempo is easy with the large visual dial.
@spacejack
I can't name you a perfect solution but I would use Nanostudio 2 for that. Because:
Not built in but you should really try “Hey Metronome. “
It responds to voice commands and you can have it increase incrementally I believe though I haven’t used it that way.
You set set it up initially to respond to your voice commands then you simply tell it what to do.
Example being: “hey metronome play 85 bpm” or “increase tempo 5 bpm” etc.
It’s been my go to since I got it.
Unfortunately most ‘host’ metronomes do not offer features such as subdivision, accents on first beat etc. If you just want a simple click track then host metronomes will do.
Another advantage of using a DAW: You can build your own click track
😍
I'd love to have these. Kawai pianos usually sound great and I love the CP70/80 sound too.
I like BeatHawk's Acoustic Grand even better than Ravenscroft, even though UVI makes both and Ravenscroft is the high end.
Back to the original post, I regretted buying korg module. The free pianos in that sound like shit in my opinion. I ended up paying for one of the better ones, which was decent, but ravenscroft is much better, and of course more useful, being AU.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Interesting idea using AUM for a DIY solution. And thanks @rs2000 for the NanoStudio tips, those are clever.
i have been using RC275 and Beathawk acoustic grand in tandem for awhile. They work together well, IMO. You can always add a Nord to record some really great pianos 😉
Gospel musician’s Pure Synth & FM Tines are also best in sounding
Another vote for RC275. Make sure you set velocity to 99%.