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To clarify about the midi. FRMS is a granular synthesizer, so midi is simply required to trigger the voice’s amp and filter envelopes which allows the audio to pass through. That’s why I recommended latching the keyboard open - to keep the gate on so that audio continues to pass through the VCF/VCA. It’s best to think about live audio as just another oscillator - just like a synth it’s necessary to play it by the keyboard (or midi) to get sounds. This sets it apart from granular effects like idensity.
Hope we can get to the bottom of what’s going on for you!
Ah, i see what you mean now. Yes, I hope I can sort this out too. I love this synth but it will be a lot better when I can solve these issues
Live input pushes the DSP all over the place...15, 50, 85, 13, 92%. No input, no action on my part. One voice. Getting random noise burst (unrelated to input).
Also, Hold button does not work
iPad 12.9, 3rd gen.
Reproduced here with the same iPad, both with native output (48 kHz) and audio interface (44.1 kHz), at 256 buffer size.
@zilld2017 @NoiseFloored @sinosoidal : yup,I can confirm that live granulation iVCS3 in AUM instrument slot, 48khz, 1024 buffer, FRMS in FX slot, FRMS v 1.0.3 sequenced by Aphelian in MIDI, buffer slot a) works but b) absolutely and unpredictably maxes out my iPad 2018 running 13.3.1. Pity, because at present this makes live granulation effectively unusable. Here’s hoping some more optimisation can fix this.
And a totally repeatable weirdness I’ve just noticed - as long as AUM is playing in the background (like while I type this) everything runs fine, but as soon as I bring AUM to the foreground to, you know, do something, the cpu maxes out again. Odd, huh?
@Svetlovska @NoiseFloored @zilld2017 @Gavinski @aleyas
Thanks for these reportings.
So, regarding the hold button issue, the fact is that the hold button (of the FRMS keyboard) is not functioning when FRMS is in MPE mode. This will be addressed soon! You could workaround this if using for instance, AUM builtin keyboard. The hold function works fine even if FRMS is in MPE mode.
Regarding live input mode: Yes, FRMS has two modes. “WAVEFORM” that plays audio files, or lets you record audio directly to the layer, and then granulate it. Or you can click on the waveform button that will lead you to the “INPUT” mode. In this mode, a buffer (with variable size: you can chose between 1/8 seconds - 2 seconds range) will be constantly filled, which you can then granulate! This mode is in fact more cpu demanding than the normal mode. We didn’t get those cpu results maybe because we are using more recent devices, but we might be able to squeeze it event further. Thank you for reporting this, we will see what can be done to make it more CPU friendly!
When FRMS is working as a music effect it requires midi input so that the input is granulated. The most straightforward way of using FRMS as a granular effect is to keep a note holded while in INPUT mode. This way, you have grains always reading whats is coming through the buffer!
We’ll dig in this live mode problem, and get back to you as soon as we have some news!
Best
@xglax thanks! Well, I definitely don't think this is an issue of new devices, because I am using a 2018 iPad Pro, and never had any problem playing, for example, 4 key polyphony in frms even before the latest update. So if my iPad Pro can't handle live input it is hard to imagine anything handling it. So it must be some other kind of problem than cpu power, no?
@xglax, @Gavinski: I am also using 2018 IPad Pro.
No cpu issues here on latest beta with iPad Pro v1 / 2016... can’t seem to change any parameters or add other layers though...
bug:
after hiting "randomize" 2-3 times
the sound goes off.
even if I change the preset, the sound stays off/silent...
I wonder what betatesters did on this one:(
Can you send us a video replicating this issue? I wasn't able to reproduce this. Anyone has this issue?
Thats very weird. Are you using the lastest version on the store?
Can’t reproduce this here, sorry 😐
I cant reproduce it myself now
I go crazy with iPad bugs...
Ah figured it out now, and adding layers definitely gets the CPU going and either I’m making bad patches or the shrieking ear destruction is a manifestation of a problem 🤣
Note to everyone who has high CPU when using FRMS, here are a couple of things that have helped for me as I’ve tested it in Synth and FX mode:
None of this works for me when I load FRMS in an effects slot. I have only the first layer active, the density knob all the way to the left, 1024 buffer, but constant crackles from the moment I hit play. I’m on an ipad mini 2019.
I also have more observations.
So earlier I didn’t get properly what Aleyas was saying about midi but later I understood. If u want FRMS to make sound doing live input you need to route your AUM keyboard, for example, to BOTH the source synth in the audio slot and to frms in the fx slot.
Anyway, still massive problems on iPad Pro 2018, but it works ok on a 2016 iPad Pro. Though it is easy enough to get glitching on that too depending on settings. High density setting seems to be the likeliest to push the dap too hard. Also polyphony. But with lower density settings I could sometimes get 4 note polyphony no problem. When it does work it sounds great, but there is a lot of optimization needed if this is going to be reliable enough to use freely without anxiety in any kind of live setting.
On my 2018 iPad Pro it works kind of ok in ape matrix. Still some glitching in sound even though the dsp in ape stays low. Weird....
So weird that the 2018 iPad Pro has issues whereas the 2016 one doesn’t. Anyone got thoughts on that? I’ve informed the devs.
Yeah, this definitely wasn’t tested well enough before release I feel, as great as it is...
With the new beta, issues with live input on iPad Pro, as well as the issue of not being able to play your own patches with mpe are fixed. Even with 4 voices and all knobs like delay cranked up to max, my iPad Pro only hit about 30% while doing live mpe input, pretty good considering all the stuff this thing does. So happy this is finally working as it should. There is still an issue with the Hold button not working in MPE mode, but they are trying to fix that, and it is irrelevant anyway if you are playing in AUM, for example. Thanks to Imaginando for sorting these things out.
Finally bought FRMS last night to install on my new Mini 5 iOS 13.4.1. I love all things granular, and was hoping to use it as live processor for my electric mandola. Stayed up until 5.00am trying to get it crackle free. Even at 1 layer, 1voice with grain density very low it was unusable... until as a last resort, I killed the screen... suddenly, no crackles at all. I was able to use 3 granular layers all with high grain density and it was perfectly clean? Hope this is fixed soon. Until then, it's back to iPulsaret for me, which is still the best live input granulator out there, apart from my Mutable Clouds, and maybe even better than that.
Re FRMS; I'd love to be able to use the mod matrix to modulate the delay parameters etc. Another advantage of iPulsaret is that you can modulate absolutely everything...
Ooh, I’m on the same device, with the same problems. I’ll be trying this out immediately, love the sounds of this synth, but couldn’t get it to work without crackles. Thank you for sharing
The problem I have with pulsaret is that parameters like fm, the filter and ring mod are all global. Great for sonic mayhem but the harmonics go out of control without key tracking. I also find that the envelope is a bit sloppy, doesn't snap. And the attack phase brings the amp up too quickly even on long times, it's strange.
All in all, I think FRMS has a huge lead on sound quality, but... they both do things differently. For example, it's very easy in pulsaret to accurately approximate the source sound with high density and mid-to-long grain durations. Transposing the input accurately is just as simple. FRMS causes weird pitch changes with length and density adjustments. And even if you get it in tune, when dynamically transposing live input it still sounds like a poorly tuned violin. It seems that random grain modulation is the only way to get live audio to pass through harmonically. Otherwise it sounds like FM produced by recurring grain events. There's definitely a learning curve with this one. Growing up on apesoft, FRMS threw me off at first, but it's quickly become my favorite app. Hope the devs would be open to feedback, as I have a couple items.
I am slowly working my way through ipulsaret and idensity. Bit baffling at first, but they really have good manuals, probably the most detailed of any developer. I love apesoft’s attention to detail. And I’m definitely falling in love with granular synthesis in general, so damn cool, massively up my street. So happy to just spend hours playing around with all the things you can do to alter one simple sound source or loop.
I managed to get a playeable accurately pitched granulated approximation of the live input out of FRMS last night. Not quite as complex as the live processing patches I'm able to achieve in iPulsaret. I agree about the weird live input pitch changes when locking harmonically related intervals in FRMS. iPulsaret does that amazingly well; I often use root-fifth locked intervals so that it behaves like a rudimentary harmonizer. You can also lock the intervals at different velocity levels ie. make the fifth slightly quieter than the root. Though the ring mod in iPulsaret doesn't track pitch, I'm able to get some amazing vocal like qualities with careful tuning and subtle use; I love that ring mod.
That's a nice idea, so you are setting up two layers in frms, one as a root, another pitched up a 5th interval? @rcf
I haven't quite figured it out in FRMS because of the weird interval thing, but you should be able to do it in one layer. It helps to think of locking the keys not as playing the granulated audio... think of it as gating a vca; no live input audio can pass through unless the amp and/or filters are open. The locked key does however pitch the audio stream passing through. In FRMS I think it is C2 which allows the audio to pass through without being repitched. Any other held keys seem to give repitched copies of that granulated audio stream, at least that's how it works in iPulsaret. So locking C2 and G2 would allow root-fifth and so on.
Bro, we're on the same wave length! I love the velocity locking keyboard in pulsaret to introduce higher harmonics at extremely low velocity levels. I should revisit the ring mod, especially when the keyboard is locked like that.
Have you tried it the other way around as well? That is, "locking" an external oscillator to a steady pitch/drone, and transposing it live with live playing through pulsaret? So satisfying to just tweak the cutoff of a squarewave with pwm, and hear the whole thing react like a poly synth.
I've found that FRMS does harmonizing very well, but haven't found a reliable formula to actually 'play' the live input (in tune) yet.
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I haven't tried that in iPulsaret or FRMS but I do sometimes use Mutable Clouds like that in my eurorack... it then becomes a virtual oscillator with any waveform/drone you feed into the buffer.
iPulsaret introduces delays when locking keys and repitching granulated live input audio too far away from the home octave. Rather than a negative, I just see this as an added bonus.
I managed to test the latest beta today.
There's a massive improvement with live input. All 4 layers are now useable in granular mode, with high grain densities too. No crackles on my Mini5 with screen on; I've only used it standalone so far as I need to get used to it.
Locking multiple keys doesn't behave as I expected; I was hoping for interval transposition of grains on the other held keys?
A minor problem with user patches still not saving their 'live input' status. At the moment I have to reset each layers input on reloading a patch.
Great improvements in performance though.
@rcf are you referring to 1.0.4 (publicly released today) or is there another beta?