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
To chime in my own workflow. I sometimes keep randomly generated MIDI running in ableton for 30-40 mins. When I click stop I actually scrub through what’s been recorded and paste the bits I like into a new track, so an infinite bar mode till I click stop would basically make iOS as useful to me as ableton for generating MIDI files. I know its not something you do @blueveek but would it be extremely hard to implement ? Even if it’s a very niche feature ? Cause it helps with turning the chaos of random MIDI into something useful at least for me.
I also noodle around with tons of different variations of a melody in my head till I pick the take I really like. So like @espiegel123 uses it too.
@blueveek I too would like the option to just hit record once at the beginning of a session, and record an entire session's worth of MIDI. I might use Capture MIDI too, but maybe not...what if I could place a bookmark instead?
If Atom 2 isn't written to record infinite notes indefinitely, or display an hour's worth of MIDI events, a more official way to chain clips together will help. I know it's planned! But yes, the main things I do with clips are: Split them, merge them, and rearrange them on a timeline. I do want to write some baroque harpsichord music with Hi-NRG/Nola bounce-inspired stutters, and clip launching will be perfect for that.
I think your biggest challenge is finding a way to satisfy traditional use cases, while providing these new workflow options, all while dealing with the unique challenges of developing for phones and tablets. I think you've done a great job of designing and planning before you write code, but it's probably not a bad time to look for input on the big picture stuff.
I'm saying, if Atom 2 is going to be the standard piano roll and a futuristic totally badass clip launcher, the question about recording longer clips might be a piece that falls into place, if it's viewed as part of that broader goal.
Each instance being tied to a clip provides a lot of advantages, but I wonder if there's a way to preserve those advantages, while also making things like hour long "clips" more manageable.
@blueveek I don't think it's true that the feature of recording midi until you hit stop always leads to long files. For me, a feature like this is purely about "how quickly can i start recording something". Every extra click from moment of inspiration to moment of recording is painful. In this case, being able to just press record and worry about the loop points / time signature later would be a big improvement. When im in the initial idea phase of writing music, i'm not always sure what the time signature is yet or how many bars, and i don't want to have to count that out before i can even record it.
This all being said, the atom 2 workflow is already very fast and I'm enjoying it a lot. But i do throw my support behind a simple feature for letting things record until stop is pressed.
Is this ‘Capture MIDI’ an existing feature or proposed? I mean it sounds good!
I'm not exactly sure how you were planning to implement the Capture Midi features, is it the case that it would ALWAYS be recording? or would you first have to arm the atom instance for recording, before it starts its circular buffer? If it is the latter, then I can also imagine that a "record until stop" feature could be merged with the Capture Midi features you are considering. For example, if instead of a circular buffer you gave capture midi a timeline buffer that grows from the initial point of arming record. Then you would have the expected "last 4 bars" type of buttons, but also an "all" button that would print everything you played from the moment of arming.
But also, hard for me to know if that is a good idea or not in relation to overall performance of the app, though it seems no different from actually recording those notes. idk just brainstorming.
it is just proposed
I too would like to have a "just record" option. I virtually never have a clear idea in my head how many bars I want to record. Usually what I end up doing is playing what I'm hearing while watching the playhead and then needing to count in my head how long that riff is, stop, set the bars, start record, wait until the playhead comes round, then hope I remember what I was playing. Not ideal.
I would prefer to just start recording, play until I get what I want or until I'm out of ideas, then quick-edit to keep the bits that I want. With the current workflow all the same has to happen, but it all has to happen in my head while trying not to lose the idea.
On the other hand, it's so simple just to set up a preset with many empty bars and load it before recording that I feel like this more of conceptual idealism than a practical need on my part.
Another vote for a “just record” mode. I finally got around to using Atom 2 for the first time in anger today to try and come up with a decent lead over a repeating backing track and the fixed number of bars was the first thing I hit. I ended up recording directly into NS2 and picking out the bit I wanted.
I would appreciate as many different looping options as possible. For what I was doing today a “store the last n bars of what I was playing in a new pattern to pick over later” button would have been useful. Fixed loop takes like Garageband provides would come in useful for other scenarios such as where I know exactly what I am trying to record but need to try and nail the perfect take.
The excellent clipboard and patterns options in Atom 2 make this kind of workflow (just press record, think later) better than almost any piano roll I've used. Grabbing and arranging the useful bits is a breeze. I guess that's why I feel like having it as an option would be a worthy addition.
The workaround of recalling a preset with a large number of bars is, like, two taps though, so I can't say it's a high priority for my own part.
BTW, I noticed the AUM "Save in Plugin" preset save option isn't implemented. No big deal, but this could be handy when using Atom in multiple hosts.
So I have.
It would be awesome if something like rozeta scaler was a part of atom 2.
So you can just jam out on the keyboard recording into atom and it would correct any wrong notes into the set scale.
I currently put a scaler in the chain pre atom but if it was built in somehow that could really be amazers
Does picking a scale from the Scales menu not do exactly what you’re asking? Or are the different lock modes not sufficient? (afaik they’re a superset of what Rozeta even offers). Or am I misunderstanding what you’re saying?
It was my understanding that atom shows you what notes are in the scale by coloring them , saying this is the scale... but that all notes outside the scale are still there as well and what you play in can land on a spot on the piano roll that isn’t in scale. Am i wrong? I could be!
So I’m playing just randomly on the keyboard does atom 2 correct the notes? I’ve really only imported MIDI thus far but i remember atom just showing the scale not actually forcing notes into it
Ok cancel all that ^^^^ hahaah
I now see the shift options! LOL
That i didn’t notice as I’m used to atom 1 still!
Excellent!!
My vote is for Capture to MIDI.
A general on/off MIDI Recorder would be cool too... if it's something that can be implemented without headaches.
I think capture to MIDI would make working on perfecting complex parts so much more intuitive. Just hit the save button once you nail the part. Same for noodling and having a moment of inspiration, after you've played it, hit the save button.
IMO it doesn't seem like much fun to replay an hour worth of Midi trying to find the parts you want to extract, but that's just me.
The whole purpose of a Capture to MIDI feature is to enable a continuously running recorder with the ability to save the "good parts" as they occur. Just make sure to use a long buffer length for noodling, and a short buffer length when you "have an idea" and want to work on perfecting it.
Yes, just pick a scale, and your playing will then conform to it. The "shift down" lock mode is enabled by default, so you really don't have to do anything other than picking the scale.
If you want to re-quantize to a different scale afterwards, use the Pitch process tool.
A "suggested scale" feature is in the works.
Same here, I'd prefer that for my own sessions.
I think so too, but I'm amazed at how diverse the workflows are around here. It also depends a lot on the type of music that you're playing or recording. Generally, it seems that more traditional linear workflows are better suited for older genres for example.
Recently, @Skyblazer suggested a bookmarking feature, where instead of printing your most recent noodling to a pattern and advancing to a new one (like Capture MIDI would do), you instead allow for infinite recording and bookmark ("I liked that part") while you're noodling, so you can go back later and more easily find the bits in the sea of MIDI.
I'm not sure the implications in terms of workflows, but they sound basically equivalent to me (as long as you accept that bookmarking in an infinite buffer is the same as "Capture MIDI" and advance to new pattern). But I need to think about it some more. Technically, there's no real limitation to implementing either of them, but defaults matter, and I'd like to choose a default that's more modern.
I think the buffer length could (should?) depend on the number of bars, no? Or, alternatively, have it infinite internally, but printing it would conform to a set number of bars. How would you prefer it?
Lots of exaggeration in how recording without knowing how many bars one is going to record works. This is being portrayed know as recording for an hour and picking through bits. The issue of not knowing how long one will play applies even if it is playing for a few minutes. It isn’t at all unusual for a musician to sit down an improvise for several minutes and want to preserve the recording.
The issue of not knowing how long your phrases are ahead of time can be be true for both short and long recording.
I am puzzled that people find recording more than a handful of measures at a time exotic when that has been the norm for a lot of musicians for decades.
Ya this is what i was also trying to say. For me it has nothing to do with how long the recording is or what i am going to do with the recording afterwards. It has everything to do with making the initial flow for starting a recording as few steps as possible. And that is true whether recording for 7 bars or 7minutes. Just want to get an idea down as fast as possible and think about the number of bars / time signature / loop points later.
That bookmark idea sounds awesome though! As I mentioned in my earlier post, if you implement Capture Midi that way (where it has an infinite buffer behind the scenes), the only thing it needs to support a "record until stop" workflow is a "Print/Bookmark All" button that prints everything since you first armed record or the last bookmark timepoint. Love the idea that bookmarks get put into different patterns automatically, that sounds amazing.
I think length conforming to a set number of bars would make the feature overall more user friendly (many users will be noodling to the metronome).
A bookmarking feature sounds workable. Providing it's combined with an option to "Print buffer from last Bookmark.... The number of bars selected by the user".
That might seem to retain essentially the same functionality as Capture to MIDI and cover both features in one design.
Those who just want to play and set multiple bookmarks, can keep playing after bookmarking.
Those who want to immediately print x number of bars from the last bookmark to track, can use the feature like a Capture to MIDI function.
I second the request of recording without being restrained by bars. Not only for noodling or idea catching but for recording takes, chord progressions, melodies and solos. Besides it is a great practice method: to be able to see timing and accuracy over a long period of time and not just a couple of bars.
Actually it surprised me to see that it wasn’t the default. The only other app I’ve seen the bar limit is GarageBand. Different workflows.
And now please, can someone tell me how to disable animations? I’ve been searching the manual and this thread but nothing, I must be blind.
There's a fundamental tension between satisfying the requirements for proper clip launching and proper linear DAW workflows. There's implications to both of those types of doing things, which can appear (or sometimes intentionally be) restricting when attempting to do one of them when a tool is optimized for either of the two.
There's probably a good reason why more and more EDM producers prefer the clip launching. And why most (if not all) rock/metal producers prefer linear DAWs. For example, clip launching a'la Live's Session View, but using Cubasis, is a ridiculous thought. Even clip launching somehow solely using Live's Arrangement View is a ridiculous thought – if you asked them, Ableton support would probably tell you to do the obvious thing and use Sessions instead.
Adding more to this, if I were to sit down and attempt to design the best possible "idea recorder", or tool for recording multiple takes, I probably wouldn't start with an infinitely growing "dumb" MIDI editor with no form of organization. Infinitely growing buffers: yes, but presenting that to users in a way that's actually pleasing and efficient to use is a lot more nuanced. I think most people have accepted the classic way of doing it because it's actually a fine "hack", which is possible with most things that record MIDI, sometimes with various small workarounds. But that doesn't mean it's the best possible way to do it. Not many DAWs have Logic's extraordinary multi-take recording features. Not many DAWs have Ableton's extremely well thought out "Capture MIDI" feature. And so on... And people will make do with what they have.
There's a lot of linear DAWs on iOS. Not many clip launching DAWs. Atom is most optimized for the latter. Hence the "tension".
I still think there's probably some great things we could do here to better suit both use-cases. I think "Capture MIDI", for example, is a must-have. If I could build that in a way that allows infinite back-access, then that would be excellent.
With 2.0.4 (the current version), if you enable 'reduce motion' in iOS, Atom will respect that preference. In 2.0.5 (in review), there's a "disabled animations" configuration in Atom that will let you override that.
@blueveek : no tensions, just healthy dialog 😊
Requests are not demands. I think there is an overwhelming consensus about how good Atom is and how amazingly open you are to suggestions. Sometimes it feels like a tailored made app. Respect for that!
Ok, so that was that! Then I will wait for 2.0.5
Yes, of course, the "tension" is between competing products, not people (it's a commonly used term in my field).
Ah
I’m more of a ‘session view’ generally, but I have to disagree...
I think pattern based playback is well covered on iOS. DAWs are different story altogether imo, but when it comes to AUmodularity, I have more than enough options to create patterns... when I reach for Atom, I always have something linear in mind.
Om the other side we have a pretty decent linear MIDI sequencer in Xequence 2. And NanoStudio too.
I would give them more than decent
But these aren’t AUs, which was my point. All? AU seqs & generators are pattern based, while there is nothing for the linear minded... Atom seems to be the closest for such requests.
Agreed. Although I am what you might consider a linear DAW type of person, a lot of my initial inspiration comes from messing around in AUM and for me Atom is there to capture this for later transfer to a DAW.
Agree. I thought Atom would allow me to stay in AUM but my skills are limited and I’m old school to think in blocks/patterns/loops
Anyway with MPE coming soon to Xequence (hopefully) I think I can use that for the linear stuff (if only there was a “bridge” to quickly change screens.
And leave Aton for patterns (which, again I’m more inclined to use in one instance and without launchers)