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
Totally agree with this one. One reason I like getting started with the OP-1 or similar is that you only get 4 tracks. I get a few ideas going, then add to them, then work on alternatives that riff off an element from the first part.
Then I move it over to Ableton, where I can easily see the structure. Over the years I’ve tried arranging songs in the hardware, but that’s where the limitations become a frustration, not an inspiration.
Then I start removing things to get variations.
One other tip, and one that is personal taste. Sometimes I like a busy arrangement, but if so, all the parts are sonically separated. That means EQ to “thin” individual sounds, panning, and no fucking pads under everything
:-)
Another way of doing something similar is to make a longer chord progression and choose which bars you want to play from the sample edit page. Each cell can have a different start and stop loop point.
For example, make a I–V–vi–IV chord progression (C–G–Am–F for example)
You can use the same loop multiple times and choose one bar to play in each cell. Choose just bar 2 for the G for example.
Each cell can have different start and end points without duplicating the loop. You can also flatten them to make them self contained. When you're writing your loop elsewhere, you can always chuck in a few variations and chop them in BW later.
Cool scripts.
I must admit I rarely use shortcuts. It always takes me longer to remember how to find the shortcut than actually carry out the task manually
I use automation on the Mac much more as I assign keyboard shortcuts to the ones I use the most frequently.
If there's not already a BW tips thread might be worth starting one? It'd be quite short though, the best thing about BW is it's so simple and quick to use -- launches quickly, no auv3s to load, you don't have thousands of parameters to tweak... just instant, low friction fun.
@klownshed I would love a wiki or if you could do a thread or video!! I am a bit lost on what you described for the chord progressions…. 😕
There's definitely gold in these here hills!
A little breakdown of what I’ve picked up so far…
There’s loads more, especially in the PDF that @Tarekith shared
Yeah I’ll fix it shortly here. I had a lot to say because this problem has haunted me for years and I’ve only recently begun to find a solution which works for me. I’m pretty excited about that, lol. Didn’t have a lot of time yesterday and wanted to just get it out.
.> @klownshed said:
I generally use the native loops as the embers to start my fire, and keep my recordings in whatever DAW or All-in-one i'm working (lately, BM3). But it sure is interesting to drop the progression into BW and keep sculpt away in there.
Blocs wave is really stress free and nice to work in. And Groovebox too
Learn to improvise with various scales so that you can come up with variations on your basic ideas, and maybe develop other ideas that will fit with the original motif that you come up with.
I've learned to do it on multiple instruments and can do it pretty well on some. It really is a skill that's worth developing.
Steal.
Find a track that has the kind of arrangement you’d like your loop to follow. This is extremely vague, but using something of the same genre helps. Then you can either write down what happens over time using seconds/minutes OR bars. Take your entire loop and copy paste over your preferred track time (let’s say 4 minutes for example). Then start taking parts away.
The intro 8 bars might have just a pad and a hihat for example. The next 8 will have something else. Check with your reference track to see what happens when. Maybe there’s a “drop” depending on the genre of music, or a moment where everything is playing at once, ie your loop.
In NS2 I have regions set up at the top of the project, each one labelled with whatever section of the track. How specific you make each section depends on how closely you are copying your reference arrangement. This is saved as a template, and you can use different reference track arrangements for different templates, pick and choose the one you need.
If you copy and paste in this way at the end you will have a “finished” track. Then all you need to do is go back and work with the transitions between sections, automation, editing...
Once you get the “melting pot” of your loop, with everything working together, you should have enough components to start working across time, using the arrangement template. Make a few tracks/songs in this way and you’ll quickly get used to how a typical song’s arrangement goes.
@KRPT
Good idea with the NS2 track layout at the top
Haven’t used NS2 very much
Any chance you could share one of these NS2 templates, it might help me and others, and it might force me to learn NS2 !!
Lots of good tips in this thread, as I am definitely stuck in the loop, and making large AUM files, but not many finished songs
Thanks to everyone
Also installed blocs wave yesterday, I like this
I generally write in 2 separate ways. I either jam it all out in loops and end up with a composition that is generally tied to the riff/key/chords of the initial roof or write the song on a guitar or piano and vocals and then decide whether it should stay analogue or be brought back into the digital domain.
If I want a composition that has chord progressions and many changes I find it necessary to start with the second approach as composing in software is simply too slow for the creative flow to take place. It normally takes me up to an hour to finish a bare-bone song with structure and lyrics so software, no matter how adept I am at it ends up being a hindrance at that stage.
One thing I forgot to mention is that when things start to get a little stale I leave things for a while, give my ears a bit of a breather. Forcing things never works for me.
This is one of the reasons I like BlocsWave. I have lots of ideas in there, many of which will never get developed into anything, some of which may. But by quickly recreating a loop in BW it makes it instantly accessible in the future.
At any time I can go through a load of different ideas really quickly. When I’m not working on any one tune in particular I’ll sometimes just go back and play through loads of old projects. This is so quick in BW compared to most apps as the projects are so lightweight.
Sometimes listening to an old tune with fresh ears brings new inspiration. And sometimes different bits of different projects mash together and end up making a new, better tune.
So basically BW is an audio notebook for me.
One of its best features is that when I’ve come up with something new, all the loops are exported ready time stretched and pitch shifted, ready to be used in a DAW with the minimum of fuss.
I really dig this too @KRPT... and @Gdub NS2 makes it easier, but this kind of section marker could be faked in other apps.
I use it a lot in Xequence, Beatmaker and Cubasis. Just create an empty track with no instrument and name your clips/sections/patterns
Speaking of loops and workflow, Doug has a timely new workflow video about using Blocs Wave and importing the clips into Launchpad:
I really love the ideas here. I have this block since ever, I have very few finished tracks compared to many many loops that I simply never managed to develop into a full track.
But I can at least summarize some of the tips as they repeat (also in this discussion):
Many times I've read or heard tips to break this block, but honestly it's like reading about how to get ripped or how to start a new amazing career. Reading about it and knowing all the tips is a one thing, the other is to actually do it
1. Usually it's good to have "A and B" parts. Or a chorus and verse. Or "full" and "stoptime" passages. This heavily depends on the genre. For techno or other kinds of music that are based on repetition, it's not necessarily needed.
2. Bouncing to audio all the material you have. The process of bouncing to audio itself may inspire you to come with more variations. Then working only with audio will limit you until you have base for the song, then you can work on details or add more elements.
3. Trying to lay out a rough structure of the song so you have at least 2-3 minutes, ideally the full length of the song. Just a simple mute/unmute individual tracks will push you to add transitions or inspire to add extra elements etc. You may even copy this rough structure from any other song. Or follow structure like this: intro, full part 1, short stoptime, full part 2, long stoptime, build up, full part 3, short stoptime, outro.
4. Resampling may be another option to bring new alternations - just re-shuffling the order of notes, or simply cutting out only a part, but of course there are many more creative ways. Remember, the top hits from great producers like Prodigy, Fatboy slim, Moby or DJ Shadow were mostly sampled. Not to mention the whole hip-hop scene... It's much simpler to just export all your loops and one shots, bring them all to samplers and try to put them together into something new.
5. I've also seen a list of elements your song may have - typical ones like bass, drums, percussions, chords, lead melody, vocals, pads / atmospheric sounds, noises, spoken word... If you miss some of those and you think your loop is still missing something (or you need a new variation), you may try to simply find a sound and try to add it there until it brings some interesting result.
6. And the last tip from a friend of mine who have many success releases, own label and play a live gig several times a week: You simply have to sit on your ass and do it. Simple one but powerful
This happens to me sometimes, there are a handful of good videos on YouTube that address this issue specifically and provide ideas. If I had the time I’d post the link. I think one is by Andrew Huang.
Trying to follow my own advice...
Other ideas not on the list above
a. inverting patterns is fun as is reversing them -- visual artists do the same thing with their drawings
b. take a pattern and make the subdivisions longer or shorter (1/8 notes now 1/4 notes) and layer
c. changing the bpm can give you ideas and space to hear what's happening
d. chord generating apps are great esp if they have tons of chords laid out for you to bang on**
e. changing key can lead to inspiration
f. transpose the notes of the bassline and listen. now transpose the notes of the leadlines and listen
g. add blue (non) chromatic notes
h. add ornamentation last
** ChordMaps2 ($10 IAA) and Chordez ($4 IAA) both with midi
Chordez is newer and lays out Parallel voicings, modes, extensions, note spread, and inversions, and chord substitutions at your finger tips. Bang some chords into Atom and work from there.
ChordMaps2
Just some rando thoughts
I have an example of what I’ve been saying above:
I made a loop ages ago in Logic. I never did anything with it and I didn’t know where to take it.
I just forgot about it.
Recently I started jamming on my Roland JD-Xi and was playing around with the vocoder and starting writing a tune using a couple of lines from a song I never finished from literally decades ago.
I liked the vocoder bit but the rest of the track was a bit ‘meh’.
Anyway. I was going through my old Logic “Bits and Pieces” folder and listened back to that old loop I mentioned.
In no time at all the vocoder part was used with the old loop and it developed into a ‘finished’ song pretty quickly.
+1. If I want tow rite a “song” I pick up the guitar. I guess picking up an instrument pushes you to do variations, no one wants to play the exact same thing over and over (unless you play bass in U2).
But we’re doing blips and swings on an iPad, right?. To me the difference is on the iPad I seem to always start from a happy accident, just start messing around with a kick drum and one of those wonderfully weird synths or apps… Very different to what happens with a guitar, which I’m more familiar with. So I , too, pick up the guitar and play on top, probably muting the synth bass or melodic parts if there’s any so I’m not bound to underlying tones.
What I do often, not so much to break out of a loop but to make it interesting, is to alter the length of the phrases. Say you have a standard 16 bar sequence, like 4 (A) + 4 (D#) + 8 (G), so do that but make the next one last 12, so it becomes 4 (A) + 4 (D#) + 4 (G). It’s not “too weird” and it makes it 1000 times more interesting, just chopping off a 1/4 of the loop every second time gives it movement and makes it not feel like a loop.
Don't get too wasted like "Super Hans"
That crack is really moreish
Do people frequently put pads under everything? Do you mean like a new sound a new pad, new synth new pad? Or just that there is always a pad (single) under everything and it muddies complex arrangements?