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
Thnx @McD - Also though, is there any way of assigning aftertouch and note off?
MPE isn’t documented yet in the manual for sample builders. Honestly, I’m just excited to play with the note by note pitch bends so I’m good.
But we can track the docs to see if there are instructions to for more mappings in the XML descriptors.
Agreed McD, it's still very nice to have the per note pitch bend!
Have you used the Scala micro-tuning features yet? I’ve avoided micro tuning because I’m hung up on pitch consonance as close as possible.
I haven't, no. Has anyone?
Also - despite the much better performance as an AUv3 on the new ipad, Decent Sampler is not working for me standalone at all, on the latest iOS. I press ‘browse’, nothing happens. Anyone else?
Still working normally for me, but I'm on version 1.7.9, three updates behind. Lately I've become very gun-shy of rapid-fire updates to useful apps. I'm waiting until at least 2 weeks of stability before considering a update. Don't need to be a pioneer/beta tester.
Latest version works for me on 16.3.1...
Hmmm... 😂
Do you have an internet connection? It may require that even though it lets you browse local libraries as well.
Yep... Tried when I was on WiFi, didn't work. But just tried again now and it's opening... The mysterious ways of DS 😂
Why would it need an Internet connection by the way? Admittedly, the non-opening on standalone was the first time I tried it standalone on my new device. But tried multiple times, no joy. Strangely now it is working. Might be a vpn thing. It's possible that when I tried earlier I wasn't on a vpn. Not sure. May be some Chinese Internet weirdness.
I suspect the “browse” page gets its content from a web server so new content can be displayed and transactions conducted over an internet connection. I will turn off cellular (my internet thru Wi-Fi is down after a power loss… I think AT&T has infrastructure to re-initialize for my access) and see how the app behaves.
It stalled one time but does show the store page which must be cached locally to avoid burdoning a server…
Continue to discover issues… you are an excellent beta tester.
The primary trick with a bug is helping the developer re-produce the issue to debug the app behavior. That’s actually harder
Then most of us realize due to differences in the environment of the customer and the developer.
The rails of users to developer also impacts the leave and attention a serious user would like to receive for the free effort to help or get helped.
You need internet because Browse defaults to the online Sample Store. It can make sales outside the Apple IAP framework, and offers direct file downloads, so it must be a web site. It would be nice if the app handled this more gracefully.
Yes very true, I guess for me it maybe needed a vpn to be on, cheers!
@Gavinski said:
+++
Sometimes you come to a thread to say something only to find it nicely summarized by others already...
What bugs are you experiencing? Are they related to sample import? I can see 9 updates in the last 3 months and 95% of the free instruments downloadable from PianoBook.co.uk install without problems… even in the *.zip format so I don’t have to rename the downloads. I just checked and there’s a new update. So, what bugs are you seeing… I’m not saying they are not there but I’m curious where you see them. Have you updated recently?
I hope the causal reader realizes this is a free app that comes with a nice selection of free sound files.
The free Venus Theory packs are really nice. Throw in the 100+ sound packs on PianoBook and you get quite a value that no other free app can match.
You will also find this app free for MacOS, Windows and Linux.
There’s also documentation of the XML format to make your own shareable instruments.
Anyway, whine on.
The User Interface decisions are created by the person that creates the XML file. No other IOS app
Has this user friendly approach to make us all potential programmers of more sound making content.
Update: after writing this comment I went back to PianoBook and downloaded/installed 6 Felt Pianos. There aren’t any Felt Piano apps yet for IOS. 6 Free pianos from people that just wanted to share their work. They all installed from the zip too.
NOTE: look at the name of the file if like me you have around 150 instruments fmdownloaded. I starting playing through my list and there are really inspiring sounds in there with some great FX.
I already mentioned the bugs earlier in the thread. As did many others. That's not whining, that's reporting facts. I've also mentioned them to the dev and he acknowledged them. The latest version seems more stable.
TBH I reached the point of completely giving up some versions ago
(esp finding the excellent AudioLayer able to fill the gap for me most admirably; prior to that)
BUT your and @McD's remarks are encouraging enough that I will rethink and retry this app and gladly concede perhaps my post was hasty given there are updates I've not even wanted to bother with given many still frustrating updates past . Thanks to you both!
Thanks for the info; my earlier experience has been horrendous but I haven't tried in the last 3 months.
As to the philosophical remarks about the app being free (which doesn't mean it doesn't bring in a lot of money) and with great available sounds, obviously big pluses, however for me, and as the thread abundantly witnesses is a not uncommon sentiment among many others -also notwithstanding other caveats/excuses etc. like the dev being a musician vs. pro engineer etc. though fine to contemplate do not of themselves place an app or a dev beyond legit criticism or least of all minimize the sting of much frustration over long periods of time even giving kudos for at least continuing to try etc. however a workable update certainly would, and I'm glad to hear of it, and thank you again very much for pointing this out!
Well, exactly, and although the app is free and there are many free packs available, I have also paid quite a lot, maybe in the region of $100 bucks, for paid packs, perhaps more.
So I feel absolutely entitled to criticise the app when and if it is buggy. And, like you, my early experiences, even going through several updates, were pretty bad. This thread is a litany of bug reports stretching back years.
I recommended the app to a friend a few months ago and she wasn't even able to get it to function standalone, never mind in AUM, despite having an M1 ipad with tons of space and on the latest ipadOS.
It does seem better now. Again, I'm not going to rehash the entire list of bugs I encountered on my journey with this app as I've already documented them here in detail over a period of months.
I'm also not going to rehash my arguments about how the dev is making numerous paid packs for the thing and gets the benefit of very significant exposure for his other projects as a result, much like Christian Henson did with Pianobook. Few things in life are truly free. And that's fine! Everybody has to make a buck. But if you're going to make an app that people end up spending money on, potentially lots of money, don't expect people not to hold you to account, even if the app itself is free.
You don’t have to spend a penny. I have purchased 2 of the $10 products. Complaining about the money motive if selling sound packs doesn’t work for me because I agree… I don’t see the value since the PianoBooks options are often wonderful. Many from Christian H. I don’t think he ever made a Decent Sampler version over 200 have been converted by one person as a gift to the community. This free project is great for college students and low income folks to be able to create without paying for Kontakt to use the PianoBook gifts.
The audience is swayed by the mention of bugs but some know that all software can have bugs and this one gets better and better. There are no bugs preventing me from making sounds that are on a par with ROLI Noise (talk about bugs) or BeatHawk for $100 in IAPs.
Get Decent Sampler and help others use it. It works. If you can make sample sets in the Decent Sampler format. It’s just XML to load the wave files, assign UI controls and FX features. The team behind the project intends to make a GUI tool to generate the XML files.
We should encourage and support their efforts since they donate their work and allow you to show thanks with donations or product purchases. IOS is not the first thought for these folks but I’m glad they released one for us and they deserve someone here to say thanks.
I do say thanks. Infact I subscribe to the patreon of Dave, the creator of Decent Sampler.
I'm still free to make criticism where I feel it's needed. Have always done so and will continue to do so. I believe that devs benefit from clear reports about bugs, both publically and via email.
I believe that if a dev has a buggy or otherwise subpar product, it's in his / her interest to know it, and in users' interest to know what they're getting into when they buy. Private reports to devs may get listened to. Public reports are likely to have much more traction.
Ultimately my side lies far more with the user / spender than with the dev. I believe that weighing opinion that way is in the ultimate interest of the dev. If you don't agree with this, it's an opinion divide that will likely never be solved by discussion.
I would say private bug reports are best through a developer's ticket system or similar.
...and I'm certainly guilty of it.
If public bug reports stayed in the realm of a technical discussion without emotional "fire" then they are useful. But they tend to turn into a public admonishing of the developer which is not helpful at all.
Not passively accusing anyone of that!!!
The MIDI learn bug was fixed in the last update I think - I sent him an email about it a month ago or so.
It’s worth mentioning to any ROLI Noise users like me who feel that they have been abandoned due to a lack of sales that Decent Sampler supports MPE.
Eh... No.
First off, if you want to compare to Roli that's setting the bar very low. They are one of the most heavily criticised companies in the music industry in recent years. I'm pretty sure you know this already, if not, it's only a Google away.
Secondly, and most importantly, the mpe update to Decent Sampler does not in any way mean that all Decent Sampler packs suddenly become mpe.
The previously released packs get mpe pitch bend, that's it, unless the people designing the packs actually come out and make them truly mpe, which means not only independent pitch bend per note, but also all the other 4 aspects of mpe - strike velocity, release velocity, Y-axis movement, and key pressure.
Has anyone done that yet for a Decent Sampler pack? If so, great, and please share them here! But it doesn't make previously released packs suddenly become mpe.
And - lack of sales on Roli's part - if that was even a thing - was not the buyers' fault. It was Roli's.
I’m sure there’s a few readers that value the sounds of Roli Noise… @GeoTony has shared dozens of creations using Noise instruments. If that’s you… you will love DecentSampler and live with the user interface issues for the music you can make.
MPE Pitch Bend is what most IOS apps provide. Is there an MPE app for the others because they probably require custom hardware so the complaint is, for me, a technicality that doesn’t impact my IOS life.
I just spent a couple hours making a Decent Sampler file template that loads 4 wave files and a jpeg image. It implements Tone, Reverb, Volume, Attack, and Release.
I have a folder called “1Notes” containing:
1. The “Notes1.dspreset” XML file (my template project)
2. A Folder called “Samples” with 3 wave files (adding more samples involves editing the template)
3. A Folder called “Images” and it has a jpeg file called “Mine.jpg” that is 812x312 in size.
To load these files into Decent Sampler I do these steps:
1. Go up 1 level from the “Notes1” folder.
2. Delete any prior Notes1.zip file.
3. Touch the Notes1 folder and select compress.
4. Touch the new Notes1.zip file and select Share.
5. Locate the Decent Sampler icon usually in the elipsis “More” listing.
6. Select YES to install this new instrument (multiple YES selections create duplicate instruments named Notes1 so some clean up is required periodically as you perfect an XML file.
Here’s my current template… My samples root notes are A#3(57), A#4(69), A#5(81).
Roli, Reason and Ableton (and so many others) have not found growth by adding IOS products to their
Catalogs. 1 and 2 person “companies” also complain that they tend to create products for fun because it doesn’t pay their bills.
I will continue to consider Decent Sampler a gift and enjoy every update that makes it better.
I think music makes the case better than text… I’ll open Loopy pro and start capturing cool sounds
To prove this apps value when loaded up with free stuff. It’s a jewel for folks that covet the Kontakt Cinematic sound packs and wish we had toys like that for Cinematic and Ambient projects but only have a “coffee shop” budget (<$10 a week/month or for app purchases).
I made a quick demo using nothing but Decent Sampler and it’s free sounds that are downloadable in the internal Store section of the app. No other app or FX are used in the making of this sonic monstrosity.
This is also the first project I ever uploaded that I made in Loopy Pro. That pulsing around 2:00 is just me learning that the mixing sliders in Loopy Pro are really sensitive. There were only 2 loops that I discarded out of 10 and the first slinky violin melody was layered over 2 loops live and then the other 6 loops were added before I faded out the mix.
No bugs in the process were observed or killed.
The attached photo: I was drinking morning coffee from a parking lot over looking the ocean where the whales have been migrating by lately when a young man walked up to the bench and went into a perfect handstand. I grabbed my phone and opened the camera app and took the shot. Today I turned him and the world sideways in Affinity Pro which I just picked up to resize images for Decent Sampler.
Sounds great! You're preaching to the converted, btw, because I absolutely love a lot of the stuff available for Decent Sampler. I've made several videos demoing some fantastic ones, like the Woven Strings. And fair play to you for getting round to starting to make your own packs 🔥
I’m thinking that the automatic creation of Decent Sampler XML files might make a cool Python Programming Project but I suspect the IOS file system constraints might make it tricky to get at the sample file names. It’s an interesting puzzle.
Update: the A-Shell app has a command to add a Folder to its environment that could contain samples or a sub folder called Samples. It also has a python interpreter so that might work to support a folder to be used as the basis for making a Decent Sampler XML file automation script.