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.
Trying to lock in some ideas for workflow/app purchase
Hi,
Just re-entered the world of iOS music-making. Got a new iPad 9, to replace an iPad 3, which has been next-to useless for a while now.
I do have various apps from years back (AUM, Borderlands, Samplr + handful of synths/FX), but am looking for suggestions so that I can avoid making too many missteps.
I'm interested in doing various forms of Ambient (Traditional, long-form and various fusions), Dub and anything else that takes my fancy, with the intention of designing the sounds from-scratch, using found-sounds and the stacking of very simple synth sounds.
So...First recent app purchase was BM3. I thought I could use it to do all of it, really. Now, having played with it, it feels like such an unintuitive app. I get the impression that even if I knew the thing back-to-front, that the excessive amount of button-pushing and moving around between screens would just be a buzz/inspiration-killer. The only thing stopping me trying to get a refund is that the sampler still seems like it'd be a valuable part of the sound-design process, and at the sale price I paid would be fine to be relegated to just that purpose.
Which leaves me looking for the
One DAW to rule them all,
One DAW to find them,
One DAW to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them.
I'm initially drawn to Cubasis. The idea being to play/stack the various parts of a composite patch, edit in BM3. Then load into Samplr, Borderlands etc. To record various live manipulations, via MIDI learnt controller, as separate audio files/stems (Is that even possible?), then pass all recordings stems back into Cubase for arranging, further automation and mixing.
This gives me a very clear and separated process, which incorporates live 'happy accidents' etc. Seems ideal...
But then there's Loopy Pro...
I know very little abut this, but have a strange feeling that it might allow me to do most of what I want to do, without ever leaving that space. Moreover, learning one app seems preferable to learning four.
Obviously, I'd be exchanging a more deliberate and methodical process for something more spontaneous, but that seems to come at the cost of being constrained by the looping paradigm.
Am I missing anything obvious? Any show-stoppers, gotchas etc.? Would really like to avoid (m)any purchasing missteps 
Cheers
Comments
i know it’s considered a broken record kind of advice around here, but i’d use drambo. and loopy pro. but loopy pro is not yet capable of doing everything. drambo kinda is.
.
If you want to create in-the-moment ambient stuff I’d suggest AUM. It’s a joy to use and opens up a ton of possibilities with its flexibility.
Thanks! Not looked too much into Drambo, as I'm not into modular.
But there's every chance I've missed the point. Which part of my intended workflow would Drambo be best for?
Thanks!
Really i want a mixture of both. First to make the sounds to use in the various samplers/granular apps, then to leverage the flexibility of AUM for the in-the-moment aspects, but ultimately lock an arrangement down post-jam.
you don’t really have to use drambo as a full on modular thing. you can use it only as a host for your auv3s, but with a modular freedom of routing. you can add as many instruments on the same track as you want and then mix their outputs the way you like (and modulate the mixer of course). add a sampler (built-in or third-party) at the end, capture everything with it and then send some midi to that sampler to play it. and this is all on the same channel/track.
Thanks, again!
Sounds interesting! Might see if i can find a performance video, as most of the stuff I came across started from within the weeds.
You did bring up another point, which I forgot to mention - The hosting of IAA. A lot of the older stiff I own seems either to have not been updated to AUV3, or has come out with a newer version. At this stage, I still need to have easy access to IAA without too much use of workarounds. Is Drambo capable of hosting?
no, drambo is auv3 only. if IAA is crucial then i think your best choice is AUM (with loopy pro inside).
AUM has been my favorite environment to capture snippets from various IAA/AU apps in it‘s channels.
Setup is superfast and intuitive and you may track each single part or just the sum, all collected in the Audioshare „file“ system.
(btw I‘m a huge IAA fan, AU simple sucks in ergonomics imho, the window scaling/swiping mess drives me nuts)
When I got the feeling that enough „stuff“ was collected, I zipped the respective Audioshare folders and transferred them to desktop via WLan for final editing.
Don‘t try to find a „one DAW that does it all“, screen estate makes this a very unpleasant experience...
Thanks! I just watched a video of someone doing just that.
Do you have a link to a video for Drambo that could give me an overview of the part of the workflow that I'd be interested in?
If not, not probs. I'll just dig around.
I am in the same position as you, I was for a long time absent from music making on the ipad. I started with Ipad1 and Nanostudio, and when that one died, with an Ipad Air 2, with Korg Gadget, Beatmaker 2, and some other apps. But my interest was lost in the end.
SInce Black Friday and the X-mass sales I had so many good deals, I have bought a lot, Nanostudio 2, Beatmaker 3, Cubasis 3, AUM, lot of synths, efx, groovebox apps, sequencer apps like Bram Bos stuff, LK, Atomic Piano roll. Because everything was so cheap, 4 or 5 euro, 8 or 9. In the end all together it was a bit expensive, but I have no regret.
I have used AUM the most until now, I like the modular approach the most, sequencing inside AUM, to get things going, and fool and toy around with efx. My idea is when I have something good, I can transfer it to Cubasis (or rebuild it) for further development.
For me, the most valuable are the apps that help with, or teach music theory, like Suggester and Tonality. My conclusion is all the apps have there strength and weaknesses, just pick and mix what you need at the moment. Apps are so cheap compared to desktop software, especially at sale periods, don't limit yourself too much, if money is not a real problem (if that is possible, money is the problem of everything....)
Loopy Pro, I won´t go there yet, I don´t like audio looping that much, I know it is capable of more, but then the price is a bit higher than other stuff. I have enough at the moment. If I didn´t purchase so much already, I think I would go for that one.
Drambo, that one is interesting, I guess it can be used for a lot of out of the box ideas, different routings, or automated things. I won´t go there also yet, I think it will cost more time to take full advantage of it, and at the moment I can better use that time for making music, not learning a modular concept (reminds me of NI Reaktor, if that makes sense).
Thanks @Telefunky & @raabje for the posts. Will address them over the coming days.
Thanks again, everyone
I went through far too many dae setups on ios but what I've ended up sticking with is drambo and cubasis. Drambo is the most interesting and creative while cubasis is a rock solid alternative to a computer daw. Love them both
But I've recently bought loopy pro and have been it the most. I suspect all 3 will be my go to. Drambo and loopy pro for creating and jamming the cubasis for mixing and finalising what I record in drambo and loopy
For me, AUM is the best for live ambient stuff. Then record the stems, dump them into Cubasis for light mastering/mixing. I tend to change my workflow on a per track basis so it’s hard for me to pick just one. But if I’m wanting to go that route, it’s AUM for me.
oh and I see that you mentioned Dub, I have great fun with Ibassist and Reggae drummer, that combination is great for laying down a solid foundation. Play or loop some guitar, rhodes piano, or synth on top of it, with tape style delay, keeps you busy for hours.
That’s a fair point about AU’s and the screen real estate problem. My love of the tight integration and inherent state saving of AUV3 coupled with my exasperation at the endless swiping, pinching etc. is what led me to use external midi controllers. AUM makes midi mapping easy - you just need to be sure your guest apps support midi in. This approach also means you can use iPhone as your device - handy for anyone who updates their phone more frequently than their pad.
@el_bo > @el_bo said:
First, hosting Drambo inside AUM could be a nice option to add IAA support.
Drambo can send MIDI to an IAA app running in the background:
but that's limited: You can play and hear the IAA app but you can't record it - not sure if you need recording.
Drambo is currently under massive development and the next public version will add quite a number of enhancements, including much more capable tools for songwriting.
If you're more into linear audio and MIDI tracks, Cubasis 3 or Audio Evolution are worth a look but your first post sounds like you're also into experimental audio clip recording, processing, mangling and MIDI control of that so Drambo could become heaven for you if you're willing to learn it. For me it's a great sound design playground that also has a built in sequencer ready for grabbing your musical ideas (that will naturally pop up during jamming sooner or later).
Thank-you
Ah yes...Buying iOS is like bankruptcy by a thousand cuts
Likening the prices to cups of coffee also fails, Firstly, because nobody drinks $50 of coffee in a day, and one still needs to buy the coffee.
Like you, I think that Drambo is an 'in the future' thing. Even watching a few videos I can't really work out much of what's going on. To get going is already too much friction between me and even starting, never mind getting any useable results. i've still got to learn how to use AUM, and I think it'll be much easier to get that going.
Thanks!
I understand what you mean about the AU workflow, with regard to screen-management. It's one of the things that I can see getting irritating in AUM, and one of the reasons I'm drawn to Cubasis (Seems to have much better screen-management options).
I don't think I'm ever going to be able to do what I want with one DAW. I'm already committed to using BM3, even if it's only for sampling and kit/soundbank-building. AUM will be in there, as it's clearly a very quick environment within which to get things going. From there, perhaps Cubasis is the obvious choice for more deliberate results and being able to leverage the FX implementation, automation etc. Also, as someone who's been using a linear timeline since the late 80's, I think it will be useful to have such a familiar foundation to ground it all within.
Thanks!
I'm not quite ready for Drambo, but am becoming more convinced with the idea of Cubasis as a strong contender for a hub. And watching certain Loopy Pro videos has got me quite excited about that
Cheers!
This is definitely encouraging. What about AUM makes it the first choice for ambient, for you?
I think when it comes to dub using standard instrumentation, I'll stick to recording all the parts within Logic Pro. I have already spent tons over the years on solid virtual instruments. Seems like a waste to re-buy that kind of thing within iOS. But from there, I can bring the stems into AUM, map everything to the AKAI MIDIMIX, and do the actual dubs live. Other than that, I'm thinking of using a similar dub mixing environment for stuff created within iOS, but with a different instrumentation and flavour
Will definitely look into those apps, though, Also am interested in that 'Gospel Sounds' rompler, so that and the two you mentioned may indeed work out for me.
The mapping within indeed seems very comprehensive
Thanks!
I've watched a few more videos of Drambo, and havepretty much ruled out Drambo for the moment. Seems very powerful, but I still can't quite conceive of a unique addition to my particular workflow that wouldn't take a lot of learning and practice. But yes, being able to record stems is essential for me.
There are definitely things about AEM that are interesting, but a few show-stoppers for me. And Cubasis is starting to become a bit more of a 'when' than an 'if '
Thanks again, everybody! Hope of not missed any replies.
My thinking at the moment is that BM3 and AUM both have a secure spot in the line-up. I think Cubasis is almost unavoidable, for the way my head currently works. It's definitely a straighter, more traditional and deliberate approach, but I can still leverage AUM for happy accidents, sketching and performance fun. Not necessarily in a rush, except for the current sale.
What I have become more convinced about, having watched more videos, is the thought of getting Loopy Pro. In fact, given the attractiveness of a reduced-'friction' set-up, recording/committing directly 'to-tape' seems very appealing. Paying to upgrade 'Koala', and using that with AUM, alongside Loopy Pro is giving me warm and fuzzy feels. Fortunately I own Enzo and the Kai Aras tape-looper, so I'm guessing I can set them up on various channels of AUM to give me an idea of whether I'll take well to the looper workflow, before dropping another chunk on LP.
Avoid modular and go on Zenbeats , Kog Gadget or even Caustic ,for focusing on finishing a song
Thanks!
Not familiar with ZB, though I have downloaded the free version. Used to own Caustic on Android, and I've owned Gadget for years. They're definitely good platforms for knocking out start-to-finished pieces, but they're much too rigid for what I'm trying to do at the moment.
I'm much more likely to use my laptop DAW for tracks that I might think to write in Gadget. But if I ever get to the stage where I'm all iOS, these apps would get more use.
Exactly my workflow
That's true @el_bo, Drambo needs some time to learn, at least if you're new to (modular) synthesis.
For one, it’s super simple to get started. Everything is visible whenever you want on the screen. And you can run multiple effects for some cool effects chains, which is really helpful with making ambient stuff. Then using it like a mixer to bring certain parts in and out, it really makes the ambient stuff feel performative.