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
Long ago in my early twenties, way back in the days before digital, I learned how professional composers and arrangers work. It’s still relevant and useful. I haven’t yet done much of this on iPad because I mainly just like to improvise for fun after my day job—and composing and arranging is hard work— but here it is:
Start with a concept. This is shaped by the audience, style, person hiring you, instruments available etc.
Decide how long the piece will last.
Create an outline of sections, including key changes, tempo changes, etc.
Then we’d lay out the score paper and draw in the bar lines and label the sections. This part is obsolete, obvs.
Write the main melody lines.
Write the main accompaniment ideas: counter-melodies, rhythmic grooves, etc.
At this point, movie composers and the top arrangers would farm out the rest of the work to their sub-contractors.
Then comes the detail work, filling in the missing bits: harmonies, bass lines, rhythms, assigning specific parts to specific instruments, etc. This is the grunt work that you farm out if you’re a name guy.
Write the intro and ending, using motifs from the main part. (The guy whose name goes on the piece might work on this part too.)
Go back and get all the transitions from section to section sounding smooth. You do this by having some element that straddles the section divide.
This is obviously not the only way to work, but it is an algorithm that has helped guys get stuff out the door for centuries now. Step One is still crucial, I think.
My current workflow consists of about 5 seconds deciding what I feel like doing (goofing around designing sounds on a synth, jamming on my guitar, tossing up a few loops to get started in Loopy Pro, throwing up a drum beat then a bass line in a few fun apps and seeing where it goes, hooking setting up some generative midi sequencer to some apps, etc. ...) then seeing where it takes me.
I accomplish next to nothing this way, but I have no end of enjoyment.
There was a period where I was actually accomplishing something regularly - completing one piece every week for three or four months. During that time I did really concentrate on finding a productive workflow.
The most important thing I found was I needed to separate out the phases of what I was doing almost completely. Composing, sound selection (and tweaking and design), arranging, mixing, and finalizing (mastering) needed to be strictly separated in my mind and time. Not to say I didn't jump around them, but I needed to completely forget about the other activities and focus on only one at a time.
The second most important thing was to try to have an as much all-in-one environment as I could without completely hampering creativity. I turned out to be the most productive in Auria Pro overall. But that was rather stifling creatively, so I settled on generating ideas in other apps such as GR-16, etc., but then committing to audio and getting into Auria for arranging and mixing absolutely as soon as possible.
Current most productive workflow ("productive" is quite a stretch in my case these days) is with Loopy Pro. This is mainly because 1) Forcing myself to commit to audio helps keep me from getting distracted and produces much more spontaneous results, 2) I have a pathetically old iPad and Loopy lets me offload that processing as I go while still letting me come back to tweak if needed, and 3) it's fun as hell.
yay! literally exactly what i do. except i audioshare all the recorded AUM tracks into protools. then on protools, record vocals/real drums/instruments, solo and mute shit and then build the song. bounce and put out
Exactly this 👆 Completing songs/tracks is paramount: no one will ever hear it if it never gets released - and it will never get released if it never gets finished. To that end the 80% rule is key : endlessly tweaking in the search for perfection ensures no one will ever hear it. Keep asking yourself “if I tweak this will any listener really notice? And as they never heard the original will they even care?”
Discipline is key. Set a deadline & stick to it, with your perceived imperfections and all.
Thinking of a Roland Fantom 06 and using it as a control surface for P.C./ Ableton. Maybe down the line there will be a version or something similar to it so I can incorporate iOS apps. I know, this would be way easier on Mac but it’s out of the f my price range . getting a cheap PC laptop , Ableton. Would love to be able to use iPad along w Ableton. I’ve given up on “All iOS , all the time “.
My current workflow is very similar to this.
I also combine Gadget, Groovebox and Blocs Wave together.
I admit I got curious with what comes from all your workflow, including the Drambo stuff.
But revisiting this thread today, it made me extra curious if you got any snippet of this BM3 sound design part. Seems extra saucy
Oh wow, this was awhile back!
Let me see what I can dig up 🤩
I’ve drifted around to different workflows, for a long time did almost everything in AUM with either LK or various sequencers. These days I’m starting tracks in Live Loops sessions in GarageBand to get ideas down quickly, then moving into Logic on my Mac to work sound design and arrangement. There are soft synths on iOS that I really wish I could have on Mac, but I love having the power of Logic at my disposal.
This whole project is based on the workflow in question, it’s a soundtrack to imaginary space film:
A lot of sound design employed here. I wasn’t concerned with sounding “normal”, just playing on a theme and finishing.
This has been exactly my experience as well 👍
@Stuntman_mike
Thanks brother
That is pretty damn awesome! Loving the unconventional sound design. Gives a nice personal touch of yours with loads of personality.
Also good because I didn't have your soundcloud and now i'll follow you
Thank you so much for listening 🙏 and following me!