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.
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Comments
@Sinapsya: I bought it onces when it was 50% off just for getting the 1000 factory patches for my iPhone. Now i own the complete package with all available banks
I have a slightly different take. This kind of discussion always brings a smile to my face because I know we can talk about this until the cows come home but we will always end up with divergent opinions. As musicians, I think we get too focused on "quality" or "richness" of sound and so on and less on the emotional impact of our sounds or music. We spend endless hours in the studio fretting about what snare or kick sound to use or what to modulate or filter. That's all good for the music "geek" in us. This is in the sense that we want to know how and why we bend a sound to our will.
Most times, a lot of musicians do not place themselves in the shoes of their listeners. Listeners don't care about what synth or guitar that we use whether it be Animoog or Strat or whatever. They care more about the "effect" the sound or music has on them. A lot of time what we might call our most innovative work sounds very flat to listeners or even boring and what we might call our most simple work of art is what brings out the wow factor.
For me, how you use sounds is what really matters! You can play and use your million dollar synth with nth pole filters but if you don't emotionally affect your listeners, it doesn't matter what synths you use. This is my approach to making music: sounds. Simplistic with deep diving. Of course, mine is not the only approach to making music but it works for me as it enables me to focus on when and where to strategically place sounds in my compositions.
The pure quality of the sound of a synth or amp is all subjective. That is the baseline. Some posters above have nailed that. Ask what you think is the best iOS synth and you'll get a 100 different answers
Isn't it all about the music itself? I mean, you can have all the fancy equipment money can buy but if you cann't make a good melody/tune it's all meaningless. That said, I am still amazed by the quality I hear out of the ios synths. Another thing, a decent set of monitors/headset is a must.
Can anyone tell me what a synthesiser is "supposed" to sound like? How can we describe or quantify the "accuracy" of a filter that exists only in the digital realm? Even a purely analogue signal path isn't "real". If you hear a real violin playing then a recording of that same violin you should be able to tell the difference, so how "realistic" or "authentic" is a synth that uses a sample of that violin?
It's all moot.
I've made two full length albums using only iOS apps, and to my ears they have a different characteristic than the albums I made on desktop using plug ins, and from the older albums I made using hardware, but "better sounding"? I don't think so. Just different.
On some of the early music I made you can still hear the compression of the 8bit technology alongside the fat warmth of the Oberheim analogue bass. But does the 8 bit sound let the side down? No. It just became part of the sound, as do the various foibles and quirks of the iOS community of apps.
The most important thing is that you have the right tools to express what you need to express, and for me the iPad is second to none in that regard. It's both my studio and my instrument, and I carry it around in my back pack!
I dreamed of such a thing in 1982!
I think the original question is totally legitimate. Most of my songs are recorded into the iPad from analogue synths, but they're usually blended with something that's easier to achieve with iPad instruments.
In my most recent track, even the drums were analogue, from a Korg Volca Beats, but the high, fizzy strings were iPolysix, which I've read does not sound as good the desktop Legacy edition. Be that as may be, I really liked the sound I was getting here.
Sunrizer is still my favorite iOS synth, with Animoog and (third member of Trinity still undefined). I'm actually impressed with Tera's sound quality, compared with Cube and even microTera, especially the pads and strings. One reason it (and Sunrizer, and Thor) do so well in this department is multiwave oscillators, which you don't see much in analogue hardware. On the whole, I would add, my iPad sounds better than my Miniak/Micron/Ion virtual analogue.
This has been eye opening. :-) I guess if everyone is satisfied and happy with the current sound quality, there's no real room or reason for us to pursue any sonic improvement. :-) I do find it interesting, however, that several large forums would argue vehemently in the opposite. To me, with certain synths there is just something sweet and beautiful to some of the classic hardware that just isn't available on the iOS platform. The closest I've found is Sunrizer. With Sunrizer, I just love to play it and listen to it. Also, there are several HQ youtube videos of some classic synths that have something that is almost indefinable, but undeniably there. I don't know if it's added harmonics or what, but I hear it, and there are many, many people out there who claim to hear it too. Granted it may not be as important in a mix, alone, it is definitely noticeable. (For example, I just LOVE the sounds of a Juno 60 pad, and and I could listen to someone playing that all day.) I've spent hours comparing the differences between various hardware and software, and to me there is definitely a difference. It's not just analog synths either. There are great digital synths and even software synths that seem to have that special something. I'm sure we could all make great make great music with just "Arctic Keys", but is it wrong to aim for higher quality?
@Audiojunkie said:
Pack mentality
I've always felt that if someone likes the character of the tone, that's that. They may be the only person in the world that likes said tone, but it gives that tone credibility. So many albums made with Casiotones, for instance...
Past that, even if someone finds a particular tone on an iOS synth (for instance) lacking, there are so many processing options there that it becomes an instance where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
The subject absolutely has credibility, but I think that credibility is entirely personal. It's also a great conversation to have because it puts forth a ton of interesting ideas and opinions, but I wouldn't say that someone should ever be swayed out of their own appreciations because of popular opinion.
From a guy who knew a thing or three about music:
"There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind ... the only yardstick by which the result should be judged is simply that of how it sounds. If it sounds good, it's successful; if it doesn't it has failed." – Duke Ellington
@CalCutta said:
Just confirming that I'm not crazy. :-) Feels better to know that there are many others that feel that sonic-wise there is something more to gain over many of the standard audio apps. :-)
If you want analogue sound, sometimes the easiest solution is just to record a real analogue synth. There are lots of good ones available for less than we spend on our iPads, including polyphonic if you buy used.
Portability is a big factor, too. I have a Juno 6 (= Juno 60 with no presets, $US550 shipped on eBay), but a credible iOS version would still be an instant buy for me. The real thing will undoubtedly sound better, but I'm never taking it out of the house. (And to anyone who says there already is such a thing: Epic Synth looks the part, but doesn't really sound like a Juno to my ears.)
@CalCutta said:
You have good points--great music can be made from crappy instruments. There's no doubt about it. But, surely you must agree that there is something to be said about the sound quality of some of the finer hardware versus say Casiotones, Arctic Keys or LiveFX...or even particular amp modelers. I would prefer a high quality audio engine with high quality oscillators, filters, LFOs, effects, etc. versus an app that has everything including the kitchen sink. We've heard people complain about the lousy effects in Beatmaker 2, or the lousy samples and bloat in Beatmaker 2. In general, most users would prefer to have better quality sounds than to be content with poor quality. My whole proposition from the beginning has been that I would rather developers focus on quality of the parts of the synth in the audio engine than try to impress me with tons of audio features. Targeted bass synths where the low end is the focus and high quality. Targeted pad synths where the pads are lush and beautiful. The idea being that less is more if the quality is higher. Rather than comparing an Oberheim OB8 vs a Casiotone, compare the sound quality of Arctic Keys vs Sunrizer for an iPad example of what I'm talking about. Yes, great music can be made with both, but why settle? :-)
@dokwok said:
Exactly! However, not everything has to be an emulation of analog hardware (or even emulations of anything)--there are high quality digital synths too. The Access Virus is pretty much software in a box. Diva is software. They all sound great to most everyone that uses them. The beauty of the iPad is the quality as well as portability. :-)
BTW, I agree completely with you about Epic Synth. It may not be the real thing, but if I could get Tal-U-No LX on the iPad, I'd be really happy! That is another package that has quality components in its audio engine. :-)
I think that the audio interface is really important, though... just compare Caustic with its PC version. In my case it sounds better, fuller.
And yes, we'll need a veritable Juno emulation, Epic Synth doesn't even compare, mainly because the Juno series had a top chorus which defined its sound, and Epic hasn't.
@Audiojunkie said:
Actually I sent an e-mail to Patrick Kunz some time ago as I would also love to see Tal-U-No LX being ported to iOS.
Currently He has no plans to port His products to iOS but said He'd look into it.
I also mentioned this forum to Him, so if there is enough interest we can always keep our fingers crossed
Regarding Epic Synth. It's been bug-ridden for very long with broken features (Like The Envelope Modulation of PW which has never worked but works now after many year, strange that no one else reported it back to the dev?). The Dev is working on a new synth so I doubt there will be any more updates for Epicsynth other than maintenance for iOS8.
Personally I'd love to se a reSID based iOS Synth with Mono(3osc) and Poly(1 osc, 3 notes) modes with the programmability that's is present in GoatTracker but with a touch-friendly UI.
The 303 was a genuinely crappy instrument, that was discontinued and completely forgotten until it's availability as a really cheap second hand instrument spawned a whole new form of music.
It was supposed to emulate a bass guitar, but fell so completely short of that target as to be ridiculous. But eventually some very creative artists started using it as a lead instrument, and all its flaws just added to its unique and quirky character.
That's not to detract at all from the subject at hand. But I agree with some of the posts above that the creative intent and emotion of the song is the only thing that matters.
Another example: guitar amps were never designed to be overdriven, it was considered a flaw that they could be, until people started exploiting that sound for creative effect - but the whole thing was an unintended accident.
So while the pursuit of better is definitely a worthwhile thing, at the same time in the hands of very inventive artists limited equipment can provide for some totally unexpected but brilliant surprises.
I used to be in a band with a guy who would insist that the VSTi instruments I was playing lacked a certain edge or character compared to a hardware unit. To satisfy both of our curiosities, I set up the best experiment that I could based on gear available to me: a real Yamaha DX7 (mkII) vs FM8 (which can load DX7 patches) side by side, and A/B'd through the same amp and speakers. In a blind taste test playing the exact same patches, no one could accurately guess which unit was generating the sound.
I'm not saying this is true for every case or that iOS developers shouldn't keep striving for the very best quality possible. And granted, the DX7 is a digital synth, so this experiment might have had different results had I tried a real Prophet V vs. NI Pro-V. But the experiment did lead me to believe that perception and preconceptions can play a role here too.
I can say playing through high quality speakers, I can get a lot of great tones from a lot of iOS synths.
If something sounds good or bad is mostly subjective, as many says. But when it comes to digital signal processing (oscillators, filters, etc) there are actually quite a few objective aspects of quality as well. For example band-limiting of oscillators and other means to minimize aliasing. Filters are a bit special since a really "clean" high quality filter is not necessarily what most people think sounds good subjectively. It's often the distortion and non-linearities in analog filters that we love. After all, filters are not meant to be "transparent" but to affect the sound in sweet ways! And this is an art in itself.
For a great example of how much a filter can change the sound, check out the various available filters and the sounds that can come from them in the Shruthi synth kit.
Remember, in these various examples that the synth itself is the same, and only the filter type is different:
http://mutable-instruments.net/shruthi-filters
@richardyot said:
These are all great points - and i thought that exact thing when I first heard a TB-303 until I realized it's used more for acid/techno leads. Terrible for it's intended purpose, revolutionary for its own purpose.
@kgmessier said:
Plus 1
@richardyot said:
Well said
I'll probably get flamed for saying this.... but IMO, worrying about the tones of iOS synths is missing the heart of music. The synths and samplers available now are good enough that they should not be a limiting factor for anyone. A good song (and good performance) is worth far more than some epsilon difference in the sounds of the instruments. This, for example, blew me away; it's great, and what makes it great has nothing to do with the number of filters and oscillators.
Well, you are right that the number of filters and oscillators don't make a synth great. And a good song is definitely the #1 priority , with good arrangement after that. Most of the impressive sounding presets in synths have a very difficult time sitting in a mix. Look at the cars lead sound in "Just what I needed," made by one oscillator, almost no envelope setting, and PWM, perhaps a little chorus. No filter needed really either. A very identifiable sound for sure. But an identifiable sound in a great song.
That being said, the small details to make synths stable and have correct midi, etc, is very important, and I'd rather a simple synth that is that rather than a crazy sounding synth that I can't use.
The Maestro says it's Mozart,
but it sounds like bubble gum
when you're waiting for the miracle to come.
Leonard Cohen
You like a sound or you don't. A sound helps you convey something or it doesn't. 'Quality' of sound is irrelevant in a vacuum and is subjective outside of the vacuum; subjective not only to the listener but to the listener and the current situation.
I don't believe that 'quality' is by definition entirely subjective though. A leather shoe made with durable materials by a highly skilled craftsperson is objectively better than the crap I'm wearing as I type this. At least for most people. An iPad is of higher quality than a $89 Android tablet. Appropriateness for a given use case is a different question (gardening in those nice shoes would be daft).
That's true of instruments as well. A Bosendorfer concert grand is of higher quality than your average $150 thrift store upright by most objective measures, I'd say. That doesn't mean that a Bosendorfer Grand is the right sound for what you're trying to do in a given moment, does it? I'm trying to create art, not trying to have a solid walking experience. What I want is the right quality for the task at hand.
So, yeah, I think there are reasonably objective measures of quality when it comes to instruments and I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting them. We see this in hardware (intonation past the 12th fret, feel of the neck, transformers in pres, casing, knob feel, cases...) and I think it's fair to want them in software. It's just the notion of sonic quality that I think doesn't really make much sense. Like @secretbasedesign said, we are at least past the point where sonics are in the way on iOS.
For me, I'm happy to have variable amounts of subjective sonic quality available to me in the form of different sounding instruments including iOS instruments (I love my $60 Tiesco guitar... up to the 10th fret anyway!). If I'm looking for craftsmanship (as a measure of quality) anywhere in iOS it has more to do with things like preset system design, midi mapping fluidity, appropriate and buttery UX, graphic design, clock sync, portability of innards...
my primary reason for replacing my laptop with my IPad Air in my modular hardware based set-up is that I find the quality of many newer IOS synths to be superior than VSTs- in general- and I find the bass response from the iPad to be wonderful- it's easy to find strong bass sounds- my PC struggled to produce good bass- for instance the analog synths in Gadget blow away just about every virtual analog vst I have ever used- No stepping in the filter cutoff- no aliasing at high frequencies- teeth rattling bass-
ALL sound creation is subjective.
Sometimes I prefer the sound of hitting a milkbottle with a pencil to the biggest bestest synth in the world.
I like what I like.
The problem with discussions like this, is that there is always the mob who state as a tautology that vintage synths are better, or that subtractive is better than FM or additive.
It just goes on and on.
You like what you like. End of.
I've been saying the same thing about subjectivity, but I don't know if the OP really meant to go in the direction of "analog vs. digital", "vintage vs. modern" or whatever.
How about looking at it this way- some synthesizer (apps) are thought to sound "better" than others. I don't want to pick on anyone's hard work, but I could name a couple that many people do consider to have inferior sound. So to compare apples to apples, why does one virtual subtractive iOS synthesizer have a better, or different, or somehow more distinctive sound than another one?
Is it just the presets, the fx, the algorithms....?
But what if that 'inferior sound' is the sound you want ?
How does 'better' retain ANY context then ?
It really is a very good troll.