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.
What are the sample-based synth options
I'm looking for a sample-based synth, but I'm not sure what options might be available to me, in full.
Ideally, I'm looking for something preferably for iPhone, iPad & Mac, but two out of the three would be great too.
I have samples I want to use, and am creating more, but I'm not sure what apps would give me the best range of control over them.
I'm quite the noob when it comes to sampling and sample players etc. Hence my question.
I keep thinking I should look at SampleWiz 2, but there doesn't seem to be much comment on it here on the forum. What else should I be looking at?
Comments
AudioLayer maybe? for simplicity I like GR-16 even koala with the new loop feature can work.
If you want to invest a little more starting effort go for Drambo
I really want to learn Drambo. The trouble is, I'm spending a lot of time on learning at the moment.
AudioLayer functions in this way, yes, but I really don't get on with it. I bought it a couple of years ago, to create a felt piano on my iPad. I still return to it, but only for that.
I wasn't sure about GR-16.
Are there any other options? I keep asking about SampleWiz 2, but not getting responses. It turns me away from the idea!
If you have NS2 Obsidian is the way to go. If you don’t have it, take a look.
Thanks, I'll take a look. I have NS2 already, but haven't really used it much. How might it compare to GR-16 for example?
Bearing in mind, I'm making ambient and drone. I've been also looking at the Circuit Rhythm for sample based ambient music. I've seen some good results with that. But then I have another box to connect up to my iPad and desktop. Then again, I can also take it out with me and create in a focused way.
I'm looking at Korg Electribe Wave. It runs on iPad and iPhone, it looks great, all the functions I'm looking for, I love that it can import samples, AND I can export to Ableton Live from it.
Any Electribe Wave fans here?
Koala is super easy, audio layer a little bit complicated but ok once you know it. Samplewiz is easy, flexible, offers various engines. Check some videos. Main problem for me is polyphony limited to 5 voices.
I also like e-l-s-a which is fun and strange.
Also granular engines like tardigrain
Besides audio layer for which I'm unsure, all other can act as an effect and directly capture the incoming audio stream as their sample. Love that.
Wave can't use samples as synth, only as one shots, and only on the stand alone version.
The AUv3 is jsut the synth engine, which is wavetable, not sampled based, hence the wave name
Thanks, I have and love Koala. It doesn't work well on my desktop though. I love the iPhone version most of all.
Yes, AudioLayer is a bit complicated, but also, I simply haven't clicked with it.
I have and love e-l-s-a and Tardigrain. Both are really useful and fun to use.
Does 4Pockets Chameleon do what you are looking for?
Thanks, I hadn't come across it. I'll take a look now.
Just an fyi (unless something has changed), Chameleon has a 15 second sample limit. If you’re dealing with longer samples it’s not an option. This is the only reason I haven’t purchased it and have stuck with AudioLayer.
Woodsynth is absolutely deep and you can load your own samples and turn them into wavetables if you want or just load them as samples plus 4 layers of sound each with four layers, 3 oscillators and the sample/wavetable slot per layer so you can design anything you could think of with it. And it can load wavetables too in addition to making your own with samples
It might be worth taking the time to click with AudioLayer if you are trying to created keyboard-playable instruments made up of samples. Most other standalone sample playback apps on iOS are more geared for other applications and are more limited in terms of creating responsive playback across a range of pitches.
Lots of apps use samples in interesting and fun ways .so, it really depends on what you are after. For example, tardigrain is great for mangling thing’s interestingly but not making a playable violin from a collection of samples.
What sort of use are you going to have for the sample based synth? Be aware that most standalone iOS sample players are memory based and need to load the complete samples into memory (Loopy Pro and AudioLayer don’t have this limit).
I just came back to mention that. Also, no time stretch, which would be a nice feature. So it might not be the one for me.
The info about Loopy Pro and AudioLayer is helpful. Thank you.
My use case is creating my own instruments for creating washes and base layers for ambient and drone.
Ooh, I have WoodSynth. But never realised I could load samples into it. This could be really helpful, plus the wavetables.
If your use-case is using a limited number of samples and denaturing/deforming them, FRMS, Tardigrain, Spacecraft, Fluss, Samplewiz may be the sorts of things to look at.
I'm familiar with all of those but SampleWiz. Could you expand a bit more on that option for me?
If you don't need to edit the imported samples...
Synth Master 2 can load user samples (drag'n'drop them from Files.app pop-over to the oscillator).
A forum search will provide more useful info about it than I could.
SampleWiz is what first came to mind.
I didn't find much that was helpful, via that route. I'll look again.
Mine too. I guess the only way will be to try…
For me AudioLayer is the most comprehensive and expressive. Sometimes you can get lost in your samples, layers, zones etc. But we can’t blame it for being both very complete and complicated at the same time…
Also Tomofon is about to be released soon and will bring something new.
AudioKit should jump on something like this. Bundle all their current romplers, functions and adding a bit more modulation for some JV/JD style synths.
I've been wondering about Tomofon. Especially as I would like something I could run on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Bleass have been saying there would be a Mac version of SampleWiz, but no sign of it yet. I'm trying out SampleWiz right now. Not sure if I'm impressed though, as I'm having trouble importing a simple sample into it. Not a great start. The file loader seems to be super slow, if working at all.
Totally.
I’m a fan but It can only import one shots into the drum instrument. Not really ideal for this situation. Also NS2 isn’t really at all similar to GR-16. But it does have a robust synth which can load up to 3 layers of lengthy samples into it for being manipulated with the synth parameters and you can also create different keyboard zones with different samples and a whole ton of modulation options. That synth, obsidian, would be my choice
Hmm. I need to explore further.
I'm exploring SampleWiz, but it's really not doing it for me.
How about Beatmaker 3? Would that work for me?