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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
Correct: my iPad Pro M1 does not have a headphone output, so I was using the IR-200's interface for monitoring.
Yes. The IR-200 lets you set the MIX IN LEVEL of what your iPad's audio output. Unfortunately, for our purposes, MIX IN LEVEL means the volume of AUM's audio output, not the proportion of dry (signal generated by IR-200) to wet (signal generated by AUM, including whatever you choose to draw from the IR-200). Setting MIX IN LEVEL to max just makes AUM's output louder in your monitors; it does not mute the IR-200's own output to AUM.
No: the USB mix comes in after the cab sim; see below:
I was disappointed that I couldn't mute the "dry" signal, but so far I like the sounds I'm hearing, so at the moment I am treating the IR-200 like any other line-level instrument and sending its output to my regular audio interface, a MOTU M2. I'm also using the M2 for monitoring.
We'll see. Last night I had a fun time improvising guitar over some drum and synth loops I had made earlier. I used four pedals: the IR-200, a Halo delay in the IR-200's FX loop, a Tumnus Deluxe, and a tuner. These worked quite well together. To my surprise, I really like the IR-200's Marshall amp ("British Stack"), especially on the low gain channel.* It sounds good on its own, and with the Tumnus, and I'm getting a couple of sounds with it that I've heard records but not from my own guitars. My playing's not on his level, but my tone is closer to John Mayer's than it's ever been.
It has a USB interface, but not sure that it works better on iOS than anything else that has a USB interface.
Maybe search YouTube and see if anyone has used it on iOS?
Aw. I get it now. That's unfortunate. I can understand through the diagram you posted that the "Loop Back" switch is there for computer OS and not iOS. I guess that's Boss' fix for this - only for interface with computer. When I upgrade my iPad someday, I'll have to consider using your headphone-out-through-USB hub idea. Did you find the extra latency with this to be too much/distracting?
With an iPad Pro I really would like to have the power to control the wet/dry mix of guitar signal in the iOS app (like Loopy Pro or AUM) using the IR-200 1/4" outputs. It would be nice if Boss could release a firmware update that would enable direct monitoring to be turned off, but if they haven't baked that in already, there must have been some obstacle with iOS interfacing. I won't hold my breath with Boss and an update.
Well at least that's some good news.
That is interesting. 3 channels per amp sim - plus stereo IRs -- I really think the IR-200 is the better buy (rather than an IR-2) unless having a battery is really important to someone.
It's not in the manual, but loopback and loopback level ARE available with the generic driver. I don't know what to do with them, though. Turning on loopback did not mute the dry signal, but maybe I'm using it wrong. I admit I'm fuzzy on the concept.
I have read everything I can find about this pedal, and while everyone mentions the audio interface, my impression is that reviewers don't actually try it, because they already have a recording setup, and their focus is on the tones and how they sound compared with other IR pedals: Strymon Iridium, UA Dream, Walrus ACS1.
As for latency with the headphone-out-through USB hub: it's comparable to the iRig interfaces that people have been using.
Me neither. (Though Boss did issue substantial updates to the Katana and Nextone amps, so it does happen.)
For recording, I would say yes. For travel or live gigs where you only need a couple of sounds, the IR-2 might be superior.
I haven't experimented with IRs yet, built-in or purchased. The IR-200 has a lot of the former, and it's easy to switch things around and try different sounds on the pedal itself. This, again, expands the range of sounds well beyond the 8 guitar amp models. (The IR-200 also has 3 bass amp models, something the IR-2 lacks altogether.) But I can also see getting lost and frustrated. One reason the Iridium is so popular is that it doesn't allow a thousand permutations. I expect this will be a selling point for the IR-2 as well.
I see that ProAudioStar has new IR-200s on sale for US$290 plus tax: https://www.proaudiostar.com/boss-ir-200-amp-ir-cabinet-pedal.html. I've purchased gear from them several times in the past, and wouldn't hesitate to buy more.
Loopback is for headphone output, as far as I can see. So you could experiment with using the headphone jack on the IR-200 as your output along with the loopback levels. I thought it was only for the Vendor driver. But good news if it's available for the Generic driver, too. Probably it will not mute the raw/'dry' guitar signal coming from the IR-200. My guess is it will just give you the option of increasing even more of that signal in the headphone mix, but it might be worth playing around with.
So true. I've been searching and there isn't much feedback online about people using these with iOS. I think the IR-2 and the IR-200 are probably the same algorithms, though. Just the IR-200 has more EQ options. As an aside, this was a good video comparing the Iridium and the IR-200. To me, the differences are pure cork-sniffing. I think you made a good purchase with the IR-200, unless the the stereo-in with the Iridium was a must. The price for the IR-200 and IR-2 is way better.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll keep that in mind.
I ordered mine from Rakuten in Japan - it was around US$240. It's a great deal compared to similar quality pedals.
I look forward to hearing your impressions!
I really like Boss’ MDP amp models. Plus, as far as I’ve found, they’re the only instance of somebody trying to do more with digital amp modeling than just imitate analog amps. So that’s a big factor in me wanting to get the IR-2 where the IR-200 didn’t grab my interest.
The Simplifier was a better fit for my needs at the time than the IR-200. But with the lower price, smaller package, and MDP models, I’ll definitely be adding the IR-2 to my arsenal.
Some more notes on using the Boss IR-200 with an iPad Pro M1:
Bad: this afternoon I tried using the built-in interface again. I was getting clicks in Loopy Pro. I'm guessing this was because the IR-200 only operates at 96k, 24 bits, with a buffer of 32: too much even for an M1? Switched back to using my regular interface (MOTU M2, 48k, 24 bits, buffer of 64). [See update below.]
Good: the IR-200 works beautifully as an IR "body" for acoustic guitars. I hadn't thought of this when I bought the pedal, but here's how it works. I turned off the IR-200 preamp, loaded a Taylor 414 IR that I got free from Worship Tutorials in the IR-200's cab slot, and plugged in my Taylor acoustic. The Taylor's built-in piezo mic isn't bad, by any means, but playing through the IR was much nicer. (That plastic sound that I associate with piezo mics was gone. That sound's not intrinsically unpleasant, but the IR is much closer to what I'm used to hearing from the guitar itself.) A few tips: experiment with the INPUT LEVEL in the IR-200's system settings. I ended up turning it down a little, compared with the level I was using for my Telecaster, and it seemed to help with some high-frequency noise. I've saved this whole configuration as a preset on the IR-200.
It’s not that it’s too much for an M1 but I run into a similar issue. My Motu 8A can handle 96k and 32 buffer but not with my Steinberg UR22mk2. Eye-opening for sure.
Another possible explanation for the clicks: I was using AudioThing's Outer Space effect, and there has been at least one report of that causing clicks when buffer is 32 (in the host) and oversampling is 16x (in the app): https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/comment/1293896/#Comment_1293896. I was using Outer Space in my test, and it's likely that I had oversampling at 16x (since that's where I found it just now). So more study is needed before giving up on the IR-200 as an interface for iPad.
Update six hours later: I tried again with the IR-200 as my interface. No clicks until I added Outer Space into the effect channel. (I also tried it with AUFX:Dub and Blackhole. Both were fine. AudioThing is aware of the problem and apparently a fix is on the way.)
So the IR-200 does seem to be practical as an interface after all. One thing I like about this setup is how fast I can get up and running: turn on the power to my pedalboard, stick a USB cable in my iPad, and monitor through headphones plugged into the IR-200. I wish you could turn off direct monitoring, but latency is low and it's easy to adjust headphone volume.
I got my IR-200 a few weeks back and I agree. It's recognized instantly in the iPad as an interface. The sound is great. Very low latency, like you say. I don't have the direct monitoring issue because I use a version 9 iPad which has a headphone input.
Got myself a NU-X Amp Academy pedal today.
Ho-Lee-Shit!!!
This thing sounds so good, and I can connect it to my iPhone with a USB cable and play. The amp models and the cab IRs sound so good. I mostly had it connected to my mixer with an XLR cable, but after installing the iPhone app it picked the pedal up immediately.
Next stop - downloading the app on my iPad and testing it there.
got mine IR-2 last week - after a lot of testing:
It actually delivers convincing results, stand alone and in the mix - also to effects (distortion, overdrive, wah etc...) before that it reacts like a real amp, with a Stratocaster it also reacts dynamically to the attack
I'm curious: are you running the IR-2 into an interface, or using the pedal's own interface?
Just out of curiosity, what can this do that iOS software can’t?
Not hating on hardware options. More like, wondering if I really need anything of the kind.
into the Neve 88M (picture)
maybe Íll try to use it as an interface (USB-C), what is possible
yes, I need it
tried a lot (!) of plugins, they are ok, but could not find the sound „Fender Stratocaster into JCM, Twin..“-I own this amps, and a few more 😉
this comes close
If you’re not planning on using it without the iPad, then you probably don’t need it.
That said, the reason I’m getting one is for Boss’ MDP amp models. Instead of simply modeling amps, these go a bit further. They do multiband processing as well as adjusting some parameters on-the-fly based on the input signal. To me the upshot is a “smoother” sound and less need to use different settings for different parts.
Now, in theory the iPad could do all of that, but I’ve been happy with the Boss MDP models in other Boss products.
(Though I do have a plan to get Saturn 2 someday and see how close I can get with multiband distortion.)
By off-loading the amp and cab sim to a pedal, I think I'm freeing up CPU and RAM resources on the iPad, allowing me to record with a smaller buffer and less latency. Also, the pedal's interface has lower roundtrip latency than my best interface; see my experiments here: https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/58564/comparing-interface-latency/p1.
seems not to be class compliant
did not work as interface for my iPad Pro 12`9/1TB 😭
Good question. I think you don't really need it if you're using an IR loader like Thafknar or Overloud THU, and maybe Tonestack on top. But, I would run my guitar into the interface with a bit of an eq and power boost with some type of pedal so I don't solely rely on the preamps of an interface. The Joyo American Sound is a super cheap guitar pedal and shapes the guitar sound really well.
The IR-200 makes life pretty easy, however - does all the heavy lifting without taxing the DSP.
when inspiration hits-plug & play
as USB-C interface on iPad Pro ✅
@Sam23 what changed?
reading the manual HELPS
😂🙈