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.
Has the vibe of this forum worsened, and - if so - what can we do to improve it?
I've spoken to a few people who say they now rarely come around the Audiobus Forum because they think the vibe has deteriorated compared to what it used to be like. Some of those people still browse from time to time, but engage less.
I'm curious how ppl feel about that, whether they agree or not.
If you do agree, feel free to share thoughts on what the causes might be and how the atmosphere could be improved.
Comments
I don't think it has. People are busy this month. Holidays, shopping and all that. People come and go all the time.
Ah, that was not the point I was making though. I was saying that a few people who used to come here more no longer come here because they don't like the atmosphere. Too much negativity, squabbling, that kind of thing. I am asking people whether they agree that the atmosphere has deteriorated, not whether they agree that the forum is less busy than it was. Cheers!
I agree it is slower now, but that may be a reflection of the state of apps: there's less exciting, groundbreaking stuff to talk about now, relatively speaking. We have enough cool apps already to last us a decade.
There are a few things I could complain about and a few features I could ask for, but I don't think these are the root cause.
Yup
Definitely agree with Gav, nitpicking, bad attitudes,
I made a post asking if anyone knew about using GarageBand for ring tones, and the time limit it imposes, and I got crickets. So, yeah, it feels a bit slow. A few years ago, it was always moving at a roaring pace.
But it seems like overly negative people are banned, so there is upkeep on that front. I think that the people who do post here are really nice and helpful. And interesting as well.
It may partly be the nature of social media environments to develop this way over time.
If one wants to combat negativity, it might be more productive and positive to have a discussion to ask “how can we be a more constructive, inviting , thriving community” rather than getting the conversation going with a question that plays into and invites negative drama.
Time to sit out on my porch and tell kids to get off my lawn. I'm gonna sound like a crabby old man, so bear with me.
To me, the vibe is still genuinely nice compared to other music forums, but it seems a few bad personalities have been seeping into the forum more and more these days, or longstanding members turning into bad personalities. Whether it's bashing Teenage Engineering, bashing Logic Pro, bashing this, bashing that. It's utterly ridiculous really. We're all adults here, right?
The forum was the friendliest place online back in 2015. And even in 2016 when a certain person became US President 45 (I'm remaining neutral) and political discourse ramped up, it was still relatively okay.
However, I think what triggered the sh-tstorm to really erupt was the announcement and release of Logic Pro for iPad back in May. That's when I noticed a sharp turnaround in attitudes in this forum. People were bemoaning the LP4i subscription, especially one dramatic individual saying "waaah, subscriptions are the devil". Okay, fine, it's only $5/month, but if you don't want to pay it, that's your choice. Just shut up about it.
Then you had another person making unfunny "memes" making fun of perfectly fine gear back in June/July, which isn't exactly against forum policy, but is pretty bloody toxic. Again, shut up about it.
And lately everybody's favourite punching bag seems to be Teenage Engineering's OP-1 Field. Instead of "waah, it's an overpriced toy!", how about people stick to objective facts that the OP-1 Field's workflow isn't for everyone and that its pricetag isn't for everyone? Is that so hard?
Then one of my friends talked about something, and another (now banned) member made jabs at him about him and his family, calling him "selfish" and "entitled". Quite frankly my friend didn't deserve that at all. Is it any wonder why that tosser was banned?
Then of course that one longstanding member of the ABF saying anti-Asian slurs who also finally got banned.
It's like people feel the need to take a jab at everything and be meanspirited these days. What, do they get their rocks off doing that?
Despite my complaints, this place is still a nice music forum compared to the sh-thole forums such as Gearspace and KVR, but more and more it seems the toxicity is seeping in.
And yeah, I can see the irony of me being a bit toxic and meanspirited too right now, but honestly I've been holding this in for a long while! It's about time we returned to being cordial.
Could also be that things ramp up before black friday and we're all excited and trying to get the best info/deals. Then BF hits and we all fuck off to play with our new toys. But i see mostly positivity in threads, minus certain City folk who just keep getting banned lol. But i only got here right around the first ban. I feel like it's a friendly enough space that one can dig up an old thread, ask for new info and get some response vs being Booed, unless of course it involves "ambient" music, lol, that was an interesting thread to read
True, though first I wanted to see whether people actually agreed. I'll edit the title and my initial post though to include those, as it seems people do broadly think that.
I hate to be that person, but a thread whose title starts with "Has the vibe of this forum worsened....." is a call to negativity..no matter what one follows it with.
In the time that I have been here, there has been steady turnover and periodic discussions of the good ol' days. For a couple of years, there might have been a suspension of the typical turnover that happens on forums because the world situation necessitated being out of one's home less than would have otherwise been true. So, this place may have become more central in people's daily routine than might have been otherwise true.
With the return of a semblance of normalcy, there has been less reason for some people to hang out here for anything other than information.
Unfortunately, I think there are 2 aspects to that. 1. People are a bit lost and frustrated at the moment, the world is a scary on lots of different levels. 2. Many people spend a lot more time online these days than they did pre-Covid, I reckon. So they tend to take the frustration mentioned in point 1 out on people they meet online.
I think if people know that bans are administered pretty readily towards people who are being dicks, they are more likely to exercise a bit of self control. Firmly telling people they're being unhelpful is also often useful, as is just ignoring people when you know they're just looking for a fight, which seems very often to be the case, sadly. I very often type something here which I then just delete before posting, as I think, no, this is just going to escalate things and it's really not worth it.
I wonder if a system of warning one time before banning would be good. Keeps people here, which obviously is better than banning (well, not always lol) while letting them know they really need to avoid being insulting, racist or otherwise engaging in very antisocial behaviours.
Yes but maybe people would like to get a bit of negativity off their chest in this regard, while not stepping over any lines. Still open to alternative suggestions.
I do get a sense of more 'black and white' views - "I don't agree with your views / choice of DAW / spending habits on new apps / music taste therefore you're an idiot / entitled brat / someone to be mocked etc". There's often no real debate on a given subject just angry and insulting sounding comments. It does seem to be a minority of people involved and I guess sometimes if English isn't your first language then the nuances of written conversation can be tricky to negotiate.
It's not putting me off visiting but I'm sometimes less inclined to post a comment which could cause an unnecessarily negative response.
These are obviously my views and perhaps I'm a little over sensitive...!
Well, to give you the perspective of a "newbie", I just joined a few months ago because I got a new iPad and preferred the vibe of this place much more than social media...and I still feel like it's way more chill here.
Wait a sec ...maybe I'M the problem lol
It's at least partly a reflection of the state of the world. People are under stress.
I don't read the entire forum. Although I've seen a few arguments (or in worst cases three pages of people piling on about a badly crafted post) for the most part I still think this is a pretty chill place as music forums go. I've seen much worse.
How about: "How can we make AB forum a more thriving community?"
Inviting griping or focusing on the negative in a thread title, invites griping and negativity. IMO, there are more constructive ways of opening the conversation than calling attention to the negative.
But if the title has not even a touch of drama about it, the people who like drama won't even bother reading it. They should read it too 😂
I guess I fundamentally disagree that you need a touch of "drama"or clickbaity title to have a constructive conversation about how to help the forum be a more thriving constructive place.
I would say that our moderators do a great job keeping things sane here.
A huge thank you to them!
Brilliant! Festivus is only two weeks away. I propose a Festivus thread where we get to air our grievances. Let there be a ban on bans. Then, come Dec 24 at midnight, Michael takes the thread down.
I’ve been here since 2016. To me, things seem more or less the same. I’m delighted to even have witnessed some members with an argumentative dynamic gradually being tolerant and respectful of one another.
Twice I have felt a general burnout of this place, and left for several months. I never made an announcement about it. I simply stopped visiting altogether. No lurking either. Then coming back was refreshing. A bit of a pain to get caught up on apps, but was worth it IMO.
I’m also better at discontinuing visits to threads that become emotionally involved. That for me has been huge.
Nothing has changed, just the apps
Yes, the AB Forum is far worse these days.
You used to be able to enjoy a giant punch up with insults and slurs galore. There was bad behaviour over everything from LFOs to UFOs - it was great fun.
Nowdays those damn mods are stopping this jolly, online fun. I blame Doug, Jo and Watson!
I dig the last point
I'm a latecomer so I couldnt say. I'd also be a hypocrite to suggest anyone behave better than me, albeit I will at least not stay in nitpick measuring loops, as per that last point. The episode with a brand new user who came for one day was reminiscent of a previous user and promptly disappeared yesterday made me uncomfortable when there was a kind of a swarming towards it instead of away, jokes about it etc.
End of year resolution to be a bit nicer, remember that I don't know what anyone is going through IRL, that we're obviously not the same, and if we're not the same I therefore can't actually expect the same from each other, even though that's all of our typical response, certainly mine, that we have a shared agreement on how to respect each other and behave with each other, and anything else is not to be tolerated. And probably there's no wiggle room for that, but, it did remind me, we're not the same so I should remember not to expect the same, if it's not nice just back away.
This is still the best vibe around.
Just as a factual observation and not a gripe or complaint, yes I've noticed increased negativity and arguments escalating into very ugly things since frequenting this forum from 2016. I don't get involved in those threads.
@suboptimal echos my thoughts that a lot of it is a reflection of the state of the world and the poor attitudes and stress it has caused as a consequence. I say this because I experience and witness the ssme increase in negativity and hostility and a severe lack of patience coupled with inflated egos everyday in the real world. At work (before CKD caused me to quit!), on the roads, in the shops, social media, everywhere.
But, there is still a lot of good around, trying to be heard above the noise and fuss of the bad. On this forum, so many people have been so kind and supportive of my presets, my music and more recently my CKD diagnosis. I always have a good experience here because I'm resistant to getting triggered into getting involved with any of the arguments or 'controversial' topics here. I'm here for sounds, tech, apps and music only.
I'm sure most people in the world really just want peace and don't want to purposely be arseholes or nitpicking negative ninnies, it's not productive and it's not healthy, but sometimes the weight of the current worldly state of affairs just influences and creeps into everything.
Here's a little clue for you as a route to improvement...since being here from 2016, I have never personally experienced any hostility or negativity on any of my threads or comments. Why is that? Because I am simply careful, mindful and considerate with my language whenever I open my mouth. The world does not revolve around me. I am not self important. I ditched that troublesome ego years ago. I don't take myself or life so seriously, but I still respect and appreciate them very much.
edit: I think environment, personal circumstances and ego all play into what I have observed.
Social media among other things has definitely undeniably contributed to the problem of ego.
The environment (the state of the world generally) impacts personal circumstances more than ever before especially since 2020. Unstable, unpredictable, volatile. It's no surprise that these traits sometimes find their way into the forum. They're everywhere.
But you can choose to see things differently. You can drop the ego. You can be resiliant to the effects of the outside world...
🙏🏻
Indeed the tumultuous events of last few years, would have to have had a profound effect on the population, certainly upon the essential world view.
fwiw, I think that one was simply that no one knew the answer. It was a niche question and one that would require significant time to research or test. I thought about saying "I don't know." for a few seconds but didn't feel that would accomplish anything.
I think for me it’s been a combination of slightly low energy/mood, and being distracted by finishing some projects while hunting for others. There was a period of heightened drama a while back that put me off a bit, but it seems pretty mellow just now. I should look at the creations category more, but time just seems to be evaporating at the moment…