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Note Sequencer + Anim[][]g

Hi,
I have AniMoog and a bunch of other stuff.....

Animoog has a Arpeggiator section (see image bel0w); and I want to replace it with a full fledged note sequencer. The Arpeggiator in AniMoog is somewhat limited, or it's not a full-fledged step sequencer.

For Example: I want the note pattern to be 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 and the 1st, 3rd, and 4th notes are set on say, the eighth note of the measure/beat and then 6 and 8 are set on the last quarter notes of the measure or beat. You cannot do this in Animoog. As you can see from the picture, the Arpeggiator section of the synth is rather restricted in the sequencing of the notes.
(My screen snapshot writing asks for a step sequencer; I want that where steps divide the measure into 'x' beats like 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64th)..... but I also MUST be able to set WHICH NOTE of the scale or which note RELATIVE to the input note is paled in which step.

I will be using this in LoopyPro. I want to trigger a sequence, sometimes sounding or feeling like an arpeggio with one MIDI note, and then record it as a loop in LP.

What other synth has a kind of sequencer SUCH THAT; you define the pattern, and the pattern plays these notes relative to the starting MIDI note you provide. SO.... if I play a 'D' and my pattern is 1,4, 6, 8 just on quarter notes; I get D, G, B, D (octave higher)..........PLUS...... the synth allows you to vary the fx over the pattern or as the pattern plays. Animooog does varies the fx over the pattern or arpeggiation.

Changes are..... I already have this synth and don't even know it.
Thanks In Advance!!

Comments

  • Are you using strictly standalone synths? If you use a midi-FX capable au-host you could use arp bud in front of animoog.

    https://apps.apple.com/us/app/arpbud-2-auv3-midi-arpeggiator/id1500403326

  • edited January 14

    @tyslothrop1 said:

    Are you using strictly standalone synths? If you use a midi-FX capable au-host you could use arp bud in front of animoog.

    https://apps.apple.com/us/app/arpbud-2-auv3-midi-arpeggiator/id1500403326

    First - thanks for the reply. I should have said something that is AUV3, that I can use in Loopy Pro.
    Your recommendation, ArpBud - is the type of thing I want.

    QUESTION: If I use ArpBud "in front" of Animoog, will the Animoog fx change across the beat, as it does with the "built in" arpeggiator? In other words, as is in Animoog, from the start of the first note to the end of the last note of the beat or of the sequence, the fx parameters change.

    ONE MORE QUESTION: On the screen, it seems there are only 8 steps in a single measure. I am assuming I can make that more like 16 or 32?

    Thanks for the suggestion!!

  • edited January 14

    @Vmusic said:

    Your recommendation, ArpBud - is the type of thing I want.

    The way you describe it after the edit, I guess you're looking for a step sequencer, that you can transpose with single midi note. With arpbud you would have to enter chords. I don't have it, and don't know if you can transpose with midi input, but maybe stepbud by the same dev is worth a look.

    QUESTION: If I use ArpBud "in front" of Animoog, will the Animoog fx change across the beat, as it does with the "built in" arpeggiator? In other words, as is in Animoog, from the start of the first note to the end of the last note of the beat or of the sequence, the fx parameters change.

    Depends on how that is set up in Animoog. If for example the modulation comes from an lfo, that's set to retrigger, it will start with every single note, that Animoog receives. You could set the lfo to not retrigger and sync to a bar, and it might work the way you want.

    ONE MORE QUESTION: On the screen, it seems there are only 8 steps in a single measure. I am assuming I can make that more like 16 or 32?

    There's another screenshot with 24 steps, you add them with the little +button to the right of the sequence. Don't know the maximum number, though.

    Thanks for the suggestion!!

    Cheers

  • Steppolyarp is a fantastic arp or sequencer too.

    Any midi arpeggiator would be loaded in Loopy Pro as a midi fx. Then you set your synth as a "destination" in Loopy after you load it.

  • MORE FRUSTRATION...... why do app developers go off in a vacuum and build stuff. "ArpBud" - an arpeggiator - NO, NOT REALLY - if you feed it, or play a 'D' note you will NOT get a D, F#, A and D. Why, why, why is it sooOOOOOoo difficult? To creat a sequence of notes in an app; and indicate ONE (count em' one singular) trigger note to play that sequence or pattern?


  • @Vmusic : in electronic music arpeggiator has meant for 40+ years: something that arpeggiates the currently held notes NOT something that creates an arpeggio for the chord whose root note is being held.

    If you want something to generate the notes of a chord based on a single note, get a chord plugin and feed its output to an arpeggiator.

    There are quite a few hybrid arpeggiators and step sequencers.

  • _ki_ki
    edited January 15

    @VMusic I hope i got your examples right:

    if I play a 'D' and my pattern is 1,4, 6, 8 just on quarter notes; I get D, G, B, D (octave higher)

    Holding D produces the desired notes:

    .

    I want the note pattern to be 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 and the 1st, 3rd, and 4th notes are set on say, the eighth note of the measure/beat and then 6 and 8 are set on the last quarter notes of the measure or beat.

    .

    • You need to setup the wanted interval in semitones in the left hand side. Either short tap for line edit dialog and select the tune offset - or tap and hold the number and slide up/down.
    • You should also setup the scale in the lower row
    • If you want supress accidential arping when two notes input notes are held down, select ‚1‘ as order for each of the notes. You get to that order-selection, if you short tap on a note in the „piano roll“ part

    • With the above settings, both ARP and SEQ mode produce notes offset to the input note.
  • edited January 15

    @_ki
    First THANK YOU for your posting. I bought the app you showed StepPolyArp.

    I "think", sadly that arpeggiators and step sequencers started back in the day on electronic keyboards, and many of them (back in the day) had poor and limited UI interfaces. But "sadly" we have drug the same limited thinking into the modern UI paradigm where we "should" be able to make is much more simpler.
    It's actually, from a process perspective - ILLOGICAL; I want to sequence notes that are not truly any particular chord like 1, 4, 2, 6, 9........but yet I have to play a chord for the thing to work (to play the sequence). It does NOT make sense. ~The other antiquated thinking: not understand that an arpeggios are simply a specialized sequence.

    I appreciate the screen snapshots. I'm struggling with why StepPolyArp only has or shows "CERTAIN" semitones like, 0, +/-3, +/-5, +/- 7, etc. semitones?? Why not just put ALL the semitones on the left? It frustrates me that software developers "think they know" what the user is going to do? By only showing 0, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12..... it's "suggesting" from a quick glance, that's all the software can support.
    Sure..... developers should make it easy to put in true arpeggios from a UI /process perspective, but ...............keep me honest.............. when a user wants the 4th or 6th note of the scale, or any note they want - like the flat of the 5th note of the scale, and they don't see these notes in the list of notes on the left; instant frustration. Now I have to "figure out" how to put in notes that I don't see on the left. I just wish all the semi tones showed up on the left, right from the start. Then give me a wizard to walk through, or some "presets" for arpeggios or common sequences. Or they could have used different colors or text in parentheses to show the 1, 3, 5, and 8 of a more traditional arpeggio. On the surface, at a glance not seeing ALL the semi-tones makes it confusing for me.

          I am convinced that StepPolyArp can play a defined sequence of any notes, or an arpeggio after it is defined, and play it with a single input; however it seems like a STEEP learning curve. 
    

    I do appreciate you posting this to show that the software can support, what I consider to be, basic /simple sequencing of notes.

  • @Vmusic To change the offered intervals either short tap for line edit dialog and select the tune offset - or tap and hold the number and slide up/down.

  • edited January 15

    It can be quite frustrating when you have an idea of a workflow you would like but you can't find tools that support it, I agree.

    Blaming the developer for not seeing things the same way as you is an unfortunate response though.

    Steppolyarp is pretty carefully crafted and provides A TON of functionality in a UI that still manages to be useful on an iPhone even. The options that SPA provides supports many different workflows, but not all of course. It does have a nice manual too if you want to dive into all it can do.

    Another option I'd consider if I was after the workflow you're talking about is using Quantichord to "build" your preferred chord out of 1 note and feeding that into steppolyarp.

    I hope you find what you're after, there's no shortage of incredible apps these days to help us musicians who aren't coders on the journey.

  • @_ki
    I figured it out!!!! As you explained you can set/change the values on the left. Perhaps the dev thought (a) there wasn't enough room for all 12 semi tones....or that (b) most sequences wouldn't use 12 semi tones anyway.

    @Tentype I have been involved in software and UI development for my daytime job. It's not just to be critical - hopefully app reviews improve the quality and raise the bar. YES - there's tons and tons of great apps for music making, but spending hours getting up and running is honestly painful. Especially when a clearer UI would have have saved hours.

    Software development is an interesting creature. I watch how much /often developers "drag" poor practices from the past...... because that's what they know. You saw this even when the web first came out. The first online websites to book airplane flights displayed a 3 letter airport code used by the mainframe...... as if everyone knows these.

    I played around with SPA, and figured out how to change/assign which notes I want the sequence to play. Good News.

    YES - there is great software out there; but it can always be better!!

  • 100% can always be better, agreed.

    I've been playing instruments and making computer music since the 80's and one of the things I love the MOST about working on the iPad now is how small and personal the development "teams" are. If I have an issue or a bug or a request it's so easy to reach out directly to the developer and see if its on their radar or roadmap, or if they need some clear ideas, critical feedback, or a little focused beta testing.

    It's awesome, and every now and then leads to a better product. I definitely urge you to reach out to developers if you think there's a better way to handle a music problem. I've chatted personally with upwards of 30 over the past 6 years and most are quite open to good ideas (every now and then I *might * have one) or at least up front if they're not.

    Glad you figured it out! SPA is a beast.

  • wimwim
    edited January 17

    @Vmusic said:
    @Tentype I have been involved in software and UI development for my daytime job. It's not just to be critical - hopefully app reviews improve the quality and raise the bar. YES - there's tons and tons of great apps for music making, but spending hours getting up and running is honestly painful. Especially when a clearer UI would have have saved hours.

    ... or ... reading the manual. 😉
    https://dev.laurentcolson.com/medias/steppolyarp/StepPolyArp.pdf

  • wimwim
    edited January 17

    It often helps me to understand what leads to UI design compromises in iOS to open apps on an iPhone, then imagine things like the impact of adding 14 more rows to the SPA matrix on a phone or a small AUv3 window. Not by way of excuse, but at least to add some context.

  • Sounds like you want to look for an arp that has a setting that triggers notes ‘as played’ ?

    Not all arps do that that unfortunately…although some do have that, along with some more advanced settings like octaves, gate length, up/down, latch, starting when new notes are triggered (vs continuing) and keeping the lowest note no matter what (such as on 4-voiced synths etc)

    Unfortunately there’s not really a good repository of info about which arps do what, and most of those settings are going to be found on advanced daws or specific hardware like Roland, moog, or korg

    I’m trying to think of any software arps that do that and I’m kinda coming short… maybe the one in the Moog Model D? I also feel like the Moog Model 15 has something like that? It does have an animoog built in, Although I’m pretty sure that arp functions a little bit more like a modular step sequencer? I could be mistaken…. Korg gadget’s arps also have quite a bit of settings that you can play with, although I’m not sure there’s a good spreadsheet out there that shows what each variation actually does to the intervals so you might need to play around with it…but definitely go with ‘triggered’ or ‘as played’ and then play the chord you want, and then the arp will split it up for you melodically.

  • Oh I didn’t see that it seems like you found your solution? Cheers

  • @ambrosiajam Thanks for the reply. Yes, I got Step Poly Arp to work.

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