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.
Comments
Yes I quite like them and it was the first brand that caught my attention due to the price. The features are great and I can stand for the sound. But the back up and restore interface is midi which I give up. 128 or 64 patterns(no project/song) is just too limited.
But other than that, they checked all boxes and I really like the design. All Livens are very hand-on, no menu diving and with a playable keyboard.
And I give up Woovebox too. The design is great and the workflow is much better than expectation with such a tiny form factor.
However, even it doesn't have a "computer screen" Their workflow require me to keep looking at the 8 digit LED all the time which is not great for my intention of night time usage.
Very true
Ableton Move.
I had never more fun in „just doing“ things than with any other „grooveboxe“ (in the last years i had the Novations, Maschine+, MPC one, MC101…). Amazing fluid workflow.Can be operated in complete darkness. Battery.
But it‘s not meant to create full songs on it. There is no song mode.
Affordable, portable, no screen, no menus, unlimited battery life. Thank me later.
@wim
I cannot sequence on it haha
And just like some idevices, no headphone jack
+1 on this…
I’ve had OP-z, MC-101, SeqTrak, MPC… The most fun groovebox to put together ideas is the Ableton Move by a long shot… it plays nicely with iPad apps using Bluetooth dongle and Link… acts as a USB-C audio interface as well… resampling helps remove the 4-track limitation.
Not perfect, but definitely addictive…
I only aware of MOVE now. Very nice selected features at that price for grid style interface users. It almost feel like a definded AUM session on iPad.
what about older devices … second hand Korg Electribe E2 is pretty cheap but definitely usable . It runs on batteries, has ableton live session export .. Has it’s limitations, but definitely good portable groovebox
Another vote for OP-Z, the sound design capabilities are a lot deeper than you would think. Especially if you start randomizing patches to come up with sounds. Takes you to a lot of interesting places quickly. Some examples since you asked:
Skip to 4:20 for the music, I made the intro way too long:
Ableton Move is pretty sweet too, but if you want to use this in bed at night the LEDs are pretty bright. Even at their lowest setting.
Great sharing and thanks for your suggestion. Yes OP-Z is the most eye friendly device and I'm seriously considering it. It is also the only device on the list that can be held like a handheld gaming console like Switch comfortablely on bed.
The choice is between OP-Z and M:C. Either I pick OP-Z for NOT losing polyphony on a single track or M:C for it's 96 projects x 96 patterns so I don't have to care about import/export/maintainence. This peace of mind is really a BIG plus for a night time device. Just I never tried making music on any monophony but may be it is a good limitation to enforce a difference musical approach.
I have a M:C (and a other elektron boxes) as well and while i do like this thing, the display is beyond shi…ehem…it‘s weakest part. I need my stronger glasses to use it. 🤓 And you‘ll need the display quite often, even with all the knobs. And to me the pads are a bit useless too. If you want to play them with velocity you need to SLAM (S.L.A.M.) that thang hard 😅 Even if you switch velo off they are not a joy to use. But it sounds good.
Model Cycles is also not battery powered, and cannot sample.
I found the OP-z really awkward to use handheld… had imagined it would work well but it didn’t…
battery power is an easy fix. Cheap cable (i paid 3€) DC<-> USB and you can use any 5v/1A adapter. Or powerbanks.
Yes! But also, if the intention is easy in-bed use, a bit of a pain.
Lot of hardware went through my hands burt NEVER had better “in-bed” music tool than Dirtywave M8
Not a problem, once you dig in the "feature", no hardware beats iPad. If I end up pickup a M:C, I get a zero maintainence device for a single purpose within my budget.
My frd gave an out of the box suggestion LOL
He asked me 2 questions.
Am I okay with black and white
Am I okay with just using Koala Sampler
He suggested an e-ink Android tablet. Which actually a very straight forward approach for night time usage, including beat making with Koala.
@jklovemusic
no regrets there. 
Not gonna help at all but I was in the same predictament as you a few months ago. Ended up getting a M:C and some time later an OP-Z
Last payment for the op-z is coming up
The OP-z would be my first option for avoiding screen, though
It looks like the OP-Z has finally been discontinued by TE this week too. If you’re at all interested in it I wouldn’t wait long to grab one to make sure you get the warranty.
What I’ve found after owning and trying so many of these things is that a super critical aspect is where on the sound design<->playing<->song writing spectrum you’re on.
Some devices are great for sound design but suck when it comes to playing because they lack a proper interface (keys, pads, velocity, mod wheel, etc)
Some are awesome at playing, but you’re limited with designing the sounds (basically think a piano…)
Some are Uber powerful, but are so complex you’re really better off on a PC (I think the MC707, which I love) is in this camp.
It seems like you’re more into the “song writing” side of things… I’m guessing you care more about creating chord progressions, song structures (ABC, bridge, chorus, etc)
Because of that, the MC707 is the best bet because it’s basically Ableton style clip based. It’s above your price range, and it’s menu divey, and you WILL need to devote a lot of time to wrapping your head around the menu structure, especially in Partial mode for synth editing..
But there soooooooo many presets, you may not even care.
But… No battery…
I hate to say it, but based on your constraints, you’re going to be disappointed whichever device you choose I think. Pretty much every standalone Groovebox type instrument has some major compromise or even “fatal flaw”…
So back to my original point, figure out your PRIMARY requirement:
Sound design
Playability
Song writing with structure (vs live mute/unmute, performance)
Once you figure out this cardinal rule, your choice will be much easier. Just keep in mind just like the old adage: fast, good, or cheap-pick 2.
The best of all 3 in hardware is gonna be those monster “arrangement” workstations like the Montage. But those are really just purpose built daws…
Based on what you’ve said so far though… I’d suggest the Move. Leave the hardcore arrangement to Live after you’ve fiddled with the foundations. It’s really the best device at doing what it was designed for that I’ve used. But I also trust @Tarekith and I’ve never used the OP, so maybe you’d like that?
Thanks for the roadmap for making decision. I got your point. I already picked cheap so the rest is either good or fast. I go fast.
To my suprise, I'm sold by my friend's idea to get an e-ink Android tablet and play with whatever available on Android including the very joyful Koala Sampler and Sunvox. And the model that can install Android apps is fairly afforable!
Boox Go Color 7 is $249, a budget one that fixes all night time usage request.
https://shop.boox.com/products/gocolor7
It's funny that I started a topic of good enough Android music apps... https://forum.loopypro.com/discussion/60770/android-apps-are-good-enough-for-playing-some-music-on-the-go/p1
edit: Not sure if the e-ink screen is as sensitive as iPad for touch playing but Koala support QWERTY keyboard
That sounds like it would be really frustrating in practice. I love e-ink displays for reading but for touch playing, editing samples, mixer pages etc, I suspect input lag would be an issue. Sure you could use a QWERTY keyboard but you could do that with your iPad and just not look at it while you’re playing.
Thanks for pointing out the latency issue and indeed it could be problematic.
But the impression of the latency seems the display instead of the touch. Will 100% try it out before buying anything.
Problem is these used devices are not cheap at all and not many choices out there
@jklovemusic would a screen with a good night mode (reduced brightness and reduced blue light) work? An e-ink display is only as good as your room lighting or its backlight.
Actually the equation is not only the night time. If i can redirect more than half of my passive screen time, like reading X, articales and ebooks to the e-ink device. I actually don’t have to leave iPad/Mac for muisc production.
Also - I know their usefulness is controversial, but have you thought about blue light filtering glasses?