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
Also realized I had something wrong early: you can't switch patterns via MIDI program change, you can switch presets. You can trigger patterns with MIDI Note On messages starting from C3. Which means, presuming preset switching is reasonably fast, you can string together very very large collections of presets (MIDI PC) and patterns (MIDI Note On) into songs via external sequencer.
I'd still prefer to have more in app because it's just fekkin fun to stay in there but that bit of thoughtfulness can take songs an awfully long way.
@syrupcore said:
6 parts seems like another limitation, at least in terms of song creation.
I think I'm going to hold off on this app for now, and hope they expand the number of patterns and parts, as well as make the effects routing more flexible (which I think I read they might).
I like the idea of using Egoist as an end destination for song creation, which I realize you can already, but just wish it was a little more robust.
Derp, 6 parts wouldn't be a limitation if they just expanded the number of patterns. Maybe they could add a few different banks of patterns. Though isn't there a limit to the number of patterns you can put in a part, or something like that?
I don't know, I'm just not feeling this app. It's hard to tell just where it fits in. Can anyone else chime in with regards to song creation?
I think it to some extent depends on how you use the app.
If you think of it as 16 base patterns on top of which you improvise edits and stuff, I imagine lots of people can finish or perform complete songs in certain styles of music. thing is, if you improvise while recording you can't really recall the original pattern once you've gone very far. I found myself wanting a 'switch to next pattern and reset this one when I exit it so that when I come back to it, it's the little part I had originally written' button.
There's also the randomization mode of playing back a pattern—not just the randomize buttons that sets all values to random but a mode of play where each step is chosen at random. With that set, you can could conceivably have a single pattern in use for ever.
There's also the variable sub sequence lengths. This is my favorite part of the app actually after the slicing. So if you have one pattern and the slicer is set to 14 steps and the bass is set to 12 your pattern will repeat quite a number of times before it actually 'repeats'. The effects section can also have its own pattern length or random step playback order further adding to potential single pattern variation on each repeat.
That said, I've only really dug into two projects so far in Egoist (committing beyond, 'eh, neat'... 2-3 patterns...) and both times I ran into the pattern and/or part limit. Surely this has to do with my style of song creation and not everyone will run into it but I imagine a lot of people will. Have yet to experiment with controlling it from an external sequencer but will try it soon. That and/or just going nuts with loop capture via copy/paste or Loopy and arranging them elsewhere.
Hmm, the pattern limitation may be there for resource reasons. Not that storing steps is all that taxing but you can have 16 instantly triggerable samples in one project. Think my iPad would vomit babies if I tried to have 32 at once of the sort of lengths that make sample slicers interesting. Samplr tops out at 6 but, they are polyphonic. I dunno.
Don't know if it's the same issue but I couldn't sync Loopy to Egoist until I unchecked the midi out to Loopy in Egoist, then it seemed to sync fine.
Well found @Fitz!
I run into the part/track limitation too. I don't think that's going to change though and I don't think it is to preserve resources either. I wish SB but that much effort into this. They simply directly ported the PC version warts and all and that's what I expect we're going to keep. So AFAIC I'll make it work as it is. If it syncs perfectly with Cubasis with its iaa effects then I'd say that is the one stop shop for me unless bm3 comes out and shakes my cave, but I really doubt it.
Anyhow, just uploaded the first draft of my remix (egoist+ bm2) mastered in Audio Mastering
let me know what you think
First off, you have a delightful singing voice. Quite lovely.
Cheap early joke done with cheap and early; all good, like the extra loop coming in at 2 mins which suddenly picks the whole thing up (as you intended). Love the female 'backing vocal' loop as well, very good. And the bass change at 4 is great. Where's the little bit of synth/ep from at the very end?
Surprised at how controlled you kept yourself on this. Subsumed to the greater good, guess that's the producer in you rather than the performer. Not my chosen style and as a result would probably like it more condensed, say 3 and a half minutes rather than 5, but I guess unless you can make the girl sing quicker.....
Haha Johnny, yeah you're right. All very valid points. I definitely want to loose the last chorus and stretch the part with the classical guitar towards the end with some pad over it, maybe percussion. It also begs for some stops, drops and breaks especially in the build up before the chorus etc. I find these things the most time consuming and basically run out of time plus motivation today. All the breaks will need to be done in bm2 which sucks a little as I'd rather be recording it live while tweaking it with turnado + wow etc. I'd also like to bring down all the hihats as they sound quite messy. The whole egoist sound seems to be quite pasty and lacking definition. I'm not sure but I may try and program drums in bm2 but then again, this takes time and to be honest if it smells of effort I ain't doing it
. I got too spoilt with quick results using loopy, impaktor and now egoist.
@supadom fo' sho!
@monzo said:
Good to know, will still pick up Gadget.
@syrupcore said:
Yeah i spent some time creating a template for the Quneo, assigned the pads on grid mode so that you can audition the slices on one bank of pads and switch the presets on another, control the levels and turn the effects on etc. Good point about the mpc style playing, hadn't thought of that, could create a template just based around the slicer and fx for live drumming.
Ah yes, the decimated EP comes from an early version of this that I was sweating over few months back. I got a midi file with the stem tracks so I loaded it into BM2 and if I'm not mistaken I've driven the ambient synth in Gadget with it. Can't remember the name, Kiev? I think it was that.
@supadom Yeah, it's a tough one. A thousand years ago a producer/engineer chose a vocal I'd done which was good, but had a glitch; "But it's got the performance, the others don't..." and he was right.
Having seen you (albeit jamming through the ceiling fish-eye lens), this piece missed a little 'performance' maybe, some of your joie-de-etc., but then I put that down to not being fully into/turned on by this genre.
BUT, some breaks, drops, and un-polish, along with a little editing will probably speak to that some. I know; work. On the other side, I can tell you that if you put this back in the drawer you're going to a) think it's a pretty good basis in about six months when you get it out again and b) wish you'd struck a little harder while the iron was hot.
That old thing
I recorded a song live into GarageBand last night using only 4 patterns. It's slightly scary triggering everything on the hoof but amazing how much variation you can achieve by mixing the three components, playing with the bass filter, switching drum kits, and nudging the sample pattern up and down. Less is more sometes, and I found it excellent for overdubbing extra tracks of sample-only instrumentation.
Yeah it's good for groove based stuff, old school. I used it with ARR in Live to properly check out the drums and i think they sound good! One of the vintage kits sounded close to the drums from a chemical brothers track, good for techno.
Hit and miss on other hits and kits though, some kick drums don't really cut through but overall there's enough there to keep it interesting. If SB are reading this, velocity on the bass and panning on the drums would be great.
I went ahead and got this, in spite of my reservations about potential limitations to song mode. After about an hour with it I've come to the conclusion that it's not really for full song creation, it just has a song mode, if that makes sense.
At any rate, the variations you can get are near staggering. The ability to alter parts as @syrupcore noted above is a nice touch, and really expands things further.
On the one hand I kind of wished they let you route the sample, bass, and drum to their own separate effects. On the other hand I kind of think they should just leave it be and let Egoist be what it is. In fact I'd prefer the latter because there already is quite a hefty bit of app to sink your teeth into, and it's not like it feels like it's lacking because of the single effects channel.
That point goes for all the rest of the little tidbits I thought could maybe be added. Yeah, you could add things, but at some point you add too much and it loses it's unique flavor.
That being said, swiping for some of the button controls was a bit awkward, because your finger blocks what you're changing. You can get around it by swiping to the side so you could see the values then keeping your finger on the screen and swiping up or down to change the values. That was the only aspect of it so far that seemed like it could be done a better way. EDIT: But I'd much prefer they work on Thesys for iPad's interface first!
anybody have any great video links for the fence sitters that you think really show whats great about this app?
Doug's videos are usually the best: http://www.thesoundtestroom.com/egoist-epic-guide/
yeah doug is great, the bass gorilla clips are great too, just looking for some more
@monzo said:
I don't want to speak poorly about Doug and what he does...but he generally doesn't go deeper than the presets. When I'm actually considering buying an app, I look to see how it works from scratch. His vids serve a purpose, but they have less influence on my purchases.
@Accent said:
For me, when researching a new app there's nothing worse than sitting through a long tutorial packed with talking and about 5 seconds of sound. Sure they're useful for checking features and editing options (though Doug covers these as well), but I want to hear what an app is capable of as well. Tutorials like Tim's work for me after I've purchased.
To be honest though, all you usually get is a slick promo (if you're lucky) that tells you nothing, a few inferior Doug-a-likes and Tim's tutorials a few weeks after release. Doug's vids are usually the only decent coverage most apps get, and my first call for a potential new purchase.
I don't think it's fair to say he doesn't generally go deeper than presets either, I learn a lot of new tricks from his vids after purchase.
Doug is the man.
I've been trying to record the bass midi from Egoist into Cubasis but when I try to reload the project I get an error message about the project file being corrupted and my audio tracks being saved to the media bay. I can copy the midi track to other projects and they end up with the same error message when I try to reopen the project even though the midi plays just fine. I looked at the midi in the editor and it was just notes and velocities, no other midi messages.
When I recorded the same midi into NLog Pro, I was able to import the midi file into Cubasis as well as recording the midi output from NLog Pro into Cubasis. MidiSequencer also worked successfully to record midi into Cubasis.
I've passed this information along to Steinberg and Sugar Bytes the makers of Cubasis and Egoist respectively. I'm on an iPad Air 2 running iOS 8.1. Happens in Audiobus, IAA, and just running apps in the background to record the midi.
Anyone else getting this sort of problem?
Syncing midi clock in Egoist to Cubasis works great for recording the audio except there is currently no way to stop your song in Egoist so it keeps looping as far as I can tell.
@monzo said:
Fair points. Doug has sold me on a number of synths and I've learned a number of things from his videos, so I'm not in any way against how he does his videos. When I'm considering a new synth, I consider what the programming experience is like tho, so sometimes I find myself with unanswered questions even after watching the video. Doug does do a great job of giving a comprehensive overview of apps tho, and I hope he keeps doing what he does.
I dig Doug too. Sometimes I do think he could have dug a little deeper below the surface of some of the apps he shows. And there's not an off a lot of criticism there. But a lot of enthusiasm and it's great that he does all these videos to give us a nice preview.
We're all critics, but imagine a Dougless world.
Have to say, the drum section leaves a bit to be desired, mainly because of the interface.
Each sound has 30 some odd variations (32?), but you have to scroll through using the awkward tap and drag to hear them. Makes for putting together a custom kit a bit cumbersome.
Then for note entry you have to tap your way through the different note variations. Again, cycling and scrolling through options is less than ideal, and doesn't seem to fit with the spirit of the app and it's quick and easy variations.
@Munibeast said:
The information is out there. However go about it is your choice. I personally hardly ever sit through a tutorial, just skip to what I'm after. I'm only greatful to all the people who put those tutorials up on YT. Do you even remember the world without youtube tutorials? We're blessed. Truly.
My goto demo guy is matt celletti or if not him then anything close to his style, for me it's the perfect balance of knowledge and performance, my only problem with him is that he doesn't do a demo for every freakin app I'm interested in.
Doug on the other hand has hands down made the greatest Sector demo of all time. It's so good that I never get tired of it… I wish he made all of his demos like that one in every aspect
it's just a great watch!
I'm always shocked by some developers lack of videos. CSGrain, for example has been around for ages but there's only a handful of vids available.
Without people like Doug promoting other peoples products, I'd have bought a lot fewer apps.