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.
Do I need AUM?
Hey all,
New to making music with an iPad, but definitely not a new musician. Been learning and loving loopy pro for a week or so. As I’ve explored iPad music I see a lot of mentions of AUM.
My use of loopy is performance only. I’m working with several plugins for guitar, keys, and drums.
I’m wondering if there is anything AUM will do for me that I can’t do with loopy pro? I admittedly don’t know what I don’t know, so I thought I’d ask. Thank for any replies.
Comments
If you aren’t needing multi-in/out AUv3 support (soon to be added to Loopy Pro), the main thing AUM has is more extensive midi filtering options. On the other hand, Loopy Pro has a wealth of features (not the least of which is being able to build custom workspaces to control/manipulate your plugins) AUM lacks.
Welcome to the wonderful world of iOS music making!
I could write a book on this but I’ll keep it brief. If you are happy with the host/DAW you are using, it does everything you want it to, you are not hitting any limitations, and you feel comfortable/creative, then I’d say no, not necessarily.
I’d highly recommend watching a video on the tube about AUM from @Gavinski or @thesoundtestroom or sound for more.
Overtime as I learned more about music production, hit limits with other apps, and liked but didn’t love my past workflows, I decided to try it, and I fell in love. It might not be for everyone, workflow is a personal choice, but it felt right to me.
Basically as much as I personally love AUM, there’s no need to rush into it. if you are just starting on iOS and happy, take your time. You don’t need it, but at some point you might want it.
Cheers.
PS. This has been talked about before so if you are interested on people discussing this thought, use the forum search bar to look at other past threads that discuss AUM as a host in much more detail.
@espiegel123 and @Poppadocrock - appreciate the information!
If you just peel back Loopy Pro to it's mixer and forget about everything else, there's very little that AUM can do that Loopy Pro can't. @espiegel123 already covered the main points. I'll add that AUM's midi routing matrix is just plain outstanding in its intuitiveness. Its midi busses are also an often overlooked feature that is great. Loopy's mixer is powerful, but I find, less immediate and intuitive until you get used to it. After that it rarely matters.
I think for people already very comfortable with AUM, moving to Loopy Pro could be a difficult transition. But unless Loopy is impeding one in some way, I don't think it's necessary.
That said, different tools bring out different shades of creativity. I never regret time spent in AUM as it can help inspire different ideas. Plus it's just plain fun to use.
@espiegel123 Can Loopy Pro do clock divide/multiply like AUM out of interest?
No.
AUM is fast FLEXIBLE and an inspiration for setting up and just going. I’ve spent well over $100 trying to make it a daw - my kind of daw. I’ll say this. I don’t regret almost anything I’ve purchased in the pursuit of that ideal. However a daw it is not.
Loopy is a bit stiff (imho like drambo) but perfectly capable of being a LINEAR daw without any real additions.
If you want to Jam and explore buy AUM, but in all practicalness you don’t need* it for music production if you have any other daw like cubasis or loopy or drambo or even garage band.
If you hate piano rolls like I do and love sound design buy AUM
*needs may vary
@gusgranite - However, you can slow down or speed up individual audio or midi loops to any speed you like. So, for instance, you could record output from a sequencer to a loop at full speed, then play it back at 1/2, 1/4, reverse, reverse 1/2, etc...
Oh, you can do that with MIDI now? That’s cool
Loopy Pro is also quite flexible for jamming and exploring, too... whether recording or not. Being able to setup a workspace that lets you switch presets of multiple plugins at once and morph between settings is quite fun. AUM is a great app AND Loopy does a lot more than many people realize.
If one is already used to AUM, getting used to Loopy Pro may take some getting used to, not because Loopy is less flexible but because one already has a workflow one is used to.
I didn’t think I needed AUM until I started using it ( for several years) and now I can’t give it up.
The 2 apps I open first and every time are Loopy Pro and AUM.
My application isn’t live though so your mileage will likely vary.
AUM opens up a part of the brain you never knew existed. 😌
If you need really flexible MIDI and audio routing...then you need AUM...
I bought AUM the day it came out in February 2016, back when AUv3 were few and far between, best tenner ever spent.
Yes. I am just going to say it. And this goes against the side of my brain that says what others have said along the lines of if you are happy with what you have and the likes.
I personally consider AUM a mixer vs a DAW. I feel midi learn is much easier in AUM vs Loopy Pro.
Both are awesome apps and one is not better than the other. AUM will pay for itself in a few weeks and one can never have too many tools in the toy box.
@wagdog If you're mostly considering live performance, without a lot of recorded parts - either audio or midi - then you should probably seriously consider AUM. As others have said, it's not really a DAW in the conventional sense, as a mixer and routing system. It can record and play back, and that functionality can be enhanced by using AU plugins with that specialty (including Loopy itself), but its real strength lies in easy access to what can build up to be quite sophisticated signal and control systems.
Do you need AUM? Who's to say, really. But it ain't too spendy, and you just might get a kick out of it.
My intro to ios music was stumbling upon a lil app called Rymdigare. Very quickly learned of “auv3”, being that the app couldn’t be used on its own. All recommendations led to getting AUM, so I bought it. Blew my mind when I realized that auv3 basically meant “vst for iOS” and there was a whole separate ecosystem to explore. Like mentioned above, I spent the first few months finding things that AUM couldn’t do on its own and trying to turn it into a DAW with apps like 4pockets Multitrack, helium, etc. Wound up just getting Cubasis and letting AUM just be AUM, and over time I’ve noticed I prefer it to the “timeline DAW” stuff I always thought was so necessary for making music. Different workflows produce different results. So basically, I bought AUM out of necessity, but it has become so much more for me and opened lots of doors.
@wagdog
The name explains it. AUM is an "AU" "Mixer."
Imagine your dream mixing board but in software, where you can hook up anything to everything (Audio and MIDI routing) with a virtually unlimited number of instruments, and effects, MIDI sources and destinations, (AU instruments and effects, and MIDI AUs that you own). As a bonus, it can also host Inter App Audio (IAA) apps. In case you are not familiar, IAA is an older technology that allows you to route audio between apps. So you can mix the old tech and the new tech to cover pretty much any app.
It's probably one of the first apps that many producers that want to seriously get into producing music on iOS, iPadOS end up getting. Just like you.
When you open it up, it looks underwhelming. Basically a blank sheet. But watch a few video tutorials on youtube and you'll figure it out pretty quickly. And this forum, as you know, is a great resource for asking questions when you get stuck.
If Drambo is the Swiss army knife of music apps, AUM is the control center of music apps. Like @audiblevideo said, you can essentially build your own DAW with it.
Do you really need it? No. Are there other apps similar to AUM? Absolutely. AudioBus, EG Nodes, Ape Matrix to name a few. But the power of AUM is in its simplicity.
Here are couple of examples of AUM at the center of live performances:
I agree with @Luxthor. It will rewire your brain. I highly recommend it.
Here is an example of a massive AUM setup for ambient live performance also incorporating loopy pro.
He also explains what he is doing so it is quite useful as as a demo.
Wow y’all - appreciate the videos!
I basically only use AUM, so I’m clearly a fan! That said, I think there is a lot to be said for picking one host app and getting very fluent in it before moving on to another—assuming you like that host enough, which it seems you do in the case of Loopy. Loopy is already super deep, much deeper than AUM, so I’d say spend at least a good few months getting comfy in it before grazing other pastures.
AUM is a great software-based “hardware” Mixer: a mixer of AUv3 apps (AU’s in a Mixer).
Loopy Pro is a software based hardware looper.
In the words of Marc Andressen: “Software is eating the world.”
Anyone with a Looping Pedal still needs a mixer before the amp. So, use the tool you need for the music you make.
What we’re missing on IOS is a DAW like Ableton… it would be nice if was from Ableton, IMHO.
Here is my old meme, trying to explain the AUM position among other hosts in a funny way. 🤦♂️
Btw, Loopy Pro is far more than a looper. There are quite a few people that use it primarily as a mixer/host or work/control surface or session recorder and don’t use it as a looper.
This is true for me. I use it primarily as control surface/mixer. Quantized plugin muting, sliders to control the plugin parameters I use the most with having to open/close said plugins, launching effects chains, etc.
Yes.
I don't think I could ever write a post suggesting that someone shouldn't get AUM. 🙂
Experienced users above have already given some good examples as to why you don't NEED it, if you have Loopy Pro.
(Or another full-featured Host app like ApeMatrix, Drambo or Camelot Pro.)
Even if one of these apps doesn't do absolutely everything you want, in the way that you might want, there is often a work-around, or another app you could get to fill the gap.
The beauty for me of AUM is the flexible modular environment where I don't have to pre-plan the style or structure of a jam or recording session.
I could start with one instrument, perhaps hear in my head that it would sound good doubled with another synth, or a delay... Once that's going, a session could stay that simple, and maybe record some ideas, or I could keep adding instruments and effects busses while people in the same room don't hear pops and crackles of me plugging in guitars to amps etc, and I might accidentally end up with a 32 channel dance music template (or a noisy dogs-breakfast depending on the day. 😉)
It comes down a bit to workflow or "playflow" preferences, and we all create a bit differently.
Definitely worth checking out some of the YouTube links mentioned above too. There are quite a few people making good tutorial videos with either AUM or Loopy Pro as the host, and If you find a couple of YouTubers whose style clicks with you, it makes learning AUM or Loopy or ApeMatrix, or Drambo, heaps quicker and more fun.
Checking out documentation and instructions from the Developers website is always worthwhile if you are new to iOS music (and even if not!). Some have some really clear docs and videos - can be good to have open on a second screen.
Some documentations is, well, not quite so helpful. 🤔
If an app doesn't have a good manual I tend to go straight to youTube and search:
"[AppName]" iOS",
or:
"[AppName]" Gavinski
Have fun!
I never use AUM to create final product like several posts mention. I always use it for trying out new apps in a simple non-cluttered environment. Also for creating loops or samples to use in my DAW’s of choice (FLSM and Groove Rider 2). I don’t use it to create final product, but more to create building blocks to be integrated into one of my DAW’s and merged with whatever I build in the DAW. This is my approach to using AUM as opposed to some of the others mentioned. I think anyone, no matter what their approach is, can find an application for AUM. I consider it indispensable.
Well said. 🙂👍🏼
If I spent more time in Loopy Pro, or in GrooveRider 2, Cubase, or maybe even in GarageBand, I would probably have more "finished product" ready to share. (Be that full songs/pieces, or structured backing tracks etc).
For exploration and experimentation AUM shines, and there are enough good Auv3s around that folk can add in elements of a more traditional DAW in a modular way, choosing the right tools for the job without having too many options in the way.
We can also feed Loopy Pro or a more conventional DAW with AUM-created snippets, or the other way around....
Plenty of fun to be had.