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
Apples to oranges, my friend. BM3 can do a lot more than Koala and goes pretty damn deep. One thing BM3 can do that Koala can't is host AUv3s. Then again, as Wim said, at the end of the day, sometimes we all just want to keep things simple. Koala is simple to sketch out ideas, sample oneshots from other AUv3s within AUM, etc etc etc.
btw @Littlewoodg - I'm not ignoring your question but it's going to take a bit of time to answer and things are a bit busy for me right now. I'm gonna ping @DMfan, who knows Zenbeats better than I do and may be able to answer better than me.
Man, it's that time of year Mike. Recovering from Christmas cheer and prepping for the new year celebrations. I can't wait for the calm of January to be honest.
Thanks @AudioGus and great response again, @wim
I have Koala and Beatmaker 3, and they are both great apps. Koala is like a trimmed-down version of BM3. I love Koala!! I could insert Koala into BM3, but not the other way around. BM3, in a way, was developed light-years before the rest. Its sampling engine is still up there with hardware like the Akai MPC. The time stretching algorithm is still the best, BM3 has macros, audio routing, envelopes / lfo's / filters per sample. The pads have scales, chords, multiple trigger possibilities, etc..The sampler is like an instrument. Its piano roll is not perfect and a bit dated, but nothing is perfect. The fix is that it has MIDI FX slots, which I insert Atom in if needed. It also has automation and scenes. Finally, it hosts Audio Units and Inter-App Audio. For around 25 bucks, it's still quite amazing and futuristic,
I'm still using it from time to time, mainly for testing MIDI Clock with apps.
It's one of the few iOS apps that can sync to hardware gear perfectly, both with audio and MIDI tracks. It's better than Ableton Live in this regard.
No worries, i personally have found chatting and thinking about the functionality of the app confusing, although less so now. Another factor is - maybe obviously - i prefer the thing to ZB, even though i have tried working with ZB since it was 1.0, desktop only, pre-Roland, named something else I can’t recall, and 35 bucks. BM3 for the win for all the usual personal reasons: appearance, workflow, nostalgia for fun with BM1 and 2.
Samu, how do I disable the multitasking feature? I hate that my screens are always changing when I double tap.
Check in the control center, you can turn it off and long-tap gives You options between Windowed or Stage Manager.
If You don't have it in Your control center (it's easy to add)...
...You can also find in in setting Settings > Multi Tasking & Gestures (Choose Full Screen Apps)
@Antos3345 : Thanks for that !!
For one, the sampler section is way more full featured. Lots of options. Very professional. Obviously BM3 can host AUv3 plugins. The mixer section is comprehensive. Tons of modulation. It just does more.
Koala has a better more natural workflow and user interface IMO.
@Apex : Can’t Koala host auv3 plug ins?
****> @Telstar5 said:
Koala doesn't host plugins.. it is a plugin, not a DAW.
The fix and processors are actually very pro.
Thanks , @Antos3345
BM was my original reason for buying an iPad ❤️
It scratched my Maschine/MPC itch until I actually got both devices.
I learned a lot from BM.
As it stands now, I don’t use it anymore.
Strike 1: It never made it to the iPhone as promised, Strike 2: crashed frequently, Strike 3: and did not like the MIDI fx implementation.
I would definitely use it again if BM4 happens 🙏
Yah when midi fx were first implemented it was great, you could record it to the timeline, very sweet. But alas it had to change for some reason.
yes, and for some reason the porov miditools won't work anymore
I use one of them to route midi to the timeline and works fine.
ok, thx for the info! @Antos3345
perhaps user error...
i'll investigate
For me it is the MIDI chord devices, they do not behave the same in BM3 like they do AUM, Drambo, Cubasis, etc.
I mean the built-in chord generator is okay, but I wanted to use Scaler and some others and it was funky.
@wim
@Littlewoodg
Not sure I can answer but I’ll give it a try. I am not familiar with what stuff is called in BM3, only tried it briefly years ago and left for NS2 and then Zenbeats. Problem being I am not sure exactly what you are asking about. I’ll add @MatthewAtZenbeats to the conversation as he has been developing the app since its Stagelight days, most likely he can elaborate more than I can😊.
Zenbeats has two modes, a loop mode and a traditional timeline view, very much like Bitwig or Ableton.
Zenbeats has a loop mode with individual loop or whole column launching, you can also launch loops from different columns.
Not sure what you mean but in Zenbeats you work either in loop or traditional timeline view. Not sure what scenes are in BM3, it sounds like you want to play live? I have never tried mixing loop and timeline view, I usually record in loop view then transfer the project to timeline view in order to add vocals for example.
See above
See above
You can mute a specific pattern or loop in Zenbeats.
Yes, but I have no clue what a free division is🤣
/ DMfan🇸🇪
Hi everyone,
Matt here from the Zenbeats team.
Currently Zenbeats LoopBuilder and Timeline modes are separate and there is not a way to trigger clips while in timeline view. Of course there are workarounds, for example, if you wanted a long clip playing (like an entire song), you could trigger that clip first and then trigger other parts you want to mix in and out, etc.
As for pattern lengths, yes you can go into a pattern and set the length to anything you want including disabling snap so lengths can actually fall in between grid lines if desired.
Cheers!
Matt
Thanks for looking at my messy essay!
“Free” division is the BM3 version of the “none” choice of midi quantization, except that it’s not exactly none or “free” in that it’s still a division, just a tiny tiny tiny one, still visible as a tick on a measure’s division that your notes snap to…
BM3 is still my favorite iPad DAW though now that I know Loopy Pro can do linear now I’m trying to get up to speed. AUM has been my go to due to the ability to have multiple AUv3s open at the same time, Loopy does this too so it may just fill the bill for BM3 and AUM. I also still love and use BM2 even though it can’t host AUv3s.
I used Loopy a couple years ago and really enjoyed it. I must try the new version. I hear it can do a lot more and works as a DAW.
I never liked the fact the mixer view looked small and I couldn't just see the mixer with longer faders, but maybe I didn't know how . I may have to upgrade my Loopy soon.
The mixer is much, much improved, but the faders are still essentially the same.
Truthfully, it doesn't matter except perceptually. You can control the faders with exceptional accuracy by moving your finger away from the fader without releasing your touch. Take a look at the thin white bar at the right of the screenshot below. That's me controlling the Orange color fader. Look at the throw length. You can also control faders with dedicated widgets that can be the full height of the screen if you like.
OK, if you need bigger meters, that's not addressed. That doesn't matter at all to me but ymmv of course.
Not trying to sell you on Loopy Pro. Just providing info regarding the last sentence in your post:
Edit: also thanks for reminding the name of the app (Stagelight!) when i first bought in. Though bought in is not quite right, i think it was a free entry and then a pittance footer the full version). I remember Linkin Park was closely involved with the project and had contributed sample banks…
Meantime, apologies for derailing the thread. To the topic, yeah I’m still using BM3. I’m promiscuous though, so i skip around among other DAWs. But I’m really enjoying BM3, it has workflow most like my preferred desktop app, though I wish it had DAWproject export format like Cubasis, which would make it the most direct way to ship between favorites across the 2 platforms. If wishes were horses…
Still my go-to to sketch something up using apps or hardware.
Sometimes I export tracks to finish up on reaper... or to and from AEMS on ios/android.
But most of the time I feel its reliable to do it all in BM3 in my old ipad mini 2
@MatthewAtZenbeats
In my opinion, Zenbeats had the potential to blow the competition out of the water—Drambo included—but it feels like the project has been abandoned. Here’s why:
1. It would be great if clips (or loops) could be launched freely instead of being forced into a specific order.
2. The clip recording workflow is bordering on ridiculous. You record, and then you still have to manually jump inside the loop to fix the In and Out points, even when it’s set to a 1-bar length.
3. The UI is terrible—it feels "clunky" and oversized. For 2026, this is honestly embarrassing.
4. It’s absurd that I constantly have to zoom in and out just to see the basic controls on a clip!
5. The Piano Roll is awful and poorly designed.
I’ve believed in this project since the early versions, thinking that as the revenue came in (and we’re talking about Roland here, for God's sake!), you would have drastically improved the app. Instead, you’ve done next to nothing. This is classic Roland: never listening to your customers and just doing whatever you feel like.