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synthjacker update?

13

Comments

  • @McD said:
    This is what my notes say about the AudioLayer import steps:

    Next, tap on the AudioLayer "Football field" input.
    Select Import sample
    Navigate to "On my iPad/Synthjacker/{Name_of_Instrument Folder}"
    Choose Select
    Choose Select All
    (Unselect the SynthJacker created SFZ file, you won't be using it... probably doesn't matter really).
    Choose Open
    Choose "Auto Map [File Name]"

    To create useful instruments I found that a total recoding time of less than 13 minutes was required. At the time the max allowed was 10 seconds. I liked 4 notes per octave and tried to
    created 10-12 layers but the total recessing time came to over 20 minutes and would break AudioLayer.

    So, I started dialing back my settings and dropped the 4 notes per octave on the outer edges of the keyboard and reduced the number of layers to get down to below 13 minutes. I ended deciding to use 4 layers. To go towards NS2 as my production sampler I will pick 3 layers... probably 20, 60, 100 for velocity inputs.

    Pitch shifting a single note below C2 seems to be acceptable and pitch shifting the top C to C6 seems to also work for me. I was very focused on wanting a light weight clone of Collossus Piano which crashes in every DAW but sounds amazing in standalone format.

    I did get a useful piano using these changes to my requirements that serves my needs.
    But that piano with strings, brass, oboe, etc terminates AudioLayer in a DAW due to the 340MB limits of shared RAM. So, I quit trying and use my instruments in AUM just like I use
    BeatHawk, Ravenscroft, iSymphonic, etc. Then the DAW fails to render past 5 tracks.

    So, 3 layer instruments (created with SynthJacker) for NS2 looks like the target for what I would like to use on IOS for making film score style music.

    SynthJacker is a useful utility and the other problems are platform and application related.
    Importing the 6GB "Piano in 162" SFZ breaks every DAW with SFZ import support except Auria Pro. But inside Auria Pro you can only run a few big instruments before hitting the crackling and stability issues related to the fact that IOS CPU's are NOT as capable as a 2010 desktops for multi-processing, realtime applications. Not because Apple makes them suck but because they are air cooled chips with simplified system architectures using solid state storage designed to be cheap. Tradeoffs, my friends, tradeoffs.

    Logic Pro X can run 1,000 tracks of audio on the new Mac. We can run how many in any DAW? 30 maybe? Tradeoffs.

    McD: I have the Piano in 162 in AudioLayer on my iPad Gen 6. In my opinion, despite the larger sample set, it doesn’t sound as good as the Salamander piano.

  • @espiegel123 said:
    McD: I have the Piano in 162 in AudioLayer on my iPad Gen 6. In my opinion, despite the larger sample set, it doesn’t sound as good as the Salamander piano.

    They do have different characters. The "Piano in 162" has 2 types of mic locations and a lot of pedal noise recording, etc. None of which could be used in AudioLayer I suspect.

    Salamander is a great "good enough" piano and the 24-bit in Auria Pro is probably my favorite piano but for daily use I just grab "Ravenscroft 275" for the best combination of
    sound quality, app stability and speed of loading. Colossus piano for example takes 20-30 seconds to change presets. Arg.

    I gave up on these huge instances of sample sets preferring to get to 10-20 tracks of instruments and only NS2 seems to be a solution for me. Still, I have to synthjack all my AUv3 products to get there. Batch capabilities might help. It took Scott a month of work to make his library to craft that composition in NS2.

  • @McD i like that quote “I have to SynthJack’em”

    Super cool!👍🏼🤗

  • wimwim
    edited November 2019

    @Tones4Christ said:
    Something weird just happened. After reboot still had dsp going too high.
    So i deleted the instrument but kept all the samples in the AudioLayer files app folder.

    This time instead of selecting the middle option in AudioLayer, I selected the one to the right called import samples.

    This did the job! It automatically mapped the samples. dSP use is like less than 10% as opposed to over 30% before. I dont get it.

    Only weird thing is that when i play the keyboard in AudioLayer only the very top layer on the screen seems to respond. I don’t know how to activate the bottom two layers.

    The keyboard in the standalone app isn't velocity sensitive (which is totally stupid). If you load it as an AU in Audiobus, and use the AB keyboard, or if you use another velocity sensitive keyboard, you will be able to trigger the other layers.

  • Ah that makes sense. Will try it out.

    @wim said:

    @Tones4Christ said:
    Something weird just happened. After reboot still had dsp going too high.
    So i deleted the instrument but kept all the samples in the AudioLayer files app folder.

    This time instead of selecting the middle option in AudioLayer, I selected the one to the right called import samples.

    This did the job! It automatically mapped the samples. dSP use is like less than 10% as opposed to over 30% before. I dont get it.

    Only weird thing is that when i play the keyboard in AudioLayer only the very top layer on the screen seems to respond. I don’t know how to activate the bottom two layers.

    The keyboard in the standalone app isn't velocity sensitive (which is totally stupid). If you load it as an AU in Audiobus, and use the AB keyboard, or if you use another velocity sensitive keyboard, you will be able to trigger the other layers.

  • Wow, i think i got the hang of SynthJacker guys!!! I love it!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

    Sampling like crazy all my favorite IAA synths! I think the simplest way to create the sample in AudioLayer is to import the Samples straight from the SynthJacker files app folder, in other words once you get at the point where you have to tell AudioLayer where the samples are located, simply select import samples and point AudioLayer to the SynthJacker audio samples folder.
    Then the next step AudioLayer asks whether to use what type of mapping; i select auto mapping by file name the middle option. And Bam! It imports all and automaps them!

  • Automap is best AudioLayer feature.

  • Yeh, I'm inspired to do more sampling now that velocity layer import works smoothly and now that I really understand SynthJacker's BYOF feature. :)

    @coniferprod, one tiny beef: When tapping the sample and release length adjusters a bazillion times to adjust the length, each tap causes the whole screen to refresh. It's pretty tedious. I wonder if that could be improved? If not I'll live with it. ;)

    iPad Air2, iOS 12.3.1.

  • @wim said:
    Yeh, I'm inspired to do more sampling now that velocity layer import works smoothly and now that I really understand SynthJacker's BYOF feature. :)

    @coniferprod, one tiny beef: When tapping the sample and release length adjusters a bazillion times to adjust the length, each tap causes the whole screen to refresh. It's pretty tedious. I wonder if that could be improved? If not I'll live with it. ;)

    iPad Air2, iOS 12.3.1.

    Thanks for reporting, I'll look into it. By the way, you can make bigger adjustments with tapping-and-holding the plus/minus buttons, does that help as a workaround? Although I haven't found the refresh annoying, I also have an iPad Air 2 but with iPadOS 13.1.

  • Yeah!!! I wanna thank you all guys! I thought sampling was sooooo hard but with Th e latest SynthJacker update, man, it is a super breeze!

    I even made a AB3 preset hosting Xequence 2, AUM, to be able to switch back and forth and remote start AUM recording the midi file created by SynthJacker. Question, can we basically use the same midi file all the time?

    Well, it’s working great for me and i am totally loving it. What i need to now figure out, do i need to delete the file created by SynthJacker Recorded into AUM and just keep the output files?
    I don’t wanna have duplicates of everything all over.

    Anyways, SynthJacker rules!!!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

  • @Tones4Christ said:
    Wow, i think i got the hang of SynthJacker guys!!! I love it!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

    Sampling like crazy all my favorite IAA synths!

    That's the way you do it! I guess I could/should do more tutorial material than the manual and the few videos, but great that you now got the hang of it, and AudioLayer too.

  • @Tones4Christ said:
    Wow, i think i got the hang of SynthJacker guys!!! I love it!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

    Sampling like crazy all my favorite IAA synths! I think the simplest way to create the sample in AudioLayer is to import the Samples straight from the SynthJacker files app folder, in other words once you get at the point where you have to tell AudioLayer where the samples are located, simply select import samples and point AudioLayer to the SynthJacker audio samples folder.
    Then the next step AudioLayer asks whether to use what type of mapping; i select auto mapping by file name the middle option. And Bam! It imports all and automaps them!

    Bingo. It's truly magical when you get the workflow down.

    I probably made 30 instruments before I gave up. Near the end I deleted AudioLayer and re-installed it to use a different storage strategy (getting the iCloud decision out of my install). So, I ended up with 5-6 synth jack'ed AUv3 clones and about a dozen ESX24 imported instruments.

    If synthjacker added ESX24 details it might be able to include extra metadata but only AudioLayer seems to support ESX24 and no other IOS sampler. Apple also started to produce instances of ESX24 exports that will not import into AudioLayer.

    If AudioLayer could pull instruments out of SF2 soundfonts that might be helpful.

    I wish the industry kept working to make more interoperability formats for this type of
    soundfont sharing.

    Synthjacker is a great way around of the lack of formats... external hardware can also be cloned with little effort. Being able to list and send Bank/Program Change numbers and suck the contents out of a hardware target would be a great weekend IOS task. Then pull the resulting folders into your favorite sample playback engine and audition the results. Having the ability to copy the folders to an external USB hard drive (or better yet to write the folders there) Is helpful to make very large collections of files.

  • @Tones4Christ now that you have the basics down you should check out @richardyot thread about shortening the time for SJ to do its thing. Also, note that you can include effects when sampling to get that little extra sumpin when you need it.

  • @coniferprod said:

    @wim said:
    Yeh, I'm inspired to do more sampling now that velocity layer import works smoothly and now that I really understand SynthJacker's BYOF feature. :)

    @coniferprod, one tiny beef: When tapping the sample and release length adjusters a bazillion times to adjust the length, each tap causes the whole screen to refresh. It's pretty tedious. I wonder if that could be improved? If not I'll live with it. ;)

    iPad Air2, iOS 12.3.1.

    Thanks for reporting, I'll look into it. By the way, you can make bigger adjustments with tapping-and-holding the plus/minus buttons, does that help as a workaround? Although I haven't found the refresh annoying, I also have an iPad Air 2 but with iPadOS 13.1.

    OK, yeh, holding the +/- is better.

    [edit] ahh ... I found that scrolling the screen all the way to the bottom stops the jumping around with each number change that I was seeing. That was the issue. When not scrolled down all the way, the screen jumps up and down with each number change. OK, I'm all good with it now.

  • @Tones4Christ said:
    Yeah!!! I wanna thank you all guys! I thought sampling was sooooo hard but with Th e latest SynthJacker update, man, it is a super breeze!

    I even made a AB3 preset hosting Xequence 2, AUM, to be able to switch back and forth and remote start AUM recording the midi file created by SynthJacker. Question, can we basically use the same midi file all the time?

    You can use the same midi file if the number of notes, velocities, and length parameters are the same. I find that I want different settings for some kinds of apps. For instance a pad is going to need much longer notes and release than a bass patch. Also, many synth patches don't sound much different at different velocities, so there's no need for many layers. But, if you find a set of parameters that works most of the time for you, then no reason to change.

    Well, it’s working great for me and i am totally loving it. What i need to now figure out, do i need to delete the file created by SynthJacker Recorded into AUM and just keep the output files?

    You don't need to delete the file, but you also don't need it any longer.

  • Forgot to ask if you guys are normalizing the samples put out by SynthJacker?

    I notices all my samples are playing back at -12 and i just checked SynthJacker and my normalization switch was off😳😴🤯

  • @Tones4Christ said:
    Forgot to ask if you guys are normalizing the samples put out by SynthJacker?

    I notices all my samples are playing back at -12 and i just checked SynthJacker and my normalization switch was off😳😴🤯

    I did not normalize samples in the SynthJacker defaults. Probably to insure my pianos could
    play very soft velocities. Above velocity = 60 it just seems to change the tone. I crave a piano that can also play velocities below 20 and soft very light and delicate. I think normalizing might loose that delicacy. This is the kind of details that you should run repeated trials and decide what the end impact is when you play the instrument at the end of the work.

    I liked a lot of very small SFZ pianos at normal playing levels but I realized they had few layers and no change in tone with dynamics. For a lot of complex music they fit well in the mix and cut through nicely.

    For solo playing they just don't pass the sniff test.

    People can get obsessive about making sample sets. Thankfully they turn them into products.

  • wimwim
    edited November 2019

    @Tones4Christ said:
    Forgot to ask if you guys are normalizing the samples put out by SynthJacker?

    I notices all my samples are playing back at -12 and i just checked SynthJacker and my normalization switch was off😳😴🤯

    I recommend normalizing the BYOF file but not normalizing the individual samples. Normalizing the file before slicing brings everything up relatively. Normalizing individual samples reverses the effect of playing them at lower velocities.

    If you don’t want to normalize, then check your AUM channel levels carefully to be sure things aren’t recording too low.

    A quick check of the BYOF in an audio editor is important to trim off any empty space that may have occurred before the first sample. This is a good time to normalize as well.

  • @wim said:

    @Tones4Christ said:
    Forgot to ask if you guys are normalizing the samples put out by SynthJacker?

    I notices all my samples are playing back at -12 and i just checked SynthJacker and my normalization switch was off😳😴🤯

    I recommend normalizing the BYOF file but not normalizing the individual samples. Normalizing the file before slicing brings everything up relatively. Normalizing individual samples reverses the effect of playing them at lower velocities.

    If you don’t want to normalize, then check your AUM channel levels carefully to be sure things aren’t recording too low.

    A quick check of the BYOF in an audio editor is important to trim off any empty space that may have occurred before the first sample. This is a good time to normalize as well.

    These are great ideas. I was just using the AUv3 Hosting feature of Synthjacker and not
    getting the ability to listen to the recording. Using @wim's approach of exporting the MIDI generating file and creating a recording in an external DAW gives you the chance to fine tune your levels. I was OK with the results I was getting from SynthJacker but I recall using normalize of the sample in AudioLayer too if a sample was too low. My experiments were trying to find the upper end of Number_of_NotesLayersSample_Time < 13 minutes for stability reasons. Too long and the recording would crash.

    But creating a workflow that allows you to monitor and normalize the whole instrument capture is very wise. Normalizing the whole range of velocities insures you can maintain some relative dynamics and have reasonable gain structure.

  • @lukesleepwalker said:
    @Tones4Christ now that you have the basics down you should check out @richardyot thread about shortening the time for SJ to do its thing. Also, note that you can include effects when sampling to get that little extra sumpin when you need it.

    Yes, IMO it's much more efficient to use a DAW like Cubasis rather than a real-time player like AUM, because you can generate a mixdown instead of slowly playing through the note range. Trust me, the sampling will be 10x faster:

    https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/35665/tip-to-considerably-speed-up-synthjacker-sampling

  • @Tones4Christ said:
    Wow, i think i got the hang of SynthJacker guys!!! I love it!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

    Sampling like crazy all my favorite IAA synths! I think the simplest way to create the sample in AudioLayer is to import the Samples straight from the SynthJacker files app folder, in other words once you get at the point where you have to tell AudioLayer where the samples are located, simply select import samples and point AudioLayer to the SynthJacker audio samples folder.
    Then the next step AudioLayer asks whether to use what type of mapping; i select auto mapping by file name the middle option. And Bam! It imports all and automaps them!

    Right, question: I have so far mainly used Synthjacker for creating .sfz files for Auria. That has also meant moving instruments from SynthJacker to Auria folder. Now, I don't have AudioLayer, but was thinking I should probably get it as it is on sale, and that would enable me to use the instruments in other DAWs/apps too. Is it possible to point AudioLayer to the same Auria folder that I already have some .sfz files in, and thus save on storage space by only having my instruments stored in one place (but used in several)?

  • @hellquist said:
    AudioLayer to the same Auria folder that I already have some .sfz files in, and thus save on storage space by only having my instruments stored in one place (but used in several)?

    I think AudioLayer has 2 file storage options (local and iCloud) for the instrument samples.
    When you autoload the Synthjacker's samples AudioLayer copies those files into the configured file system target. You may then remove or archive (to external USB storage) the synthjacker folder.

    AudioLayer's iCloud option sound like a good idea but loading a large sampled object can take minutes... not good for live work or fast workflow.

    The Lyra sample player in Auria Pro doesn't seem to have these loading problems. I think Auria exposes it's instrument folders to other apps so AudioLayer could load then samples from that location but it will make a 2nd copy in it's own storage scheme that is NOT visible in the Files app. AudioLayer does export instruments. At this point the SFZ file will be lost and Auria Pro cannot function without one.

    I have this is all accurate. It might save someone a few steps. For me using AudioLayer with local storage was the only option I could live with. Deleting it and starting my imports again was needed but a lot of my early synthjacker acquired instruments were really bad and needed a lot of hand editing in AudioLayer to be playable. Updates to SynthJacker solve most of my issues with the only issue unresolved when I quit being the length samples.
    For acoustic instruments I want really long samples to avoid looping at all costs. AudioLayer's looping has artifacts in many cases.

  • Thanks @McD. So that means it will double up on storage space no matter how I do. Not the end of the world, but good to know and take into account.

  • @hellquist said:
    Thanks @McD. So that means it will double up on storage space no matter how I do. Not the end of the world, but good to know and take into account.

    Getting @Virsyn (dev of audio layer) to add new features to his apps is really hard. He likes to get them out and re-coup $'s for the effort and then move on to the next app. No doc's and rarely a significant update like re-thinking storage/files issues or creating new SoundFont load options. There were hints SFZ (or maybe SF2's) would be supported but I gave up waiting. Too many support issues. But "as is" AudioLayer is great and the option to import
    samples from different apps is an area worth exploring but @richardyot has made it clear you can create a multi-track instrument in Cubasis and mix it down to BYOD audio file for chopping in SynthJacker. The MIDI file SynthJacker preps can be used as you create audio files from many sources and create with/without FX variants like Ravenscroft 275 provides.
    The FX options in AudioLayer however are really, really good and you can save versions of an instrument there with different interest FX and Filtering options.

  • I’m not sure if it will double up, but if the Auria folder is visible in the files app then you should be able to point AudioLayer to that folder and import the samples from there.

    @hellquist said:
    Thanks @McD. So that means it will double up on storage space no matter how I do. Not the end of the world, but good to know and take into account.

  • Thanks Wim!

    @wim said:

    @Tones4Christ said:
    Forgot to ask if you guys are normalizing the samples put out by SynthJacker?

    I notices all my samples are playing back at -12 and i just checked SynthJacker and my normalization switch was off😳😴🤯

    I recommend normalizing the BYOF file but not normalizing the individual samples. Normalizing the file before slicing brings everything up relatively. Normalizing individual samples reverses the effect of playing them at lower velocities.

    If you don’t want to normalize, then check your AUM channel levels carefully to be sure things aren’t recording too low.

    A quick check of the BYOF in an audio editor is important to trim off any empty space that may have occurred before the first sample. This is a good time to normalize as well.

  • @hellquist said:
    Thanks @McD. So that means it will double up on storage space no matter how I do. Not the end of the world, but good to know and take into account.

    It isn't ckear that it uses more storage space. It depends on how AudioLayer copies the files. IOS has a clever but confusing mechanism
    by which copied files are aliases to the original file until one or the other file is changed.

  • @espiegel123 said:

    @hellquist said:
    Thanks @McD. So that means it will double up on storage space no matter how I do. Not the end of the world, but good to know and take into account.

    It isn't ckear that it uses more storage space. It depends on how AudioLayer copies the files. IOS has a clever but confusing mechanism
    by which copied files are aliases to the original file until one or the other file is changed.

    Well, one thing I do not wish it to do is to "eat" the samples in the location I point it to, as I would still need them there for the sake of the .sfz instrument in Auria/Lyra. I would need them to stay right where they are, intact. :)

  • @hellquist said:

    @espiegel123 said:

    @hellquist said:
    Thanks @McD. So that means it will double up on storage space no matter how I do. Not the end of the world, but good to know and take into account.

    It isn't ckear that it uses more storage space. It depends on how AudioLayer copies the files. IOS has a clever but confusing mechanism
    by which copied files are aliases to the original file until one or the other file is changed.

    Well, one thing I do not wish it to do is to "eat" the samples in the location I point it to, as I would still need them there for the sake of the .sfz instrument in Auria/Lyra. I would need them to stay right where they are, intact. :)

    I don't understand the point you are making.

    Importing them into AudioLayer doesn't move them.

  • @espiegel123 said:

    @hellquist said:

    @espiegel123 said:

    @hellquist said:
    Thanks @McD. So that means it will double up on storage space no matter how I do. Not the end of the world, but good to know and take into account.

    It isn't ckear that it uses more storage space. It depends on how AudioLayer copies the files. IOS has a clever but confusing mechanism
    by which copied files are aliases to the original file until one or the other file is changed.

    Well, one thing I do not wish it to do is to "eat" the samples in the location I point it to, as I would still need them there for the sake of the .sfz instrument in Auria/Lyra. I would need them to stay right where they are, intact. :)

    I don't understand the point you are making.

    Importing them into AudioLayer doesn't move them.

    Good. Thanks. I wasn't trying to make a point, I was trying to figure out how it works before I purchase it.

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