IOS - Loopy HD

Started by FreeTime, February 20, 2013, 11:27:37 PM

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FreeTime

Loopatron.

TransPAX.

AdNauseator.

But nooo, they called it LoopyHD. Now when I tell someone how awesome it is I have to call it 'Loopy' and they just don't take me seriously. This iPad looper has some features I wish the others had. I'll get the 2 bad points out of the way right away because flaws are few: One is the fragile nature of these tablets vs. the armor plated floor based units. Drop it once, spill a drink on it, knock your mic stand over while its strapped in: Its over and then you can really play the blues. The other bad thing is you'll have to buy an iPad if you don't already have one, mind you that in itself can be good because, Hey, iPad !!.

Now the good stuff:

Variable length loops: I recorded 4 bars of something rythm-y. Once finished, I tapped the 'X', then a second track. Now my second track becomes 8 bars (4X2), which I recorded while the initial loop repeated twice. Tap the 'X' again. You get 16 bars.  Tap the '/' (Divide). My fourth track was 8 bars long.   Much like the Pigtronics Infinity. This feature alone had me sold. How many bars long can your opus be ? I stopped after 2 million bars because that's over 1111 hours. Of course you can set your loop length by tapping too, no counting involved.

Stereo: Each track is pannable.

Tracks: 6. or 9. or 12. I found 6 tracks plenty and it gives lots of screen real estate to allow for sloppy gestures while I was playing guitar.

Overdub: To your hearts content if 12 tracks of cacaphony aren't enough. Or Merge to free up tracks.

Import: Loops from iTunes. Or your computer. Or Phone probably. Or Mic. Added bonus: Imported loops get scaled to your current loop length.

Shift time: you can timeshift loops to either line up rythm, or provide offbeats for that weird polyrhythmic feel.

Noise gate:  And expander so you can be your one-man-night-club.

MIDI: Yes. Remote stop/start/assigns. I counted, there are 26 things you can assign.

Metronome: This is the first looper where the tempo light is actually useful. The whole screen flashes brightly on the downbeat and dim on the others.

Audiobus: Is supported. Sort of like 'reWire' for the iPad, you can route things app to app. This puts it into the elite for audio apps as far as I'm concerned. Go Michael. I just hope the iPad has enough horsepower for crackle-free reverb and maybe another app or two while looping.

Progress Indicator: The best for last. Sometimes I just want to play. No practice, no rehearsal. Just noodle. For many minutes at a time. By the time I'm done I have a vague recollection of what I just played. On the RCs there is no indication of 'you are here' or 'this many seconds to go'. So for the next couple of tracks I focus more on what I just did on the last track and tend to mimic as opposed to being creative for fear of getting lost in time. But here, like a good sheperd, a glowing line guides you along the  path, a quick glance is enough to let you know where you are.

I haven't done it yet but I can probably control this via FC300 when the tablet is in an Alesis IO dock. For now even just swiping the screen works just fine and does all the functions. There is no manual for this and until I figured it out it was frustrating, but in all honesty I dove in without looking, and there are tutorials along with an active forum and the developer is currently not making this abandonware.

Matter of fact, here's something you probably won't see from Roland or the other manufacturers: As of this writing he is asking for what YOU want in a looper and has polls going on for features; he wants to know whats important to you. Unlike the faceless monolith that resides in a mirrored tower somewhere across the ocean, I'll bet if we wanted it he would even share the MIDI implementation with us. Except for the fact that you have to shell out $8 for this, it feels almost made in the spirit of Gumtown's Floorboard Editor(s).  Now some people might say the iPad is a toy but I say that I enjoy PLAYing music and this does just fine.


Elantric


Elantric

#2
FWIW - Despite its name, Loopy HD is a Universal IOS App - runs on iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad / iPad mini

https://itunes.apple.com/app/loopy-hd/id467923185?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

http://forum.loopyapp.com/discussion/7/faq-differences-between-loopy-and-loopy-hd/p1

Threeleggedyoyo

Yes, looked into that a while back. Still might give it a go at some point.

My main hangup is that my experience with software of any kind so far has been miserable. Try as I might, I've always ended up with a frustrating mess of settings and unacceptable lag.

That, and there is no Undo function.

But, I am willing to be proven wrong.

Also, can you store your loops on it? That's a nice part of the RC series. I don't use it for performances but it's invaluable for songwriting.

Elantric

#4
Quotemy experience with software of any kind so far has been miserable. Try as I might, I've always ended up with a frustrating mess of settings and unacceptable lag.

Bingo - thats always the "Unspoken" element with most software based systems that truly frustrates me.
The so called "pro" reviewers NEVER (or very seldom) bring up issues with lag, non usability in a pro environment,etc  - I'm starting to think its due to a "non-disclosure" gag order - because the folks getting paid to write the review surely should know these are crucial bits of information necessary to know before jumping in with a full software "virtual rig".

Its rather like the Microsoft paradigm, ship bloated software and pray that in 3 years Intel will have computers available to consumers that can run the bloatware smoothly.

In 2013 its much better than 2009 in these issues.

But I'm aware there remains several behind the scenes "unspoken topics" between the marketing departments and consumers with all the gear we use.

Case in point is my TriplePlay review where the FTP system i played triggering softsynths on a mac was very close, but slower than my GR-55 triggering GR-55 internal sounds. and all I hear from the developer is :
I have seen here on the previous pages opinions that describe as a matter of fact that the Triple Play has a latency in the range of 40 msec. This is wrong. The latency -- as it can be described best in the usual manner, from the picking until the MIDI signal, considering a "best case" for a given pitch on the guitar -- is about 14 msec at the lowest pitch of the guitar, and goes down to about 6 msec in the high range, so the specification is almost exactly the same as the AXON. No wonder, this is determined by the laws of physics. Of course, for an audible result you have to add whatever latency your computer / soft synth / audio interface generates

My PCs/Macs measure 12 milliseconds to " add whatever latency your computer / soft synth / audio interface generates"

Others say they have this down to 3 milliseconds - but they often neglect to tell you those low latency numbers  can only be realized when using a $1500 RME Audio Interface 

bbob

This guy has it figured out:



Bob

Elantric

#6
QuoteThis guy has it figured out:


Agreed! - well worth watching!


http://www.facebook.com/Marcdetriumphe
...first video with my Loop Station. The Song is called "Isnt it".

Everything is performed live. I´ve used Loopy HD and Multitrack DAW on the IPad to record this song.

Used Hardware:

- IPad 3
- Fireface UCX in CC-Mode
- Behringer FCB1010
- Boss OC-3 SuperOctaver
- Boss AW-3 AutoWahWah
- Rode NT2
- Epiphone Masterbuild
- Behringer Xenyx
- TC Helicon T1

If u like it pls share ;-)

mbenigni

QuoteVariable length loops: I recorded 4 bars of something rythm-y. Once finished, I tapped the 'X', then a second track. Now my second track becomes 8 bars (4X2), which I recorded while the initial loop repeated twice. Tap the 'X' again. You get 16 bars.  Tap the '/' (Divide). My fourth track was 8 bars long.   Much like the Pigtronics Infinity. This feature alone had me sold. How many bars long can your opus be ? I stopped after 2 million bars because that's over 1111 hours. Of course you can set your loop length by tapping too, no counting involved.

That's cool, but it's basically the same multiply feature we've seen on high-end loopers for decades.  I still don't see why software loopers can't arm for an arbitrarily long length when an overdub begins, and then truncate to the lowest multiple of the first loop when you press Stop/Play again.  This would allow you to set up your typical rhythmic figure of a bar or two, then lay down a chord sequence of some arbitrary length on top, play a melody over that, and so on, without ever having to stop and do the math.  Plenty of jazz tunes, for instance, have heads or choruses that are not multiples of 4 bars in length.  Why not just let the player play until, you know, the part is done?

mbenigni

And a couple of unrelated questions:

The video above is captioned "...first video with my Loop Station."  Does he just mean "my looper"?  There isn't a Boss Loop Station involved in addition to Loopy HD, is there?

He mentions use of the CCK and the RME Fireface.  But isn't the RME a firewire device, whereas the CCK provides a USB 2.0 interface?

Re: AudioBus, is there a minimum iOS version requirement?  i.e. Is it supported for iOS 5 or are us generation 1 guys out of luck?

Similarly, has anyone tested Loopy HD on the iPad 1, and how were your results?  I tried to get some satisfaction out of Everyday Looper for a while - very innovative UI, but the lag and audio quality just killed it for me.

Elantric

#9
Quote.first video with my Loop Station."  Does he just mean "my looper"?

I think he's simply referring to his entire Rig

- IPad 3
- Fireface UCX in CC-Mode
- Behringer FCB1010
- Boss OC-3 SuperOctaver
- Boss AW-3 AutoWahWah
- Rode NT2
- Epiphone Masterbuild
- Behringer Xenyx
- TC Helicon T1

QuoteHe mentions use of the CCK and the RME Fireface.  But isn't the RME a firewire device, whereas the CCK provides a USB 2.0 interface?

Nope the RME UCX is a recent combo Firewire / USB Model that works with iPAD + CCK
(they recommend the RME UCX on the Auria IOS Recording app Forum)
http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_fireface_ucx.php
http://auriaapp.com/Support/auria-audio-interfaces

Quote
Re: AudioBus, is there a minimum iOS version requirement?  i.e. Is it supported for iOS 5 or are us generation 1 guys out of luck?
http://audiobus.tumblr.com/
https://itunes.apple.com/app/audiobus/id558513570?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

QuoteSimilarly, has anyone tested Loopy HD on the iPad 1, and how were your results?


Not going to be as low latency as an Ipad 2, due to buffer size restrictions with older Apple hardware -

Ipad 2 is now the minimum version for Real time Audio work. But wait for April 2013 and the next 5th gen iPad for an even faster CPU.
http://www.padgadget.com/2013/02/19/analyst-predicts-april-announcement-for-5th-gen-ipad/

More here:
http://forum.loopyapp.com/discussions

and this thread is worth reading for Loopy Low Latency suggestions.
http://forum.loopyapp.com/discussion/comment/3247#Comment_3247

mbenigni

Thanks very much!  Incredibly knowledgeable as always.

Elantric

Another IOS Looper - Loopesque

--
Feb 22 2013
With Advanced MIDI Controls, Radial Loopseque App on iPad Gets More Interesting

by Peter Kirn

Loopseque-MIDI

In a world of $5 apps and no upgrade fees, the fear of abandonware casts its shadow on the otherwise lush gardens of the App Store. (The spectre was raised just yesterday by iMaschine lovers eager for new functionality.)

Here's a terrific counter-example. Loopseque was a compelling app when released; we covered its launch and design in 2010, complete with one of my favorite images from an iOS story on CDM, impromptu ballpoint-pen sketches of its circular interface.

Loopseque hasn't just gotten updates. It's gotten MIDI functionality so rich that it could be worth a second look, even if you skipped it the first time around.

Using this wild-looking circular layout, you can now output events and clocks, build chords, get fine-grained control of envelopes, and assign controls to pads. In fact, all in all, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a visual sequencer this robust beyond your desktop computer – and there, direct control of parameters is tough without a separate MIDI controller.

New in this release:

    MIDI (iPad 2 or higher):
    • MIDI-out: Clock, Events, CC, Latency.
    • MIDI-in: Clock.

    New layout for MIDI events:
    • MIDI note for each circle: channel, velocity, volume, root key.
    • Attack, Release, Start and Length for each note.
    • Chord maker presets.
    • New layout for MIDI assignable CCs: 4 pads controllers for X/Y parameters, sliders and buttons.

And there's more:

    Other features:
    • Retina Display.
    • Background audio.
    • New BPM control.
    • Minor GUI improves.
    • OMAC support.
    • WIST now works fine like master and slave.
    • Loopseque Store on iOS 6.

While Audiobus tops the feature list request for many, here I think MIDI may be even more powerful, because it makes Loopseque a beautiful companion to hardware. I'll be messing about with it, certainly – and this is one of those apps that hadn't gotten much use since I first tried it. I expect that to change.

loopseque-MIDI-editor

Details:
http://loopseque.com/loopseque-for-ipad/

See also their nice featured artist section and a location to share sample sets, helping along the longevity of this app, without question.

Elantric


mordecai

Anyone know a way to use PCs to call up certain songs in Loopy HD? It's got really great midi binding to functions but not seeing a way to do this and I may be looking in the wrong area.

What I am trying to do is use OnSong to call up a certain set of prerecorded loops when I switch to a song. I have it changing my voicelive 3 and beat buddy but don't see anything about this for loopy. Or GarageBand for that matter. What I am wanting to do is make drum loops and eventually other instruments that I've created in Logic and imported into loopy. I have been using the looper on the VL3 via loop markers but it's just to limited. Any advice is welcome!