Updates, updates for everybody: Loopy HD 1.2 and Loopy 2.3

Loopy hd 1 2

The update has landed!

Loopy’s now slicker and meatier than ever, with a brand-spanking new audio engine — with some nifty new audio processing smarts and just ~6-7ms latency, which sounds absolutely fantastic — greatly improved punch in/out controls, multi-channel audio interface support, and a colossal amount of other improvements.

You can read more about the update here, grab Loopy HD (for the iPad and iPhone) or Loopy (for the iPhone) right now on the App Store, and talk about it on the forum.

You can also check out the new introductory tutorial — there’ll be more soon.

Many thanks to the testing team for their hard work making sure the new update is house-trained.

Happy looping!

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Brand New Loopy, Coming Real Soon

I’m very happy to say shiny new versions of Loopy and Loopy HD are on their way!

I’ve had my nose to the grindstone over the past months; I’ve taken Loopy’s insides out, given them a good, solid spit-and-polish, and put them back in. The result is a huge number of performance enhancements, much better quality audio processing, and a more robust engine (which, incidentally, is soon to start leading a life of its own). What it means for you: More stability, better audio quality, improved workflows, hugs, puppies.

It’s true that this is most significantly an internal-evolution release, but there’s also some new stuff in here.

Multi-Channel Audio Interface Support, Baby

The most exciting for the more serious musicians and tinkerers among us is new support for multi-channel audio inputs. When you have a stereo source plugged in, you’ll have a choice of whether to record stereo, mono left channel or mono right channel. If you have a device with more than 2 channels, then you’ll be able to select any stereo pair, or one particular channel.

Loopy HD multi-channel input support

Count-In Quantize Length

By popular demand, I’ve also added a “Count-In Quantize Length” setting, which lets you set how long you want Loopy to count in when recording, independently of the clock length. The default options syncs with the clock length, or you can set a specific duration from a quarter of a bar, up to 16 bars.

Huge Punch In/Out Improvement

I’ve also made a fairly significant change to the punch in and punch out mechanism.

In prior versions of Loopy, the actual punch in/out command is fired when you release — when the touch ends. That means that if you’re a slow toucher (it’s okay, no one’s judging you), you could miss the punch in/out point by tenths of a second. I went back to the drawing board, and came up with a new system: Loopy begins recording, in the background, as soon as you touch a track. If that touch ends up being a punch in/out gesture (instead of, say, opening the menu), then recording continues, beautifully in time. It’s much more intuitive, and I think will end up making it far easier to get perfect loop timing.

Toggle Track Sync Via MIDI

I’ve added a MIDI-triggerable action to toggle track synchronisation with a foot switch, which makes it easy to record irregular-length tracks, hands-free.

SoundCloud Update

I’ve integrated the snazzy new(ish) SoundCloud interface, which looks fantastic and also takes care of all the social network sharing stuff.

SoundCloud interface in Loopy HD

And finally, I’ve added a Japanese localization (こんにちは!), and updated the Italian one.

The update’s in beta testing right now, and I’m expecting to submit it to Apple next week.

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Major Loopy update: Our iOS live looper just got MIDI!

MIDI Update

I’m excited to announce the release of Loopy 2.2, and Loopy HD 1.1, which introduce features that the professional and semi-professional musicians are going to love: Trainable MIDI control, and MIDI clock sync!

Loopy can now be entirely controlled via external MIDI devices, via the Camera Connection Kit for iPad, or any one of a number of third party adapters for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

With Loopy, musicians can now accomplish the kind of setup that would otherwise cost hundreds of dollars in expensive, bulky specialised equipment to achieve.

Controllable actions include record toggle, mute toggle, record then automatically select next track, record then overdub, toggle record with no count-in/out, clear, re-record, solo, volume, pan, tempo adjust or tempo tap, pause, double or halve clock length…

The update also introduces MIDI clock sync: The clock can be synchronised, in either direction, with external devices, other software (such as Ableton Live) over WiFi, software running on other iOS devices via WiFi or Bluetooth, and even other compatible apps running on the same iOS device, via virtual MIDI!

Oh, yeah – one more thing: Loopy on the iPhone or iPod Touch can now run up to 12 channels. Yep. Layer it up, baby.

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Equipment: Busking with Loopy on a Budget

Loopy user and forum member fonyo recently wrote an article on the Loopy forum about busking with low-budget equipment and Loopy. There was some great information in the article, so I’ve reproduced it here with some editorial modifications.

I’ve been planning for a long time to do some busking. I’ve always been amazed by street musicians, and can watch them for hours. That’s why I’ve put together some thoughts on buying portable equipment.

In summary: For just a fraction more money than that saved by choosing Loopy instead of a single Boss RC-300 Loop Station, you can pick up a complete, high-quality busking setup, perfect for going out into the street and performing for the public.

Boss RC-300 vs Loopy

First, let me compare the new Boss RC-300 Loop Station with Loopy, not counting the iPhone’s/iPad’s price (because we love it and would buy it anyway!). I chose the RC-300 as it gives you the closest number of individual loop tracks you can record/overdub

Item Cost Number of tracks
Boss RC-300 £400 + 3 stereo
Loopy £2 6 stereo
Loopy HD £5 6, 9 or 12 stereo

My point is this: let’s forget the RC-300 and save that 400 quid for other stuff to buy so we can go out and play!

Equipment list

Here’s my equipment list. I tried to find a balance between price and quality, while also keeping in mind portability.

Item Cost
Loopy £2 / £5 HD
iRig G&I interface ~£25
iRig MIDI ~£50
iKlip MINI ~£25
MOTU ZBOX ~£32
BEHRINGER FCB1010 ~£95
BEHRINGER XENYX 1002 B ~£74
PylePro PWMA series ~£100-200

Let’s see the details of each. Loopy is obvious, it’s the “core” in our iDevice and the iKlip is holding it (e.g. on a mic stand).

iRig guitar & instrument interface is transferring the sound to the iDevice.

iRig MIDI to control Loopy through MIDI (I know it’s not capable of doing this yet but soon it will be!) and we connect a nice MIDI foot switch (cheap and smart) the Behringer FCB1010. This is the only thing which needs a power supply but I’m listing it as I would go for it anyway. I’m sure now that iRig MIDI and LINE6 Mobilizer II are released we will soon find many battery-operated or maybe even passive foot-switches for iDevices through MIDI.

I’m sorry to disappoint you, but an electric condenser mic like the iRig iMic just won’t give you a nice sound, and as the tests and reviews are showing it’s just not suited for professional use such as live quality street busking.

That’s why I came up with an idea of a small but powerful battery-operated mixer with enough inputs to handle your better quality microphones. You can also plug in your instruments or any device with line out, such as an iPod as a music source.

The mixer device is the Behringer XENYX 1002B which runs on two (!) 9VDC batteries. The main output of the mixer (your gig) goes into the iRig’s TRS input. As a nice optional hardware for electric guitars with pickups, I recommend the MOTU ZBOX. It’s a miracle for guitar sound, and it’s passive so it doesn’t require any current. The Behringer 1002B has 5mic-line input OR 2mic-line/6stereo input with 3bandEQ, 2aux etc.

Finally, the Public Address (PA). I’ve found real luggage-like battery powered speakers made by PylePro and those are just wicked! Low-budget but nice stuff. They have wheels and handle for easy relocating, EQ, and many other cool things built-in. They give you enough power to blow away your own head with guitar riffs, beatbox, singing, so you can just use Loopy to amaze your audience! The iRig’s output goes in the PylePro’s input, and there we are.

You do need to buy a mic, but this way nearly anything will sound better than that electric condenser.

Summary

For the money you avoided spending on a Boss RC-300 LS for £400 (vs. Loopy 2 HD for £5), you can pick up nearly all this equipment — the sum is between 400-550 depending on where and what you buy or not. Then, you’re good to go and show some real busking to the public and start a career like our Uncle Dub Fx!

You can discuss fonyo’s research at the Loopy forum.

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Update: Loopy 2.1.1 and Loopy HD 1.0.1

Loopy 2.1.1Updates to Loopy and Loopy HD have just hit the App Store!

Loopy 2.1.1 and Loopy HD 1.0.1 feature a number of bug fixes and iOS 5 compatibility fixes, as well as a few new features:

Configurable fade-in and fade-out

With this switched on, and with mute count-in/count-out enabled, the second tap on a playing or muted track will begin a fade in or out. A third tap will immediately play or mute the track. Without mute count-in/out, the first tap begins fade, the second plays or mutes immediately.

“Re-record” function

When clearing a track, this new function will cause the track to clear and begin recording again at the start of the next loop (or straight away, with count-in off)

“Chained mute” feature

If you mute a track (or tracks) while another track is counting in to record, then the muted track(s) will only mute after the recording ends, instead of at the next loop.

I hope you like the changes! Stay tuned for more.

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Featured Artist: Benjamin Poole

Love Theme (feat. the Tiny Instrument Orchestra)(Loopy) by benjaminpoole

Benjamin Poole’s creations with Loopy are beautifully whimsical, uplifting and sometimes melancholy tracks that feature second-hand and vintage toy instruments that Benjamin has found via Craigslist and through friends.

Judging by the quality of his work, I’d assumed that Benjamin was a professional musician experimenting with Loopy, but to my surprise, this is just his hobby: Benjamin’s a full time Communications major!

Benjamin can be found posting to SoundCloud as benjaminpoole.

Good Morning (Loopy Experiment) by benjaminpoole

You can hear what others are doing with Loopy at Loopy’s very active SoundClound group.

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