Audiobus: Use your music apps together.

What is Audiobus?Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.

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Loop Pedal | Setup / Controller Discussion in anticipation of Loopy Pro

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Comments

  • +1 Morningstar!

    I've been looping since the mid 90s, when I bought my first Lexicon JamMan, and have EHX, Pigtronix, and Electrix loopers that I use regularly. I've used FCB1010, SoftStep, and others, but the Morninstar MC8 is the best I have used yet!

    That Nektar also looks quite capable however - I would opt for individual switches to start/stop, rec, reverse, etc. Long presses with your feet can be troublesome!

  • edited October 2021

    Here's an interesting one - I just picked up a second hand SL Mixface, 8 faders, 8 pots, 8 buttons (+other stuff).

    What's unique ( I think) is that it is bluetooth (or wired) and offers a USB host port, so in theory you could plug a USB footswitch controller in (like an Actition) and it would pass the midi on over bluetooth.

    Additionally, I intend on occasion to send Loopy Pro via Studiomux into Ableton on a laptop, and then to Endlesss studio for some online jamming with a friend. The SL Mixface can be simultaneously USB wired to a laptop as an Ableton mixer and then also connected as an iOS bluetooth controller, just a knob turn to change from one mode to the other. As an IOS controller you could use it however you wanted and, subject to further tests, connect whatever else you wanted.

    This thread/post by @cuscolima shows it connected with a Beatstep:

    https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/32807/looking-for-faders-sl-mixface/p1

  • @supadom said:
    Surprised nobody’s suggested this guy yet!

    Brilliant innovation!

    If I might appropriate your idea, I believe some dust may have to find another home!

  • wimwim
    edited October 2021

    The Blue Velvet Streambyter script can extend Blueboard by recognizing something like 9 different tap types per switch. If you're a skilled tap-dancer you can trigger something like 36 different actions from one Blueboard. I have an unpublished Mozaic equivalent somewhere around here as well.

  • @supadom said:
    Surprised nobody’s suggested this guy yet!

    Still one of my favorites! I just wish KMI would come out with a simpler version with a solid, single press mode and a true raised back row. I've had both the 1 and the 2, and they did raise the back row slightly on the 2, but nowhere near enough. I built a custom mount for it that angles it about 30 degrees, but I still have to put the rubber bumpers on it to get consistent clicks. Have always loved the depth of control, though it's almost too much control.

    But you can't beat the size, durability and configurability of the softstep.

  • edited October 2021

    @rad3d said:

    @supadom said:
    Surprised nobody’s suggested this guy yet!

    Still one of my favorites! I just wish KMI would come out with a simpler version with a solid, single press mode and a true raised back row. I've had both the 1 and the 2, and they did raise the back row slightly on the 2, but nowhere near enough. I built a custom mount for it that angles it about 30 degrees, but I still have to put the rubber bumpers on it to get consistent clicks.

    Exactly. I thought mine was broken until I realised that sensors are inside the corners so tapping in the middle of each pad was not very effective.

    Have always loved the depth of control, though it's almost too much control.

    Yes, there’s absolutely such a thing as too much control! That’s why I’m always super sceptical about things like the proposed above blue velvet where one pedal has many functions depending on tapping technique.


  • Can’t wait Loopy pro ! :s
    Morning star mc6 usb battery powered with CME Bluetooth option. MC6 is perfect ( fills tweakable ) but i hate footswitch ( i play barefoot :p )

  • @Better_w_headphone said:

    Can’t wait Loopy pro ! :s
    Morning star mc6 usb battery powered with CME Bluetooth option. MC6 is perfect ( fills tweakable ) but i hate footswitch ( i play barefoot :p )

    Looks like a killer setup.

  • Anyone used an AirTurn for this?

  • I still think the Line6 FBV Shortboard is a great controller with the right configurability, feel and layout. USB powered and built like a tank. Can be found for less than $100.

  • @dokwok2 said:
    Anyone used an AirTurn for this?

    Yes, I use a bt-200 6 button airturn, very versatile and extremely long battery life. Highly configurable, the only thing it’s missing for me is an expression pedal input, but then I don’t always need that. If I do I’ve got an FBV mkii as recommended by @rad3d, for me the real daddy of foot control.

    However… if you’re feet are feeling lazy and you play guitar, I recently discovered the Livid Guitar wing - now sadly out of production, but a truly brilliant innovation for the sofa based Bluetooth looper:

  • @steve99 said:
    However… if you’re feet are feeling lazy and you play guitar, I recently discovered the Livid Guitar wing - now sadly out of production, but a truly brilliant innovation for the sofa based Bluetooth looper:

    I was a beta tester for the Guitar Wing. Great idea, though I think they tried to put just a little too much on it and it ended up being a little bulky. My preference would have been to put about 4-6 buttons that I could place down below the bridge, or up a little more on the bottom of the body. Worked into a couple of experimental live shows a few years back. Unfortunately, collecting dust right now.

  • Icon’s g-board is pretty good. I like that it’s flat, so it’s easy to use even when sitting.

  • @rad3d said:

    @steve99 said:
    However… if you’re feet are feeling lazy and you play guitar, I recently discovered the Livid Guitar wing - now sadly out of production, but a truly brilliant innovation for the sofa based Bluetooth looper:

    I was a beta tester for the Guitar Wing. Great idea, though I think they tried to put just a little too much on it and it ended up being a little bulky. My preference would have been to put about 4-6 buttons that I could place down below the bridge, or up a little more on the bottom of the body. Worked into a couple of experimental live shows a few years back. Unfortunately, collecting dust right now.

    Dust it off I reckon, the Loopy Pro Guitar Wing revival is just around the corner :) Personally I don't find it too bulky, it's stuck on my Strat and it doesn't bother me if I'm not using it. However, I'm using it all the time as it's just that little bit less hassle than setting up a foot controller (that's not hard I admit, but I'm talking about end of day on the sofa, just before sleep energy levels).

    For Quantiloop it gives me four loops buttons and FX controls, then I also have it turning pedals on and off in TH-U (or whichever amp sim) and preset switching. Can't wait to try it with Loopy Pro.

  • @mistercharlie said:
    Icon’s g-board is pretty good. I like that it’s flat, so it’s easy to use even when sitting.

    I bought one of these a couple of years ago. It works well when it does…..

    It was second hand so I cannot vouch for how much abuse it has received by the previous owner but with me some switches literally fell apart. I ended up chucking it in the bin.

    Having said that, most of my gear is second hand and it generally works fine. I’ve noticed some build quality issues with icon gear so I’m tempted to say it’s the gear and not the abuser’s fault.

  • @mistercharlie said:
    Dust it off I reckon, the Loopy Pro Guitar Wing revival is just around the corner :)

    Probably so. I've been waiting on a reason to dust it off.

    Personally I don't find it too bulky, it's stuck on my Strat and it doesn't bother me if I'm not using it. However, I'm using it all the time as it's just that little bit less hassle than setting up a foot controller (that's not hard I admit, but I'm talking about end of day on the sofa, just before sleep energy levels).

    Yup - different playing styles. My problem is that I play aggressively at times and it gets in the way a bit. I'd just prefer it down at the bottom of the guitar. I thought about taking it apart and mounting it directly on the body of one of my guitars. It's still a pretty cool device. I think if they would have provided multiple mounting options for it, it may have lasted longer.

  • I made this some time ago with the idea of velcroing it to my guitar or just plopping it within reach. I suck at toe-tapping, so thought that having something inches away from the strings might work out. It has BLE Midi connectivity and a large capacity LiPo rechargeable battery. The switches provide colored led feedback.

    In typical fashion, once I got it working, I never really used it. 😂
    Gonna bust it out when I get my hands on Loopy Pro though.

  • @wim said:
    I made this some time ago with the idea of velcroing it to my guitar or just plopping it within reach. I suck at toe-tapping, so thought that having something inches away from the strings might work out. It has BLE Midi connectivity and a large capacity LiPo rechargeable battery. The switches provide colored led feedback.

    In typical fashion, once I got it working, I never really used it. 😂
    Gonna bust it out when I get my hands on Loopy Pro though.

    A ‘thing’ of beauty. Can I ask what’s inside it as a controller? And what’s outside it as a case? Looks very neat, an accessible on/off switch is always a winner. Nice work.

  • Oh, and I completely relate to this :)

    @wim said:

    In typical fashion, once I got it working, I never really used it. 😂

  • wimwim
    edited October 2021

    @steve99 said:
    A ‘thing’ of beauty. Can I ask what’s inside it as a controller? And what’s outside it as a case? Looks very neat, an accessible on/off switch is always a winner. Nice work.

    The microcontroller is an Adafruit Itsy Bitsy nRF52840 Express and the button array is an Adafruit NeoTrellis 4x4 Keypad. The keypad is a great way to get a lot of nice light-up buttons for cheap and with only a couple of connections to deal with.

    I 3d printed the case from my own model made in Blender. There are designs by others available on Thingyverse though.

    So far I've only used it with Atom 2 to launch clips. It works great with that.

  • @wim said:

    @steve99 said:
    A ‘thing’ of beauty. Can I ask what’s inside it as a controller? And what’s outside it as a case? Looks very neat, an accessible on/off switch is always a winner. Nice work.

    The microcontroller is an Adafruit Itsy Bitsy nRF52840 Express and the button array is an Adafruit NeoTrellis 4x4 Keypad. The keypad is a great way to get a lot of nice light-up buttons for cheap and with only a couple of connections to deal with.

    I 3d printed the case from my own model made in Blender. There are designs by others available on Thingyverse though.

    So far I've only used it with Atom 2 to launch clips. It works great with that.

    Thanks @wim - that looks very interesting, I don't think that Itsy Bitsy was around during my last controller construction phase, I may have to make it a winter project. 3D printing too - I've never done that, but I went on a secondary school tour last week and was very jealous of what the kids get to play with, I might have to sneak in at the back of the class (sporting an Angus Young look). I mentioned iOS to the music teacher and, with just a cursory acknowledgement of Garageband, she moved me along swiftly. I've got 5-7 years ahead now to change the paradigm and try to establish the Loopy Pro orchestra.

  • A warning: I put ‘Morningstar’ in as a notifiable search in eBay… never has a search term yielded such a mountain of unrelated useless (to me) tat. I’ve now replaced it with ‘Keith McMillen’, as all those things look good to me.

  • @steve99 said:
    A warning: I put ‘Morningstar’ in as a notifiable search in eBay… never has a search term yielded such a mountain of unrelated useless (to me) tat. I’ve now replaced it with ‘Keith McMillen’, as all those things look good to me.

    A search for "morningstar mc" limited to the "Musical Instruments and Gear" category will serve much better for these purposes.

  • @celtic_elk said:

    @steve99 said:
    A warning: I put ‘Morningstar’ in as a notifiable search in eBay… never has a search term yielded such a mountain of unrelated useless (to me) tat. I’ve now replaced it with ‘Keith McMillen’, as all those things look good to me.

    A search for "morningstar mc" limited to the "Musical Instruments and Gear" category will serve much better for these purposes.

    I know that now - but when I one day launch my revolutionary midi controller, I will still make sure its name is not also a popular line of ceramics (and assorted other non-musical guff) :)

  • @wim said:

    @steve99 said:
    A ‘thing’ of beauty. Can I ask what’s inside it as a controller? And what’s outside it as a case? Looks very neat, an accessible on/off switch is always a winner. Nice work.

    The microcontroller is an Adafruit Itsy Bitsy nRF52840 Express and the button array is an Adafruit NeoTrellis 4x4 Keypad. The keypad is a great way to get a lot of nice light-up buttons for cheap and with only a couple of connections to deal with.

    I 3d printed the case from my own model made in Blender. There are designs by others available on Thingyverse though.

    So far I've only used it with Atom 2 to launch clips. It works great with that.

    Looks great!. Is that Arduino?. Did you program the midi logic and stuff?.

  • @tahiche - not exactly an Arduino but in that family. It’s programmed with the Arduino IDE (and can also use Circuit Python).

    Yeh, I did the programming for the switches, LEDs, MIDI and Bluetooth. There are good libraries for all of that.

    I also did an script Atom2 script that launches a 4x4 grid of instances. The pads light up when their clip is playing. It was a good learning experience.

  • VoiceLive 3 might get some use here!.
    The Voicelive sends midi CC messages on footswitch press, these are fixed per this chart…

    Since it has “layers” for guitar, vocals and looper, I could use the unused layer to send those messages. Say I’m recording guitar, I could set the vocal reverb, delay and hardtune to control Loopy. Since I have an external footswitch that can be mapped I wouldn’t even need to leave the guitar layer…
    I wish it could map buttons to midi messages instead of having faux effects, but still pretty good… it’s also got an integrated audio interface and can midi sync to the iPad clock (for delays, rhythmic effects and such) so it could prove to be a very versatile solution. The effects are not bad either and vocal harmonies are a big plus. It sounds great live or in rehearsals, but certainly not as good as dedicated auv3 plugins, but it can also send dry and wet signals… We’ll see how it goes once I get my hands on loopy.

  • Is there such a thing as a mat for twister, that is also a switchy transducer?

  • @u0421793 said:
    Is there such a thing as a mat for twister, that is also a switchy transducer?

    Not yet. ;)

  • Are any beta testers using Loopy Pro with a Novation Launchpad? Is there any setup at all, or do you just plug and play?

    I’ve tried it with the Akai MPD 218, and I had to map the pads manually. However, once that was done, it’s great. The pads light up when their corresponding donut is playing, and the pads flash during count-in when recording.

    This has gotten me extremely interested in a Launchpad X or Pro 3.

    Any info? Or even videos?

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