Manual Update 2.0 Staging
This article contains material that will be added to the Loopy Pro manual when version 2.0 is released.
Clip Settings
This section documents settings that are new or have changed in version 2.0.
Beat Quantization
Non-destructive playback quantization for MIDI and audio clips.
NOTE: While Beat Quantization can apply to both MIDI and audio clips, it is primarily intended for MIDI playback quantization. Audio beat quantization is an in-process experimental feature that will work better with some sources than others.
Beat/Grid Display
The display at the top of the Beat Quantization display shows the grid points to which notes are pulled when quantized. The lines are a sixteenth-note grid. The white dots are the grid points to which notes are quantized. The display is dynamically updated as the settings are changed.
The play button plays clicks at the grid points to sonify the quantization grid.
Quantization Types
No Quantization
No quantization.
Basic Quantization
Quantized to fixed grid points.
Options: grid point, Intensity, Swing, Randomness
Groove Quantization
Quantize to grid points derived from a MIDI or audio loop or audio file.
Options: Intensity, Randomness
To delete a groove, swipe left on its name in the groove list.
Create New Groove
Mixer 2.0
Loopy Pro’s powerful mixer gives you control over your project’s audio and MIDI inputs and outputs, effects, AUv3 and IAA instruments. Loopy's mixer was designed to be flexible and to enable source/destination routing to be handled directly in the mixer.
In its simple form, you can adjust levels and balance, mute and solo for source and colour in your project. In its extended form, you can add audio and MIDI sources, add effects, add Audio Unit and IAA instruments, add buses, specify hardware outputs, set up audio and MIDI routing, and collapse mixer sections (which will become hidden when the mixer is in simple mode).
Open the mixer by tapping the [MIXER ICON GOES HERE] button from the main screen.
SIMPLE VS EXTENDED MODE
When you first open the mixer, it will be displayed in its simple form, with just the faders and lower controls visible. Collapsed mixer sections are hidden in simple mode. You will see your canvas above, with your loops and one-shots visible.
Tap the [ICON FOR EXTENDED MODE] button to put the mixer into extended mode. The mixer will grow, and the extended controls will become visible. Tap [ICON FOR SIMPLE MODE] to retract the mixer again into simple mode.
SECTIONS AND ROWS
SECTIONS (COLUMNS)
By default, Loopy organizes channel strips into sections: (audio) inputs, MIDI (hardware controllers and MIDI ports), MIDI Plugins, MIDI Colors, Colors (audio), Buses, and Outputs (currently Master channel).
Sections can be collapsed by tapping [COLLAPSE ICON]. Collapsed sections can be expanded by tapping [EXPAND ICON]. Collapsed sections are hidden when the mixer is in simple mode.
You can tap on items in a collapsed section to show that item in the mixer. Such items are given a white frame in the collapsed section display.
MIXER ROWS
The mixer has rows for: sources, pre-fader effects, post-fader effects, destinations and sends. Tapping on the + icon in a row cell (slot) lets you add an item to that row. Rows can be collapsed by tapping [COLLAPSE ICON]. Collapsed rows can be expanded by tapping [EXPAND ICON]. Collapsed rows can also be expanded by tapping in them. When a row is collapsed a dot indicates that the row cell contains an item.
Channel Strips
The basic building-block in the mixer is the channel strip, a column in the mixer that might be:
- An audio input, such as a hardware input or an Audio Unit (AUv3) instrument
- A MIDI source, such as a MIDI keyboard an AUv3 MIDI sequencer
- An audio colour, aggregating one or more audio clips
- A MIDI colour, comprising one or more MIDI clips
- A bus
- The master output
Each channel strip has a fader and level meter, and mute/solo controls. Other cells (slots) are available in the channel strip depending on the channel strip’s type.
Channel strips for audio sources, audio colour channels and buses also have a balance knob and cells (slots) for sources, pre- and post-fader effects, send, knobs, and destinations. Hardware inputs, buses and the master channel do not have source cells.
MIDI Channel strips have a destination cell (slot) and may have a source cell.
Fine control. To adjust levels, balance or send amount, tap and swipe on that control. For finer control, tap and then move your finger away from the control: the control area will expand the further away you move from the original control location, giving you more control over fine adjustment.
Mute/Solo. The M and S letters at the bottom of channel strips, mutes or solos that mixer channel. Muting an Audio Unit instrument’s mixer channel will normally idle the instrument so that it uses next to no CPU resources. Muting an instrument will also idle the effects on the channel unless idling has been disabled for the instruments and/or effects.
Mute Position (audio channels only). By default, muting of audio input channels (hardware and audio unit inputs) is post-fader. By long-pressing the M button, you can move the mute position to Input which is the start of the signal chain. Typically, the mute position is only moved for hardware inputs. When the mute position is set to Input, muting the channel will idle the effects on the channel since the input level will drop to 0 (unless idling has been disabled for some plugins).
Channel Settings. Tap the icon at the top of each channel strip to access settings and controls for that channel, and long press to replace or delete.
Reordering channel strips. You can also reorder channel strips as you choose, by pressing on the icon at the top, then dragging left or right (or swiping up to remove that channel strip).
Master Output. Loopy Pro’s Master Output channel strip is somewhat unconventional. The controls and effects in the channel strip labeled Master apply to all hardware outputs. Note: a mixer update is planned to implement a more conventional architecture.
AUDIO CHANNEL STRIP SIGNAL FLOW
[INSERT PICTURE HERE]
Colours
Colours act like group buses for all the clips of the same colour. They aggregate the output of their clips and behave like tracks in a traditional DAW. All clips of the same colour get routed through the same mixer channel strip and share the same basic settings.
Each colour appears as a channel strip in the mixer, and has its own fader, balance, mute and solo, as well as sends, destinations, and effects (for audio colors). Audio and MIDI colours have their own channel strips. Both audio and midi colours inherit settings from the colour. The main menu’s Colour Groups item lets you set colour-specific settings, gestures and follow actions.
Tapping on a colour channel strip's color icon, opens the Colour Group's properties panel where you can set the properties for all clips of the colour.
If you have an audio interface, colours can be routed to any output channel.
Colours as destinations. By specifying a colour in the “destinations” section of a channel strip, clips of that colour will receive audio or MIDI from that source. This makes it simple to record (resample) from one color to another.
Audio and MIDI colour channel strips have the same rows (slots) as their underlying type: audio or MIDI. Se the Audio and MIDI source section of this manual for more details.
Colour Management. By default, the mixer only shows colour channels for colours that have clips. If you would like colours to appear even if they have no clips, turn on Show Empty Colour Channels in Loopy Pro's System Settings.
Adding colours. To add colours to the project, enter layout edit mode by pressing the [pencil icon] and tapping on the paint bucket icon.
5.3 AUDIO SOURCES
Loopy Pro can receive audio from the built-in microphone, an attached audio interface (with support for multi-channel input), an AUv3 Audio Unit or Inter-App Audio application. Each audio source has its own channel strip.
Audio source channel strips may have the following rows:
- Sources (only present for colour channels and Audio Units)
- Effects (pre-fader)
- Effects (post-fader)
- Destinations
- Sends
DESTINATIONS
The destinations cell shows where the audio is sent. All of the project’s colors and all available hardware destination are available. A source can be routed to any number of available destinations. The audio is sent post-fader. For pre-fader audio routing, use a send knob to send the audio to a bus.
ADDING SOURCES
Add audio sources to the mixer, by tapping ADD ICON and choosing Add Hardware Input, Add Inter-App Audio Input, or Add Audio Unit Instrument.
5.3.1.HARDWARE INPUTS #
Hardware inputs can be the built-in mic or inputs from an audio interface and are represented by a mic icon in the mixer. The default project has a single hardware audio input. If you are using Loopy Pro on a device without any equipment plugged in, this will be the built-in microphone. With an audio interface, this will be one of the available input channels provided by the audio interface.
Input Options. Tap the mic icon at the top of the channel strip to configure the hardware input. A number of different options may be available, depending on the connected hardware:
- Monitoring options (see below)
- Input Selection (if audio hardware is connected) - you can choose whether to use the audio interface input or the internal mic.
- Microphone Selection (if internal audio is being used) - the available built-in mics. The options depend on your particular device.
- Global Hardware Gain (only if device supports it)
- Echo Cancellation (internal mic only)
- Input Channels (audio interface only) - a choice of the device’s input channels.
Global Hardware Gain. This setting is only available for some devices. It is a global setting that is applied by the hardware. The behavior depends on the audio interface itself. For some interfaces, this adjust the interfaces output gain. On some devices, it may also apply to input gain. It is a global control that applies to all channels.
You can have as many hardware audio sources as you like, including multiple instances of the same channel, so you can configure different effect chains on each one and mute or unmute duplicate channels as needed.
MONITORING OPTIONS
Monitoring sends an input to an output such as the main output so that you can hear the input. When the internal mic is used, monitoring is turned off by default to avoid feedback.
By default, when monitoring is on, it is done through the default output channels. But you can set any available output channels for monitoring and you may also monitor through colors. The Monitor Through selector let’s you choose available hardware outputs and/or colour.
Monitoring through colors. When you choose one or more colours for Monitor Through, the audio is sent through the effects chain of the selected colour or colours. When using monitor through colours, you should generally not monitor through a hardware output also if you want to hear only the effected signal. This allows you to “monitor wet, record dry”.
