Discovering Loopy Pro has been a game-changer for my workflow, at least for brainstorming musical ideas. I’ve wanted to learn looping, which is when you record short clips of audio over other short clips of audio you just previously recorded. But I have had so much else to learn and still do. I love how Loopy Pro encourages getting into a flow state, boosting my creativity (or at least capturing my creativity). But I also aspire to do live looping—performing with loops in front of an audience, which is an art form all its own (and so even more to learn).

I’m not a very technically proficient or fastest player, and my repertoire of memorized tunes or riffs is non-existent. I have found that looping-based idea generation aligns with how my brain works. It enables me to craft either more complex or lengthier ideas (or just be enough in the flow to not care either way). Jamming this way feels natural, but certainly I can get a little caught up in whether the snippet I just recorded is usable (e.g., if I got the timing right).

I bought the Boss RC-505 MkII Loop Station. However, the interface’s opaqueness and, consequently, the learning curve were too steep for me. The Boss pedal required a lot of effort to become proficient. So I couldn’t get into the flow when trying to come up with ideas.

Loopy Pro, on the other hand, provides exactly the lightweight idea-capture system I’d envisioned. At first, I thought the fact that Loopy Pro is only available on iOS would be a barrier. Still, I’ve found iOS to be more frictionless compared to setting everything up to record with my Mac software. And soon, there will be a Mac version of Loopy Pro, which means it’ll be easier to get the ideas out of Loopy Pro into my primary software (Studio One and Bitwig Studio).

And on top of all that, Loopy Pro is just $30. Many artists’ needs could be entirely met with the Loopy Pro (it does a lot more than looping).