Today, with the launch of his new app Loopy Pro, that’s about to happen again.
One person made the app, which is the norm for iOS music-making apps.
This story is about me too."
A Tasty Pixel
Music apps had no way to talk to each other.
You couldnt record the audio from one app in another, for example.
I wanted to make something that people could make their own.
A Tasty Pixel
In 2012, TysonsAudioBusfixed this.
It was a virtual mixing desk that let you pipe audio from one app to another.
It worked by making a snippet of code available that other developers could include in their apps.
To say that this revolutionized iOS music-making would be an understatement.
Audiobus incorporated this, and AudioBus remains in GarageBand today.
These are known as ‘plugins’ in desktop DAWs, and they add functionality to the host app.
They might be audio or MIDI effects, instruments, or utilities.
Audio Units are fantastic because they integrate with the host.
You open up your project, and it’s precisely where you left it.
you’re able to typically pick up Audio Units for a few bucks.
Audio Units exist on the desktop and can even be cross-compatible between iOS and Mac.
And Kymatica is, as you may have guessed, one person:Jonatan Liljedahl.
I asked him why indie developers are so prevalent in the iOS music scene.
“And I think it’s just hard to move from one to the other.”
AUM has probably had an even bigger impact than AudioBus on the iOS music scene.
AUM also integrates with hardware controllers and groove-boxes.
It really is unique, but it doesn’t let you record and manipulate audio.
The other app we have to mention isDrambo.
It’s kind of like theMinecraftof music apps.
Drambo also hosts audio units but kind of assimilates them into its environment.
Drambo can be intimidating at first, but again, it’s unique.
And, like all the other apps here, it’s the labor of just one developer.
At its most basic, Loopy Pro works as a looper.
Then it gets wild.
you might drag sliders and buttons onto Loopy Pro’s canvas and assign functions to them.
You could even build a layout with the sole purpose of controlling other music hardware via MIDI.
“So I wanted to make something that people could make their own.”
But he hasn’t left out the core audience of his previous app: live loopers.
But looping like this is limited.
This makes for more complex, interesting arrangements that are simultaneously easier to construct on the fly.
As an amateur musician, Ive mostly used Ableton Live and a few hardware music groove boxes.
But now, I find that Loopy Pro is often the best option for almost everything.
Thats down to the app, of course, which is just beautiful.
But its also down to the community around it.
Loopy Pro would be nothing without all those Audio Units and the indie developers who make and sell them.
iOS is its own flourishing, experimental, rewarding, and often delightful music platform.
And Loopy Pro is the next chapter of that.
