Looptastic HD Makes Live Looping Easy On The iPad
Looptastic HD ($14.99) by Sound Trends LLC is a force to be reckoned with that’s guaranteed to tickle the fancy of hardcore music producers and casual dabblers alike.
The app’s looping capabilities are miles above that of its competitors, à la Sample Lab, offering an intuitive interface and top-notch sound quality. Looptastic HD’s slick connectivity also means it will never be without a home in your studio lineup, while its live potential may just replace your current gigging rig.
Looptastic HD is the direct result of a late-night tryst between a deejay’s two-deck setup and a deep-house musician’s Ableton Live rig. The end result is a three-way interface, featuring two decks and a third middle ground one for user's to place loops into. The loops themselves are found just below the decks, and can be placed with a simple drag-and-drop mechanic.
Once set, a sound bite will play continuously until removed. Looptastic HD gives the musician several different ways to manipulate placed sounds, though, including a volume mixer, 13 different effects, and a visual waveform scratcher that allows for beat bouncing. A loop can also be set to run backward, or to only sound when touched, for you hands on types.
Outside of the app’s live setup, Looptastic HD also allows users to export their performances to just about every location worth mentioning. This includes: iTunes for playback later, studio.HD for further mixing, a desktop computer via Wi-Fi, and even SoundCloud for direct Internet sharing. All-in-all, Looptastic HD plays very well with others, allowing musicians to port their mixes elsewhere for even more creative potential.
At the end of the day, Looptastic HD really is one of the best looping tools available in the App Store. Its beautiful, simplistic interface makes detailed music production easy, while still providing complete control over the music’s components.
Likewise, the included effects pad is an ingeniously creative and visual way to liven up a mix. And with support for up to 26 active loops at a time, Looptastic HD can easily holds its own against desktop looping software like Ableton Live.
I do wish Looptastic HD supported more than one waveform viewer, as it’s often difficult to keep track of open effects when only one loop is visible at a time.
I also would have liked to see more loop sets, as the app comes stock with only five (though many dozens more are available via in-app purchase.) The option to load loops directly from my iTunes library would have also been appreciated.
However, the app does support live recording of samples, as well as importing sounds of your own over Wi-FI sync.
All complaints aside, Looptastic HD could easily fit into any professional house musician’s rig. The interface is intuitive, the sounds themselves are top-notch, and the multitude of connectivity options makes Looptastic HD a fantastic launch pad for musical exploration.
The app is certainly expensive, weighing in at $14.99, but for that price users can enjoy casual looping ease with professional control. And all from the comfort of their iPad’s screen.
