In this article and video for Production Expert, Si Gordon takes a look at Loopcloud 6, the latest version of a new innovative app created by Loopmasters, leaders in sample library development.

Loopcloud can be used as a standalone or within a DAW as an instrument plugin. More than just a sound library, Loopcloud is a stunning creative workspace that perfectly integrates with your DAW.  Dedicated musicians and producers produce the libraries available in Loopcloud, a vast number of genres are catered for in the library of 4 million loops and one-shot samples.

Hands down, it has to be the most revolutionary app available for DAW integration, allowing playback of samples in time and in key with your project via the inbuilt auto stretch and pitch functions.  All samples play from the ‘cloud’ except for your own libraries, which can be added to Loopcloud, so no more searching folders on your hard drive; just add them, and the software will analyse and auto-tag files for the future search, preview and use. 

Create An Account And Go

It’s extremely easy to create a Loopmasters account, and once logged in, you can download the desktop app (for Mac & Windows) from the top of the Loopcloud site page. During install you have the opportunity to include ‘Loopcloud Drum’ and ‘Loopcloud Play’ alongside the main Loopcloud ‘instrument’ plugin. These are innovative sampler instrument plugins that can be used in a DAW to further manipulate the content in the ‘cloud’… I strongly advise you to download and install these. They are awesome and warrant a review of their own!

When first opening the standalone app, a step-by-step splash screen guides you through the setup process, including synchronising with your DAW.

Support options on the Loopcloud website or via the app are really thorough and helpful, and the tutorials have a wealth of extremely useful articles and videos for beginners to more advanced producers.

Pricing

Loopcloud offers three tiers of subscription, Artist (£5.99/mo), Studio (£9.99/mo) and Professional (£17.99/mo). With all three, you can choose if you'd like your plan to renew monthly or annually. When subscribing points are added every billing cycle, choose to spend on sounds, presets or plugin expansions. On top of receiving points to spend on all these available options, subscribers get access to all of the subscriber-only features, including the 8-track editor, cloud storage, free sounds every day, the plugin suite, AI user-content analysis, Audio Filters, editing effects parameters and importing user-content. Purchasing sounds in Loopcloud allows access to the samples in the library, in addition to the 1GB ‘Sound Foundations’ pack. Users can find sounds and then click on either the points button (1P) or (2P) or the 'Buy File button' in the bottom-left corner of the Loopcloud application. 

Points are reasonably priced, you can purchase 250P at £7.99 up to 2000P at £49.99.

Search And Create

The search functions in Loopcloud could be seen as one of its main features, especially with over 4 million loops to trawl through. All sounds are tagged and the many filtering options produce rapid results. I particularly like the formats option for not only audio but MIDI, Apple loops, plugins, sampler patches and synth presets.  Samples wise, the ‘Audio filters’ tab on the right menu allows you to streamline further with the Key, tone, length, BPM and Stereo Width options.

The Library tab displays your own personal collection as well as the free 1GB pack. Previewing samples in folders is quick and easy, click a loop/sound and they appear in the ‘player’ device, use the spacebar to play/stop sounds and arrow keys to scroll through samples. Creatively slice, edit and re-arrange samples to produce your own new loops, then add more loops to the player via the other 8 tracks. In no time at all, you’ll have a 4, 8 or 16bar loop to begin your next hit!

Perfect Pitch and Pattern Tools

Possibly one of the most impressive features of the LoopCloud app is the auto transposition function, allowing samples to playback in the same key as your track. Simply select your composition’s key from the dropdown, hit ‘Key Lock’ and you are good to go. If you are preparing loops for a DAW, use the 8 tracks available in the app,  the pitch function sets the global key to the first ‘musical’ loop loaded and all subsequent loops are transposed to that key. Pitch functions are also available to each ‘slice’ when sample editing.  I had a lot of fun with the ‘Pattern’ function in Loopcloud, this chops the audio and re-programs samples in tracks and can also add automation presets plugins. A vast array of built-in patterns are available and you can also perform further editing and duplication of the chopped regions with the available tools and grid functions, after which you can export the results to your DAW.

Creative Effects

The inbuilt effects Loopcloud has on offer, allows a user to process individual sounds before export, useful if your needs are for simple tonal improvements, but likewise can be extremely inspiring if you are into creative editing and sound design. A healthy list of usable, well-designed processors is at hand; all come with their own presets and can be chained, bypassed and automated manually with the editing tools. For example, a cutoff from the ‘Filter’ can have different actions applied to each ¼ note chopped region, select waveform shapes, depth and time functions for each region, you can even swap out a track sample and have the same automation applied to a new one… fantastic! 

After processing a loop a user can export the finished product with the effects printed to the export. Additionally, the ability to save individual effects presets in each module and the whole chain presets is useful for future use.

Conclusion

I have only scratched the surface with Loopcloud, there is undoubtedly so much more it can do. Its simplicity to search samples or even load your own then manipulate and integrate into a DAW puts it head and shoulders above other developers, this was huge for me. Another advantage is the buying choice, no longer are users restricted to purchasing whole packs, you can dive into thousands of packs and buy single samples from each. I have always been a little sceptical of these ‘loop-based platforms and loop-based music production as a whole, but after using Loopcloud and the Drum / Player plugins I can safely say my head has been turned, and it’s down to its innovative onboard tools for creative manipulation. A big thumbs up is for the intuitive AI which learnt my choices and began to make suggestions of samples. Finally, the option of ‘Cloud Storage’ for your sample collection is also a great way to backup your sample library and access it from anywhere, and via multiple machines.