Your voice! It’s the only instrument you always carry with you. Unless you’re that weird guy who always walks around with a harmonica in his pocket. But for most of us, it’s the voice. Everyday Looper lets you layer vocal track on top of vocal track for to make simple and sonorous acapella sandwiches.
What is it?
Everyday Looper, $7.99, iPhone and iPad. A simple app for recording a snatch of audio, looping it ad infinitum, recording another snatch on top of that, looping it ad infinitum, and so on. Just tap one of the four supplied tracks (or one of the six, on the iPad), and start making noise. Tap it again to stop recording and set the end point for the loop. From there you can record more, merge tracks together, set the volume of individual tracks, and so on.
Who’s it good for?
People who like the sound of their own voice. People who want to be able to sketch out song ideas quickly on the fly.
Why’s it better than alternatives?
Instead of being a full-fledged music production app, like Garage Band, Everyday Looper focuses on the loop as the exclusive mode of recording, making it both easier and more fun to produce quick multitrack recordings. It’s incredibly simple to use – basically you just start recording by tapping on a track and stop recording by tapping again – and addictive once you get the hang of timing. I may sound dorky, but with a little practice you can do some pretty great stuff. For example, skip ahead about a minute into the video to the left…
How could it be even better?
The transparent, gesture-based interface is super easy to use, except when it isn’t. The difference between a swipe and a tap is a small one, and often I found myself inadvertently bringing up strange and unknown recording modes. At $8, two bucks more than Apple’s shinier, more robust GarageBand app, it’s definitely pricey, even though you get an iPhone and iPad version for your trouble. It’d be nice to choose between a lite version with just barbones looping and a full version with more features.
Everyday Looper for iPhone and iPad [iTunes]