Cool retro/8-bit sounds; slightly held back by lack of features

Nanoloop is one of those older iOS music apps that predates the "AudioBus" era, and tends to get overlooked even though it actually retains a great deal of usefulness in music-making. In fact, Nanoloop has been around for even longer than that, and has been available on other platforms, such as Game Boy.

While the interface looks a little frightening and dated at first, theres actually quite a bit more depth here than you might think. You get a simple step sequencer grid, but the touch controls allow you to add, copy, change, and modify notes for each step. There is a lo-fi synth engine built into it, so you have the choice of about 3 or 4 different waveforms and then basic controls over volume, decay, attack, etc. Theres even a sampler that works with the microphone (though it seems to crash my iPad2, but not my iPhone). After you have a single pattern, there are options to loop it with other patterns, or to play multiple parts/instruments at the same time. Search for some YouTube tutorials on how you can make somewhat complex sounding tunes with this basic engine.

For all of those reasons, I think its a 5-star app in terms of features, but there are some problems/omissions I cant ignore. Despite being updated recently (2014, I believe), the developer still never added AudioBus or IAA compatability. Also, the sampler requires iTunes File Sharing to import .wav files, which is annoying, and would really benefit from a simple "Open In" option.

Still, the app makes it simple enough to export .wav loops, and if you have a companion app like AudioShare, you can work with that easily enough to export things into your DAW. If you think this app strictly as a sketchpad for creating simple melodic patterns, its actually quite useful. Its universal, will run on anything, and takes virtually no storage space. Its an outdated app in many ways that remains relevant because of good touchscreen implementation and simplicity of design. I do just wish theyd add a couple of modern features, and correct the occasional glitches and crashes you have to expect from time to time.

HouseOfHomuth about nanoloop, v3.24