What is LoopShaper

LoopShaper is a software application developed specifically for Percussa AudioCubes. It lets you use the AudioCubes with your existing VST instruments to create sounds and loops.

LoopShaper is a standalone application, hosts your VST instruments, and lets you interact with them in a hands on fashion through AudioCubes. With LoopShaper, AudioCubes and a VST instrument (some are freely available), you have everything you need to create interesting sound material and loops.

The software will loop and record, and will let you record your interactions and play over them continuously. There are various controls available for the loop memory and to freeze the loop once you are satisfied with it and only want to control the notes or the parameter changes, for example. There is also a loop memory deck available to store and recall loops, which facilitates using LoopShaper with live performance or with lengthy recording sessions.

The resulting sound can be recorded to WAV files on your computer’s harddisk. If necessary you can import the files into your favourite DAW for further editing and mixing.
LoopShaper works with ASIO for low-latency sound output. If your audio interface doesn’t support ASIO you can always use the built-in sound card of your computer using a freely available ASIO driver such as ASIO4ALL.

To help with timing, there is a built-in metronome in loopshaper.

What can I do with LoopShaper

The software can be used in a variety of scenarios, such as sound design, live performance, art installation work, … basically any situation in which you want to use AudioCubes with a VST instrument without having to run other software necessarily. We designed the software with the sound designer in mind.

How does LoopShaper work

Up to two cubes can be connected using USB cables to a computer running LoopShaper software. No drivers needed, the software talks directly to the hardware and looks and works the same on Mac and PC.

You can interact with these two cubes using your hands. One cube is used to trigger notes while the other one is used to control up to 4 simultaneous parameters of a VST instrument. The parameters are controlled by the distance between the cube’s faces and your fingers. The sensors are very sensitive, so the slightest move of your fingers will create a parameter change and a change in the resulting sound.

If you don’t have any VST instruments yet you can find some free ones at http://www.kvr-vst.com/. There are quite a few excellent VST instruments available for free.

LoopShaper has a built-in easy to use plugin manager that lets you work with multiple plugin paths on your computer and lets you quickly load pugins from these locations on the cube controlling plugins and parameters.

For visual feedback you can set the cubes to a fixed colour.

LoopShaper is not intended to send or receive MIDI with other software. If you are looking for a tool to use AudioCubes with your MIDI compatible software or instruments, we can recommend MIDIBridge, which is freely available for download. You can find more information here on the MIDIBridge application page.

Requirements

• AudioCubes and associated software work with computers running Mac OSX 10.4 or later, or Windows XP SP2 or later. Works with Vista and Leopard. No drivers necessary.
• One USB 1.1 or later port is required to configure the AudioCubes.
• We recommend to have at least 256MB of RAM in your computer, 600MB free disk space (for sound libraries) and a Pentium 3 or Mac G3 or later processor.
• One or more VST instruments

Number of AudioCubes

• Minimum: 2

Compatibility

• Audio WAV File Format
• VST Instruments
• ASIO
• USB 1.1 (HID)

Pricing

Free!

More information

• Download the software from our downloads page.
• Read the manual for LoopShaper here (available in English, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese and French)

Scenarios in which LoopShaper can be used

• Live performance
• Sound design
• Music production
• Education
• Research
• Art, science, museum installations and exhibits

Videos submitted by people using LoopShaper

LoopShaper tutorial

The video was submitted by Pearls for Swines, one of our users of AudioCubes.