Loopy Forum

Hey Loopy Users,

I'm planning for a long time to do busking. I've always been amazed of the street musicians and can watch them for hours even if they play covers or their own music.

That's why I've put together a setup or let's just call them a bunch of ideas buying portable stuff if you want to go out the street and play for the public.

First, let me compare the new Boss RC-300 Loop Station (more than £400) and the Loopy 2 App (£2/£5 for the HD ver). I chose the RC-300 cuz that gives you the closest number of individual loop tracks you can record/overdub (3 stereo). With Loopy you get at least 6 tracks (9/12 on HD). The reason why I make this comparison will be clear in a sec.

Let's forget the RC-300 and save that 400 quid for other stuff to buy so we can go out and play.

I can't count the iPhone's/iPad's price cuz we love it and would buy it anyway... :P :D But here's my list and I know that many of you will find it useful. I tried to choose cheaper but valuable equipments while also keeping in mind portability.
Here I is (iPhone version but it's almost the same for the iPad). :D


Loopy 2 (£2 / £5 HD)

iRig G&I interface (~£25)

iRig MIDI (~£50)

iKlip MINI (~£25)

MOTU ZBOX (~£32)

BEHRINGER FCB1010 (~£95)

BEHRINGER XENYX 1002 B (~£74)

PylePro PWMA series (~£100-200)


Let's see the details of each. Loopy is obvious, it's the "core" in our iDevice and iKlip is holding it (e.g. on a mic stand)

iRig guitar & instrument interface is transfering the sound to the iDevice.

iRig MIDI to control Loopy through MIDI (I know it's not capable of doing this YET but it will be :D) and we connect a nice MIDI foot switch (cheap and smart) the Behringer FCB1010. Yes, this is the only thing which needs power supply but I'm listing it cuz I will go for it anyway. :D I'm sure now that iRig MIDI and LINE6 Mobilizer II are released we will find soon many battery-operated or maybe even passive footswitches for iDevices through MIDI.

I'm sorry to disappoint many of you but an electret cond mic won't give you a nice sound and as the tests and reviews are showing it it's just bad for real pro use (like a live quality street busking)! And also, it does NOT fit into this setup. (mentioning the iRig Mic)

That's why I came up with an idea of a small but yet powerful battery-operated mixer with enough inputs to handle your way nicer microphones and you can also plug in your instruments or any device with line out (for example an iPod as a music source). This is the Behringer XENYX 1002B which is running on two(!) 9VDC battery. And the main output of the mixer (basically your gig) goes into the iRig's TRS input. As a nice optional hardware for electric guitars with pickups I do recommend the MOTU ZBOX. It's a miracle to the guitar sound and it's passive so it doesn't require any current. (The Behringer 1002B has 5mic-line input OR 2mic-line/6stereo input with 3bandEQ, 2aux etc.)

Finally, the Public Address (PA). I've found real luggage-like battery powered speakers made by PylePro and those are just wicked! Low-budget but nice stuff. They have wheels and handle for easy relocating, EQ, and many other cool stuff built-in and provided with and they give you enough power to blow away your own head with guitar riffs, beatbox, singing SO JUST USE LOOPY to amaze your audience!! iRig's output goes in the PylePro's input and here we are.

Yeah, you need to buy a mic but this way in this setup nearly anything will sound better than that electret condenser.

That's what I was thinking after doing some research. Instead of buying a Boss RC-300 LS for 400quid (vs. Loopy 2 HD for £5) you can take all these stuff for that money (the sum is between 400-550 depending on where and what you buy or not) and you're good to go and show some real busking to the public and start a career like our Uncle dubFX... :D

I hope you like my idea and start some brainstorming with me in this case. ;)

Make sure you buy some cables as well and someone to help you carry the stuff (musician's life was never-ever easy)... :D

Cheers for reading and huge thanks to Micheal for making a freaking good app like Loopy and the possibility for us to save a bunch of money. Many thanks! :)