Case study

Looper Studio

Looper Studio is our own live-looping app for performers: plan a song as sections on a timeline, then record, loop and layer through it hands-free. Native audio engine, desktop app, website, licensing and cloud sync, built end to end by one team.

Client
NeoDigital product · looper.studio
Year
2026
Role
Product, design & engineering
Services
Desktop app · Audio engine · Web · Sync
Timeline
First commit to 1.0 in about 4 months
Overview

Loop like a pedal. Arrange like a DAW.

Looper Studio is a live looper that knows your song. A performer lays out the sections on a timeline, marks where to record and where to loop, then plays straight through the set while the app follows the structure.

Loop pedals are fast on stage but have no idea what song you are playing. DAWs know the song but were never built to be performed live, hands on an instrument. Performers who loop end up choosing between the two, or bolting them together.

We built Looper Studio to close that gap, and we built all of it: the real-time audio engine, the desktop app on three operating systems, the website and store, licensing, and the cloud sync service behind it.

Looper Studio Arrangement view: a song laid out as Intro, Verse and Chorus sections, with record and loop clips across five tracks and the setlist in the sidebar.
Arrangement: the song as sections, record and loop clips per track
Looper Studio Setlist view: a song library, the Friday Night Set in play order, and details for the selected song with tempo, key, notes and cues.
Setlist: tonight's songs in order, with notes and cues
Looper Studio Node Editor: tracks and a reverb bus routed into the master output as connected nodes.
Node editor: see the signal path and re-route it with a drag
Looper Studio Mixer: channel strips for six tracks and two buses with effects, sends, pan, faders and meters, plus the master.
Mixer: a channel strip for every track, bus and the master
The challenge

Live audio leaves no room for a second take.

  1. 01

    Real-time, every time

    Recording, looping and effects all run against the audio clock. A dropout or a late loop on stage is heard by the whole room.

  2. 02

    Structure without a mouse

    A performer has an instrument in their hands. Moving through sections, holding a vamp and loading the next song all had to work from a footswitch or MIDI controller.

  3. 03

    Mistakes happen live

    A bad pass on stage cannot be undone with Cmd+Z mid-song. The app needed a way to recover without stopping the transport.

  4. 04

    Three platforms, one product

    Musicians use macOS, Windows and Linux, with AU and VST3 plug-ins. It had to behave the same everywhere.

The approach

A native engine with a modern interface on top.

The audio path is native C++ so timing never depends on the UI. The interface is React, so we could design and iterate on it as fast as a web app.

  1. 01

    Sections on a timeline

    Songs are planned as sections with rec-clips and play-clips across tracks. On stage, the performer plays through the shape they designed and fills it in live.

  2. 02

    Non-destructive takes

    Every pass is kept as its own take, up to 10 per clip. A chosen backup take can be swapped in live with one footswitch press, and the song plays on.

  3. 03

    Hands-free control

    Transport, loop regions, setlists and Panic all map to footswitches and MIDI controllers, so the whole set runs without touching the computer.

  4. 04

    Everything built in

    32 effects, built-in drums and bass, and a tuner ship inside the app, plus AU and VST3 hosting for the plug-ins performers already own.

  5. 05

    Shipped like a product

    Signed releases for three platforms, in-app updates, licensing and checkout, and a changelog that tracks every change.

What we built

Four pieces, one product.

Desktop app

Arrangement and Performance views, setlists, mixer, automation, sidechain and a node editor for routing, on macOS, Windows and Linux. iPad is in progress.

Audio engine

Beat-synced multi-track looping, latency compensation with a calibration utility, plug-in hosting, MIDI I/O and MIDI clock, and stem and mix export.

Website & store

looper.studio: product site, documentation, free trial downloads, and perpetual and subscription licences through Polar.

Cloud sync

A dedicated sync service that keeps projects in step across a performer's computers and ready to open offline.

The outcome

Plan the song, then play it live, hands-free. Looper Studio is out on macOS, Windows and Linux.

It is our own product, so these are facts about what shipped rather than client metrics.

3

Desktop platforms

macOS, Windows and Linux from one codebase. iPad is next.

32

Built-in effects

Plus built-in drums, bass and a tuner, with AU and VST3 hosting on top.

~4 months

First commit to 1.0

From an empty repo in February 2026 to a released 1.0 in June.

After launch

Looper Studio is in active development, with regular releases and an iPad version on the way. It is also how we work for clients: one team owning the product from the audio thread to the checkout page.

All work
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