This is a unofficial text Nanoloop Mobile Tutorial.

It's goal is to be used as a more in depth reference to the built-in help screen of the app.

The hope is that one can quickly review sections to learn specific features of the app.

This tutorial should be sufficient for users of iOS and Android. If there are any fundamental differences they will be mentioned in the sections below.

Let's go over the fundamental aspects of the nanoloop mobile app.

The fundamental nanoloop mobile interface based on a 4x4 grid. It is a 16 step sequence put into a square.

All aspects of creating sounds comes by using this grid step sequencer.

By pressing the button you can change the size of the text. The default value is 96 which will change if you increase or decrease.

Decrease Text Size	Increase Text Size

By pressing the black or white mode it will change the interface default colors.

Color	black	white
Screen

Both size and color are a global app setting.

To get help use the ? Menu by tapping

It will display a good overview of the app and how to get started.

If at any time you need more details about a button just tap and hold for tips to be displayed.

By tapping on the pattern mode button you can modify the currently playing pattern in the step sequencer. This is the default screen when starting a new project.

Pattern mode is the default when starting. Sometimes it is referred to as live mode.

Adding a note is done by tapping any square on the pattern grid. the default value is C. You can change the note by touching the square on the grid and dragging up or down.

IMAGE NOTES

A note will change by semitones/half steps. There is no "flat" symbol and all notes are shown in their "sharp" form by adding a symbol .

Here are some examples:

Example	Flatted	Sharped	Nanoloop
Note	$D\flat$	$C\sharp$
Note	$A\flat$	$G\sharp$

Note Parameters

Each parameter for the notes are shown directly below the 4x4 pattern grid. They will change depending on which instrument is chosen for each channel.

Check out the instruments section to learn more about specific parameters.

The parameters can be changed on a per step basis by tapping first the parameter then sliding up and down on the note.

The changes to the parameters on the note in a pattern apply additively to the global parameter settings for the instrument. For more information read the section about instruments.

Muting & Cutting

A note can be muted by taking the volume down to zero which changes the note to a equals symbol

This has the additional effect of muting all notes playing in that channel when the step plays.

Random

To add randomness to any pattern tap multiple times on any parameters, including the notes. This will modify each step randomly.

The more you tap 👇 the more random it becomes.

 Randomness gif 

Meta step

A meta step can be achieved by flicking left or right on a step in a pattern. It shows up as a note which occupies only half of the step in a pattern.

Meta step images

Meta step plays every other time when a patterns play. All patterns play the left/right step together either in live or song mode. (i.e. a global modulo 2 for every other time patterns play)

When a meta step is on the left it plays the first time, when it is on the right it plays the second time.

Meta step is not available on older versions of Nanoloop.

By default the patterns are all playing.

Pausing the patterns will stop them all from playing.

Button	Meaning
	Pause the pattern
	Play the pattern where you paused it
	Return the pattern to the beginning

Returning the pattern to the beginning does not start it. You still will have to press play.

A patterns length can be shortened by dragging the icon down or up.

To shift all notes in a pattern left/right drag down/up respectively.

A shuffle can be added to any pattern by swiping up and down the on the left of the pattern grid. It can change values from . which is 0 up to 1.0 by tenth intervals [0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 ... 1.0]

Shuffle moves every other 16th step forward a fraction of a step whereas 1.0 would shift the note to the next step.

The octave of all the notes can be shifted up or down by swiping the 0 on the bottom right of the grid up or down. The range is from -4 to 4 meaning four octaves lower or four octaves higher respectively.

Copy and paste can happen on a pattern or a channel.

When copying a pattern, you copy all notes and parameters for that pattern

When copying a channel, you copy all patterns, parameters and instrument for that channel.

A channel is an organization of sequences for a instrument. You have 8 channels in total which appear below the 4x4 grid at the bottom of the screen with the letters a-h

To rename the letter just hold down 👇 the channel letter and a keypad will show up. You can choose a different letter.

To choose the instrument for the channel, tap the channel then tap the instrument editor

Instruments are associated to a channel, there are four types of instruments to choose from:

Instrument	Pulse wave	FM	Noize	Sample
Image

Tap the instrument in the upper left hand corner to change the types

Pulse wave instrument

Choosing the pulse wave gives you the following parameters in the instrument editor

Volume	Attack	Decay	LFO	LFO Frequency	Cutoff	Pulse width	Resonance

Slide them up and down the change the global instrument parameters.

The LFO and LFO Frequency apply to the LFO Shape chosen above the instrument window

LFO Shape	Downward	Upward	Alternating
Image

The LFO shape is applied to what appears next to it in the instrument. Holding down on the icon shows the associated hints.

LFO Shape	Pitch	Pulse width	Cutoff
Image
Hint	lfo -> pitch	lfo -> pwm	lfo -> cutoff

For example:

LFO Shape Name	LFO Shape	Used with	Produces
Down			Decreasing pitch when played
Up			Increasing pulse width when played
Sine			Alternating cutoff will increase and decrease when played

TODO ADD POLY NOTES

FM Instrument

Choosing FM (frequency modulation) gives you the following parameters in the instrument editor

Volume	Attack	Decay	LFO	LFO Frequency	Modulation	Modulation Frequency	Amplitude Modulation

Amplitude Modulation may not be available on older versions of Nanoloop.

The LFO and LFO Frequency apply to the LFO Shape chosen above the instrument window

LFO Shape	Downward	Upward	Alternating
Image

The LFO shape is applied to what appears next to it in the instrument. Holding down on the icon shows the associated hints.

LFO Shape	Pitch	Modulation Frequency	Modulation
Image
Hint	lfo -> pitch	lfo -> modulation freq	lfo -> modulation

For example:

LFO Shape Name	LFO Shape	Used with	Produces
Down			Decreasing pitch when played
Up			Increasing modulation frequency when played
Sine			Alternating modulation will increase and decrease when played

TODO ADD POLY NOTES

Noise instrument

Choosing noize gives you the following parameters in the instrument editor

Volume	Attack	Decay	LFO	LFO Frequency	Phase

The LFO and LFO Frequency apply to the LFO Shape chosen above the instrument window

LFO Shape	Downward	Upward	Alternating
Image

The LFO shape is applied to what appears next to it in the instrument. Holding down on the icon shows the associated hints.

There is only pitch available for the LFO on the noize instrument. The change to pitch really modifies the frequency distribution of the noize. Lower pitch sets a lower bar to the randomness creating a lower pitch sound.

Raising the pitch only has effect if starting from a lower note.

LFO Shape	Pitch
Image
Hint	lfo -> pitch

For example:

LFO Shape Name	LFO Shape	Used with	Produces
Down			Decreasing pitch when played
Up			Increasing pitch when played
Sine			Alternating pitch increase and decrease when played

TODO ADD POLY NOTES

Sample instrument

Choosing sample gives you the following parameters in the instrument editor

Volume	Attack	Decay	Offset	Loop Length	Fine Tune	Base Note

TODO COPY FROM OTHER INSTRUMENT AND UPDATE

Song mode can be used by pressing the button

You will be shown the following screen

You can see a few things in this screen.

There is a sequence editor which is made of eight rows, one for each channel.

Channel
Empty Channel Sequences

Below the sequence editor is the following buttons

Page Up	Page Down	Paste	Loop Play	Play	Stop	Pattern	Empty

Below that are the numbers for the sequences.

There are eight channels in nanoloop, and in song mode there are eight columns.

The eight columns represent each one of the channels, and the number below the sequence editor

By tapping any channel, the cursor becomes orange, you can then tap one of the sequence numbers on the bottom of the screen to add a pattern sequence in that channel.

For example; if I have two sequences in channel a and four in channel b, I could play them all together in song mode by repeating channel a twice and b once by making the following sequence

  1  1  -  -  -  -  -  -
  2  2  -  -  -  -  -  -
  1  3  -  -  -  -  -  -
  2  4  -  -  -  -  -  -

To loop a section in song mode, tap and drag the section in the page of the song editor that you want to loop. It will turn pink.

Then push the loop play button

If you select a section to loop play in the song editor, it is automatically copied.

Tap the row in the song editor where you want to paste the selected loop and press the paste button below the song editor.

A page is the pattern sequence of all channels. What you see in song mode.

There are 16 pages you can use to make a song.

On the upper left of the pattern sequence window, there are up two three number that are shown

1. The white number is the page which you see.
2. The green number is the page where the song is playing.
3. The pink number is the page where a loop is set.

The order of the numbers is not fixed.

Bank mode allows a single channel to have up to four instruments. It also allows you to use up to sixteen patterns.

When using a sample in one of the channels in bank mode, only that sample can be used in any one of the banks.

To turn on bank mode tap and hold any pattern and press banks.

Bank mode enable gif

You will then see the patterns split into two sections, pattern numbers and banks.

Pattern	Pattern	Pattern	Pattern	Bank	Bank	Bank	Bank

Let's go over some more advanced topics of the nanoloop mobile app.

Monophonic synths are when the voice setting is set to in the instrument screen.

In monophonic (1 voice mode) each new note cuts off the previous note.

Monophonic mode is good for leads and basses.

Polyphonic synths are when the voice setting is set to or in the instrument screen.

The maximum polyphony for any synth is 3 notes.

When a fourth note is played, the least recent note is disabled.

Here is an example of a four note pattern:

sequence

In the above sequence ☝️ when the b note is played, the c note is disabled.

You can use the polyphany cut to play multiple chords!

In the previous example, when the fourth note is played, you have changed from a c-major (c e g) to a e-minor (e g b).

A way to fake polyphony is by rapid arpeggiation of notes. The sequencer does not allow for speed multipliers so you can play multiple notes quickly and export wave loops for later imports.

TODO image or gif of arp   export

• Make an arpeggiation of notes
• Export the sequence
• Import into a channel

The imported arp chord can be looped for more sustain.

One methodology for creating a more right polyphonic synth is layering. This can be done by making a channel with a few sequences, copying the channel and modifying the parameters in the second channel.

TODO copy paste and modify gif

Some potential things to change in the second channel can be:

• Octave
• Instrument type
• Oscillation

Detuning is taking the synth and slightly changing the pitch. This can only really be done in two ways:

1. Using a sample fine tune
2. Using LFO & pitch on step

Detuning with (1) is just a step paramter change of fine tune in the sequencer.

TODO gif pitch sample change in sequence

Detuning with (2) is a LFO parameter change in the sequencer. It requires the LFO being set on the instrument.

TODO gif LFO in on instrument and sequence

Bass programming can be done using any instrument type. You can get very good bass sounds by layering or simply using step based parameter changes.

In this section, I will mainly give some tips and suggestions on making bass sounds with different instruments.

For the most part you are going to want to use monophonic mode , otherwise your bass sounds will overlap and become difficult to distinguish. Generally lower bass sounds (sub frequencies) are when the octave is set to -2 or lower.

To get a nice sub sound, FM is the way to go. If you want a simple sub set the modulation param very low (0-10) and the modulation to 2. Modulation values in mid-ranges give nice overtones.

TODO gif with sub bass sound FM

modulation values in the mid range loose lower frequencies but are great for layering.

If you want more punchy or clicky sounds, set lfo to lfo -> pitch then lfo down and modifying lfo amount and lfo frequency will give you a pitched down sound when the note is started. This can be layered with kicks to give a good punch.

TODO gif with pitch down FM

If you want a more, dirty or acidy sound, set lfo to lfo -> modulation then lfo down or lfo up and change your lfo amount and lfo frequency. If you are using lfo up you can get a nice rich sub by also setting the modulation to a mid range which will sweep sub frequencies up.

TODO gif with modulation and lfo up/down

There are a few types of layering which are interesting to try:

• Multiple instrument layering
• Detuned layering
• Octave layering
• Fixed transpose layering

Any of these techniques can be used together, let's talk about them.

If you read any section, this is the one to read. Adding a detuned bass, especially a layered detuned bass will give a really rich full bodied sound. To get a bass which is detuned you set lfo to lfo down or lfo up. Then set to lfo -> pitch. Finally set the lfo amount low 1-10 and lfo frequency very low 1-5.

What this does it makes the initial tone slightly higher (lfo up) or slightly lower (lfo down). The note will be slightly detuned and when layered on another bass, it will give a lot of unique overtones. It sounds similar to the chorus effect.

TODO gif detuned layered bass.

There are two main methodologies to program drums, using wave synthesis or wave samples.

Drum programming using wave synthesis takes advantage of the instruments types available to create drum like sounds to use in the patterns.

Drum programming using wave samples takes advantage of loading pre-recorded waves into a instrument to create drum patterns.

For example, you can load a wav with drum loops or drum stabs into an sample instrument. Drum loops would be a continuous recorded drum loop from a recording, something like a classic drum break. Stabs would be single sounds one after another such as bass drum, snare drum, hihat.

There are no built in effects and no way to apply any effects to channels. Therefore to create certain types of effects you have to use multiple channels, samples, or other tricks to create them.

A chorus effect can be produced by playing two channels with slightly different pitch settings.

A delay effect can be produced by playing the same note at repetitive intervals and changing the note parameters in a sequence such as volume or cutoff.

A flanger effect can be produced by playing two channels as the same time with the same sample with one having a slightly different pitch setting, specifically fine tune.

A distortion effect can be produced only by exporting at a instrument or sample at a high volume and then reimporting the new sample into a channel.