Loop For Linux

I remember being around 10 years old when I was having a lot of fun with FruityLoops (way before it was renamed to a more professional-sounding FL Studio), even though, honestly, I had no idea what I was doing.

Funnily enough, I almost had the same feeling, plus a bit of nostalgia, when I tried out Loop, a free and open-source audio loop machine application for GNOME.

First things first, don't expect Loop to be responsible for lots of emerging artists in the next couple of years, since Loop is by no means a comprehensive loop-making application.

According to the app's official repository, Loop is nothing more than just a "simple audio loop machine application to create music."

In terms of features, you get a clean but basic GTK GUI and the ability to record up to four tracks. I wouldn't call Loop's automatic loop engine smart, but it gets the job done nonetheless.

The music grid is the app's "bread-and-butter" feature, and it's place where you can select various types of scales, instruments, and also the place from where you can tweak the tempo. The supported scales are Classic, Pentatonic, Chromatic, Major, and Harmonic Minor.

As far as the provided instruments are concerned, you can choose between a couple of types of Piano (including two electronic piano effects), Honky Tonk, Harpsichord, Clavinet, Celesta, Glockenspiel, Music Box, and Vibraphone.

I found the Experimental Widgets section to be quite interesting (you can access it from the app's main menu). It provides all the aforementioned instruments, effects, and configurations, as well as a virtual MIDI keyboard.

Even though Loop won't spark any music revolutions, I think it's a great little application. It doesn't offer all that much in terms of power and features, but it could be a decent solution for those absolute beginners who want to get into DIY sound creation.