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loopy

Python based MIDI sequencer and looper.

Installation

Loopy needs FluidSynth and a General MIDI soundfont. Keep the instructions below short and sweet:

Linux (Ubuntu / Debian)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install fluidsynth alsa-utils libasound2-dev libpulse-dev libsdl2-dev

Then install the Python package:

uv sync
# or
pip install -e .

Windows 10/11

  1. Install FluidSynth from the official releases or via winget install FluidSynth.FluidSynth, and make sure fluidsynth.exe is on your PATH.
  2. Install Python dependencies with uv sync or pip install -e . from a terminal in the project directory.

Soundfonts

Grab any General MIDI .sf2 file (for example the GeneralUser GS soundfont) and point Loopy to its path. The repository includes sf2/GeneralUser-GS2-Presets.txt if you want a quick reference for patch numbers.

Architecture overview

flowchart LR
    Project[Project] -->|controls tempo| Metronome[Metronome]
    Project -->|starts| SoundEngine
    Project -->|manages| InstrumentChannels[Instrument Channels]

    SoundEngine -->|loads presets| SoundBank[(Sound Bank / SoundFonts)]
    SoundBank -->|provides voices| MIDI[FluidSynth / MIDI Engine]
    InstrumentRegistry[Instrument Registry] -->|assigns channel + program| SoundEngine
    Project -->|owns| InstrumentRegistry

    InstrumentChannels --> StepSequencerChannel
    StepSequencerChannel --> Sequence[Sequence]
    Sequence --> Step[Steps]
    Step -->|trigger note| SoundEngine

    InstrumentChannels --> FreeMidiChannel
    InstrumentChannels --> FreeMetronomeChannel

    SoundEngine -->|mixes| Output[Audio Output]
Loading

Running with uv

Loopy now exposes a console script entry point, so you can launch it directly with uv run:

uv run loopy

All of the CLI flags continue to work and can be passed without the additional python -m invocation:

uv run loopy --theme lofi-chill
uv run loopy --list-themes

Note

On Linux you need the ALSA development headers so that the optional pyalsaaudio dependency can compile. Install them before running uv run:

sudo apt-get install libasound2-dev

Interface themes

Loopy now supports selectable colour themes for its curses interface. Run the application with the --theme flag to pick the LoFi chilly look or fall back to the classic console palette:

python loopy.py --theme lofi-chill

To see the available themes and their descriptions, use:

python loopy.py --list-themes