Audio Processing Environment · VST3 & AU GNU GPL-3.0

Loop Breaker

Every few bars, Loop Breaker presents a new modifier and asks which loops should change. You can decide—or do nothing and let Loop Breaker decide for you.

Free and open source under the GNU GPL-3.0 license.

Loop Breaker plugin interface showing 8 sample pads, modifier engine, and waveform display
8
loops in one playable kit
24
ways the music can shift
8
recallable performance scenes
9
stereo channels to mix your way

It asks. You decide. Or you do not.

Load some loops, press play, and wait for the next prompt. Change is the only constant.

Load your loops

Drop up to eight loops into the pad grid: drums, vocals, textures, or a whole idea in pieces.

A modifier appears

Every few bars, a new modifier enters the queue: an effect, a slice, a reversal, a stretch, or something stranger.

Choose a target

Pick the loops it should affect. Make no choice, and Loop Breaker selects one to four pads for you.

Let the stacks build

Modifiers stack. Within minutes, each loop can head down its own path before the pieces recombine into something new.

Modifiers do not just decorate the loop. They change it.

Effects, playback changes, and structural moves arrive on the fly; you decide how much control to keep.

🎛

A modifier system

Set how many bars pass between prompts, then let modifiers arrive one at a time in the queue.

🎲

Set the odds

Control how likely each modifier is to appear and how likely each loop is to be chosen when you cede the decision.

✂️

Playback can come apart

Reverse, re-pitch, stretch, change speed, move between parts, or slice loops into shuffled, arpeggiated, and repeated fragments.

🔊

Effects change as they arrive

Reverb, delay, chorus, filters, granular delay, auto-pan, and tremolo receive changing settings and onset times on the fly.

🎹

Probability responds to MIDI

Use MIDI CC, DAW automation lanes, or modulation sources to change the odds while the loops are running.

💾

Save modifier stacks

Store a state as a preset, take your exploration further, then recall it when you need it.

Bring a controller

Map pads and presets to MIDI notes, put probabilities on faders, and make decisions with your hands instead of the mouse.

🧩

Eight separate outputs

Send each loop to its own stereo channel in your DAW, then keep editing, processing, and mixing after the fact.

🎨

Reset, then go again

Reset All returns the loops to their defaults, ready for the next route through the same material.

What can happen to a loop?

A modifier comes up every few bars. Assign it to a loop or leave the decision to Loop Breaker. Either way, the changes stack.

Buffer Transforms

  • Reverse
  • Speed
  • Stretch
  • Pitch Up Octave
  • Pitch Down Octave
  • Beat Slice
  • Arp Slice
  • Slice Repeater
  • Ping Pong

Channel Effects

  • Delay
  • Delay Dub Burst
  • Reverb
  • Low-Pass Filter
  • High-Pass Filter
  • Volume Ramp
  • Tremolo
  • Chorus
  • Auto-Pan

Master Effects

  • Master High-Pass
  • Master Low-Pass

Special

  • Switch Part
  • Quarter-Note Burst
  • Reset All

The controls are still yours

Loop Breaker follows your DAW's tempo and transport. Its probability sliders respond to MIDI CC, automation lanes, and modulation sources, so you can keep changing the rules midstream.

Save and recall modifier stacks as presets. Your loops, mappings, timing, and probability settings also return with the DAW session.

Ableton Live Reaper Bitwig FL Studio Logic Pro
Property Value
Format VST3 AU
Category Instrument (Synth)
MIDI Input Yes
Outputs 9 stereo buses (18 ch)
Sample Formats WAV AIFF FLAC MP3
Platform macOS 10.13+ (Intel & Apple Silicon)
Manufacturer Glow Machine Audio

Use your hands when it matters

Pads, presets, the modifier switch, and probability settings can all be mapped to MIDI. Pull a fader to make granular delay more likely, switch a preset, or leave the next choice to the plugin.

Do not get stuck in a loop.

You have a hard drive full of four-bar loops. Let them become a composition.

Download Loop Breaker (Free) Read the Manual (PDF)

Free and open source under the GNU GPL-3.0 license.
Requires macOS 10.13 or later. Compatible with VST3 and AU hosts.
Set your DAW buffer size to 2048+ samples for best performance.