Loopmaster
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 5 live coding environments by recommenders
A free livecoding music IDE people find approachable, with a good UI and inline controls; the most common caveat is limited sequencing.
A free livecoding music IDE people find approachable, with a good UI and inline controls; the most common caveat is limited sequencing.
17 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 15
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 88%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 15 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 7.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Excellent sound and DSP
“have a much better toolset for producing stuff that actually sounds great”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “How to Synthesize a House Loop” “the filters sound excellent and UI is great”
Comment from 19 May 2026 in “loopmaster – Livecoding Music IDE” “The DSP is state-of-the-art”
Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: loopmaster Beta – Code Music” Good-looking, pleasing UI
“The UI for loopmaster looks really good. The color scheme is really pleasing to look at”
Comment from 11 Mar 2026 in “Building a TB-303 from Scratch” “the filters sound excellent and UI is great”
Comment from 19 May 2026 in “loopmaster – Livecoding Music IDE” Approachable for newcomers
“I'm now trying to make it as newbie friendly as possible by doing tutorials and videos”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)” “Loopmaster feels like a more approachable version of Strudel”
Comment from 24 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: loopmaster Beta – Code Music” Live editing and inline visualization
“The live editor capabilities are really well-thought.”
Comment from 19 May 2026 in “loopmaster – Livecoding Music IDE” “I really like the inline visualization and controls”
Comment from 18 May 2026 in “loopmaster – Livecoding Music IDE”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
No audio when starting playback
“It looks cool but I wasn't able to get any audio when I started playing.”
Comment from 18 May 2026 in “loopmaster – Livecoding Music IDE” Limiting sequencing
“I do find limiting a lot of factors, especially sequencing”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “How to Synthesize a House Loop”
Other live coding environments people recommend
The four most recommended other live coding environments, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sonic Pi | 32 | 12 | 73% | 5 | — | Approved |
| LoopmasterThis page | 15 | 2 | 88% | 4 | — | Approved |
| TidalCycles | 9 | 6 | 60% | 5 | — | — |
| Cagire | 6 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
| Dogalog | 5 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
18 of the 24 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The live editor capabilities are really well-thought.”
“The filters sound digital”
“the filters sound excellent and UI is great”
“it didn't miss a beat (literally and figuratively)”
“Ah, I overlooked that info, not expecting to see it in the very readily shown 'welcome' tab.”
“what would happen if you got a musically talented math teacher to teach a bunch of kids”
“It looks cool but I wasn't able to get any audio when I started playing.”
“I really like the inline visualization and controls”
“I've been working on something similar, but for the browser, maybe you like it.”
“The UI for loopmaster looks really good. The color scheme is really pleasing to look at”
“I'm now trying to make it as newbie friendly as possible by doing tutorials and videos”
“Loopmaster feels like a more approachable version of Strudel”
“The DSP is state-of-the-art”
“cool idea and nice execution”
“have a much better toolset for producing stuff that actually sounds great”
“In loopmaster you can define functions and abstract slowly and build your tools as well.”
“I do find limiting a lot of factors, especially sequencing”
“the AI generates and plays music for you infinitely”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.