Hacker ApprovedDepartments

Loopmaster

Hacker Approved

Ranked 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%
Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes

Recommended in 4 of 13 months

  1. November 2025: not recommended
  2. December 2025: recommended
  3. January 2026: not recommended
  4. February 2026: recommended
  5. March 2026: recommended
  6. April 2026: not recommended
  7. May 2026: recommended
  8. June 2026: not recommended
  9. July 2026: not recommended
  10. August 2026: not recommended
  11. September 2026: not recommended
  12. October 2026: not recommended
  13. 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.

Loopmaster compared with 4 alternatives
ProductRecommendCriticizeApprovalMonthsOwnedBadge
Sonic Pi321273%5—Approved
LoopmasterThis page15288%4—Approved
TidalCycles9660%5——
Cagire60100%1——
Dogalog50100%1——
See all 5 live coding environments, ranked

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.”

RecommendsComment from 19 May 2026 in “loopmaster – Livecoding Music IDE”

“The filters sound digital”

CriticizesComment from 19 May 2026 in “loopmaster – Livecoding Music IDE”

“the filters sound excellent and UI is great”

RecommendsComment from 19 May 2026 in “loopmaster – Livecoding Music IDE”

“it didn't miss a beat (literally and figuratively)”

RecommendsComment from 19 May 2026 in “loopmaster – Livecoding Music IDE”

“Ah, I overlooked that info, not expecting to see it in the very readily shown 'welcome' tab.”

RecommendsComment from 18 May 2026 in “loopmaster – Livecoding Music IDE”

“what would happen if you got a musically talented math teacher to teach a bunch of kids”

RecommendsComment from 18 May 2026 in “loopmaster – Livecoding Music IDE”

“It looks cool but I wasn't able to get any audio when I started playing.”

MixedComment from 18 May 2026 in “loopmaster – Livecoding Music IDE”

“I really like the inline visualization and controls”

RecommendsComment from 18 May 2026 in “loopmaster – Livecoding Music IDE”

“I've been working on something similar, but for the browser, maybe you like it.”

RecommendsComment from 10 May 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (May 2026)”

“The UI for loopmaster looks really good. The color scheme is really pleasing to look at”

RecommendsComment from 11 Mar 2026 in “Building a TB-303 from Scratch”

“I'm now trying to make it as newbie friendly as possible by doing tutorials and videos”

RecommendsComment from 9 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)”

“Loopmaster feels like a more approachable version of Strudel”

RecommendsComment from 24 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: loopmaster Beta – Code Music”

“The DSP is state-of-the-art”

RecommendsComment from 23 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: loopmaster Beta – Code Music”

“cool idea and nice execution”

RecommendsComment from 23 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: loopmaster Beta – Code Music”

“have a much better toolset for producing stuff that actually sounds great”

RecommendsComment from 4 Dec 2025 in “How to Synthesize a House Loop”

“In loopmaster you can define functions and abstract slowly and build your tools as well.”

RecommendsComment from 4 Dec 2025 in “How to Synthesize a House Loop”

“I do find limiting a lot of factors, especially sequencing”

MixedComment from 3 Dec 2025 in “How to Synthesize a House Loop”

“the AI generates and plays music for you infinitely”

RecommendsComment from 3 Dec 2025 in “How to Synthesize a House Loop”

Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.