Sample your voice, or any sound, and play it on the pads

To sample your voice on your phone, open the SAMPLE tab, tap Record from the mic and make your sound: a sung line, a beatbox, a pan hit with a spoon. Keep just the good bit with the two handles and drop it on a pad. Two minutes later your voice is under your fingers and looping in the track.

From voice to pad

1. In the SAMPLE tab, tap Record from the mic.
2. Make your sound and press STOP: you get up to 30 seconds.
3. Drag the two handles onto the good part and tap Listen until the cut sounds right.
4. Give the sound a name and tap Assign to a pad.
5. Hit REC and play the pad: the loop records and keeps going.

The sampler is part of the full version: your voice and any sound on the pads, from the mic, files, videos and the Sound library. During the 7-day trial you use it without limits, then one purchase keeps it. Just want to sing into a loop? The looper microphone on the 2 free tracks stays free forever.

Where can a sound come from?

Each button in the SAMPLE tab is a different way in, and they all lead to the same place: a sound to trim and put on a pad.

• Record from the mic: your voice, beatbox, anything around you
• Import a file: audio already on your phone
• Sound from a video: the audio of a video in your gallery
• Resample the app: whatever PadLoop is playing
• Sample from other apps: whatever your phone plays (Android 10 and later only)
• Sound library: 558 ready-made sounds, for when you just need a good kick
• Split a song: vocals, drums, bass and the rest pulled out of a full track

Beatbox becomes a drum kit

Record a kick with your mouth, a snare, a hi-hat. Split them onto three pads and you've got drums made from your own voice. It works with anything: a whistle, keys dropped on the table, a slammed door.

For a clean sample: find a quiet room and leave a moment of silence before and after the sound. It helps you trim precisely and gives the noise clean-up something to work with.

Want to sing or play guitar straight into the loop? You don't need this screen: in the LOOP tab every track has its own mic and records in time. The live looping with guitar and vocals page shows how.

The sound from a file or a video

Import a file takes audio from your phone (WAV, MP3, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG) and keeps the first 30 seconds. Sound from a video does the same with a video from your gallery, which is left untouched. A laugh or a line from a clip you filmed becomes a pad: see how to sample the sound from a video.

Watch the video on its own page →

Transcript

1. 0:00 Sound from a video: its audio becomes a sample
2. 0:01 SAMPLE > Sound from a video: your gallery opens
3. 0:06 Pick the video (here one of ours): the app takes its audio
4. 0:08 With the handles, keep just two bars
5. 0:08 Pick the video (here one of ours): the app takes its audio
6. 0:09 With the handles, keep just two bars
7. 0:12 Split on hits: 16 pieces on bank F
8. 0:20 In order, the groove comes back
9. 0:25 Beats reshuffled: a new groove from the same video

For a whole song, use Split a song: instead of cutting a piece out, it separates the track into four parts you can put on pads.

Resample the app, or whatever your phone plays

Resample the app records whatever PadLoop is playing (pads, loops, effects) and hands it back as a single sound, up to 60 seconds. If the metronome is on, the click goes in too. Use it to print an effect onto a sound, or turn a whole loop into one pad.

Transcript

1. 0:00 Resample the app: what plays becomes a new sound
2. 0:01 SAMPLE > Resample the app: recording starts
3. 0:04 On PAD, play whatever you like: here two loops of a House beat
4. 0:16 Back on SAMPLE, tap STOP
5. 0:20 Here is the sample, already trimmed to the part that plays
6. 0:28 Split on hits: 16 pieces on bank F
7. 0:33 In order, the beat comes back
8. 0:40 Reshuffled: the same beat, played another way

Sample from other apps captures what your phone plays: the browser, a game, another music app, up to 2 minutes. It works on Android 10 and later, and the system asks for permission with its own dialog.

A clean cut: handles, level and noise

After recording you see the waveform. The two handles keep only the good part, and the magnifier zooms in when you need precision.

• Normalize volume is on by default: it brings the sound to a full level that matches your other pads. A kick recorded on your phone won't come out quieter than the library ones.
• Clean up noise removes steady background noise: hum, hiss, fans, the fridge. It won't remove a TV or voices, and it needs a moment where your sound is silent. Undo clean-up brings back the original.

A drum break in sixteen slices

Recorded a drum loop? No need to cut the hits one by one.

Split on hits finds the hits on its own and puts them on consecutive pads, starting from the pad you choose (occupied ones get replaced). A break becomes up to sixteen slices to replay in your own order.

Chop by hand is for when your ear beats the automatic: the sound plays and you tap CUT wherever you want a split. It works best on melodies and vocals.

Transcript

1. 0:00 Chop by hand: you decide where to split
2. 0:01 SAMPLE > Sound library > Melodic
3. 0:06 Here 6 seconds of blues chords
4. 0:09 Chop by hand: the sound loops, tap CUT before each chord
5. 0:14 Done: 5 pieces on pads in a row, from pad 1 of bank F
6. 0:21 In order, the progression comes back
7. 0:26 Change the order and a new progression is born

From pad to song

On a pad your sound behaves like any other. Turn on the pencil (it edits the pads) to shape it: pitch, reverse, attack and release, filter, echo, lo-fi. A reversed vocal with a bit of echo is an instant intro.

With the Keyboard that sound spreads across every pad in a scale: a sung syllable becomes a melody, a pan hit becomes a bassline.

Then hit REC and play it into the looper. Stack more layers on top and your voice becomes a track in the song. To finger-drum it like a real pad controller, see the drum pad sampler app page.

What to sample, and what to release

The best sounds are often already around you: your voice, your kitchen, the street outside. They're yours, use them anywhere. Sounds from other people's songs, videos or apps are different: fine for study and practice, but to release a track that contains them you need the rights.

Good to know

• A phone call mid-recording won't cost you the take: the recording closes by itself and what you captured is kept.
• The bit you want is mid-song? From a file or a video PadLoop keeps the first 30 seconds; for a later spot, use Split a song and move the window.
• Sample from other apps is there on Android 10 and later. Apps that protect their content, like music and film streaming, stay silent: that's their choice, not PadLoop's.

Sampler questions

Is there a sampler app for Android?

Yes. PadLoop is a sampler for Android and iPhone: record from the mic, import a file or grab a video's audio, trim it and play it on 16 pads. Sampling other apps is Android-only (Android 10 and later).

Can I sample my voice with my phone?

Yes. In the SAMPLE tab tap Record from the mic and record up to 30 seconds: voice, beatbox, a whistle, any object. Then trim the part you want and assign it to a pad.

How do I sample the sound from a video?

If the video is in your gallery, Sound from a video takes its audio, the first 30 seconds, ready to trim. For audio playing in another app, Sample from other apps works on Android 10 and later; apps that protect their content, like music and film streaming, stay silent.

How long can a sample be?

Up to 30 seconds from the mic; from a file or a video PadLoop keeps the first 30 seconds. Resampling the app gives you up to 60 seconds, sampling from other apps up to 2 minutes.

Which audio files can I import?

WAV, MP3, M4A, AAC, FLAC and OGG from your phone's storage; PadLoop keeps the first 30 seconds. If the bit you want comes later, use Split a song: move the window anywhere, up to 30 seconds, and Pad puts it on a pad, even just the vocals or just the drums.

Can it remove background noise?

Yes, steady noise: electrical hum, hiss, fans, the fridge. It won't remove a TV or voices in the background. If you don't like the result, Undo clean-up brings back the original.

Is the sampler free?

The sampler is part of the full version: you use it freely during the 7-day trial, then a single one-time purchase keeps it. The looper microphone on the 2 free tracks stays free forever.

Can I sample famous songs?

For study and practice, that's fine. To release a track that contains other people's samples you need the rights, so for that use your own sounds or free or licensed ones.

Last updated: 21 October 2026