The Apple Loops Utility software is a small companion utility to Soundtrack Pro, GarageBand

GarageBand

GarageBand is a software application for Mac OS X and iOS that allows users to create music or podcasts. It is developed by Apple Inc. as a part of the iLife software package on Mac OS X.-Audio recording:...

, Logic Express

Logic Express

Logic Express is a "light" version of Logic Pro, a MIDI sequencer and digital audio workstation software application maintained by Apple that runs on the Mac OS X platform. It was announced on 15 January 2004 for release in March 2004....

, and Logic Pro

Logic Pro

Logic Pro is a hybrid 32 / 64 bit digital audio workstation and MIDI sequencer software application for the Mac OS X platform. Originally created by German software developer Emagic, Logic Pro became an Apple product when Apple bought Emagic in 2002...

, all made by Apple Inc.  Apple Loops Utility allows users to create loops of audio that can be time-stretched. Audio files converted to "Apple Loops" via the Apple Loops Utility can also be tagged with their publishing (Author, Comments, etc.) and musical information (Key, Tempo, etc.). Multiple files can be tagged at the same time, a process known as batch tagging. Apple Loops Utility can read both AIFF

AIFF

Audio Interchange File Format is an audio file format standard used for storing sound data for personal computers and other electronic audio devices...

 and WAV

WAV

Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...

 file format

File format

A file format is a particular way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file.Since a disk drive, or indeed any computer storage, can store only bits, the computer must have some way of converting information to 0s and 1s and vice-versa. There are different kinds of formats for...

s, but it will convert the latter to AIFF when saved with tagging information.

The most recent version available without purchasing the aforementioned software is 1.3.1, available from Apple's Developer web site. Version 1.4, which is the first Universal Binary

Universal binary

A universal binary is, in Apple parlance, an executable file or application bundle that runs natively on either PowerPC or Intel-manufactured IA-32 or Intel 64-based Macintosh computers; it is an implementation of the concept more generally known as a fat binary.With the release of Mac OS X Snow...

version of the software, is available with Logic Pro or Express 7.2. It allows multiple files to have multiple tags added to them, and it also allows content merging to occur with Logic Audio Express. Only version 1.4 will work natively with Intel Macs. Version 1.3.1 will appear to allow edits to be made and file information to be saved, but none of the essential tagging information will be retained on an Intel Mac.

External links and references

• [ftp://ftp.apple.com/developer/Development_Kits/Apple_Loops_SDK_1.3.1.dmg Apple Loops SDK, including Apple Loops Utility] (DMG)
• Apple Loops Utility Manual (PDF)