Output Co-Producer

While Co‑Producer is its own thing, the plug‑in is also an excellent complement to Output’s Arcade.

Find the perfect samples for your track with a little help from Output’s Co‑Producer.

If your music production workflow includes creative use of loops and one‑shot samples, the odds are you will be familiar with Output’s Arcade. Paul White reviewed Arcade when it was first released (see SOS September 2018) and, with its extensive (and regularly expanding) collection of royalty‑free sample content organised into themed ‘Lines’, it provides an array of creative tools for working with loops, creating chromatic virtual instruments, and applying cool effects. For pop, electronic, hip‑hop, R&B and related music styles, it’s an impressive source of inspiration and production ear candy.

However, as outlined by Output’s CEO Gregg Lehrman (see the Q&A box elsewhere in this article), while the size of the Arcade sample library is undoubtedly appreciated by users, a regular request was for a more sophisticated way to search through that content to find potential fits for an ongoing project. Output’s response to that user feedback is Co‑Producer and, while it certainly fills that ‘search and find’ role for Arcade’s content, as we will see in a moment, Co‑Producer actually does more than that. So, could your loop‑ and sample‑based music production benefit from a Co‑Producer? Let’s find out...

Super Sub

Like Arcade, Co‑Producer is available on a subscription basis. This provides you with unlimited access to the Co‑Producer plug‑in and the associated sample library. This includes the entire Arcade sample library but also additional content thanks to Output’s partnerships with the likes of Minimal Audio, Cinesamples, Zenhiser and Black Octopus Sound. As with Arcade, Co‑Producer’s sample catalogue is also being expanded on a regular basis.

The Co‑Producer subscription is priced at $9.99 per month, while an Arcade subscription is currently priced at $12.99 per month. However, Output also offer a further subscription — named Output One — that’s priced at $14.99 per month. This includes both Arcade and Co‑Producer, but also adds access to Output’s very creative Portal FX, Thermal FX, Movement FX and all the FX Expansions. The Output One subscription is likely to be an easy stretch for existing Arcade users, but it would also seem to be a very attractive upsell from the Co‑Producer option. You can, of course, make your own mind up; Output offer a seven‑day free trial for all their subscription packages.

Listen & Learn

Co‑Producer’s primary function is to search its available sample library to find loops that might (a) work within your existing arrangement and (b) match the search criteria that you specify. The plug‑in will detect the tempo of the project from your host DAW but, if you identify the project’s key (root note and major or minor) prior to initiating a search process, any loops suggested by the plug‑in will be matched to this.

In use, the Co‑Producer plug‑in is placed on your master bus or main stereo output. This is so that the plug‑in can audition a four‑ or eight‑bar section of the existing arrangement and apply its AI algorithm to get a sense of the rhythmic and harmonic content of the incoming audio. Once the analysis process is complete (this takes only as long as the four‑ or eight‑bar playback section), you can simply initiate a search. However, if you have something specific in mind, you can also add a text prompt (up to 150 characters) and Co‑Producer’s AI will also use that information. As with any prompt‑based AI, you can fine‑tune your text entry but, in testing, I found a combination of terms related to music genre, instrument type and mood (for example, ‘funky rhythmic upbeat electric guitar’) produced the best results.

Co‑Producer will listen to a section of your track (left), let you provide a text prompt to identify what you are looking for (centre), and then use its AI smarts to identify some suitable loop options for you to audition (right).

You then simply hit the Find Samples button and Co‑Producer will...