Loopmasters vs Sample Focus: Which One Fits Your Workflow?

You’ve got two big names in the sample game: Loopmasters, with its massive pay-per-pack library for pros, and Sample Focus, a community-driven source for free sounds. They both promise to fill your hard drive, but which one actually fits into a real workflow?

We’re putting them head-to-head, comparing their sound libraries, features, and pricing models to see which one truly solves problems for producers. This is about finding the tool that works for you, not just the one with the most files.

Then there's a third way. Instead of just offering a mountain of samples, we built tools like Arcade and the AI-powered Co-Producer to integrate sound discovery directly into your DAW. Finding the right sound should be part of making music, not a distraction from it.

A Quick Overview on Loopmasters and Sample Focus

What is Loopmasters?

Loopmasters is a massive marketplace for royalty-free sample packs and presets, organized by genre and format. Their main workflow tool is Loopcloud, a subscription browser that integrates with your DAW to let you audition and pull sounds directly into a project.

What is Sample Focus?

Sample Focus is a community-driven library for free audio samples. It relies on user uploads, organizing a constantly expanding collection of sounds with detailed tags for easy discovery.

Features of Loopmasters and Sample Focus

Loopmasters Features

Loopmasters is built around a pay-per-pack marketplace. Here’s what that gets you:

• A library of royalty-free sample packs from a wide range of producers and labels.

• Samples organized by key and tempo, designed to drop into a project with less guesswork.

• Dedicated synth preset libraries for instruments like Serum, Massive, and Sylenth.

• Packs are available in multiple formats, including standard WAV files and pre-configured packs for Ableton Live and Logic Pro.

• Its main workflow tool is Loopcloud, a separate application that connects to your DAW and lets you audition sounds from their library in the context of your track.

Sample Focus Features

Sample Focus operates on a different model, centered on community contributions and free access. Its main offerings include:

• A library of free audio samples sourced from a community of users.

• A user-upload system that allows producers to contribute their own sounds to the collection.

• Samples organized with detailed metadata, including tempo, key, and duration, for faster filtering.

• Sounds are grouped into curated collections and browsable by genre or descriptive tags.

• Its core premise is being the "easiest way to find the perfect audio sample," focusing on a straightforward discovery process.

Why Choose One Over The Other?

• You might lean towards Loopmasters if your workflow demands professionally produced packs with guaranteed DAW compatibility. It’s a pay-per-pack system, but you get sounds from known producers formatted for immediate use, plus integration with their Loopcloud browser.

• Sample Focus could be a better starting point if your budget is zero and you're just digging for ideas. Since it's a community-driven library of free sounds, quality can be inconsistent, but you might find some interesting textures without spending a dime.

Output: A Better Alternative to Loopmasters And Sample Focus

While Loopmasters offers professional packs and Sample Focus provides free sounds, both require you to step outside your session to hunt for audio. At Output, we think sound discovery should be part of the music-making process, not a separate chore. Our tools are built to live inside your DAW, serving up inspiration without breaking your flow.

What is Output?

We build instruments and effects that integrate sound discovery directly into your workflow:

• A playable sample engine, not just a browser. Arcade is an instrument loaded with a constantly growing library of royalty-free sounds, all organized into playable Kits and Lines.

• AI that finds sounds for you. Our Co-Producer plugin analyzes your track and suggests matching samples based on musical context or even plain English prompts.

• A connected ecosystem of sound-shaping tools. Find a loop in Arcade, then mangle it with our granular FX plugin Portal, add harmonic grit with Thermal, or introduce rhythmic complexity with Movement.

• A full suite of deep-sampled instruments. Beyond loops, we offer powerful Kontakt instruments for vocals (Exhale), bass (Substance), and much more, all designed for expressive, hands-on control.

• An environment built for producers. From our software to our studio furniture collaboration, every product is designed to solve a specific problem in the modern production workflow.

So, while Loopmasters sells you the raw ingredients and Sample Focus lets you forage for them, we built an integrated kitchen. It’s the difference between digging through endless folders for a kick drum and having the right one suggested to you, ready to be played and manipulated, without ever leaving your project.

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Pricing of Loopmasters vs Sample Focus

Loopmasters Pricing

Loopmasters' pricing is built around its Loopcloud subscription, which operates on a point system. You pay a monthly fee for an allowance of points, which you then use to “buy” individual sounds from their library.

The plans start at $7.99 per month for the Artist tier, which gives you 100 points. The Studio plan is $11.99 for 300 points, and the Professional plan costs $21.99 for 600 points. Moving up the tiers also gets you more cloud storage for your own sample library.

Annual plans offer a lower effective monthly rate, and they often run promotions that reduce the first-year cost. If you're on the fence, they offer a 14-day free trial with 100 points to see if the workflow fits your process.

Sample Focus Pricing

Sample Focus runs on a credit system. It’s mostly free—you get 3 download credits each week, which reset every Monday. If you need more, you can earn them by uploading your own samples or referring other producers to the platform.

For heavy users, there are paid plans available on a monthly or yearly basis. These give you a larger batch of download credits to work with. All sounds on the platform are royalty-free, so you can use them in commercial projects without worrying about licensing.

Output Pricing

We skip the points and credits. Our approach is simpler: a single subscription that gives you an entire ecosystem of tools designed to work together. It’s about getting you the sounds you need without interrupting your process.

The best way to get into our world is with Output One. For $14.99 a month (or $119.99 a year), you get the full suite: our playable sample engine Arcade, the AI-powered Co-Producer, and all our FX plugins—Portal, Thermal, and Movement. If you just want the sample library, Arcade is available on its own for $12.99 per month.

You can try Arcade completely free for 7 days to see how it fits into your sessions. No strings attached.

For producers who prefer to own their tools outright, our FX plugins and Kontakt instruments are also available as one-time purchases.

Loopmasters, Sample Focus, or Output: Which is The Best Sample Library for You?

Loopmasters gives you a pro marketplace and Sample Focus offers a free-for-all, and both will get sounds onto your hard drive. But if you'd rather spend less time digging through folders and more time actually making music, our tools are built to live inside your DAW. We think that's a better way to work, and you can try our entire suite for free to see if you agree.

Happy creating!