Ableton Forum

Do you see it as recreating or being lazy?

Depends on the drum loops, if I find something in a sample pack that is what I have in my head it makes things move forward faster than if I am trying to get it down to Live from my noggin. And that's half the battle not being a drummer. Musical loops, I usually don't use these for my project(s) unless it is stuff I don't need/want (i.e. hip hop drums or other of their ilk) which I run through convolution reverb to mangle the crap out of it so it is indistinguishable. That's pretty much what I do to any loop from the sample packs I have that aren't usable in their existing form.

Mike

Depends on the end goal. If you're an amateur and are just trying to have fun jamming out... sure, use some loops... recreate other people's sounds.. cover tracks.. anything goes.

However if you are playing shows or trying to sell your music, don't be a douchebag. Be original.

I like to use drum loops/breaks and with the audio to MIDI feature I'm able to convert these loops into MIDI and layer that on top or underneath the loops to beefen them up.. it's awesome..

If I were sampling from a vinyl I'd be an OG, but instead I'm using sample CD's and that makes me a complete hack

The only way time I have found anykinda of loop usefull is as a start point of inspiration.

If I dont have any ideas Il just load a loop I like. Jam over that till I create parts I like.
Then I end up removing the loop I used, never makes it to the final product.

Dont really work like that anymore but ive done a few times in the past

If I abstract your question to the "What constitutes art?" question, my answer would be "well certainly someone could create a work of art by using pre-made loops". Now do I do that personally? No, but it doesn't seem to be due to some pre-made loop phobia, but my terror of the idea of telling someone I use them and their consequent judgement of my musical ability - which I'm pretty insecure about (if that wasn't obvious).

Whilst thinking about this, I found myself wondering if Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" might fall into the visual arts equivalent of a pre-made loop? Does that make it any less wothwhile/relevant as an artistic statement?

I LOVE loops! No, I don't use them a ton, but I love them anyways. Loops? Not lazy, fun, entertaining, and now with live being able to extract groove, even BETTER!

Sure!! I use Loops,for a springboard for ideas,or to get me into a zen like state,ha,ha

But loops can be very useful for all kind of creative ideas

Be your own,and be creative

And quite rightly, ( as mentioned) It's Even more creative ,now with have the new midi tools (liking the midi note stretching ),so that dull loop,you had rattling away on your hard drive for ages,can now be brought back to life,ha,ha

infernal.machine wrote:Depends on the end goal. If you're an amateur and are just trying to have fun jamming out... sure, use some loops... recreate other people's sounds.. cover tracks.. anything goes.

However if you are playing shows or trying to sell your music, don't be a douchebag. Be original.

I think Beastie boys might have a bone to pick with the latter statement.

My thoughts on loops is they are exactly what the warp engine was made for. I generally don't warp my own midi-created loops because I created them to a point where I want them. If I use other loops, I use the warp engine to see what kind of unique sounds I can get out of them. Or its mostly for vocals that I like. I wouldn't knock anyone for using them though, its sampling and thats the name of the game with alot of electronic music.

You can design every sound from scratch and record every note yourself, use no presets on effects and still end up with a generic track with no creativity whatsoever (trust me).

It's up to you to decide if what you've done has merit.

andydes wrote:You can design every sound from scratch and record every note yourself, use no presets on effects and still end up with a generic track with no creativity whatsoever (trust me).

It's up to you to decide if what you've done has merit.

+1. I don't use loops, not that I have got anything against them it is just that up to now I haven't thought of a way to use them that would enhance my music.

Loops are a good place to start, helps with structure, genre norms for tempo and sounds, etc...then you outgrow them, ween em down til it's all original

Sampling is a whole nother topic, and sampling can be awesome, and as creative as any other musical discipline.

Back in the early 90’s a successful dance song had exactly 3 tracks.

1. Sampled drum loop
2. Mono synth lead sound (played at different octaves which was the height of variation)
3. Voice/vocal sample sprinkled throughout.

And yet I don’t remember any talk of producers being lazy. Funny how we’ve evolved.