What are you doing with your loops Guys?
Never been a fan of them… but have been doing a couple of things with them recently that has made me look at them in a different way.
One thing… is sticking a Gate (in Live)… or Enveloper (in Logic) on them.
By shortening the release on it, most of the tail… or reverb / mad fx gets cut, making it much “dryer”. You can then do whatever with it then.
I’ve been messing about with different fx… sticking a rhythmic autofilter on it, over 1/4’s or 1/2’s… to give it a bit of movement. Also to turn it into something different. I like it. Especially if you shorten the loop to something really small & repetitive.
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Would be very interested if anyone could share their loop processing techniques / processes.
yah im with you. I hate loops. I would say like only 2% of what i do is using loops.
BUT…
when I do use loops. I usually run them through FXPansion Guru. Take out what I don’t like. Usually change the pattern slightly or a lot depending on the quality of the loop.
I do this just so that nobody can hear the loop and go OH thats from such & such.
Other then that I find loops to be blah. You can almost always recreate the same thing from samples, and make it sound just as good if not better. (drum loops obviously…)
I will say that when you first start out and don’t understand patterns & samples, that they can be helpful in giving your track a more fluid feel and thicken the sounds…
But overall I honestly don’t think any professional producer is just droping loops in as is and just being OK with it. IM sure it happens, but when it does, other producers are gunna notice for sure. I can spot a vengeance loop or vocal shot from a mile away.
Well ICN knows I am no fan off them - even with the rmxs I do I put them through so much mangling that they are unrecognizable - quite like the xfer lfo tool and then a bit crusher and then use a low pass - for some mental Nomad Spectrum styleee
Well, what got me thinking about it was but listening to lots of old techno records.
Its all loops.
Was just thinking about what some of the techniques used in that were… that old loop techno… and was trying to work out what they must have used to make it. It surely wasnt just cutting up a loop & there you go.
You can get something really cool by smashing up it with distortion & a couple of auto filters.
YEah… thats what I’m talking about Slender…
LFO’s - rhythm - transformation… not using fresh OTB.
[quote]slender (02/05/2011)[hr]Well ICN knows I am no fan off them - even with the rmxs I do I put them through so much mangling that they are unrecognizable - quite like the xfer lfo tool and then a bit crusher and then use a low pass - for some mental Nomad Spectrum styleee[/quote]
yah agreed. def check out Guru. It allows me to take a loop and make it minE!
you can even add samples to the loop and draw in the pattern.
Effectrix on a Loop is pretty crazy as well. you can take a loop and do a reverse on it. That sounds interesting.
Also. Any distortion plugins can be used for loops. depends on what your lookin for.
Its a good idea to EQ them as well to sit in the mix properly. Just cut Freq and ur good.
Granular Delay on a loop will do some wild stuff, depending on the setting & loop.
Last but not least, I like to do fun automation stuff with loops. FX like delay, reverb and compression can get some cool results from loops if you just fiddle with automation. Not saying it will sound good everytime, but I have a lot of fun experimenting with stuff like that to try and make the loop unique.
Recently i have been slicing loops to midi and reversing them, pick out some nice sounds and layering over my drum sequences before the two and the four or a full two bars reversed with delay and verb, thats whats floating my boat with loops this weather.
Great one 5id!
@UV - I have Guru… might give it a blast tomorrow.
Its been ages since I brought loops into it… it just takes .rex, doesnt it? or does it take a .wav & slice it to its transients?
[quote]ICN (02/05/2011)[hr]Well, what got me thinking about it was but listening to lots of old techno records.
Its all loops.
Was just thinking about what some of the techniques used in that were… that old loop techno… and was trying to work out what they must have used to make it. It surely wasnt just cutting up a loop & there you go.
You can get something really cool by smashing up it with distortion & a couple of auto filters.[/quote]
I think alot of the old Techno basslines came from just low passed 2 bar loops.
[quote]5id (02/05/2011)[hr][quote]ICN (02/05/2011)[hr]Well, what got me thinking about it was but listening to lots of old techno records.
Its all loops.
Was just thinking about what some of the techniques used in that were… that old loop techno… and was trying to work out what they must have used to make it. It surely wasnt just cutting up a loop & there you go.
You can get something really cool by smashing up it with distortion & a couple of auto filters.[/quote]
I think alot of the old Techno basslines came from just low passed 2 bar loops.[/quote]
I think sid is right
Thats what I;m interested in Mate.
Smash it & sidechain it 
If anything else springs to mind 5id - let us know.
The Kick / Reverb was another one.
Read the other day about creating polyrhythms by detuning the same loop down a bit… need to investigate that one more…
[quote]Check this out… take two loops at the same bpm and wack them in a sampler. Set note lengths to a whole bar.
Detune one 7 semitones.
**** yeah.[/quote]
[quote]… Then you get an awesome beat… demonstration:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1170458/SkinJob.wav[/quote]
[quote]orry i can’t explain exactly as i don’t remember which polyrhythm went with which interval! but as i remember you are right about 2 over 3 being the rhythmic equivalent of a 5th, there was definitely a 4 over 3 in there somewhere. The africans discovered the harmony in rhythmn, i think maybe there is also polyrhythmic stuff in Indonesian trad music.[/quote]
[quote]t’s not exact since it’s equal tempered. It really only works with fourths and fifths, and it still goes out of sync eventually. You could use some sort of just intonation or custom programmed scale for more options. Pythagorean scale might be fun…
Try a ninth for extra weirdness.[/quote]
Guru takes waves just fine. It splits them at the transients. works like a charm.
Is it me or when you add a bit of distortion to a bassline it starts talking back at you:D
Yeah… its the harmonics
What DAW are you using 5id?
[quote]5id (02/05/2011)[hr]Is it me or when you add a bit of distortion to a bassline it starts talking back at you:D[/quote]
bring the decay down.
Im just gonna leave the decay i like what the bassline says 
[quote]ICN (02/05/2011)[hr]Yeah… its the harmonics
What DAW are you using 5id?[/quote]
I’m using Ableton but have just got the new Allen & Heath XONE.DB4 and the effects on this baby are unbelievable plus you get a looper on each channel which is brilliant with vinyl.
Wicked - You’ve got a great love of music so with a mixer like that Mate! Cool!!! 
I already sold a kidney, so I’ll have to save up in the old fashioned way :w00t:
LOL