Loop (music)

In music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections can be repeated to create ostinato patterns. Longer sections can also be repeated: for example, a player might loop what they play on an entire verse of a song in order to then play along with it, accompanying themselves.

Loops can be created using a wide range of music technologies including turntables, digital samplers, looper pedals, synthesizers, sequencers, drum machines, tape machines, and delay units, and they can be programmed using computer music software. The feature to loop a section of an audio track or video footage is also referred to by electronics vendors as A–B repeat.^[1]

Royalty-free loops can be purchased and downloaded for music creation from companies like The Loop Loft, Native Instruments, Splice and Output.

Loops are supplied in either MIDI or Audio file formats such as WAV, REX2, AIFF and MP3. Musicians play loops by triggering the start of the musical sequence by using a MIDI controller such as an Ableton Push or a Native Instruments MASCHINE.

"Loops are short sections of tracks (probably between one and four in length), which you believe might work being repeated." A loop is not "any sample, but ... specifically a small section of sound that's repeated continuously." Contrast with a one-shot sample.^[2]

bars

"A loop is a sample of a performance that has been edited to when the audio file is played end to end."^[3]

repeat seamlessly

"A drum loop is technically a short recording of multiple drum materials which has been edited to loop seamlessly ( to loop smoothly and continuously), a drum loop repeats until an exact duration is satisfied, for example, to a single loop to another, you might want to use a drum fill which could also be a seamless loop."^[4]

break

Phase music

(2015). Schleifen. Zur Geschichte und Ästhetik des Loops. Berlin: Kulturverlag Kadmos. ISBN 978-3-86599-271-0. Retrieved 11 July 2015.

Baumgärtel, Tilman

at Curlie