The different sides of loop music

[The Man Himself <altruist@shoko.CALARTS.EDU>]

In reply to Kim's dissertation of the increasing prevalance of looping in
popular music --

All very good points that are raised, with regards to the increasing 
visibility of looping features in DJ Mixers and electronica-oriented 
instruments, as well as the whole British rave scene (which EVERY 
magazine I read these days says is sure to usurp the allegedly rotting 
corpse of rock and role as the new popular music form here in the states 
any second now...) and the MTV-ready advent of White Zombie, et al.

However, I do feel that there's a fundamental difference between what
nearly all of the above areas relate to as opposed to what most of this
list deals with.  In essence, most loop-oriented music that's emergent in
popular music is based on sampling already-existing source music and then
re-contextualizing it (or not) in order to produce a new (or not-so-new)
end product.  It's a very studio-oriented endeavor, which involves
sampling the source, probably tweaking and filtering the original sample,
editing the length of the sample, assigning it to a sequencer for
triggering, and then possibly blending it into a sonic collage with a
myriad of other sounds and instruments. 

The difference between that approach and the Big Three is that the 
JamMan/Echoplex/Boomerang are specifically designed as real-time tools, 
which excel at creating and editing loops right then and there, in the 
same moment that the music is happening.  Moreover, they're geared less 
around sampling music that already exists, and more towards acting as a 
conduit for sculpting new music that wouldn't exist without the mechanism 
of the unit's functions.  Traditional samplers capture music that's 
already been made; loopers help create music in the here and now.  (This 
is of course a bit of an over-generalization).

So the way that music is made using an actual Big Three-type looper is, in
my estimation, a very different sort of proposition, both mechanically and
philosophically, than using a studio-based sampler to edit pieces together
in step time.  There are provisions in the JamMan and Echoplex for MIDI
implementation and step-time studio construction, but as far as I'm
concerned these definitely AREN'T where the strengths of these instruments
lie (though the Echoplex, at least, is certainly servicable for studio 
and sequencing work if it becomes necessary). 

So while it's true that looping is becoming more and more ubiquitous, I'm
not sure that that will immediately translate into more demand for the
Echoplex or JamMan, simply because using one of those sorts of instrumnets
requires a very different sort of approach than simply loading a two-bar
drum loop into and Akai and then looping it for five minutes.  (No
disrespect towards that sort of approach intended, but I'd dare say that
loop music in general leans more towards the latter than the former
approach). 

Any other thoughts?

--Andre