Instant ACID

Chapter 2

Fundamentals of Looping

Looping is what ACID is all about. In 1998 ACID took the industry by storm when it first introduced the concept of building music from loops. Loops are small—just a few bars of instruments recorded so that they loop seamlessly from measure to measure. After all, most music is a collection of repetitive themes. Many pop songs can be dissected into intro, verse, chorus, bridge, and ending with variations on the number of times a verse repeats before a chorus or the number of verse and chorus combinations before a bridge. The key word is “repeats.”

Loops are very helpful for a solo composer. I often browse through my loop libraries looking for inspiration. I’ll find a drum beat that strikes me, and I’ll start jamming ...