Want our current level of control, editing ability and flexibility? Loops cannot give us that. So, to gain a tenuous increase in audio quality (again, simply go to those links I posted and marvel at how LIVE those MIDI tracks were - you DID notice they weren't audio loops, didn't you?) you give ALL of that up. I don't see this as a solution, merely substituting one problem for another.
All I tried to point out was, MIDI percussion CAN be almost indistinguishable from audio loops nowadays. So why would anyone want to use loops, and lose every single editing ability we currently have, AND the ability to use the improved sounds on styles we already have, for something as preset as loops are?
THIS is why I consider kits as the answer, not loops. One step forwards, if you have to take one step backwards too, is no progress at all, IMO. FAR better kits is a step forward with NO step backwards. Hence, why I consider it the answer.
Perhaps, you might suggest something that has NO drawbacks, if you have a different one?
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An arranger is just a tool. What matters is what you build with it..!
Now you could store e.g. 8 or 16 bars of what the drummer plays as a conventional midi style drum part variation. AND later you could change every single note. No need for audio.
I thought the second link WAS audio samples - at least that's what the guy said.
Which one are you referring to now? MY second link? He just explains what a sample is: a recorded sound. It's clear that he is playing single samples by hitting the pads. To me it sounds so 100% like conventional drum playing that there is no more doubt for me audio styles are completely unnecessary for the drum part. (different for guitars though)
Don't confuse samples with loops. These kits are just like the kits in our arrangers. Loops are an entire performance of real instruments, played by real people, captured 'as is' that one time...
In other words, you can do what you like with a kit... you can't do a damn thing to a loop.
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An arranger is just a tool. What matters is what you build with it..!
It's simple.By having better drum kits we could use all the styles that we have and sound much much better.By making new audio loops we could throw all the older styles to garbage.
Like I wrote in another thread, it all depends on what you are after: if you are a control freak (you know, one of those guys who double check everything), then your choice will be drum kits (the bigger the better). If, on the other hand, you are after authenticity, nothing in my opinion beats a sampled loop. Frankly, I am surprised that someone who always writes about the difference between playing alone (or with an arranger) and playing with a band, with all the interplay that goes on and the magic and so on fails to grasp the difference between recording a drummer who hits a snare maybe fifty times, each time with different strength, angle, and whatnot and the same drummer who begins to play a groove and then slowly closes his eyes as he drifts into the "zone" and his drumming changes little by little... if you press the "Rec" button then, what do you think you will capture? Just a series of drum hits or something entirely different?
As a reference, please watch this YouTube video where Mr. Steve Gadd plays a simple pop tune; nothing fancy or pyrotechnical: just a great drummer grooving away.
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Korg Kronos 61 and PA3X-Pro76, Roland G-70, BK7-m and Integra 7, Casio PX-5S, Fender Stratocaster with Fralin pickups, Fender Stratocaster with Kinman pickups, vintage Gibson SG standard.
@Dreamer: In this question I really can't agree. Do the examples of midi drum kits I posted above really sound too static or in any way artificial to you? And do you feel a recorded loop of a creative drummer really comes particularly close to a real live band? - As to my ears midi drums played on drum kits (which could be perfectly taken for midi styles if the samples are in the keyboard) are so realistic that I would never sacrifice the editing flexibility for audio loops. And why do you characterize the wish to edit something as being a 'control freak'? Isn't it rather creativity to want to change things yourself rather than taking things the way the manufacturer prepared it?
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