Question

So we do have this new format of Loops (3rd tab in the Browser) and there we see concepts of .musicloop and .audioloop.

Sounds nice. Looks interesting. Might be a good beginning.

We need the option to actually make them loop, without setting the song length, loop cycle, repeat the events nor drawing or painting them. We just want them to loop, in case we wish so.

Loop producers throw together loops, without interruption. They don't care too much about the linear flow of that tape machine style DAW.

We used to do this using our old Technics vinyl desk, 303 bass lines and / or 808 909 machines, and that's how we want it.

At least we don't want the DAW to dictate how we want it. Each person should be able to use and combine his own style of producing.

And proper looping is part of that choice.

Answer 1

You may have better luck on this request if you ask a for a "clip launcher" or some non-linear playback/record/trigger options for looping. The reality is that Studio One has very much been designed from the ground up to be a linear playback/recording type of DAW, whereas Fruity, Live, and Bitwig were designed for non-linear workflows. That's not to say that Studio One couldn't be enhanced to provide some non-linear playback options, Sonar added a "Matrix View" just for this.

My advice: you may want to rephrase your feature request and spend some time discussing 1) what you'd like to see changed, 2) how you imagine that working, and 3) what the benefits of that approach would be. The basic ability to launch and loop a clip independently of the timeline would certainly benefit me in some use-cases of mine, and while I might not need anything more than that, I could see non-linear features benefiting the EDM and hip-hop crowds, so I wouldn't be against these type of features (even if Live and Bitwig might already be better tools).

Answer 2

I think you expanded the request quit nicely with your points.

How to achieve this, I leave open since I'm sure the design and development team is a mature crew and they can look into the world and observe workflow patterns, research into other DAWs, think freely about solutions, etc.

Going back in time is actually a good thing. How did the good old tape machine loop? And could you add these loops on top of each other and still be mapped into the timeline? Thinking about this in such a way would bring you to something even more sophisticated than the rigid lego style of Ableton Live 1999-2015 (like playing ahead of time, laid back, out of sync, too slow, pitched up 0.5%, etc.).

So far the S1 dev team excelled in problem solving and they always took their time in their designs.

Answer 3

A while ago I wrote a request for a Note FX Launch Box (clip launcher) this could fulfill some basic, free looping possibilities of Musical Data (MIDI) and would be fully optional to use for those who don't need it in their workflow. Combined with a  Serial, multi MIDI channel Multi Instrument (e.g. use VST as Note FX) you could create a nice clip triggering system.

Answer 4

I 100% agree that looping in the sequencer should be indepedendent if you want it.  All you would need is one play button  inside of the pattern editor that turns into a stop button after you press it which would isolate it from the rest of the song.

  The main problem is really that setting  the loop bar is not super easy like it should be. You have to click in that tiny space and drag it where you want.  I wonder if you could make a macro to set an 8 bar loop starting where the playhead is. This would be really nice.  There are some really good macros that people have made that should probably just be part of the program by default.