The Song Remains the Same - NOT.

I'm in the same boat. None of it comes naturally for me and I think of loops as small pieces of tape. Midi patterns I find much easier to use because I used to use midi a lot. I don't think we need to be good at all types of music to be good at music. There's just so much to explore.

Loops are a double-edged sword as well (I am not a big fan of them). Music is about time, so even if you have say 10,000 loops/samples that average 5s each, you would spend 833+ hours just previewing them (let alone finding them again).
 
However, that being said, the crux of a song is often a nice riff, beat, loop, whatever; so there is no problem "thinking" in loops, but I have headed down the path to creating my own. There are so many tools/tricks available to capture ideas quickly, with a simple cell phone being a handy one. When an idea strikes, is simple to capture it quickly, then even use it in SONAR. Audio->MIDI conversion is a massive advantage... you can beat box (totally suck at doing so), and begin laying out a drum pattern from it. Same with even humming something... bass lines, riffs, etc.
 
The digital downside (for me) is that you can edit till the cows come home and not feel pressured to commit, so a lot of ideas can loiter in a sandbox state. This has been more of my challenge, but collaboration has upped my game a bit, as an old friend likes to send me ideas which I flesh out more quickly each time.
 
When it comes to loops, I find I can invest less time creating them myself than hunting for a "perfect" one, so I have spent more time focusing on learning how to manipulate the tools to make them (synths being the biggest challenge for me).

I don't use audio loops a lot because the time required for screening to find and edit something useable (as mettelus pointed out) is just too long and a creativity killer ...
 
But I use MIDI loops from drum sampler packages (AD2, Abbey Road drums) a lot because you get a good sound and feel for a demo or scratch tracks really quick ... and some of the included MIDI loops are really great because they were played by excellent musicians and are just as much off the beat as you need it ...
 
Yet, nothing beats the feel if the track/groove/riff is played by a real musician - but if you consider the tremendous time and effort required to get a multi-mic'ed drum kit sounding good (phase correction, editing, ...), you will understand that for some smaller budget productions and jingles, you can only get a decent drum sound via MIDI drum loops and sampler packages.

Thank you all for your encouraging answers!
I've been watching a lot of music production interviews lately - especially at "Pensato's Place", and they all talk about the "beats" they used, etc. It became discouraging.
 
I'm lucky enough to have a good music background and can play many instruments. I'll keep playing ;-)

I do my best to avoid audio loops that contain music, and haven't had to give in yet. If you find inspiration in them, then so be it, and follow your muse. Just because you use samples, that doesn't mean that you use loops. EW Orchestra is sampled, but you mold it to what you want. The NI libraries like Damage and Rise and Hit are samples, but you can manipulate them, or break them down to basic components to where it would be close to impossible for someone to come up with the same combination. There is absolutely nothing that stops anyone from working "the old way". Also, it's a myth that people wrote their own music back in the day. 
 
Bottom line: Whatever gets you from point A to Finished Song is the correct path. You only need to decide what kind of music you want to create. Just learning mixing and orchestration of sounds is a lifetime project. Use your time wisely.

a=e
 

I used to sit around scratching my head trying to figure out loops myself at one point . It seemed that whenever I used them,  the loops themselves would take me away from my inner musical compass of what I was looking to do in my own music . A lot of times I couldn't use them because of various reasons , a few of the reasons are they were in genres I wasn't into or they may have been using sounds or tonalities (parts locked in such as major or minor when I wanted a different harmonic tonality ) that I couldn't use for my music . In short , it felt like I was trying to collab w something or a group of virtual "some ones " that were playing  different musical parts than what I was looking to say musically in my music …
At that time in my evolution I was coming from a place musically along the lines of Jazz guitar / Blues guitar .
All along, I have had the ability to sit down and play note for note any guitarist that I have admired and respected just by looping a section of the performance I wanted to learn. Then by just listening and playing along in a very short time I was able to play in most cases on my guitar in real time at the recorded tempo the very thing I was looking to play on my guitar 20 years ago when that style of playing was Hip …..LOL
FWIW , I decided to embrace what 's out there now and see if what's happening now will work for me . 
I needed to get out of my own way to be able  grow in new areas and I wanted to keep a finger on the pulse of whats happening now in music .
Nowadays it seems to me that a lot of very creative and talented musicians derive their income and open musical doors by putting out loops and loop libraries  . 
I had to start looking at the big picture because the musical landscape has changed dramatically concerning the tools we now have and the way people make music in todays digital world .
I woke up one day and said to myself let me show these people the proper respect due and I asked myself what can I learn from this amazing collective resource I currently have at my disposal …
Every DAW I ever bought came with loops and "song construction kits " ( for lack of a better term ) 
I spend hours every day stealing everything I can from loops , by that I mean I devote a lot of my available free time to learning all the various parts of loops I happen to like , if the loop has piano I will sit there and learn the part on the keyboard , string parts horn parts what ever …to do that , I will dial up a soft synth , find a suitable patch and play along ….
I happen to get a lot of enjoyment out of doing that type of learning  and it has helped me become a better / growing musician ..
Since I'm somewhat of an Old School / throw back type of fella  , this sort of thing falls into the category of The Wood Shed ….while I'm doing this type of shedding I like to change the keys and dial up my own sounds…
Back to pre made loops  and how to use them ….I also like to use them as " Placeholders " copyright The Craig …..
Yeah, I've  had projects that had sections of the song where the only thing keeping it together were the Placeholders …..every so often The Muse may throw me a bone and I come up with a much better loop/part so I can hide the first loop and erase it's name off the songs birth certificate ..lol
I take the view point that I will use anything I can to keep me interested in doing music and get me away from staring at a blank screen ….
I like to see all them Pro Channel lights and meters blinking while I'm chomping to go …hehehe..
 
all the best , 
 
Kenny
 

I use whatever I can to make music. Sometimes it's all live players. Sometimes I use midi clips for dums. Sometimes I use a midi song file (if it's a cover) to start and then strip away some parts to make room for real instruments. Sometimes I use Band In A Box to start and idea and sometimes to add to an already started project. Sometimes I use a library that has riffs for parts such as guitar or horns or strings.
 
I take no shame in doing so. And unless someone asks, I do not feel the need to divulge what I used.
 
Of the songs that I have been part of (in the Songs Forums) I have not played bass on two of them. Can you find those two?

Boscoe
I think there's maybe a simplistic view of samples, loops and "beats" at play here. Sure, if you WANT, you can get pre-recorded loops and just stick 'em together like legos, and it'll sound like something that was stuck together like legos.

 
100% correct. Loops are raw materials. It's the cutting up, mixing, and matching where the creativity happens. It's like collage - if you just use the original artwork, it's nothing.
 
Here's a screen shot of a drum track, spread across two tracks, and using nothing but loops. This actually has less tweakage than many of my songs that use loops. FYI all those pitch markers at the top transpose loops from my AdrenaLinn Guitars loop library, which I use all the time for "seasoning."
 

 

PilotGav
It was asking HOW they're used, and how music today is produced as opposed to how it was 30 years ago.

They can be used in any way you wish.
 
As some have already said, it's up to your imagination. There is no step 1, step 2 (i.e. cookie cutter ) method. Loops ain't your fathers drum machine.

WWJD?
(J=Jimi)

I have nothing against using ready-made loops, except that finding the right one that properly matches the groove that I have in mind always seems to elude me. If there was a good system for finding the right loop for the occasion, I would probably start making use of them.