You don't mention preferred environment. There's nothing he's doing that couldn't be done in GarageBand. He's got a mild 'verb that he's singing through and a couple slapback-delays, combined with some bullshit little hipster synth. GarageBand is a great learning program. When you've hit the limits of GB you'll know. But that assumes you're on Mac. There's no PC equivalent of GarageBand. People always shout about Audacity, which is a piece of shit, and Reaper, which is a neat little program but not nearly as user-friendly as GarageBand. But hey. Reaper is cross-platform. Loop production centers around the Akai MPC school of thought. Here's an MPC-60. It's older than you. Here's an MPC-60 in the wild. You might recognize it. The current champion of MPC composition is Native Instruments' Maschine line. It is expensive, except when it's not. got an iPhone or iPad? $5. I bought iMaschine for Dante 'cuz he needed something. In 12 hours he'd not only composed the track, he'd painted the fucking painting. If you want to do that crazy loopy Pink Floyd loopy shit, that comes from an Oberheim Echoplex and its ilk. We would also accept an Akai Headrush or a Boomerang E1, 2 or 3 but it's all about the Oberheim (now sold by Gibson). Throw up three music examples. I'll tell you how I'd make them after I finish running errands.
To add to kb, I own a Maschine Mikro and can confirm the controller and environment are very nice. I'll talk more in detail if requested but I'm short for time so I'll just say this. Trying to record instruments into Maschine using a mic and loop it in real time can be a bit problematic. With midi controller it's fine though. It generally wont loop it straight away and instead wait another full cycle before triggering it. However, I haven't updated my Maschine software for a while and I know it's had some significant updates recently. Perhaps it is fixed now. But yeah, generally it's a very easy to use and fun set-up. I don't use it nearly enough. Here's a really quick Hubski live improvised jam I did using it. As a piece of music I know it's not that great and a bit eggy, but hopefully it gives you an idea of its potential.
Amazing! What you demonstrated in that video is exactly what I want, in terms of capability. I might make a plan to save up for that mikro for now then.
I'm glad you got what you needed from it. I should add that a lot of the stuff I was doing through the laptop trackpad and keyboard can actually be performed from the controller itself. Especially so if you get the full size Maschine controller. The software is made to work seamlessly with the controller. This obviously allows for a lot quicker workflow than I displayed once you've got it down.
Hope you don't mind if I hijack Pabs's thread a little bit here. I have similar interests, and am similarly clueless about where to start. Say I pick up a Maschine Mikro or an MPD26 (preference? I feel like you're gonna say Maschine, but the Akai is $150 cheaper and I don't have an iAnything); how do become this guy?
Hijack away. Shigeto uses an MPD26 and Ableton Live. https://www.ableton.com/en/live/new-in-9/ Looks like $500 for Ableton and $200 for a controller. Maschine Mikro: $350 (or less, from Audiodeluxe, but they seem out of stock), includes Maschine, the software that makes things happen. Me? I'd buy a used Maschine Mikro on eBay, mess with it, download a trial of Ableton, mess with it, and decide which software is more intuitive for you. If you want to spend another $500 on Ableton, you totally can. 'cuz Maschine will totally work with Ableton.
So in the case of one of those Maschines, I would have to hook up a synth to be able to make melodies and mess with them, right? Otherwise, I would have to get pre-recorded sounds online, and The Maschine would allow me to loop it all together and make the beats as well, because I can 'upload' any sound I want to each of the pads and record phrases using them? Just want to make sure I understand. It seems my only inhibitor is a lack of fat $tacks.
No. It's got a bazillion sounds in it (or in the case of iMaschine, a handful with more available for a few dollars each). It will, of course, take the 2.21 gajillion samples that have been ported to Maschine format, as well as MP3, .aif, etc. If you have an iPhone, download iMaschine. Fuck with it. You will then be 95% of the way to understanding how these things work.So in the case of one of those Maschines, I would have to hook up a synth to be able to make melodies and mess with them, right?