Computers
In the Nineties the computer replaced the tape machine as the hub of the recording studio. The computer could not only generate music whether from synthesized sounds or sampled sounds it could record at higher quality than was possible on tape.

Following on from this, recording companies and film studios discovered that the combination of sound sampling and computers was making it possible to avoid using real musicians, who were expensive and may not perform as reliably as a computer controlled sample.

So, in much the same way as the 70s saw the synthesizer become embedded in our sound world the 90s brought sampling and the digital manipulation of sound into almost everything that we hear and it's often there in very subtle ways.

DJs

The other big users of samples have been DJs and creators of dance music. The 90s saw a complete turnaround in the fortunes of DJs who had become rather marginal figures in the music world. Suddenly they were back and not just to play records, but creating and mixing music on the fly.

A major part of their revival has been to do with the extensive use they have made of sound samples. Frequently the samples used are not simply recordings of acoustic instruments, but will be samples of other pieces of music which they recycle and transform into something new.

These samples along with keyboards, drum machines and software synthesizers are also used extensively (joined together with the power of MIDI) to create ´loops´.

Loops
A loop is a small pattern of sound such which may be sampled, synthesized or a mixture of the two and is constructed in such a way that it can be repeated over and over. These loops are then used as samples in their own right and are bought, sold, created and distributed by huge numbers of musicians all over the world, which brings us to another big piece in this technological jigsaw puzzle, the internet.