“People who can’t play an instrument depend on loops from Ableton or Logic. I will never take a bassline from any digital domain in my life! That'll never happen”: Beyoncé producer Raphael Saadiq says that he likes to make music “the authentic way”

Raphael Saadiq.

The debate surrounding the use of loops from sample packs has reached something of a crescendo this year. The news that the main groove from Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso is derived from a few Splice loops caused some people considerable consternation, and Afrojack said that he was “disappointed” to discover that Fred Again’s 2023 track, Ten, is “based off three Splice samples".

Now producer and musician Raphael Saadiq has been having his say, noting that he feels he learned how to make music “the authentic way”.