Before sampling software could loop a drum break automatically, Grandmaster Flash developed what he called Quick Mix Theory.
He used two copies of the same record on two turntables. When the rhythmic break on one copy approached its end, he switched to the other copy at the beginning of the same break, then reset the first record while the second played. Repeating the process could extend a few seconds of percussion almost indefinitely.
That seems almost obvious now because looping has become a basic software command.
But Flash had to invent the loop physically.
Two records became temporary memory.
The mixer became an editing system.
His hands became the transport controls.
What interests me most is that the technique did not merely reproduce an existing song. It isolated the exact part dancers wanted and changed its duration.
That is already sampling logic before the sampler.
Sometimes an entire technological revolution begins because somebody wants eight seconds of music to last a little longer.
https://invention.si.edu/invention-stories/hip-hop-and-african-american-innovation
