Strip it back
An alternative approach to coming up with new sections for a tune is to take a loop or a section that already contains plenty of tracks – this could be achieved by creating a full drop section first, for example – then work backwards, progressively removing elements to find combinations of parts that you already know will work together, but with a more minimalistic approach. For builds, try just repeating the first bar or two of your musical elements over existing percussion parts. Or dive into a copy of an existing MIDI part and gradually remove notes a few at a time – this will have the effect of the part gradually growing from just one or two seemingly random notes or chords into a properly arranged part.
Listening to stripped-down versions of the drop is a good way to inspire new ideas for other sections of a track, particularly prechorus builds, intros and bridges. The combination of just drums, vocal hook and nothing else, for example, is often a winner, so if you’re stuck for variation ideas, just drop all the music out for eight bars or so and see what happens!