I have recently purchased an Akai Force and I must say it an absolute inspiration machine, at least for me. I can arrange tracks, remix, rearrange, and edit very easily on it. I have greatly enjoyed it thus far.
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Iâd go as far as to say the only reason I ever got any music finished is because I listen to my stuff a lot. That includes jams as well as arrangement and production.
Itâs a double edged sword though, as I really start to dislike a track in the end. But a few months later, Iâm proud when listening back to something Iâve spend a lot of time on, and the little things you didnât like about it but ignored to get it done might still be there, but donât seem that important anymore.
To OP I would just recommend start recording and listen back a lot. Youâll often find that you already have more than enough to finish a track and just need to double down on whatâs grabbing you the most. I think itâs like this with any kind of creative process, at some point, you just have to start and finish something.
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I doubt youâll believe me, but m8 or op1. Iâve spent a lot of time with OT, deluge, mc101, M8, op1, opz, and all POs. A bit of time with DT, 707, push 3 standalone.
Theyâre all great, in different ways, for producing 1-8 bar loops. Some of them are great for jamming live around those loops (eg OT, op1, opz, POs).
But for laying something out linearly, only a select subset of devices have workflows that lend themselves naturally to this. I think m8 and op1 win. Push 3 standalone should do, but it doesnât yet have any ability to chain clips.
I wish I could be bothered with fighting ot arrangement, or dt song, for example, but I mostly canât, partly because theyâre annoying workflows, partly because they feel tacked on, in the sense that they donât embody the things that make their host device great.
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The question is, do you want to ARRANGE using the device, or arrange in real time?
If you can stand arrangement on a hardware device, Iâd suggest Maschine+ (which I have used) or Push 3 (which I have not)
Otherwise, I actually suggest a Tascam Model 24 and just record your jams, then go back and mix+EQ.
Dump that stereo file into a DAW for final mastering.
This is exactly how I am recording with my synth setup into Model 12 and thatâs pretty much ok for ambient and more improvisational stuff. But when I try to do similarly for house or techno, which need more structured approach, I hit the wall. I havenât tried recording long jams and then cut out a full track out of it, though.
At the end of this day, you canât purchase your way out of this issue.
Itâs hard work to finish tracks. Just accept that part. You have so much fucking gear itâs crazy.
I make deep house and can make 80% of a track one of those pieces of gear - The Digitakt. Why? Because I l learned it inside and out and can live perform on it.
Donât like to arrange on a laptop? Live perform the arrangement and record into it. Itâs one cable to plug into your laptop and fire up overbridge. You donât even need to load up your DAW, just record the stems using Standalone overbridge. Works perfectly. Now you have a folder of stems that you can drag into the DAW whenever. Plus you jammed out the arrangement already so that part is done.
Fatest easiest workflow ever for somoene who doesnât like arranging in DAWs.
Then you need more parts? Jam over your track with one of your many pieces of gear synced to the DAW while you hit record. Thatâs it. Then learn to mix and tighten up your arrangement with the ideal ear candy and transitions for the genre.
But honestly it seems like you have way too much gear and have not learned how to use them in a way that is conducive to making records.
You need a workflow that is fast and easy. Itâs all about speed when you make deep house. Back in the day guys would have limited studio time so theyâd make 2-3 tracks a day from start to finish since stuidio time is expensive. So you need to figure out how to get to the level realistically of making 1 track a week. Start with easier goals, and also consider selling some gear and just learning the shit out of the key pieces you keep.
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Got my grey matter firing up now! All samples on all pads on all scenes in all projects are in the RAM at once, so no glitches. 
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Loopy pro on iPad could do the trick. It is not a computer and has linear arrangement once you record all your loops
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Understood, so as stem player - not optimal - its either force or Octa. Or very short clips, individual sequencing on it. Its a nice looking device overall. I thought of it, as input for the OT, where the OT does the heavy lifting, and have some master fx, and some additonal stems, to play while transitioning, but for sure, that could also be some percussion playing on the device. The easy access and display would be optimal for such a use case. Still pondering if i should put some money on a master out box, so having something with compressor, and playback + easy acess is tempting - a single master compressor already is between (RNL, Boom etc) 300-1500 currency units.
Getting away from a DAWles elektron only setup to a computer/ableton/push3 SA based Setup with Elektrons in addition, helped me a lot to come closer to finished tracks, than ever bevore. Recording Stuff into Wav Files, fixin them, than processing with fx from the daw, than slicing, reperform, record and so onâŚ
And then the power of a horizontal daw arranger like ableton. Wtf, what an upgrade for me. Dont cage yourself in a groovebox onlyâŚimo
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If you chop up your stems to fit within four bars a-piece, you could get pretty far with it. The OT adds way too much complexity, abstraction and points of failure to a live situation for me. If I were wanting to just play my stems, Iâd just use my laptop⌠Same with a master out box, laptop plus The God Particle for the win. I get the appeal of an all-hardware setup, but Iâm not quite comfortable enough to splash like ÂŁ1500 on a master out box. But if I was, that Stimming IMC 500 Series would be temptingâŚ
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Have you looked at Rolandâs redhair stepchild, the verselab mv-1?
As someone who has indulged very much in software, this puts a mental image in my mind of unbalanced scales. Naturally, itâs fun to have a lot of creative tools, and thatâs what you have here (and itâs what I focussed on for a bit too). But at some point, you end up working out which of your tools youâre most enjoying and start to ignore the other stuff that you donât get a lot out of.
Initially this can be a bit painful, especially if youâve invested in a lot of stuff. But eventually, you have to start using what you like and annoying as it is, discarding the things that donât work for you. To be fair, I imagine youâre not âlazy.â More that you have so much other stuff going on which is eating mental bandwidth. Thinking about the gear, processing your setup (and of course with HW, literally hooking it up) takes time away from the creative and mixing phase. By the time youâve managed to mentally process that, you may not have a huge amount of mental energy left.
The good news is, over time it gets easier. There comes a point where you exit acquisition mode and start finding your way back to the music. Iâm not aware of an arranger groovebox, as even boxes like the Force are designed for folks to send track to Ableton. So in my eyes it would be likely beneficial to consider at least the idea that you have your fun generating sounds, and just focus on making stuff whether it be loops, ideas or songs. A groovebox could help you build a track out of that if you really do hate the idea of working on the machine (though you already have the MC-707 for this, so that could be a pre made solution for you.) Then all youâd haver to do is run those stems out into the DAW and do some minimal processing. Or as others have said, if youâd rather not do that, thereâs nothing wrong with recording your stuff out of one of the existing boxes to a drive and calling it a day.
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M8 for meâŚyouâre writing a Song without recognising it. Great synthesizers, full Features, sampling, a âforcedâ Songmode, cliplauncherâŚitâs a favourite!
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1010music Blackbox is great for getting things done. Once you feel that you are running out of pads, you just resample and/or create a new preset.
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IMHO it takes A LOT of talent to be able to finish (interesting and decent sounding) tracks on a single piece of gear, without them sounding like demo songs.
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If you refer to a finished mix&master, I will absolutely agree. Finishing recording and arranging is feasible though.
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I should mention that backing up your projects is a priority, especially if you are using such a device - on computers, you have automatic synchronization of folders, NAS , USB drives etc - if you work on a single specific device - you have to organize yourself a bit better - and export your stuff on a regular basis. If your unit fails you - you can loose month /years of work.
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Whatâs your definition of a finished track?
You can make a full track with any one piece of gear you have. Or just get over it and get comfortable with using a computer.
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