Been tying myself in knots trying to figure out the best way to jam/record with my setup, and I figured I could probably get some wise words from a few of the experts on this forum. It has been a lifesaver so far.
I’ve been expanding my rig quite a bit lately, and currently I’m using two hardware synths along with a Machinedrum. Digitakt will be added to the mix before long. The way I see these are the most straightforward options:
- Onboard Sequencers for All:
I use the onboard sequencers for each of my two synths, along with Machinedrum, to live jam a main structure. Basically fading the three elements in and out, as well as altering them on the fly using mutes and effects. Neither of the synths have the ability to chain together sequences however, so it may get a bit static? Machinedrum is the clock.
- Digitakt as brain:
In this scenario I would be using the Digitakt to sequence drums, as well as the two synthesizers. This way I can do my mutes AND make sequence changes in one place, while using various effects boxes to make additional changes live. Digitakt would be the clock.
- Ableton as brain:
This is similar to the first option, except instead of controlling changes on each respective machine live I would simply record three long loops in to ableton. I would then go back with my little MIDI controller and do mutes/fades/effects. This feels slightly limiting since I won’t be using the onboard trickery of my three machines, but maybe limiting is good in this case. Maybe I’ll get more done if I don’t feel the need to have 8 arms to capture the “perfect” jam. I could always overdub more changes later for any of these three options.
If anyone has experience with these specific methods, or otherwise have insight as to what I could do differently, it would certainly be appreciated!