I mean it is Live, just in hardware form. You can stack up FX, p lock synth params, use M4L devices. You also get the MPE pads. It’s not restricted in the same way Move is. But It’s big and heavy and hot. Not nearly as portable as Move, but much deeper.
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“Deepest portable synth experience” should mean how many rocks you can shove in a bag and still happily carry around.
When it comes to a wheeled carry-on solution, the Push 3 is the only option for you. Unlimited ideas. bottomless sound design. And you are already on the platform, so nothing new for you to learn, unless that’s the challenge you want to add maybe.
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I do love the Ableton Move, it’s pretty great! And very portable.
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Another vote for the Move. It’s a great piece of gear, super portable, deep sound design possibilities and its really fun to use.
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Meaning you can load any synth, tweak any param, etc? I may be confusing it with the move but I thought there were limitations on what you could edit etc.
Edit: nvm, i see what the problem is: no
arrangement view.
Seriously- no one has mentioned the Synthstrom Deluge yet?! Battery powered, onboard speaker, open source, sampling, drums, midi and cv sequencing, virtually unlimited track count…
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Depending on if you can get your hands dirty there is open Move firmware that people are using to implement a bunch of cool synths.
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That is a big limitation, but how many grooveboxes have anything like an arrangement view? If you want all the functionality of a DAW, cut out the middleman and get a laptop and a MIDI controller
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You where talking about SYNTH and PORTABLE and now the only problem with the push 3 is a lack of arrangement view?
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i had it, a long time ago, and the workflow was amazing but the synths were kinda crap. I wonder how they are now?
sorry, youre right – i want a portable synth to pair with the bento.
If I went to something as big as the push, then i dont think it would make sense to keep the bento, but then the push doesnt have the one feature of the bento that I really want/need – a way to construct songs.
this is sick, will have to investigate, at least for the appreciation!
FYI push 3 SA is heavy as f*ck. And is an awkward size that doesn’t fit into many backpacks. I love using mine, but would never consider it portable due to its dimensions and weight.
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I guess we all have different ideas of portability … I put together this 7U 84HP system that fits perfectly into my backpack. Not battery operated, but just plug in the power brick & a pair of headphones & I’m good to go. 4 synth voices, FX, sequencer, looper…more potential options than any single hardwired synth I’d say. Apart from polyphony - it won’t do that 
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just gonna circle back and suggest the micromonsta2 again especially since the ask seemed to specifically be a synth as opposed to something more all encompassing.
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My day job is a sound designer, I’ve been experimenting over the last few years with various solutions to this stuff of deportable synth that I can take on location jobs, commute with etc. spoiler. Winner is a MacBook Pro and midi controller.
Ableton push 3 standalone. Incredible do anything dream groovebox. Great to use around the building for sketching, but I’d only take it out maybe for a live performance. I left it at home for 2weeks on an artists retreat because it was just too large. Btw, it can totally do song mode stuff using scene follow actions which is similar to Elektron song mode.
Current portable machines I flip flop between are OPXY, digitone 2 and the latest iPad Air.
I’ve found I use the DN2 mainly for my own personal music as a one box self contained thing to puzzle with and experiment with. It’s super deep and small enough to use on the sofa or put in a tote or bag with a decksaver. Someone has also created a leaner 3d printable bottom chassis if you want to go lighter/smaller.
OPXY. I think this might be my favourite seq hardware wise and being able to parameter lock and use step components is huge and I find myself doing crazy deep sound design using these methods where the actual synth engines remain quite simple. You can also layer up sound engines just like the digitone too. A benefit of the XY is that you can continually resample the synth experiments and then re sequence those too. I hate the file management on this thing though, and hope they change that soon. Seems a sticky point.
iPad. I pair this with a launchkey mini or the XY as a controller and sequencer/midi control. It’s Bluetooth too so no wires which is nice. I use the iPad surprisingly a lot. It’s great in public and doesn’t attract weird glances, which I like. I can pop open so many apps almost randomly in a host like aum, and just capture my noodling and it’s automatically added to my AudioShare clip library as new sample fodder when I’m back on my laptop. If I want to add knobs I plug in a small intech grid controller, or my roto control which is ace.
But yeah ableton on laptop with a roto control is probably my secret sauce for getting the sounds I want, efficiently yet also creatively without the friction of hardware. Sometimes that head scratching is nice though, and that’s when I lean on the DN2 and OPXY
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My take on the MC-101 is that you have a ton of presets and the random generators are a really nice touch. While going in and making stuff from scratch is not something I would do, once you know the basics of synth editing on the machine, which isn’t hard, you can easily dip in and make adjustments to get stuff more to your taste.
Also, another thing that is quite deep is the effects section. For people like me for which effects editing is a major part of your sound design, the MC-101 has loads to explore.
Perhaps not for everyone, I think it’s a great machine. Good idea starter too. Spin through the presets or tap the random generator a bunch of time and you will find some kind of inspiration. A good compliment to a sampler, IMHO.
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