Because it can do so much you don’t want to buy more stuff? Cool you’re still rocking that M:C btw 
.
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I’m trying to keep only the essentials here, DT, Quadrantid Swarm, SOMA enner and an assortment of effect pedals (strymon, chase bliss). I have limited space on my desk so I have a hard limit to how much I can buy (thankfully!). Downsizing is the way!
I need to get rid of one or two devices, I accumulated way too many
S-1 (has “looping” envelope feature)
Digitone II (sound engine is great)
Deluge (community firmware has really nice automation)
Pro800
MicroMonsta2 (can do 3x super saw)
NTS-1 (custom fx/shimmer reverbs)
M8
Ableton Move
Debating between the Move and the MicroMonsta right now to sell to possibly fund a Model D
Obviously these are strongly subjective topics, but the MM2 does so much for so little space I can’t event start thinking about selling mine.
Bitimbral, fun arpeggiator, wonderful FXs, lots a range… I even sold a Peak recently but my MM2 isn’t going anywhere, ever! It’s a gem and by far my oldest purchase.
With a Deluge, an M8 and a DNII I guess selling the Move wouldn’t hurt your groovebox asset
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Probably the Pro800, it seems the most redundant.
The M8 seems the most “unneccessary”. Unless you’re using it like, all the time.
Don’t Move and Deluge do fundamentally the same thing? If so choose which you like better…
How exactly is this helping with having too many devices 
?
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DNII has gone.
I’m down to DTII, +FX and Live. This feels really focused now and whilst plenty to explore and to grow with.
feels good, even dropping 1 box makes quite a big difference imo.
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Really cool you eventually did that!
I was close to listing it a few weeks ago. Then I opened some old DN projects again while on vacation and added drums plus a bassline. It has quickly become one of my favorite tracks so far, and probably the fastest I’ve arranged and recorded a track (also thanks to OB now also being on DN II).
So I’ll keep it for a while. For some reason, I’m always really productive when adding stuff to old DN projects, but only make uninspired crap when I start a new DN II project.
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that makes sense, getting creative with sounds you already made is a very different flow to starting from scratch.
yeah! DNII is a great machine but i’m happy with this choice 
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That sounds like a powerful and focused set up!
As Live is also a sampler, how did you come to the decision of scrapping the DNII and keeping the DTII? Do you mind sharing a bit about your workfow with DTII and Live?
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Live is also a synth and many other things too, so it depends how you look at it.
For me, the combo of live and the DTII feels like enough. The +FX is a very nice to have, i use it for passing samples into the DTII, then on the master or busses. I used just the +FX and Live earlier when mixing a friends song.
I felt the 3 boxes felt a bit much, I think the DTII is amazing and I love working with samplers. I have a few plugin synths - and find programming them and resampling really fun and actually for my tastes, a bit simpler and more effective as I can go in on effects and whatever easily.
I posted earlier in the thread about workflow: Downsizing Your Hardware - #1619 by moving_particles
happy to chat tho if there’s something else!
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Touché, absolutely. Live can be so many things. Thank you for the insight to your workflow!
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That’s interesting. Any theories on why this is the case for you?
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I don’t mean to speak for @Azzarole, but I know when I do things like this it is perhaps because there is so much distance and time between the original project and my picking it back up, that it’s almost like remixing or collaborating with another artist, which takes a bit of pressure off and seems more fresh and fun.
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6 x in combi mode 
I’m not sure, but my guess is that this has not that much to do with DN II. I think I was more inspired when it comes to writing melodies and melodic progressions around 2022-2023, when DN was my main instrument. I still have a lot of sketches from these times, so when I revisit them, there’s already a lot to build upon. Nowadays, I often bore myself with melodies and often seem to fall back into samey ones. However, I’m way better at programming beats and way more interested in it than I was 2-3 years ago. So I assume these creative phases coalesce when I work on old DN projects, that have my more inspired melodies from a few years ago, and then I can bring my improved beat making skills to the table.
Another theory is that I might have always worked like this and focussed on either melodies or drums in most sessions, then returned and added what was missing in another session. And often on another box. Now that DN II can do everything, some sessions where I try to write new stuff might be a bit of jack of all trades sessions where neither beats nor melodies are really that great.
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Yeah, I feel like creativity is an evolving thing and it’s centered around different things depending on what state you’re in. You describe your melodic progression peak as a thing that happened two years ago, but if I’m guessing, you’ll see another wave soon where that becomes the focal point again because it’s clearly in you. I feel the same with other aspects.
I’m noticing that my approach with the DN2 is a bit more technical than with the Syntakt because there are more options and things you need to set up. I do have a theory that a really good template would make things easier on the DN2. The fact that all tracks start with a sine wave tone adds friction to the process compared to the Syntakt, which serves you a full “band” ready to play your ideas.
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sold my +FX
I’ve gone from DTII, DNII, +FX and Ableton → to just DTII and Ableton.
feels good.
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Still using my custom trinity of Maschine+, Rytm MKI and Syntakt. These past months have shown me that at the end of the day, it really is all I need… Only thing I find longing for is an extra indiout for the Syntakt kick track… I can work around with Rytm or M+ which both have indiouts for kick, but it’s be nice if ST also had one
Of course its also nice to have the Project studio for “more is more” type of projects. But I really like this min-maxing I got going on now with the home rig vs the project studio rig(s)
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Torn on what will lead to regrets regarding downsizing…
My current setup: ST and a DT2 (Not ”too” much really)
But due to having kid, both space and time is lacking.
When I have time I often start inspired but get stuck due to “I wish I had an arp now to quickly do X” or “This would sound good with a different reverb than on the other channel”.
Considering selling both and getting a push 3SA instead as sort of a “catch all”.
Flexibility/optionality + “ok” on space and portability.
Optionally, a OXI one mk1 as a simple way to add some arps and generative sequencing. Bonus is it would work with the laptop too wirelessly.
But then we are back to adding more…
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