This. Low-stakes noodling’s a great way to break the cycle.
6 Likes
I see this type of stuff here all the time. People obsessing over features and collecting various synthesis based instruments like pokemon. Then, once they get all their synthesis ducks in a row, they need samples. Why? Do you absolutely need to have “all the things” for making music?
Back when I started in early nineties, it was just one “workstation” type of synth I had, Yamaha CS1X. I had no samples, heck, I didnt even have “analogue” synthesis per se. Yet, we connected my crappy PC to it, and used Cakewalk on windows 3.1 to feed MIDI to its stupid GM multitimbral sound engine, and me & my partner in crime wrote down enough material to play a gig with. In fact, we played several gigs with that POS.
I hear so many excuses these days why ppl arent making music. Most of them sound hollow to me. Making music’s never been about the gear, but about the people who “do” things with the gear. Not collecting gear and talking about the gear online, that in fact has very little to do with making music. Or IDK, maybe some people think it s more fun doomscrolling gear videos and comparing their crappy rigs to the stuff famous people are using?
just my 2 cents (j2mc)
6 Likes
Be yourself. You need to be yourself then the gear choice will be so much easier. And stop watching Youtube. It destroys creativity.
Indeed! Make something, literally anything that’s sound remotely decent to you, record it, upload it here and lit it sit for a while. Very often, I come back to the thread and listen to my own uploads. More often than not, I get new ideas and will develop the idea a bit more.
As for your gear: Digitone 2 is all you need. Or just the Syntakt.
2 Likes
I run a similar setup, but with Hapax, ST, DN, Octatrack.
I make essentially backing tracks in Abelton, then copy them to Octatracks CF, i then improvise via Hapax over the backing tracks i made in Abelton. The backing track essentially has everything in stems format.
Hapax has 4 tracks for DN1, Syntakt is for drum fills, sequenced on the fly (on syntakt, only 1-2 bar sequences). Octatrack has a track to recieve program changes from hapax. As i mostly use it to launch stems, the loop triggers are also on the octatrack.
Also i use a midi controller to control the macros of DN1.
I have a scene in octa where the live input plays, and a scene where my backing track plays. This way i can alternate between what has been recorded before, and what the live input does.
I do this once a week, the other days i spend time in Abelton, making tracks /stems /samples. I also meet with another guy during the live session, and we both bring stuff that we made before, and play with it, also we create some new elements during the session.
You can also export /import midi tracks to hapax, so if you really like a melody, you can bring it over either way. I personally just stick with the samples /stems i did on Abelton, and i could save the input recorded on the octatrack.
its solves some major problems: It can be recreated, and i dont have to start from scratch everytime, i can continue making the next track.
This start from scratch is in my opinion for Modular Synth a good workflow, but with a Sequencer like hapax, its good to formulate a method, where you know what you will do with the stuff.
(I made myself some project document, where i made myself some statements, what this should be doing, what the problems are with x,y approach, how to solve it - instead of agonizing over the situation - i just made a statment, and if it can be solved, or what the workaround is, and rate it how practical it is - if its not practical - i dont do it.)
It also motivates me to create samples, because i know we have a jam session comming up, so i try to render some loops before we meet.
I also dont change the setup anymore.
3 Likes
I would sell Hapax and Syntakt, maybe even DT2 but I don’t like sampling. You can sequence the rest of your gear using DN/DT2. I use DN2 to sequence (or play - i use a keyboard) my 6 synths and track everything in DAW. 16 tracks and with my setup well over 40 voices gets the job done just fine. It’s a breeze and I don’t have to stress myself with multiple sequencers. I do notice option paralysis even with this setup, but if I do then I just focus on the DN2.
Alternatively if you like your hapax more than Elektron sequencer I would sell DN2 and Syntakt and keep Digitakt and use it for drums and sequence the rest with Hapax. I have no clue what Hapax is capable of
1 Like
I can relate. Just have a one digi at a time policy and keep the rest hooked up as is, ready to be sequences by the digi and recorded into DAW. The strength and weaknesses of the respective digi will lead you down different paths but there’s lots of other gear to make up for it. You might also try to start with just one digi, maybe on the couch, to come up with the bones of a track, and then later see if you want to swap sounds. You can then turn a digi track into a MIDI track and send the sound to a synth that suits the sound better.
If you’re using OB, you can just setup a template that has plugins and all the tracks for each digi in it as well as audio tracks for external gear. You can then immediately start when creativity strikes and have multi track recording. If it’s too much for your PC to run all the plugins, just delete the OB plugin tracks of the digis you don’t use at the start of a session.
Selling everything will probably not solve your situation. I have the XY and while it can do a lot of things that are split on the digis, it still has its limitations that will keep this from being the one and only thing I will ever need. If you’re anything like me, you‘ll probably just end up buying back stuff after you sold everything for XY, Deluge or MPC. Although something like MPC, Push or Maschine could more realistically replace everything, if you gel with the workflow. But it sounds like you’re invested in Elektron workflow like me and will always miss that and feel too slow on something else. You’d need to be willing to spend a lot of time learning and reprogramming your brain to a different workflow instead of making music for a while.
2 Likes
Buying gear and gassing and downsizing gear and rearranging gear, etc etc etc. In many cases, these are all the same thing, all expressions of the same misdirection of focus.
It’s perfectly natural to have periods of high and low creativity. Sometimes it’s really fucking hard to make music, and sometimes it’s really easy, and there are a million external and internal factors which contribute to this.
On top of that, spending lots of time thinking about the potential of this and that device combined means absolutely nothing if you then aren’t spending the time exploring that potential first hand. I have a pretty established setup of maybe five core pieces of gear hooked up and ready to go all the time, and I have a million things I’ve not tried yet that I spent hours and hours thinking about before I purchased them. A complete waste of my own time and mental energy in retrospect.
Similarly, having a bunch of things doesn’t mean you have to use them for everything all the time. Just because I’ve spent the morning experimenting with my 404 doesn’t mean I don’t love my other stuff any less, and you can extend that over large periods of time too. A Digitone 1 does the same things today as it did a year ago, and as it will do in a years time. It doesn’t care if you don’t use it for six months.
14 Likes
This.
If you really want to achieve something you can do it with whatever is to hand, and if that isn’t good enough then the required tool will make itself obvious (YES I DO NEED THAT OG 808!!)
But if the goal is noodling and making some funny noises then the GAS will never stop.
I’m waiting for that cool expensive new synth I saw on YouTube to come out in my favourite colour combination before I can start. Yes it’s a valid concern.
Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I started making music (writing music and lyrics) in my teens over 30 years ago. I NEEDED to write. It was the best way to plumb my heart and mind and figure out what I was doing with my life. I NEEDED to express myself. It’s STILL the best way for me to work out all these knots in my mind.
I see YT or IG personalities, and I don’t think they are artists any more than I think news readers are journalists. I don’t watch Andrew Huang and get the sense that he would BLEED to write heartbreaking melodies that would change the worlds of his listeners. Same with Keinseier. They simply make content to fulfill an itch to perform. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad there are thousands of people who support companies that I love by purchasing products that do little more for them than fill a few hours a day. Meanwhile, I’ve been going through some extremely tough times and last night I wrote A FUCKING TUNE to help me work though it. And I think it will help other people. It’s not “content.” It’s poetry.
7 Likes
i think i use the things that fit in my life.
i’m not so much dawless as deskless. with small kids i can’t disappear antisocially to the attic. with work i can barely afford to be typing here while eating a late sandwich.
so the m8 or op1 in short bursts on the sofa is what i love, and what i am able to love!
the lovely jupiter 4 that i bought for nothing in the 90s sits, ignored and alone.
3 Likes
How about deciding which device is the “brain” of your setup then keep a few companions for it. Ditch the rest. How big is your desk/operating zone, work within that space too.
This to me seems like the primary problem, and one that gear won’t (and hasn’t) solved for you. Figuring out the root of that friction should help guide where to go from here.
I’m not sure what it is for you, but sometimes it’s just a matter of laziness. If you haven’t worked the muscle in a while, it can be hard to start. It does sound like you have the interest to do so, and it sounds to me you just need to set aside whatever voice in your head is stopping you and
7 Likes
Woah! Thanks everyone, lots of interesting post and surely a lot of food for toughts.
I need a minute to read everything, but just skimming thru the replies I noticed some of you suggesting daws anad/or focus on production, and (this is probably my fault here) I think that I didn’t make it clear that I’m just an hobbist trying to jam here and there.
Workflow if total dawless, and I use AUM on iOs just to add Fxs and as a control panel for the Behringer mixer.
All the gear is audio/midi connected, just a power strip toggle away from being fired up all at once, and I have templates for both Hapax and Aum, so that’s not the point of friciton per se.
I like to design a patch, but that’s mostly a thing I usually do “in isolation” so to speak, as when I want to jam I often start scrolling through some melodic presets, searching for something that resonates with the actual mood, and then from there I add stuff as needed to put togheter a pattern, or layer stuff if I’m doing more ambient stuff.
Music goals as said are the usual 100/120BPM Melodic 4OTF stuff, Slowish Dub Techno and Ambient. I put some names in the opener post just as a reference, but then I thought why dont’ actually post some of my stuff?
Here it is then!
One of my very first jam
Some slow stuff
I’d rather avoid posting my longform ambient stuff, but if you’re not bored enough there’s a bit more stuff on the channel.
That’s the actual setup
Picture taken before wiring, and there’s no DNII that came later in the year (my only 2025 music gear purchase fo far)
So:
-Setup is well organized and ready to go
-Music taste and goals pretty well defined
-Not interested in producing, just jamming for me own pleasure, and maybe post once in a while on YT manily to keep track of my stuff and (eventual) progress made along the years.
… What’s the issue then? Mental overhead.
When i think to sit in front of the mothership I feel like putting everything that’s in the fridge on the dinner table, to maybe just take a bite on a leftover sandwich: It’s too much stuff, too many possibilities, lots of knobs looking at me unused.
On the other hand I feel to miss out if I decide to do without something and narrow my setup. Hence the pursuit of the holy grail groovebox that can do a lot in one box/paradigm/worflow.
So, circling back to the OP question, I was wandering if a single piece of gear could fullfill my basic music making needs (jam and noodle) and if the MPC workflow could be satisfying enough for an Elektron lover.
I know, first world problems, but I like the people around here and I like to read what they (actually you) have to say.
Oh, and for the people who could make a song on a Commodore64 with a broken keyboard while keeping the screen turned off, I mean… Yeah, there’s a dude who can spit out bangers using a plastic pipe and some worn coockware.
It’s not a competition here, at least for me, as I’m just trying to understand how to live my hobby with a more tailored approach/gear selection/workflow to overcome this hideous phase of having all the items I love and not being able to find the right way to enjoy them.
cheers!
9 Likes
The answer looks kind of obvious and you hinted at it in your op. Keep the 303, one elektron box, and one of the polys with a keyboard. Everything has a sequencer built in plus the elektrons can sequence external gear, so no need for the hapax technically, even though I know it can do some more advanced stuff. Hydrasynth and Minifreak seem very similar so just pick one. If you’re working entirely with synthesized sounds, you don’t really need a sampler. Syntakt + 303 + Minifreak + fx feels like a nice balance to me.
1 Like
No DAW than, gotcha, I’ll tailor my (personal) answer to your clarification then. While I own 3 Elektron boxes (DN, ST, OT) I have only the mental capacity to work one of them at a time. Realising that and supplementing the box with the biggest mental overhead with some simple knob per function devices (simple mono synths, pedals etc.) works best for me to make the most out of hardware and makes it the least daunting to start with something 
6 Likes
even if you are “dawless” and not interested in “producing”, i think what most people in this thread have said would still apply to you? learning how to focus and overcoming feelings of stagnation is an important life skill. i think you should set aside/put away most of the extra stuff and just try to make something with only a few boxes at a time. i dont think you need to be buying or selling anything for now. maybe if its becoming that much of a problem, you can mute the mpc/tonverk/tr-1000 threads for a few days and see how you feel afterwards.
it seems like you already have everything you need to make the kind of music that you want. why not just try using your digitone and nothing else to make the music you described here? if that doesnt work, you can always reflect on why it didnt work, and then try to use some of the other things you have.
6 Likes
DN II could go a long way towards being a Dub Techno powerhouse. Bass, stabs, drums, pads. Ambient… no problem.
DT II for anything else. After all, a sampler can sound like anything you put in it. Sample some of your favorite patches from other gear before selling.
Sell things in stages. Maybe keep one more versatile synth for now. Maybe keep one or two more versatile pedals for now.
Before selling anything, take pics, and then box it up. Put it away for a couple months to see if you really miss it.
Start jamming with your reduced setup and see if that eases your mind.
4 Likes
as someone with a lot of experience with the akai Force, from which the MPC Live III takes the clip launching workflow as well as many other features and who owns a DNII, the workflow is an order of magnitude faster than any elektron box especially when jamming
it is a one stop high end groovebox
3 Likes
Preach. I thought for years that ergonomics was the big thing, but once I’d got my gear set up the way I’d like I realised I just don’t have the bandwidth to deal with jamming on more than a couple of pieces of gear at a time. Most higher end gear is just way too complex to be dealing with a bunch of them at the same time. Gets way too unwieldy. Maybe other people have bigger brains than I do, idk.
But this is fine by me - taking time focusing on one box to explore and record is a much better jamming experience anyhow imho.
4 Likes