I’ve been enjoying getting back to recording to tape and using analog mixers. No screens, no bars, no editing, no menus, no saving, just hearing the music and reacting to what you hear.
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Personally I’d go OP-1 field relax and use your ears. Also with fame amp simulator you can plug in your guitar and play/record along.
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eer, i completely failed to answer the gear question of this post.
i’m really enjoying the tracker mini, tangerine, s4, micromonsta2, preenfm, and AMYboard primarily because they’re so easy to travel with.
i’ve taken the tracker mini + tangerine or the s4 to the park w/ great success.
i work from home, so any opportunity to get outta the house is a huge therapeutic relief. i also, similar to others above, share my music space w/ my work space (thankfully diff desks tho), so getting creative out and about can be a breath of fresh air. 
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Is this a hi-z input device that plugs into the 1/8” jack? Sorry for sidetrack.
Yeh, a lot of great suggestions for battery operated gear. Once this weather outside moves on from the 40 celsius that it’s been holding onto, I’ll journey with some gear more.
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No I don’t think it’s hi-z but yes 1/8” jack. I’m not a guitarist but the YouTube stuff sounds pretty good, especially when you add fx and lfo it can get spacey. Plus you have an OP-1 field.
are you looking to make/finish tunes or just wind down with something musical?
when I’m zoned I love to just scan through late night radio on my OB4 and make little screwed loops and edits with it. the pitch shift → looper → cutting to prev and next loops → scratching is beautifully fluid and musical, and intuitive enough to become almost entirely unconscious.
no way to export or record them though, so its all jams for your own entertainment in the moment
(that said, I’d kill for the same pitch/looper/skip functionality in a traditional fx send form factor if anyone has a recommendation)
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Yeah same. I think that’s why I landed on the Ableton system overall. Move is portable, but even Push (I own the controller) takes things away from feeling like I’m sat on a computer. All the systems talk to each other so you don’t really have to transfer everything.
I’ve mostly taken to Move on the couch being the away from the computer thing. I’ve also considered getting Push upgraded to standalone, simply because that turns using it on the desk into a much different interface than a computer, and the computer could technically be off. And while it’s not as portable as Move you could take it around a bit, eg use it on the bed/floor or whatever to make sure you get that away from the computer time. You get access to fancy sequencers and Max stuff that way as well.
Another trick of the mind I’ve found that works quite well is lighting. When the workday is done, tweak the visual cues like the lights (eg: have some element that is only for music) and that can help change the feel in an interesting way. Not perfect but can be worth a try.
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anything battery powered with minimal menus and minimal learning curve that you can take on your lap with a pair of headphones and sit somewhere else to make music and noodle - so those sonicware boxes look fun and relatively inexpensive compared to elektron - maybe even a roland sh4d for an all in one box - if you want immediacy and ease of use get a few korg volcas
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Personally, I work the best if I focus on one aspect only. Like for example in one session, I focus on getting a chord progression down, in another, I only focus on drums and in another one, I try to find a melody. Yeah, and I can only work on one device at a time without getting lost quickly.
So, for me, it’s the Digitone 2 because it can do almost everything and copying a pattern literally takes less than a second. If I get to a stage where I don’t find it easy anymore to add something to my loop, I use one session to sketch that one out a bit with song mode. That usually generates an idea for another pattern or I find something that would fit great in the buildup or whatever. Or sometimes, I ditch the whole idea and start again.
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I second the post above, plus would add Digitakt 2, if you love samples and playing with them. I find it really immediate and fast, and easy to work. Menu diving is minimal, or non existent, once you learn this machine.
It just flows.
And again it’s portable with option to be battery powered
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The Erica synths bullfrog range might be good for you. Designed for simple intuitive play
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I’m enjoying my very recently purchased Roland S-1 for this very reason. Take it anywhere, cable free, plenty to play with.
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I think the best is going to be sticking with whatever you have and the worst shopping around for a new device. You are replacing spending time on a pretty immediate groovebox with researching and shopping around. It’s just going to make you even more spent.
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this xd
OP, I’m pretty much in the same situation: first year with my first child (aka one year without sleep), my work expertise shaken by economic crisis and AI, trying to move to a bigger house while having very little work / money lately, trying to play catchup with the latest techs / workflows / trends to get more work… all this leaves very very little brain space to sit in front of my machines and let the music flow.
Indeed, simpler boxes seem to be the key for me. Not too many options, not too many menus… I have a lot of short fun moments with the Move. It has a bit of everything so you won’t feel cornered immediately, but it stays very direct, very simple. And of course, there’s the fact that it drafts four random presets each time you create a set, which is pretty cool to have immediate fun (and it’s not too random: each time you get drums, bass, keys and a lead).
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OPZ has been that device for me in the past. No screen, straightforward workflow. I prepared 1 drum kit, then done. You can take it on the couch, bed, holidays, takes no room and fun to use handheld with the vibration kit.
If you’re looking to go minimal that’s a good option.
Now I’m back to the ST, and with a USB PD battery it’s taken the place of my OPZ 
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Anything that simply drones has an immensely relaxing effect on me. I guess part of my synth modding explorations are related to that - however exhausted I am, listening to oscs and filters oodling around binds my attention, and there isn’t even the pressure to make a consumeable piece of music or a cool track. No stress, just vrooooom
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I’ve been living with Long Covid for the last 6 years and with that comes daily ‘brain fog’ and only sporadic and short bursts of music making. For me 1010music products - first Bluebox and now Bento have been fantastic in terms of accessibility - the combination of screens and knobs has been a game changer for me.
Firmware challenges have been more on the downside of things, but they both continue to mature/improve and are worth looking at.
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Does it pull a pre-existing kit or are the kit contents randomised too ?