I think this is quite true. Where the Elektron way shines for me is in being able to program in some patterns, then just hit record on a recorder and jam something out. It’s the first time in 15 years of playing with electronic music stuff that I’m actually “finishing” anything, in the sense of recording full tracks, generally just jammed out on the MD and/or A4 in a few hours.
However, I’m mainly making techno, which the Elektron sequencer and sound palette is great for, and generally I’ll only have 2 or 3 patterns in a track and I’m just modulating parameters (which I tend to pre-map to a CTR8 or Perf mode) and controlling mutes live. If I were looking to make something more “detailed” or song-based, I can imagine this workflow might not work, and TBH I’d probably just focus on Ableton/ITB workflow and maybe sample some stuff from the Elektron boxes rather than trying to integrate them, which I imagine could be an exercise in frustration.
For me, I’m in love with the way the Elektron boxes work. They’ve got enough power to allow you to make a whole track on a single box and to get really quite deep with sound design, but enough simplicity/constrained workflow to keep you focussed and get results quickly. I can imagine both the genre and approach to the music you make influences whether this is true for you.
Can’t wait to get a Digitone haha!
Edit: oh, but the project/saving workflow could do with some changes. I’ve lost a fair amount of cool stuff, but right now I’m taking a very… transitory?.. approach to the music I make so it doesn’t bother me too much!