A good way to get more productive with your M8 is to get focused on an objective.
A suggestion could be to check the local “Mission Briefs” section and find an exercise that fits your style, while restricting yourself to the M8.
Indeed, thank you for this!
Thanks everyone for such great feedback! Definitely some good food for thought. It’s also nice to hear about other people’s experience.
Currently I might try the suggestion from @OldmanChompski and remind myself it doesn’t have to be a full song I’m creating with the M8. I’ve made some really cool sounds with the tracker in the past…not always really cool songs 
I too am struggling getting a “feel” for making stuff on the M8.
For me the lack of encoders and “keys” leaves my normal routines a bit useless.
When using Ableton, Digitakt, A4 or Torso T1 i find a base idea that is 80% good, and then jam from there, wiggling knobs adding notes…
I am debating if i can find a workflow that is both fun and productive (especially fun) on the M8. To be honest, even though the M8 is a fantastic device i am debating selling it (and some other devices i dont regularly use) to buy a OP1F, which has some of the key features i am missing (keys and knobs), and still is fairly portable… but then again, the price… ugh!
You can add keys and knobs with an external controller, if you’re in the studio.
But the whole point of it is getting outside your habitual path, I believe.
That made me search back for ‘EC4’
Wanna suggest one other thing if you’ve already looked at the standard recs. Here is a three-hour video (with chapter markers) of someone making a song in M8 from start to finish. Lots of little tips for adding structure and variety
Yeah I’m buzzing about this the most when I finally get mine, as the song/ chain/ phrase structure looks really friendly for just noodling 64 bar non-sensical loops together for throwing back into an OT or any other sampler.
I often get tempted to do the same sat on the couch messing with OT loops, DN loops, AR/ A4 loops etc. but find I get annoyed by the clunkiness of it all very quickly, not to mention how much more impersonal I find sitting next to my partner with those machines.
just getting back into M8 here after a good few months hiatus.
took a few hours n some meetup vid references to remember all the combo’s again (I forgot em surprisingly quickly), and there’s been so much added since we last met. but man, when it clicks… its a joy.
Pretty much any param can be assigned to the X and Y of the touch screen. A great way to jam with it.
Also, chains and phrases can be cloned easily to add a few notes nondestructively. You can even, say, start a phrase looping, clone it to an unused slot, go in, add, edit stuff, then swap it out with one that’s playing without breaking the flow, which can be fun to play with.
I wouldn’t mind a few links of relevant vids, I need some reminder as well…
nothing too fancy (I’d forgotten deep clone, quick render, having an empty chain etc).
meetup #2 was always my go to for the basics. then down the meetup rabbithole from there
I watched the 2 newest ones yesterday (OS 3.0 & 3.1). defo worth checking out if you haven’t already.
I’ve had a different experience, where my productivity and creativity seems to have increased. Before my M8 I was using Elektron gear though, mostly in step sequencer mode, so I think I enjoy that style of inputting.
There have been the odd occasion where for a melody line or just to get the timing down I would have benefited from using a keyboard, but that option is available if I really need it.
Before I got my M8 in October 2021, my main set up was OT, MNM, MD, ND2, and Ableton… I still love all this gear, but have infrequently used them since having the M8. It’s the most complete device I’ve ever had.
Any headless users know if you can keymap extra stuff to additional buttons / triggers if you have em?
I have a bunch of spare buttons, triggers, 2 track pads & 2 analog sticks on my steamdeck that are begging to be assigned to filters and stuff. I can’t find any info on it tho. something tells me it’s not possible.
How are folks finding the new big font? The original wasn’t a problem but I think I’d prob find the new font easier.
And did Dirtywave/TE sort out the usb issue where you couldn’t input notes to M8 and have the audio over usb work? (Roughly something Like that anyway).
I tempted to jump back on to the M8 so like to check in every now and again…
my amazing girlfriend who’s a seamstress made a li’l teensy 4.1 container for me steamdeck. bit o velcro on the back, done. ah man, neat & elegant now. I’m buzzin 
From a UI design perspective I prefer the look of the small font. I think it is a great example of minimalist design. However, I’m really appreciative of the larger font version, as I’ve found it better for my eyes over extended periods of use. I now only use the big font option.
The M8 is has some good options for getting past that blank page phase. These are some of the ones I use.
Randomise the phrase sequence and notes. For extra control you can set a scale.
Randomise instrument patches - A quick way to come up with sounds you may not have thought to patch yourself.
Use Seed (SED) Command to lock in randomisation of fx. Ever played with any device using random LFO’s etc, and for a moment it plays an unexpected sound/sequence that you wish you could replicate? Well, Seed gives you that opportunity in a controlled way.
Use the touch screen to assign parameters of different tracks to the X and Y axis. I use this similar to how I use scenes on an Octatrack. Sometimes I resample any sweet spots of sound. There’s an additional step I use with internal midi to control this, but it’s not as quick and requires a little bit more tweaking in menus.
RMX - Create a song row and then remix on the fly. Super powerful, and simple to achieve.
STA - adjusting the start point on samples is really good for altering the context of a sample.
Resample - And pitch up/down an octave or a 5th… Combine with STA or slice for unexpected
sequences.
Choose a random selection of the notes in a phrase and alter the order they play in.
Choose a sample and use the XFade option in the sample editor. This can provide a new sound from the looping points it auto selects.
Various LFO tricks - I’m really fond of the Hold LFO on the M8. I like to use it with pitch to program slides up or down octaves and fifths…
Am I missing something here?
I keep seeing people reference stuff on the M8 Discord Channel and I followed the invites on both the Dirtywave website and the Github but that Dirtywave Group only seems to have announcements in it.
Is there another M8 group that’s hidden to casual searches?
Update: looks like you have to react to the Rules section but still nothing has changed…do I have to wait for an admin? None of this is made clear 
On the Discord you have to press the dirty wave emoji as a response to the rules post. After that you are granted access to all the channels. Is this what you mean? 
Yeah, I wasn’t aware of that until I searched back through this thread…it would be helpful if that was made clearer in the Rules post.
I take it I now need to wait for a Mod to manually give me full access as I’ve clicked the reaction button and nothing has been revealed.
