Always melodic, or I try to be, using whatever is to hand. I find the Digitone is fab for lead lines, whether playing the internal DT engine or using the midi side to sequence other synths. I’m just a sucker for a catchy melodic line/loop/phrase/hook whatever you want to call it. I love rhythmic and syncopated but I tend to keep that to the percussion instruments with the exception of the odd 16th note arpeggiated part that backs up the rhythm. Other arp parts tend to resemble lead lines.
I disagree that you can’t inject some feeling into sequenced lines; careful use of different gate lengths and ties allied to some conditional triggering can create some very realistic sounding bass lines. (As a bass player I usually try to make my synth bass lines sound like they’ve been played on a bass guitar).
Personal taste only but I just find some of that ongoing rhythmic stuff a bit boring. I get the repetition thing and it’s true that you start to ‘hear’ more and different things going on the longer you repeat; I do something similar when writing… letting a small collection of parts loop round and round, sometimes for half an hour or more, just focusing on the interaction between the limited parts. Once the parts are tweaked in terms of arrangement and any rhythmic effects such as LFO’s, envelopes and delays are bedded in then that part might only form 4 or 8 bars of the finished song.
Horses for courses as they say!