That’s pretty much how I do it. I prepare like this: Patterns 1-8 are my “songs”. The patterns below are dedicated for transitions. This makes it easy for me to zig-zag through the patterns and be certain it’s gonna work. I play pattern 1-9-2-10-3-11… and so on.
The transition patterns in the second row (9-16) consist of tracks, instruments/machines and sequences of both neigbouring patterns from the first row. Usually preparation works like this: I copy pattern 1 to p9. Then (on p9) I replace tracks 5-8 with the same tracks from pattern 2. Now I can go from p1->p9 without any audible changes, unmute tracks 5-8 and introduce parts of p2, then switch to p2 completely.
The dedicated transition patterns can result in pretty interesting “songs” themselves and I oftentimes jam on them for a while before advancing the set.
Combine this with your usual techniques like:
mostly using big reverbs, delays, filters, decays, highpass on kicks, you name it.
Or is just strip down the track, taking most percussion or synths out completely.
and you’re pretty much there having smooth, interesting transitions.