Track in an hour? Ableton.
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Bass guitar, DI box1, mixer Ch1, DI 1 thru, overdrive, flanger, DI box2, mixer Ch2, send to OTO bam wet, back ch5.
AR, mixer ch3, send to OTO Boum, and back ch6.
Might put a synth melody (live recorded to midi) on ch4.
Press Record.
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I’m the same way. Once I get going I can do more of the technical stuff faster on Ableton. But in terms of sitting down and making quick tracks, nothing beats simply Octatrack and a crate of records, or Octatrack and any 1 poly synth. In fact, I’ve just now opened up Ableton to continue a track I’ve been working on, and it most definitely turned into a sit and stare session. So now it’s time to change gears and sample a few strange/random records or get a patching session started to get the juices flowing again.
I feel the same way. If the brief is “make a song in an hour”, I’d need to go in the box.
To be fair Logic now has some very Elektron-like tools, so it wouldn’t be totally painful. That said, my preference lately has been to start on hardware, record, and arrange in a DAW, but given the context that would be too slow.
If the question was “what are you most productive on”, and we’re talking ideas versus fully completed songs, then I’d say the Octatrack.
laptop + ableton
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The way I’ve setup my last few OT Parts, it’s definitely made things more immediate for me. I’m real fast and comfortable in Ableton but this has become even more efficient for me, now that it’s all set up.
Track 1 is a kick chain (64) and there are a few other kick chains in adjacent slots for fast switching
Track 2 is a percussion loop chain (64) plus more in adjacent slots
Track 3 is a hi hat chain (64) single shots.
Track 4 is another percussion loop chain but with more low end content (64)
Track 5 has about 128 bars of DFAM bass material, loop chain.
Track 6 is another 128 bars of DFAM, but more lead material, loop chain.
Track 7 is open flex for anything that might require slicing.
Track 8 is master track with p-lockable compressor and a small touch of master dark reverb.
It’s a very “Mise en place” configuration.
Leaning so heavily on chains, I have immediate access to 128 different single shot samples, and 512 different loops, all instantly switchable via the start point parameter. And it’s all content that I can easily mangle with conditional trigless trigs, FX, p-locks, LFOs, and scenes.
When starting a new tune I simply paste one of these parts in, and 30-45 minutes later I’ve got a few patterns that I can develop into a live recorded tune, or use for 5-6 minutes of live set material.
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I guess I’d go for a single unit and it’d either be the MPC One or Force. Even if I wasn’t allowed to access sample libraries the built-in sources would get me there.
If I wanted to feel a bit less cheesy about it, I might choose the A4, Digitone or Rytm, all more than capable. I might also be tempted by the Subharmonicon or DFAM (I might even pair those up).
So basically I’d dither about the choice for the first 45 minutes, then pick one in a panic and be sure to label the result minimal.
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My set up is basically two samplers and two synths. Digitakt and Digitone and the Zoom Sampletrak and Modal Skulpt. I’ve got other stuff, some of which I probably need to sell, but that’s what’s always on my desk.
I would start with a sample on my computer, either a clip from a record I thought sounded good or more likely one of my weird synth sessions.
I would then sample that into my Sampletrak and try to play around with the it, chop it up, pitch it up and down, etc.
I would most likely sequence it using the Digitakt, which is the ruler of all it surveys. And from there I would either leave it in the Sampletrak and just run that through the Digitakt’s effects, or I would record the Sampletrak into the Digitakt to do some weirder stuff but keep the character of the Sampletrak. And if I wanted it to sound cleaner, I would record the bit from the computer into the Digitakt and recreate the chops.
I do my drums after the chops so that would be next. If I’m sticking with the Sampletrak, I might just use the drums I keep in the internal memory for just such an occasion. Otherwise, I know it’s unconventional, but I think the Digitakt is pretty good for drums.
And finally I would play things on top of it to flesh it out. At the very least, there would be a baseline from the Skulpt, the Digitone, or sometimes both.
I think my set up is cool and good
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Actually I’ve changed my mind. I’d turn on the Lyra, set up some delay & LFO feedback, and pop some coins on the pads. Say that takes five minutes. Then a nice 50 minute nap (speakers off, I expect), wake up and record whatever’s going on in the last five minutes.
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Machine Studio or MK2. I don’t really use it now. But, for getting some ideas down, and because the amount of sounds it comes with, it would be my go to for a speed run.
When I was paid to create music from a work project with tight deadlines, I immediately got my Maschine out it’s box.
Maschine is the device I’ve been the most proficient with but strangely enough, I don’t enjoy using it that much now.
I think I enjoy the process of creating sounds and sequencing tricks more now, and I felt that Maschine didn’t allow me as much scope for this in the way I wanted.
There’s been a few of undates in the 5 or so years since I stopped using it regularly that I imagine would make sound design much more enjoyable.
Remind me with chains. Tempo doesn’t matter. The samples just have to be divided at even intervals, correct?
Tempo matters if they are loop chains.
If they are single shots on OT, just use Octachainer to keep it concise .
Single shots on Rytm, yea, keep them equal intervals.
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definitely ableton + laptop is the most productive, by far. just plop down anywhere with headphones and bash out something quickly. i’m way less likely to spend a ton of time (or any at all) doing sound design with vsts. it feels tedious. maybe with a dedicated hardware controller, it would be more approachable, but then that’s another thing. otherwise, my go to is usually just one or two pieces of hardware, like DT and typhon or just the DT or A4 alone. i have a bunch of other stuff now, but the two challenges ahead are organizing them in space and coming up with ways they can all work in a mix. the space part seems to be the bigger issue. those of you that have dedicated studio areas can go to your creative grotto and let the ideas flow.
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Right now it’s Digitone going into Polyend Tracker.
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When you made the DFAM loops, did you use any guides or limits? Do you concern yourself with key or tempo or mood/genre at this stage?
Do you make lots of similar tracks with this set-up, or do they come out wildly different?
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Id quickly drive 707 wit ot midi, and do a little mix in multitracked record in daw
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Bit of everything really, some limits, some not. I typically shoot for 132bpm on my loop renders, because I rarely go slower, and sometimes go faster. Less noticeable timestretch artifacts when going a little faster, of course.
Since the OT is so skilled at manipulation, I can take the material in multiple directions. Tracks don’t come out wildly different, it’s all techno. But I go for a variety of moods.
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Most Productive:
AH <- Blackbox <- Digitone <- Keystep
Record whatever I want into Koala Sampler (over USB from AH).
Unproductive:
Export WAVs from Koala to Google Drive.
Load WAVs in Bitwig and be extremely unproductive trying to make a Poly Grid for 9 hours that sounds ok and doesn’t really compliment what I just made because it was already pretty damn polished. Or just play around with the keyscape VST 
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Well I never made a track in an hour! But right now I sit with either OT, DN or Typhon until I come up with something, then use a different bit of gear to make something to match. Make a few variations on each then set them looping as I record them into ableton one by one whilst tweaking the hell out of them.
When I have my phrases record I chop, arrange, micro-edit, rearrange, get levels sorted, then panning, fx then I set up a master bus and drum bus and mix top down, back up again… possibly edit some transitions if the mixing process has changed the feel…. then I leave it a couple of weeks and tune it up.
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Quickest way to a bunch of cool loops to jam on: M:C or Nanoloop 2.
Most productive for making a fully arranged “song”: M8 or Renoise. Or Reaper, but I tend to fuck around a lot with micro edits. None of these are particularly great for me in terms of being quick though.
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