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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Currently - Lyra 8 + a reverb pedal, straight into a digital recorder.
It’s forwards all the way ---->>>
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I don’t have a productive setup - right now I either noodle endlessly with Bitwig making weird Grid devices or trying to make generative music, or I do nothing. I have a Dreadbox Typhon sat in the box which I don’t use and thats it! I’m slowly working my way towards a decision about getting some new hardware, possibly a Digitakt (4th time) Octatrack (1st time) or some eurorack so I can make a small techno jamming groovebox. I don’t need to be “productive” in terms of finishing tracks but I do need a way to make some noise away from the computer, I get frustrated in the periods when I can’t do that.
This thread has some useful ideas.
Rytm & OT, possibly Rytm on its own. This pattern is Rytm only - took me about 20 mins and definitely deserves to be made into a track
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At one point I had Push 2, and AR mki and A4mki.
It was a wonderful combo, and worked really fluidly together.
I would buy all those things again
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Blackbox only with current sample library. I’d add the CXM 1978 on the master, if I could
pick an extra kit.
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Model:Samples + OP-1, clearly.
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And what are your 4 synths?
Depends on type of track i want to make but have few setups
Opz and modular case is quick and easy to get ideas going
Tracker on its own is really easy to get productive with quickly
Ipad is probably the most productive for me with a select few apps as i can use it wherever i am and covers all areas of sampling, sound design, sequencing, fx, mixing and making visuals.
A drum machine. A synth or two.
Me at my most productive.
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What are the key iPad apps you’re using that you find productive?
I put Drambo on my iPad recently to mess with on a 3 hour train ride… but generally I don’t take the iPad seriously, I sometimes think I might be missing out because of this mentality!