My setup doesn’t allow for dual screens currently… When I was heavily creating I had a huge TV I used as a second screen.
So right now if I’m going to be honest, it’s not having a 4k monitor 
But that’s with any DAW really, there’s just so much I need to keep open and too little real estate on my current screen. I’ve been jamming DAWless quite a bit lately since I’ve received my Digitone.
Have you tried using the midi tracks on the Digitone to sequence stuff in Studio One? Maybe that could spark some new things with your current setup? I use my OT to sequence in the DAW and sometimes record the midi for further editing. Just a thought.
I’m going to try it out tonight.
I just rearranged everything. I plan on doing MIDI in my Digitone from audio interface, and have the Digitone output MIDI to my Sub Phatty, who is being input through the Digitone and final audio out into audio interface.
Should be interesting. I just finally upgraded my Studio One 3 Professional to Studio One 4 Professional. Everything DAW related from Presonus is half off right now so it saved me $75 
Funny I just bought Studio One yesterday. Great deals.
I see what you’re saying. I love it for live. It’s a limited device, but there’s a lot of potential. If I were going for a really clean sound, I might swing harder to the octatrack.
Well the order for the Presonus ATOM has been placed… Never heavily used a drum pad before to play on but I think I’ll be decent at it. Was always twitchy in school… lol. Should go nicely with Studio One syncing it to keep my hands off the keyboard and mouse, and using the Digitone as a MIDI syncing hub… can’t wait 
looks like a nice controller, its the shape and size that I want if Ableton ever does a Mini-Push. If the pads are comparable to maschine or akai then its a great move for Presonus.
Looks like it has really nice velocity sensitivity but I don’t mash whenever I play typically, nice that it includes I believe 3 various sensitivity curves for how hard you tend to play. Size is right, will look great next to the Digitone. I already have SO4 Pro but it does come with SO4 Artist plus a bunch of samples. Should integrate pretty well with then DAW, which hopefully yields a better workflow of course.
So I think a few things are happening here. Great questions have been asked: You have everything, what do you think you need and why? But as you pointed out, you made a bunch of tracks with just SO3 and a Strat–it’s possible you milked that creative cow; at least for now and at least for you personally. That’s all that matters. Maybe that combo is boring to you now. Maybe all you need to do is rearrange things (like you’ve already pointed out). Maybe in a year or two that combo will feel “classic” and new again.
The only reason I bought an Elektron box in the first place was because I noticed I was not at all inspired to do synthesis/sound design in software. I always found myself starting with presets, then tweaking to get where I wanted. So there was a big sound design hole in my heart and I knew a physical, hardware synth would alleviate that. My ONE synth (MS2000) is half broken and I just use it as a MIDI controller. My one sampler (404sx) I’ve used to death and doesn’t call my name right now.
I guess I’m saying it’s all about your personal journey. Do you think X gear will inspire you and make you create things that feel good about music? Then sure it’s “useful.” Is X thing 100% necessary and something you’re HUGELY missing in your setup? Probably not–I tend to agree that everything can be done on a laptop with stock plug-ins if one so chooses.
Yes you’re correct. My favorite band is Tool and while some may think their music is repetitive I think that they have a very unique sound and it’s utterly identifiable. That’s what I want to develop, even if it means using the same exact things for 10 tracks but in different ways.
My setup is about the average price of a single decent quality mainstream instrument (guitar, bass, probably not drums) which isn’t so bad for a setup that can imitate full bands, orchestras, electronics, sampling real world sounds, detect/alter the pitches of audio samples… etc. There comes a threshold where anything more becomes useless if you can’t use what you have, but I also think there’s a bare minimum needed to properly express yourself.
I’m sure there are plenty of amazing artists that basically put no money into the hobby and create amazing tracks, my favorite artists based on their gear pages usually have at least a few solid pieces in their kit.
Once my family goes to bed I’m hooking everything up after moving it around today. Then my Presonus ATOM will arrive next week and I’m on steady cruise mode… that is until I hear something about OB for Digitone…
I also think that’s the problem with DAWs: No limitations. Having everything is scary. Having one or two things is inspiring. I’m also not the type to open up an empty project in a DAW and “play” or whatever, because it’s far too overwhelming for me. I’d rather sit on a guitar or piano, then “play” in a DAW once I have something concrete.
I look forward to your ATOM experiences. In fact I was thinking of making a thread here…