Before getting into new things, may I suggest trying to force yourself to be disciplined? Be your own drill sergeant and say, “I will only have a(n) insert_reward_item (ie, beer, ice cream, bike ride, Elektronaut time) if I can do at least x amount of music work with some set of gear”, and kind train yourself to be productive.
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Love it, great advice for anyone, and for me in particular. Appreciate it!
Ha! Yeah, I have curbed my own intake of gear videos over the past year or so, and it’s done wonders for my peace of mind.
Well, then, to fuel your GAS, I know that many people really love working with Native Instruments controllers (Maschine, Push, their keyboards) as a sort of integrated/hybrid setup. Considering how the MPC One is a DAW-in-a-box kind of thing, the Maschine in particular might work really well at reinforcing the fun and good habits the MPC One have given you, while easing the transition to executing the tweaks/micro-edits/arrangements/sharing that the DAW affords.
Yup. Same, MPC Live 2.
I dropped a lot of the gear except for the MPC Live 2, Prophet 6, DN and Rytm Mk2 and Minologue XD and Jupiter XM.
I’ve pretty much lost GAS for anything.
DAW is Cubase or Logic, I find both pretty much identical.
I go outside of the usual DAWs with Renoise, oddly for coming up with pads and orchestral.
The MPC is good with one synth for starting things and getting them pretty advanced. Then into Cubase.
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The simple answer to this is just to try things out while you have the various options available. So put some gear away, try a DAW on its own (three months is a long time to fully evaluate Ableton Live, for example), or try a DAW with one synth. Or forget the DAW and try to make some tracks with hardware only. Workflow is such personal preference kind of thing that no one can really help you decide on what’s best for you. And once you’ve struck gold on whatever method you decide and you find that you really don’t miss X, Y, or Z, sell them off and don’t look back. Good luck!
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You mentioned you use Reason 10. I’m a Reason user as well (on 12, its not that buggy anymore) and I use a Nektar Panorama P6. Probably the best Reason ready hardware out there.
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Syntakt’s dope
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Do you edit MIDI data in Ableton after exporting from your MPC as an Ableton project?
Or do you do all your MIDI editing on the MPC first?
This is where I struggle, that switch between MPC into the DAW. How do you do it? Do you commit to printing the audio to stems? What if you change your mind about the line later on and want to tweak some notes? Back to the MPC to edit and then export again?
Or do you export the midi notes and recreate the melody using a built-in synth in your DAW instead? What if you can’t really find your way back to the groove you achieved on the MPC?
Yep, very good advice and something worth doing. Especially the “don’t look back” part in the end. Thanks!
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When I still had my MPC I did the most editing on the MPC itself.
But it can export the stems as midi for further editing in ableton if you like.
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I reduced my table to renoise tracker software and Microfreak as sample fodder and a very small audio interface. For vacations I’ll keep my Polyend Tracker, because I wont take a computer with me. Lets see where this leads me. Right now I’m very happy with this alone. It keeps me focused.
If it works well I’ll have a lot of stuff for sale.
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gear and DAWs are just tools.
believe me, one can be counter-productive AF with both.
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Many good comments. Get a DAW trial version e.g. Ableton as it works with the MPCs somehow.
Use a HW box to create you songs, then load the stems or MIDI into DAW and arrange. So you have both worlds and never need to buy any synth again!!! 
Issue with DAW: Don’t even start to check out all the plugins out there, synths, efx etc. You will end up paying more $$$$ than for HW. Every DAW nowadays comes with everything you need.
Also, all the cool features in a DAW can distract from the creative process. At least for me.
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… and you‘re sure that you‘ll not end up spending hundrets of hours of review and tutorials of your DAW and countless plugins?
I use Reaper for simple recording and mixing. There‘s not much to learn about. It‘s good, stable, costumizable, productive but not musically inspirational. The Bitwig Grid is the only DAW tool that I‘d call inspirational… to a specific extend. And some DAWs have a more suitable workflow for individual demands. Everything else on every DAW is just a frame for inspirational plugins. That‘s why I can‘t see, why GAS should be healed with a DAW.
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Get the Live 11 demo. Focus on that for a while. (It’s incredible).
Stick to that as the DAW choice.
Stick to the MPC as the DAWless choice.
Use your other gear as source material to record into those platforms.
80/20 rule that gear.
Commit to the 20% of your gear you use 80% of the time.
Have a master USB hub that you can switch between your computer and the MPC, make it really simple to access the same tools on both platforms.
When you get up to speed with Live 11, introduce Ableton Link so you can combine the MPC and Live 11 seamlessly. It really does let you blend both workflows, which can be really convenient, powerful and creative.
Above all, commit to the same set up. Consistency is key, not new/more gear.
(This is as much a note to myself as it is advice to what I’d do in your position.)
Oh yeah, sell the MC101 too (I’m getting rid of the MC707 asap).
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I’ve tried most methods, but get the best results by just recording out of the MPC through my Apollo Twin interface and into Cubase.
Most times the output straight from the MPC is good enough with a bit of compression through the Apollo Twin.
Occasionally I’ll stem out the individual programs if I can’t get decent separation in the mix from the MPC or I’ll be doing something to picture and need more flexibility. (or if I’ll be adding more tracks in Cubase)
In that case I’ll go light on things like reverb in the MPC and do that in the DAW.
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I agree with @chaocrator : in the end, hardware and software are the tool not the end.
I have a digitakt, a small a synth and I have been working in Reaper.
I use the digitakt either as a fun way to relax from a day at work or as a “drum mangling tool” when working in reaper : I like to start to create in reaper, making the melodies and very basic drums. When I have this basis, using playback of my DAW and auxiliary hardware output of my audio interface, I re-sample into the digitakt. The digitakt color the sound, and allows me to program drums in a much more interesting way. Then I “retrieve” the pattern in overbridge.
The thing is : you should sell what you don’t use and keep what you are confortable with. Buying new gear is relevant if you want to explore new worflow and new sound. GAS occurs when you develop some kind of a “hardware” fetish. I try to stay away from this. My fetish is the music I make, and It really does’t matter How I make it.
( BTW I personnally feel better with reaper to create than ableton or else, reaper is octatrack of DAW : very nerdy, steep learning curve, reliable flexible and powerful, but you have to commit to it to create your own workflow, templates etc).
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Interesting. I tried to find out how you are supposed to make drum tracks on Reaper and all tutorial lead to basically pasting out samples in a timeline, which feels rather archaic. In Reason, there are multiple drum sequencers and the Kong instrument, making it easier to quickly jam out a beat. What’s your preferred workflow, basically you embraced the hybrid approach and you do the drums on your DT instead?
Definitely true, and with that in mind, I’m still finding out what workflow I prefer. I find that the MPC both accelerates my creativity and holds it back at the same time. Maybe I just need a DAW for that final 90% instead of wrestling with the MPC when it’s starting to choke due to heavy CPU load.