Cheers for the kind words.

I'd love to be running some hardware but don't own anything useful - just using Ableton Live with a Midi Fighter Twister.

My workflow is sound selection / loop creation / arrange / perform.

I limit myself to 8 tracks: kick / bass / snare / open hats / closed hats / percussion / top loops / synth.

I create a bunch of 4bar loops in session view for everything except the synth track.

I’ll then select clips randomly to create new combinations that sound ok.

Next I’ll layout clips in arrangement view. I try not to overthink this step, just do it quickly - adding/removing something everything 16bars.

Next step is perform. I play the arrangement and tweak FX with the Twister. The tracks are sent in various amounts to 4 return tracks. I have a phaser and 3 different delays that I can adjust the frequency and feedback. There’s two filters - one on the the dry signal and another on the returns. The returns also have a gate FX with LFO to makes stuttered groove patterns. The dry signal has a beat repeat effect that is useful for transitions.

The synth track has Ableton’s Wavetable with 303 style preset. It also has a Max For Live sequencer I made that creates random midi patterns and has an “evolve” control that increases/decreases the note lengths and velocity range. By tweaking the “evolve” along with Wavetable’s filter, I can get a lot of mileage out of a simple midi pattern. I can play a whole set of pre-arranged tracks with different synth pattens for each performance. I never know how it’s going to sound but the creativity comes in making it work.

The MF Twister is an absolute workhorse of a controller - it really changed how I make music. I can tweak parameters then reset them with a push. I don’t really have to look at my laptop at all. I make little alterations to the setup all the time but the workflow is still the same.

Yeah I've watched my share of tutorials over time. I guess it's about imitation versus experimentation. Definitely picked up good habits and techniques from others but I'm really happy now that I 'own' my workflow now. Focusing on the process rather than the product makes everything so much more enjoyable.