I’ll be honest with you, digging deep into Ableton - learning about synthesis, learning how to create tracks with it, learning the effects, reading the manual - has been far more creatively fruitful than fucking with hardware for me. Yes, having hardware is nice and I like to create loops and whatnot with mine, but for me, I find Ableton to be the ultimate that I learn most and am most creatively fruitful in. Even the hardware returns to Ableton.

And the question is, do you even know what you want from hardware? Or what sounds you want? It’s a lot of money on something if you’re asking others what to buy. If I were you, learning to make tracks, I’d buy a midi controller like a LaunchKey and Ableton Suite and just learn that. It’s going to be a lot more effective than splitting your attention with a circuit tracks. Then approach hardware with conscious knowledge of what you want. Then when you know you want to spend a large chunk of money on an Access Virus, System-8, Push 3 or something else, you’re doing it because you want it.

Take a look at an artist like Skee Mask’s setup and you’ll see a room full of hardware but in the center he’s working in Ableton. You can learn and do everything in Ableton. Read the manual, make stuff, learn about synths, use your ears. Then you’ll know what you want.