Been making electronic music for well over a decade, but always in the classic DAW arrangement view, at most using MIDI keyboards in terms of haptic input devices but relying on mouse and keyboard 95% of the time. I look at devices like Push or Maschine and my immediate thought is how tedious it seems to get anything done with them. I find the different approaches to manifesting musical ideas endlessly fascinating.
As someone in a similar position as yourself, but who been using hardware instead of software like DAWs, I find myself having a similar feeling to people who use keyboard/mouse to make music like that, seems really tedious compared to the workflow I have outside of the computer. But most importantly, I agree with your very last sentence, we're all different and what's optimal differs a lot from person to person.
Re: Ableton Push 3
#101Coming up with a riff/melody is much faster on an actual instrument (if you know how to use it). Turning that melody into a piece of good music is much faster in a DAW (if you know how to use it). If you lack skill in DAW usage or you're not making "finished" music, being instrument only is a legit approach, but learning and integrating a DAW would help you make better music.