How do I distribute my eggs? Buy specific items instead of full versions.

I want to help but I don't undestand the question? are you feeling boxed in by the lack oflike MIDI, audio manipualtion and mixing functionality in abelton's basic newbie version? Or are you frustrated because you use a lot of samples and you're out of content to inspire you? IF tis the altter go buy an SP202 or seomthing simialr like a Tascam or zoom stereo recorder with the mics built in and walka round all day smapling every cool nosie you hear, banging on random objects with a drum stick etc... isntant proprietary sample library. There's nothing more soul sucking and uncreative than rooting through someone else's sounds and presets to find one that expresses your personality. I have always found it easier to do everything from scratch. Maybe this is a sign from the music gods to personalize your sounds and rethink your workflow?

as a former pro recording engineer who still occasionally does sessions for whole bands and still mixes a good number of tracks for other artists I have to say that a DAW, for all its features, is just a tool... its like a tape machine and an automated console. You can do a lot of creative stuff with that, but what comes oout of that tool set, while it may be influenced by your skill at editing, processing and routing the audio around to make a pelasant mix, is ltierally only as good as the audio that goes into it. The skill set here on a tech level is creating and capturing sounds. Without that you're fighting an uphill battle. Everyone uses these smaple packs to throw together generic stuff. They aren't developing any sound design or engineering chops. If tomorrow everyone stopped making sample packs and the presets for softsynths disappeared the number of electronic musicians would go down by half or more. I lvoe electronic music but I learned it the old fashioned way with hardware because DAWs back then were either protools rigs I couldn't afford or just sequencers. I lvoe modern software and usually don't miss tape recorders and dat machines, they were a hassle. Some soft synths cna do shit hardware can't. But I think youwill develop msot as an artist if you're nt leaning on your DAW features to manipulate soudns amde by other people. That guydid the hard work and improved his skills et while you made a neat sound collage and didn't expand yours. The goal of every musician should be tog et better every day and I'm suggesting you invest in the ability to do your own recording and sound design. Focus on ebtter compositions and better arrangements and mix as well as you can with teh tools you already have until you master them. You'll hitperiods of boredom wher you plateau and then you'll find some new and creative way to squeeze more cool dieas from a limited setup. hen that's compeltely exhausted then its time to upgrade your tools. I wouldn't bother with sample packs until last. A lot of famous guys do use that stuff, but the ebst of them learned paid their dues DIY and developed a sound of their own as engineer/composer/mixers so they're really doing soemthing cool with these 3rd party sounds.

So again, what ableton version are you using now and what's the next step up? Are you below Intro and need to ungrade to that for mroe features? And can you record outside audio of your own or sample from the environment (you cna use an iPhone or android for this with the crappy internal mic in a pinch, although hooking up a podcast mic is a better idea)???

What have you been doing up until now, man? You're probably asking the wrong questions. Or maybe I don't udnerstand your goals because making usic might hold a different place in my life versus yours?

again...

if I were you I would make sure I have a apssable itnerface like a focusrite solo, I would get a passable microphone, I would buy a used SP202 Dr Sample and a used korg volca bass and start learning some mechanics while I focused on my composing and arranging my own soudns to suit my musical ideas.

Sorry for rambling, I think I shoudla ignored this one ebcause I just don't get the question that well. I would always feel ebtter about soemthing I made from scratch even if its not that good yet ebcause I'll have learned soemthing along the way and eventually something i do will be of incredibly high quality as well as originality and that's a really satisfyng feeling for you and any end lsiteners. You will have way more eureka moments when you're doing everything ground up. The way you get great at something is to do it every day and being an artist, engineer, mixer.... you wanna call it record producer? Its a big interrelated skill set. Skipping the first stages is limiting the field for you to learn as well as limiting your creative avenues. I would rather be limited when I'm at the end of the processing putting a mix up then at the beginning when I'm forging the sound of the track.

EDIT:

https://equipboard.com/posts/novation-peak-review

read the review I wrote for EB last year of the peak (link above), forget about the synth itself and check out how I conducted the review. I sued my sound design and engineering skills to thoroughly explore everything I could think to do with a synth with that feature set. That's like 2 whole songs with 1 piece of gear and a DAW to record and mix. Can you get that much out of 1 piece of gear? Fuck samples, get your hands dirty and make some music.

I don't mean at all that I wanna create music using samples and hope for they pop up. Could not agree more when you say that who design his song has an true advantage towards who just sample. I think a little bit rad when you argue that using hardware you get an better skillset that a DAW user, since fundamentaly you will be always manipulating a sound that already existis. You develop as an artist using both ways.

nah, you're wrong, you learn zero about recording actual voltages using all virtual isntruments. You have perfect virtual gain staging and no impedance stuff to deal with like when you're plugging a synth in direct... and that's the easy part, even if you're going to be wholly electronic, what about putting syntehsizers into amplifiers, placing microphones on teh speakers and in teh room to get ambiance, getting those gains right, printing them with a bit of peak limiting to improve your signal to noise... hell I foten take soft synths and reamp them (this is an imepdance mathcing chore) and record the speaker and rooma nd mix that back in with the dry ITB signal

no, you are not learning the same skillset I'm talking about being entirely ITB... if that's all you wanna do, have at it, but you said you felt limited. The next step is to elarn some craft. There's a good hundred years of recording techniques to know and they cna be applied to anything... developing as an artist? that's mainly a product of composing... the sound design, the mixing.... that's a craft. The more you know about all angles of sound engineering the better you'll get.

You're one of those people who asks questions hoping to get a certain answer... if you already know what you want to do then stop asking me and do it... or do as much as you can afford or what-not.

personally if Iw anted to do something latin I would bust out my congas and maracas and put up some microphones, put a click in my can, make some loops...

anyway, I recommended the 202 and volca because their cheap and will teach you some stuff about sampling and programing subtractive synths and step sequencers while providing serviceable sounds for your music. There are other budget monosynths to learn on, but the volca step sequencer is a good learning tool apart from the synth engine so its like a 2 for one... if you're just going to run it off the piano roll via MIDI then any cheap monosynth will do. Lots of good ones out there these days.

I just threw that review up to shows you how much you can squeeze out of 1 piece of gear if you really know how to program and record it... I mean, even the drums sounds were made on the Peak, ok? If you can create your own sounds and record them competently you're doing really well. If you like arranging and manipulating other people's samples then have at it. You asked a question I gave you my answer... get a portable battery powered sampler with a microphone, get a decent recording interface, a cheap microphone and a cheap monosynth with a sequencer add that into what you're already doing. Okay, super done with this question... someone else chime in...