I'm going to give an honest answer. Using midi packs is not making music. It's really that simple. Music, like anything, is very hard at first. It's frustrating and feels like you're learning a new language. But that's what gives it value. It's what makes getting adept at it so satisfying and so impressive. The "I thought loops was cheating, so I programmed my own using samples, etc" copypasta is irrelevant in this case and I wish it wouldn't get posted around as much as it does. If you noodle at a keyboard long enough, or even just play around with a piano roll you will learn and you will get better and you will feel all the better for it. Using midi packs, and especially not editing them and just using them as they are, just gives credence to the argument that electronic music is lacking in talent. If you're just testing out sounds, or trying to learn more about chords it's one thing. But to slap on premade chords and melodies and call it a song is flat out wrong. These are just my thoughts. But I think anyone who has taken years to hone their craft would agree with me.

Generally I'll use cytomic the glue, logic's linear phase eq or ozone's eq to cut out uneeded frequencies, ozone maximizer, and sometimes oxford limiter. Mastering's probably my weakest skill though so I'm really interested to learn about other's chains.