I love using the beatslicer in Guitar Rig and just messing around with the settings until it sounds cool

edit: oops i think i mistook your question for creating a melody with chopped/sliced vocals

What do you think is causing you to not finish the songs? Is it because the amount of left work to do on the song becomes a bit overwhelming when you factor in mixing, sound design, etc.? One thing I've noticed is that the longer I've been producing, the easier it is for me to finish songs and be less intimidated by the amount of work there is left to do on each one. In the first few years I was producing, it was so easy for to me just say "eh, good enough" when it came to ANY part of the production, just because getting every part perfect is overwhelming as fuck. I mean, it's stressful enough just learning how to work your DAW, once you get to the mixing stage you just kind of want to say it's a wrap and walk away. The longer I've been producing, the more working Ableton has just become second nature, and the more energy I have to spend on mixing and sound design. When I first was delving into mixing, the amount of info to learn was overwhelming and I just kind of sped through EQing (going way overboard with cutting/boosting) and compression (setting the threshold all the way up, paying no attention to attack/release); I was so impatient that nothing I was doing was making any sense. I'd have so much energy going into tracks, but I'd get burnt out trying to design proper sounds and mix. But the more I kept at it, the more I learned, the more tutorials I watched and info I read, the more I actively listened to well-produced music, the easier it all became, the more energy I'd have to really get every part sounding as perfect I could, and to ultimately finish tracks. And I'm no where near mastering production and knowing everything there is to know, but working on music is so much more enjoyable than it was at the beginning and it's so much easier to finish tracks just because I know so much more than I did when I first started. All I'm saying is it's a process, and the longer you keep at it, the easier it becomes. Just don't stop keeping a good balance of learning more material, listening to good productions, and working on your own music.

Thanks everyone, that's all really helpful. Didn't think about recording the beats into my mic and going from there, that's an awesome idea. But yeah, it sounds like I should just spend more time studying the drums in music and trying to emulate and then tweak my own drums until they sound more natural. My only concern is programming a great groove into my patterns. I've had a hard time finding articles or tutorials online that go into depth about achieving a nice groove in your tracks. I know it mainly depends on your beats not being perfectly on the grid, but I'd like to know more of the specifics, for example, should the snare be ~# of ms behind or in front of the beat, etc. I once read a tip that said you can improve the groove of your track very quickly just by moving every snare a couple of ms off the grid, but once I did this, it made my vocals sound extremely out of time. Anyway, if anyone has suggestions for tutorials or reading material that go more into "groove theory" (if that even exists), I'd really appreciate it.

Again, thanks for taking the time to write all this advice. This forum is a god send!

Thanks guys, really appreciate the responses. I definitely have a much better understanding now, and I like the perspective of putting the sounds on an x,y,z axis. Also really like the tip of gate on the reverb. Yeah, I think I had this tendency to just pile on synths to "beef up" my sound, and make it more powerful, when that's more of something I can fix with mixing rather than adding more sounds. I listened to a few of my favorite electronic albums last night and realized most songs only have 2 or 3 synths at a time tops, whereas I used to think just because the sound was powerful, there had to be many synths. But as I learn more about sound design and mixing I realize you can get an incredible sound with just one synth. And I heard somewhere that the industry standard is 60 or so tracks per song, but I assume the bulk of those tracks are individual one shots that make up the drums/percussion/effects. Can't believe I didn't think it was a problem to have three different pads playing at the same time–now I see that as a huge red flag.

Does anybody have some specific tips for making sure your production is suitable for a clean mix? Once I get to the mixing stage of a track I usually realize I have too many mid-range instruments, and I'm not sure how to avoid this. I know the obvious answer is "stop using too many mid-range instruments," but does anyone have a method they use to keep themselves in check while composing their track? Like for instance, how many instruments per frequency range are in a typical track of yours?

Sorry if my question is a bit unclear–wrote this in a bit of a rush. Thanks!

I have to second what Voyali said, I think a little bit of one-shots here and there mixed into the backgroud with some reverb/delay would really help make the beginning more interesting. Also I think when the bass comes in around 50 seconds it could be mixed louder. Other than that it sounds great and I really love the way it evolves!

I love the vocals!

Bass I think on the verses needs to be louder, maybe more bass-y? I love the toms that go on throughout as well. The Pads on the choruses needs to be fuller, but I like how '80s it actually sounds at the same time. The breakdown might need more reverb / space to compliment the "Back when I see You"'s that go on. The part around 2:52 where the final chorus comes in needs to be bigger in general.

Overall I think a loudness check and slightly better mixing / mastering will be great, but this is just a WIP. I really love this!

Thank you so much! Yeah, I actually hadn't started mixing the synths yet so they sound pretty weak. I'll spend more time on the mix for sure. Thank you !