Even with Ableton, you have to make a choice: session or arrangement view. Once you commit to playing patterns (session view) then you need a bunch of variation on the pattern to make the track interesting. But once you have a bunch of variations on the same pattern you are eventually better off with a linear timeline.
If you are playing live it is nice to have the flexibility to change patterns or augment patterns on the fly.
Round and round we go, having to make a binary decision, when really you want both.
Some linear tracks and some patterns
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