Ableton has released Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers as a free download.

The book, by composer Dennis DeSantis, is a collection of solutions to common roadblocks in the creative process, with a specific emphasis on solving musical problems, making progress, and finishing what you start.

Each roadblock is presented in this way:

• A problem is stated. A problem is a roadblock that stops you from making progress with a particular piece of music. The problems in this book are real-world situations—you’ll likely recognize many of them as things that have held you back in the past. A problem might appear at the beginning (e.g., you don’t know how to start), in the middle (e.g., you’ve created lots of material but don’t know how to organize it), or near the end (e.g., you keep making changes and can’t decide how to finish).
• The problem is explained in more detail via examples and (sometimes) references to other patterns.
• A solution is provided. A solution is a concrete instruction or small set of instructions that will solve the stated problem. Like the problems, the solutions are also real; if you apply the solution,? the problem will be solved. Note that this requires you to actually do the solution; in most cases, reading it won’t be enough to move you forward. Making Music can show you the way, but you still need to do the work.
• The solution is explained in more detail via examples and (sometimes) references to other patterns.

It’s available as a free download at the Ableton site.