Album out next week took a year at an average of 3 hours a day.

Some tracks happened in two days, but one track, all 2 minutes 23 seconds of it took 6 months of sculpting, nearly gave up many times, but it's been worth it.

Other tracks ended up being only slightly related to the original.

And the last month I've spent reflecting on the songs, mastering, making small alterations.

I think for the next release I'll try to get it together sooner so it has a more consistent feel.

We spent almost a year on our 6 song ep.  But there were lots of vocals, guitars, bass, drumkits, trumpets, etc to track.

He did.
I was there the full time, making tea and screaming "NEEDS MORE BREAKCORE" all of those 2 days.

My first EP was 8 months of dicking around, then 2 weeks of concentrated effort to peice together all the bits and peices. My current EP has taken almost a year of starting and stopping again. I have a huge problem with doubting myself, I'll write some bars of something I like, then not like anything I write to go with it

first ep took almost a year. new full length prob a good year and a half now... and still not quite done. i suck at finishing songs and i'm easily side tracked lol.

snesei's question in a topic: http://chipmusic.org/forums/post/127484/#p127484

Did you honestly write "Rips" in two days? That's whack.

Going on 6 months with my project with Zef, but it's been hindered by touring, other bands, etc

OffT:
(This topic is worthy of another thread)
I write everything either on piano, microkorg, Yamaha sh101, or omnichord. My composition style changes depending on which one I'm on. If I'm sitting down at my setup I do some drum rhythm and chords in lsdj and compose off of that.

On the go, I have lsdj on my phone and a piano app. Or I can record stuff with the mic.

OnT:
I'm going to try and really take my time with my next release. Sooo much to work with.

That's the good thing about having a portable device like a PSP or Gameboy or DS. If you find yourself humming a good tune while out and about, you can quickly jot it down. Or, if you have a phone, you can record the tune and track it out later. I do that all the time.

Ukulele, harmonica, or even a children's toy keyboard are great inexpensive tools for developing melodic ideas in a more organic and tactile way.

Edit: Oh, and ON TOPIC, it could help you to compose good ideas more quickly, thus leading to a shorter work-time on a release.

i was just wriiting out note progressions for a track on my cs01 yesterday just because some of my gear isnt hooked up at the moment, very helpful

This is good advice.

I usually strum guitar chords and hum to find a chord progression and melody.

Or play my chord progression on piano and plink around on the keys to find a melody.

There is a thread in 8BC's bit bucket where Sabrepulse said he jams melodies on a Yamaha Portasound. I recommend having many other instruments to play with and on, even if you don't record them, because your composing will take a different approach. Even harmonicas and ukuleles are okay, they don't have to be expensive.

For more thought, please ask a more broad version of the question on a new thread, it is an important subject.

I think the longest I spent was 6 months working on my latest album "Stars."

Sometimes music starts in the heart, not the tracker. Sometimes I have a concept in my head (happy, sad, icey, boss fight, etc) and try to put the feelings associated with that concept to music. Other times I'll hear a tune in my head, spontaneously hum a tune, spontaneously play a tune on an instrument, or be inspired by a tune and say "Hmmm... this is a cool song, but it'd also be cool if it did this instead of that..." and then jot that down into a music composing program.

Sometimes I do enter semi-random notes and progressions into the music program until I find something that I think sounds cool, though. =P