What's the proper way of recording incoming Midi?

nebtug

I have programmed a Midi-loop on the Deluge to play an external synth. I also learned it's inputs so the Deluge receives what I do on the synth (like turning a knob). Now I want to let the loop play indefinitely while I record turning the knobs to the Deluge. What's the proper way of doing this? Right now I press Shift+Left/Right Encoder a few times until the Loop has a lengths of f.e. 64 bars. I then record the incoming midi to it. Is this the proper way of doing it? Is there a way to just have a loop playing forever and record the changes to a midi track in song mode - So just keep fiddling around and later go back to that clip and copy the good parts out of it and paste them to a new one? On that note.. is it possible to erase automation just on certain steps?
Also if I record to a loop how do I make sure to stop recording before the clip starts looping back to the start? Is there a way to disarm the recording so it stops automatically when the clips end?