Whatever approach you favor, you can achieve new and interesting results. Experiment and familiarize yourself with each approach. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and often a combination of methods may strike the best balance for your needs.
When programming a sound from scratch in Alchemy, the best approach is to work on each component of the sound in isolation.
To start, you need a plain vanilla setting. You can revert to this setting by choosing File > Initialize Preset in the Name bar. The default setting is sonically uninteresting but provides a useful starting point for several examples.