Im new to gear, and I wanted to get a good start with collecting machines and im trying to pick up an octatrack soon. I just have a few questions and if anyone who is familiar with the MK2 could help it would be much appreciated!
does the octatrack have overbridge like the digitakt does? Im trying to record my tracks for mixing in a DAW and just looking for a way in general to record some tracks off of the octatrack.
does the machine itself have a speaker in it? (noob questions)
can you edit certain patterns easily?
im aspiring to make house/deep house off of this machine, if anyone is familiar with it, would you recommend this piece for said genre? (new to going dawless).
apology for the noob questions haha would appreciate some feedback, trying to get a good idea on this machine before i purchase.
No overbridge and no speaker.
But yeah you can edit pattern easily but if you are totally new to gear you should start with a Digitakt or a Digitone I think.
thank you for the reply my friend !
just an extended question lol, with internal recording how would i go about exporting these songs created?
appreciate the feedback
i looked into the digitakt before i seen the octatrack and i do want to try it but the slider? (probably not what its called haha) on the octatrack that like shifts the sound makes me want to throw myself in the deep end to try and learn it. But i will continue looking into more of both the machines , appreciate the feedback my friend!
whats your background/experience with DAWs, and what are your reasons for wanting to go dawless?
as has been mentioned, id agree that a digitakt may be a better starting point if you are totally new to hardware/elektron stuff etc. the learning curve is a lot friendlier, the interface is (in my opinion anyway) more intuitive, and the integration with your DAW a lot smoother. despite the inconvenience of not having overbridge, the octatrack is capable of a lot more things than anything else out there, but the time spent getting to the point where youll be able to properly use it for those things will be a lot longer. also, depending on the genre of music that you make/hope to make, all those extra weird and wonderful things that the octatrack can do may be completely irrelevant, in which case it may be overkill.
Ive been using FL studio for about 4 years now, just learning and trying to get the hang of it, and ive gotten comfortable with it but since im not experimenting in trap/downtempo anymore i started making house on FL, its annoying. haha and i was gonna get some old gear to make more fluent house or just electronic stuff in general (looked at yamaha rm1x and the mc909) and they’re just too old as much as i love the sounds made on them, im looking for something like a groove box to make house on and ive just been searching for the right equipment, 100% gonna consider your advice its much appreciated!!
ha yeh the RM1X was my first machine and it was great, but definitely a bit long in the tooth now! would you consider switching to a better DAW as an option? lots of people are singing the praises of Bitwig atm, and i can vouch for Live 11 being super fun, and powerful- a different ball game to FL studio (im guessing, never used FL…)
anyway, back on topic- just check out as many videos as you can i guess. this guy goes into a lot of depth with great examples of what can be done on the machines- Digitakt Mega Tutorial - YouTube
ive been thinking about jumping over to ableton for a while now seems a lot better than FL IMO… still procrastinating it hah, and cuckoo is the man for this stuff 100% ive been checking his stuff, very helpful appreciate you reaching out bro
this. from the sounds of it, the OP would be much better served getting a Digitakt. just buy a used one so you can flip it at no loss if you decide to go for an Octatrack later. you’ll be missing out on some features, but you’re unlikely to really need those soon, and there’s still PLENTY to work with in the DT.
the DT will give you a way to export your work to a DAW; using either Overbridge or just the built in class compliant audio interface. with the OT, you’ll need to buy an audio interface as well as some audio and midi cables. so add another few hundred $ or so to your purchase.
yes, the DT does not have a cross fader. but it does have a control-all function, which is super sweet too.
I’m assuming you mean they can record internally and export. I was just assuming a more normal/classic workflow. since OP mentioned wanting to work with a DAW. but yes, that is possible…
Yes. It also avoids a DA/AD conversion.
RAM limited of course.
Around 32 bars recording max for 8 tracks at 120 bpm. (8m28s max for 1 track, 1m04s for 8 tracks)
I own an mk2 and I love it, they also warned me of its weird and steep learning curve wich I did not really experienced but it is there if you are used to DAW. Snice I have it I used my DAW just for recording and mixing. When I want to have separate tracks on DAW from the Octatrack I mute the tracks and record them one by one but lately I am just going from GEAR to Soundcard with a stereo in and record the mix, I limited myself but I have to admit my way of making sound really took a valid turn. I guess this sampler is a very subjective gear
On the OT you have 2 main outputs (+2 if you don’t use the FX loop) and most people go into a recorder to « export » the full track.
You can of course export to a DAW if you have a soundcard. @sezare56’s internal recording method works only for a 1.04mn track so may be good for a teaser
Nah. I gave 1 track and 8 tracks max recording times. 2 Tracks max is 4m. Anyway you can’t record more than 2 stereo tracks with OT outputs. Only 1 stereo track if you use CUE for fx.
It’s possible to record a midi automation with a DAW or another sequencer, and record internally certain parts / certain tracks.
It can record perfect loops with the right length. I you record OT outputs with a soundcard or recorder, you need further edit.
So it seems fastidious to record internally, but you can save editing time. And no DA/AD.
I already made songs from looper recordings, RC300, RC505, recordings imported to computer. More possibilities with OT.
I’m primarily a deep house guy. You can easily use the OT for house and deep house.
You’ll have to record the tracks independently, or if you have 2 stereo inputs you could assign one track to cue and the other to master and record two tracks at a time. Since you already have FL studio, I’m assuming you have an audio interface?
I’m in agreement with those suggesting the digitakt though. The OT is a beast and the workflow is a bit out there. I’ve had a Machinedrum for a while before I got my OT, so I somewhat understood the OT workflow. If you buy the digitakt used, you can flip it for no financial loss, use overbridge for multitracking all your tracks and likely pick up on a bit of the Elektron workflow to see if you want to go to the Octatrack. There have been quite a few people that just never “got on with” the workflow of the Octatrack, hence the cautions. The crossfader is nice, but you’ll have more than enough capabilities without it to start.
Anyway 4mn track seems not very long and i am always short with 8 audio tracks so…
If the point is to record loops indeed internally it is ok (it is a looper after all) but if you wanna record a full track, with scenes, arrangement, etc. Then it is a PITA.
I’d rather go with full arrangement and all within the OT: i’ll save time for live performance and for exporting.
If your thing is to create within a DAW then internal sampling works but in my sense you loose the flavors and advantages and also the freshness of the « dynamic performance ».
Saving loops internally, transfer it to the daw and makes an arrangement in it, i am not sure of the gain of time.
You workflow decides i guess (you wont convince me on that one ).
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