Octatrack: Help me to love it

[xidnpnlss]

@DustBrigade

Hmm, maybe someone can fill me in - are there affordable effect pedals (or similar) that can change between different user patches via Midi?

Christ I wish the Zoom ms100 had just a smidge of MIDI.

[andreasroman]

@Rinzler81z

Es.: try to load an high quality (well recorded) sample on the OT with -12dB RMS, play it from a computer and from the OT with no filters or stuff. It is not transparent, confirm?

Es.: I want to compress a reverbered static machine, the use of a neighbour track is mandatory, I can’t do it with on a single Machine. Probably because of processor usage or I don’t know. But if I want to do this I have to lose an audio track.

Es.: “Catch MIDI Params” I need to use CC61, tricky and time consuming, not working with every controller -> can’t use it with regular MIDI controllers at least as I don’t use just a single part…

If this is what’s blocking you from making great music, then I think you’re right, you should just let the Octatrack go.

[DustBrigade]

That’s more than I paid for my Virus so not what I define as affordable, but yeah, looks really cool. Thanks for the heads up, maybe on the second hand market - was more thinking in the lines of Behringer, Zoom or some DIY unit.

[Rinzler81z]

@DustBrigade

That’s more than I paid for my Virus so not what I define as affordable, but yeah, looks really cool. Thanks for the heads up, maybe on the second hand market - was more thinking in the lines of Behringer, Zoom or some DIY unit.

if you don’t bother tweaking a bit, you could also give a try to the Axoloti, I use it since a year and a half now and I think it’s one of the most powerful audio boards out there along with the MOD Duo pedal (or The Owl). I personally love the DIY approach as I belong to this attitude and this is imho, the future. The only problem with Axoloti in particular is that everytime I take a flight they think it’s a bomb or something…also because it’s poorly housed in an old VHS case

[JX]

After reading all that I have to agree with @andreasroman, if it blocks you, sell it.
I´m very lucky to have an , it helped me getting into production after years of being a guitar player. Its still the foundation to my musical work, most ideas are happening on the .
But this machine isn´t for everybody, you have to be patient and willing to invest a LOT of time, it took me some months to figure out the most stuff.
Everybody is different when it comes to creativity!

[G0n35y]

There is zero harm in keeping hold of it for a month or two longer (unless I missed any part about returning it or something) so I’d say give it another go. Take each component part on its own and work through the various video tutorials - they helped me a great deal.

But, after time I fell out of love with my OT. There’s something about it that I will always think fondly of but unlike the 1st time I sold one, I haven’t missed my 2nd OT at all since I sold it on. It just isn’t for me and it was, absolutely, a blocker in my music.

I want my time with music to be enjoyable and not spent tearing my hair out over the OT’s UI structure and limitations. OB enabled devices are far more useful to me. Having said that, I haven’t done anything musicy in weeks/months! Should really get the finger out and back into it…

[DustBrigade]

Yeah, I have been looking at the axeloti before, but more as a customizable midicontroller for my octa and virus combo. It does indeed look very interesting. I don’t mind tinkering a bit, but my aurdiino is quite unused since C coding is not really anything I have spent much time with, maybe the modular approach will work better. But how powerful is it? If there is something I learned from having a small aurduino board - is that one simple osc is not much CPU usage, but effects take loads of power in comparison.

[avantronica]

@DustBrigade

But how powerful is it?

Let’s keep this thread On Topic - it’s being discussed over here btw, it’s a great product, but you need to be putting in the time more than say on a Nord Modular which is far more finessed - worth it to get the USB host functionality alone imho

[konputa]

I agree with the others that have said it sounds as if the OP hasn’t spent enough time with the Octatrack. Work through it and come to terms with the fact that the unique layout, as annoying as you might find it at times, also allows you to have exceptional flexibility in your composing and sound design. It took me awhile to gel with mine, but that is mainly due to the fact that I have had a very busy professional life for years. I had the chance to dig deep into the OT this year and I get it now. Note that I didn’t get rid of it when I admitted to myself that I was frustrated by it. At no time did I find myself complaining about the sound quality. We used to write entire albums off 32MB of sample RAM.

To the haters of the effects section: do you think it’s reasonable to expect Bricasti M7 or real time convolution out of a $1250USD/€1250 box not running 8 i7 cores and 16GB of RAM? For the detractors, I’d be curious to see what hardware synths, samplers or workstations you feel have superior effects. The filters in this thing sound great for a sampler. The compressor is without question the best compressor I’ve ever heard in any sampler or multi effects processor. If I had it my way, I’d have another 4-8 audio outputs but that would have added another $300/€300 to the price and the Elektron crew know they have to engineer to price point sensitivity and I get that. The CE/MI industry has been rough just before and after its release. Regardless, I am sure this box is going to make its mark in history.

[nirun]

OT with neighbor machines and scenes is one helluva FX box. yea probably not as pristine sounding as a strymon pedal or eventide rack unit but the modulation and morphing between scenes is what really differentiates it. Also it costs significantly less considering the multitude of other uses. If it doesn’t work for you then no forum post is worth swaying your opinion, there are plenty of other samplers with similar features to try in the same price range like… oh wait

[travelthrough]

Everyone gets pissed off by their octatrack.

Regarding the way it colours the sound. Recording into the inputs certainly does, but I regularly dj with it using static machines and Beatport tech house bangers and I’ve found it to be just as crisp as traktor or CDJs on a club system.

It took me a while to finesse the various volume parameters to get my signal as hot as the traktor/CDJ people I’m before or after, but I’ve come to really appreciate how much flexibility it offers for gaining stuff.

I also know many people who use very pricy audio interfaces to record their modular rigs and then use the OT for sample playback and it satisfies their audiophile ears as well.

Again the inputs, well…there has been a lot of nasty and confrontational discussions over what happens to sound when it hits the OT inputs. Use your ears and decide if you like the result. I think the OT is great for punching up cheaper digital gear but you might be disappointed by what it does to your DSI or moog.

Although I don’t know if any of you caught some of the videos of Surgeon on his modular rig last weekend but it looked like he had that going into his OT and it sounded great.

[DustBrigade]

Quality of effects are for sure very subjective, but to me Virus effects are better sounding and more versatile than the one of the OT. I still find Comp/Delay and especially dark reverb highly usable. I find (just as OP) the distortion to be a bit weak (or maybe a better way to phrase it - I find a lack of distortion modes I like and therefore only use it subtle in a similar way every time I use it).

[sezare56]

@travelthrough

Everyone gets pissed off by their octatrack.

I’ve been puzzled at first, not pissed off !
Nothing to blame but yourself…

[Rinzler81z]

@konputa

do you think it’s reasonable to expect Bricasti M7 or real time convolution out of a $1250USD/€1250 box not running 8 i7 cores and 16GB of RAM?

I’ve never said anything like that. I’ve just pointed out a specific thing about Reverb chain position and filter/EQs quality, but anything about the kind or type of reverbering and filtering algos. Even because I think that Dark Reverb sounds pretty cool.

@konputa

OP hasn’t spent enough time with the Octatrack.

I’ve just replied to this kind of statement: to me OT is not difficult. I’ve digged into the stuff for about 15 days, and reharse for other 15 days, figuring out problems with the help of merlin’s book, the manual, video tutorials, and the guys here in the forum. This thread is for confirmation / denial of some specific tasks and stuff I’m still not sure about.
Please do not reply just to add noise.

@travelthrough

but you might be disappointed by what it does to your DSI or moog.

Problem is I work with basically field recordings or percussions / textures at 96/192. I usually do good conversion and dither but when in the OT, the “crisp” factor, affect the dynamics of the source too much. I ended up working with half track volume and very low gain to have the widest room as possibile…but then the floor noise became too high.

[123alastairj]

So, if I get you right, you’re basically saying;

1. I don’t like the OT
2. I want you all to know it
3. No matter what you suggest I know best because I already figured it all out in 15 days.
4. There is nothing you can say to convince me so don’t ‘add noise’
5. I would have designed the OT differently and don’t understand why they designed it the way they did
6. Blah

For heaven’s sake just sell the thing and use the money to part-fund the product you require, which will take some funding as it doesn’t exist.

[CallOffTheVote]

Funny how people dig different stuff. I like the lo-fi/filter/spring reverb/comb on OT. Probably wouldn’t use them over equivalent OTB/ITB fx if there was a choice, but I like using OT by itself mostly and pretty happy with the overall sound of it when you use those fx etc and keep everything inside the OT.

[Lemajik]

I work a lot with field recordings and use them in OT with quality conversion before importing. I get results that I really like. It’s all about what you want and how you can adapt your workflow with OT. It changed my way of making music completely. And I never want to go back the way I did music before. I am happy with restrictions that OT has. Keeps my feet on the ground even thou my mind is in another dimension.

Just for fun, try to create a complete song with only one sample of speech or something you recorded, like we had a science lab 2 years ago. You will see the potential OT has for sound design.

Give it a shot mate

[Rinzler81z]

I’m saying

1. I like the OT but I need some confirmation about some specific points to understand if it’s really what I was looking for
2. I’d like read your real technical impression, not how much you love a dead piece of metal
3. I’m open to all really deep techical suggestions to solve what I’ve pointed out, but not “try playing with the delay” or “dig the manual”
4. I was under the sentence quoted from the user called Konputa, not for you. Anyway adding noise to a conversation is a waste of time, if you’re happy with it go on. Adding noise to a track si cool.
5. I would have Adv OT diffently
6. I don’t know this word, sorry

[Lemajik]

OT is not a dead piece of metal…

[Rinzler81z]

@Lemajik

It’s all about what you want and how you can adapt your workflow with OT. It changed my way of making music completely.

This is exactly my point. I would like to be able to adapt to the workflow of the OT, because it is really the unique piece of hardware that can treat sound in some ways…and allow me to get rid of a computer but without completely changing the way I make music…what I really disliked about it was I had some specific ideas, reading through the manual before buying it was like “ok, can do all that stuff, good I’ll have mine”…then working on it it was like “ok you can do all of that but you need five people to press buttons with you in a live situation” and this is really blocking me.

The MIDI catch problem comes right there: if I want to change for example the release of first 2 tracks manually in a live setup, i need to switch furiously between the two tracks and move the dial for the release on lil steps…when using a controller is better but then you change the part and you’re fucked