Convince me on why I should *NOT* buy an Octatrack

GAS is high. I’d love for somebody to convince me not to buy one! haha
Obviously you all mostly love the product in this forum but any negatives or 2nd thoughts?

1 Like

I could rise to that challenge :stuck_out_tongue:

3 Likes

They’re cool. But there are other options. Eight tracks is enough for some, not enough for others.

Large financial investment, for what? Some loops that may or may not go anywhere…

You asked to be talked out it :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Timestretch and pitchstretch algos need work.
Effects not great.
No digital out.
No OB
Too small display
Hate the encoders
Terrible input monitoring
That’s it off the top of my head :joy:

9 Likes

Well there was that thread about them having dead insects stuck inside…

14 Likes

it seems like it can take you into creative directions you wouldn’t think to do normally. But I’m also wondering if much of it wouldn’t be way more easily accomplished just directly inside Ableton Live.
It’s hard to gauge because I’d have to learn the workflow first before understanding if its for me. But it definitely interests me

You could buy eight Volcas for the same price and have an OctaVolca instead.

11 Likes

so if you’re doing live sampling and want to change the tempo, it doesn’t sound great?

what’s another option? I can’t think of anything similar off the top of my head

Pitch algos sound f’d
Effects are crazy when you stack em
No need to worry yourself with the headache of OB
takes a bit to master muscle memory or dial in your configuration masterpiece to ditch the screen
The encoders double this odd paradigm

Oh wait, I’m supposed to be talking you out of it?

5 Likes

I don’t think believe there is another option if you want the whole package. SP-16, Digitakt, MPC Live might give you some features but not others.

I’ve been jamming on this lately

I felt great, the day I traded mine for a Machinedrum… And I haven’t missed it since.

2 Likes

Yes, plenty of the parameters go negative and you’ll most likely have to think twice about a lot of stuff…

4 Likes

1:42 sec sampling time max —if you plan to do a lot of sampling with OT this is a huge problem (Pioneer SP-16 suffers from a 32 sec sample limit)
2: 4 bars max pattern length (Pioneer SP-16 suffers from that too.)
3: USB can not be used for midi sync
no other negatives—its lovely apart from those three

for 1& 2 i was forced to keep Akai MPC-X.

1 Like

Eternal middle child of the Elektron range, even in MKII guise. :octopus:

1 Like

Naw, you can easily get 8 bars by halving the BPM, and seeing that individual tracks can be set to all kinds of intervals, this is just an expression of where you found limits.

1 Like

If anything, the hardest part to comprehend about the OT, is sampling!?
Nevertheless Terakith and Cuckoo posted some vids makinging it simple to comprehend.

One does not simply walk into a music store and buy an Octatrack. Once you’ve got one, you won’t be able to undo that experience. Don’t get one, it’ll break your heart. Either you’ll see what it is capable of and you’ll realize if you don’t make it work with this one, you’ll be out of options and you’re spoilt for life. Nothing that comes after will induce the same level of awe.

Or - you’ll see all of it’s shortcomings, realizing that not only it doesn’t do what you want it to, but also there is nothing else that has been built with the same kind of ambition and that is equally versatile, but better in those areas where the OT is lacking.

Either way, after getting an OT you’ll be damaged goods. Plus if you want to get serious with it, it’ll cost you a lot of time to get there and until you’re at the point where you have musical ideas in your head that your hands automatically translate into all these arcane button combinations, it’ll feel more like work than fun.

Did I mention I can‘t wait to get mine back from service? I seem to get cranky when we‘re separated, a bit like prolonged stretches without … but that‘s a different story altogether.

18 Likes

Don’t do it. You won’t need anything else…

2 Likes