Octatrack: Help me to love it

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#42

The point is, people here are very knowledgeable about the Octatrack, they’re giving you great suggestions and advice and you are dismissing them all in a manner which is (a) rude and (b) heavily suggests you are not to be swayed, and just keen to be superior.

There are people posting who I’m sure have made great music with the Octatrack. There are certainly plenty of popular and successful artists who have. It probably took them a long period of frustration to get there. You’ve given it 15 days.

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#43

Remember your topic’s title !
I’m sure you’re not a noob I you learned seriously how to work with Ot, but I think your specific questions about your problems Ot are not a big deal.
I totally understand if you don’t like Ot.

With a few settings, press the play button and you make that lovely music instrument alive ! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

#44

I know what you mean. I had the same struggle at the beginning. I had ideas of how I will do this and that but when the OT came I got a slap in my face. It took me a year and something to establish my workflow the way I want with my other gear. It’s a great machine and I know you will get to the point where you can’t go without it.

#45

Sorry I don’t understand the problem. You can send and receive CCs with Ot, so it is easy to set the right setting on a midi controller. Weird example with the release…:confused:

#46

I know by myself that the tecnical aspects I’ve pointed out are “details” for lots of people, but at the same time I was looking for “workarounds” just because I love the OT for tons of other reasons, but those two details blocks me a little for some musical stuff I really care about and I had be able to port through very different musical systems…but not the OT.
Hope this sounds more clear.

#47

If you are finding it colours your sounds in a way you don’t like, there’s no magic fix for that. Same with the FX, if you’ve managed to already find time to dig deep with LFO p-locks on FX in various Scenes etc and still not finding useable fx/sounds, sell it…

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#48

Dude… don’t sell it…

#49

release…pitch…volume…the heck you want param.

If I’m playing with the pitch and I change part, and start playing with the pitch again on a different part but same track, I’ve an obvious sudden step value if using Pots or Faders.
I would like to be able to move the controller until it matches the parameter on the specific tracks/parts.
Does is sounds more clear?

#50

Agreed. Personally 1 month feels real hasty to decide on something like OT. But OP seems pretty sure he’s not going to find anything new after his month and is unhappy with the fundamentals of it like the ‘sound’ of OT. That stuff isnt gonna change…

#51

Or hook it up to a Lemur (or Lemur App or similar bi - directional automatable tool) and sync just before your performance - then everything is in sync

I don’t know if there’s the possibility for the OT to (one day) work with support for incremental MIDI messages -this would address this if you had a device with encoders which supported that protocol - like the Novation stuff

it’s easy to establish what the OT can’t do in days, but it’s not possible to establish all it can do in days (some of which may plug the gaps in the preliminary ‘can’t’ category)

one thing you have to let go of (or pass on the OT wrt) is the implications of audio fidelity under time-stretching etc - if you can’t make peace with that then you won’t get along - same with the headroom - it always samples after adding 12dB of headroom, so to re-level the captured material it has to gain it all back (inc noise)

you can almost certainly do exactly what you want using a computer, write the software in Max/MSP, but that is another debate altogether

the OT makes most sense if you are needing and willing to use most of its features, namely sampling / mangling / stream-playback / mixing / looping / midi … if not, then it’s diminishing returns for the financial and time investment - it’s a hard machine to bond with imho because it needs a good practiced pilot to get the most from it, the other recent elektrons are much more intuitive and forgiving (but conceptually restricted in comparison) :thup:

3 Likes
#52

thanks man,
no, I’m not really sure, that’s the reason why I’m asking for those specific tasks. One can dig through a manual, learn every function but it’s not as useful as asking to people who use the stuff to make music or play live gigs. It’s a machine, so the best came out when used in a personal way and for specific tasks :slight_smile:
What I’m suspecting is that my frustration came from the fact that I really didn’t find a way to use it in my personal and here comes the real flexibility.

2 Likes
#53

Yep. It is clear know. If I change a part, my settings are supposed to match the preceding one. You can reload parts, and use one shot (arm it with Yes) with the right settings if you want to reload specific parameters.

#54

And the virus desktop costs twice as much as the Octatrack and doesn’t sample. I also own a TI and it’s not without its own “sound”; some find it good while others dislike it but that doesn’t make it a poorly designed instrument. :slight_smile:

#55

Says the guy looking for confirmation bias that is unhappy with feedback after specifically complaining about effects and making comments that he may have missed something with the operation of the instrument.

Sell it and move on, you might not be a good fit. Later.

1 Like
#56

love you and your avatar little funny troll :heart_eyes:

#57

There are guidelines folks - let’s not let this thought provoking thread sink to a point where we need to PM anyone, thanks :thup:

disagree agreeably and do not rise to what you see as provocation by adding fuel to the fire - if you are displeased flag a post, let us smooth it out - keep it good natured

Note to OP - your thread title is a naturally polarising entrypoint to this discussion, it’s not a neutral opener … just sayin’

let’s be nice :okej:

3 Likes
#58

Personally I like the OT, no way is it perfect, but without doubt the best sampler I have used for the stuff I want to do, I got on with it from day one - when the OS was far more basic, and so as development continued I was learning the new features piecemeal (I was a beta tester) Some of the features I really love and some I really dislike, and those I never use.

My advice is if you don’t feel that you will get on with it, then get rid of it and don’t look back, there are plenty of other really great machines, some of which may be more suited to your needs and workflow. Sometimes trying to make something work how you expect or want it to can be an excercise in futility, and one which I prefer to find out in the first few days. If after a month you are not feeling it, chances are you possibly never will.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

5 Likes
#59

Fanboys and haters :stuck_out_tongue:
Anyhow, anyone have a good solution to the clicking issues on loops, I get clicks on subs and long waved samples even when I edit fades in Cubase before I export (and set loop points to 0xing) - which is annoying.

I also have a love / hate relationship to my OT, I love that I don’t have to bring a computer to live gigs, but the OT feels a bit “old” and cumbersom, and I tend to agree that the FX section is quite weak (except for the p-locking of course). On the upside I really love the “song” modes - and something about the small rubbish screen makes you use your ears and feels more for making music… which is a good thing.

Bottom line, if you like it keep it, if not, sell it.

#60

Love/hate relationship just ends and becomes a love-only relationship, when one begins to accept the OT’s limitation, live with it and begin to use it for what it is greatly capable…

just sayin’

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#61

i’ve never seen so many people complain about the OT FX as I have in this thread. Interesting, I wonder if there are any objective reasons or if it’s just the same old hyperbole… “they are weak, X is better, doesnt sound as good as ____” but no real objective issues or specific parameters they find useless or hard to use.

People have asked good questions about params on FX pages in other threads, and more experienced users will give you pretty specific advice on the order you set the FX as well as how to meaningfully manipulate them

complaining about filter unusable as an EQ when there are 2 different EQ fx blocks is confusing to me, and then when someone suggests to use a neighbor track OP says to avoid “basic stuff” "and hes “tried it for sure”. not a great attitude, comes off as a bit combative instead of asking sincerely for advice.

people will take offense to this thread, because they pour countless hours into learning this machine and scouring the forums for good info. I have a feeling most people here complaining haven’t put in their time yet. I don’t expect everyone to use every feature on the OT, but if you’re going to call something weak explain why instead of making broad statements like that. What is weak about it? Are the FX distorting? Filter unusable at certain positions?

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