I just realised that elektron just deleted the “Printed user’s manual included” from the Octatrack mk2 page. I hate shit like that. It’s the same with the release date… I should have bought the mk1 instead of preorder a mk2. I need the OT to sequencing my gear…
Elektron: Just give us a printed full reference/hand book instead of a Quick Guide!
It probably took more work.
I do almost all of my reading on a screen and I’ve definitely noticed how much more work it takes to actually retain stuff, long before there was any real research on it. At this point, if I want to learn something fast I’ll print it out. One or two reads through from a physical copy and it’s usually there for life.
I use both, a hard copy when I first learn how to use something, and then a bunch of PDFs on my phone for reference.
It makes sense that things like position in 3 dimensional space, and the physical feeling of the printed material, and even the smell would help with memory formation and retention with reading since they’re a huge part of memory formation and retention with everything else, but that’s not why I do it, I just do it because it always seemed to work better for me.
/derail
I guess Im really fucked,off with manufacturers not putting full manuals in the box…Weight issue for postage is bs as is cost of printing. As a consumer Id happily pay the extra for both printing and shipping to have the printed manual. After all it cost me buying one manual independently £8.00, therefore if a manufacturer is getting 1-10,000 done theres no way it should cost me as a consumer more than £4 extra on price for both printing and delivery. Again Id happily pay that! If many dont want a printed manual then at least manufacturer should offer one for less than money I have to pay getting one printed…Just sayin…feel free to disagree…PS I love trees!
Well, the lack of a printed manual certainly isn’t a dealbreaker. And with all the new Elektron products underway, i could imagine that sorting out a printed manual for everything is just one extra detail they don’t need to be thinking about.
Although i must say, desiring a printed manual isn’t an indication of any misplaced sense of entitlement.
Shall always treasure the Machinedrum printed manual, even more so in light of current pdf manual trends.
as much as i wish all of my equipment came with a full manual, i think you may be severely underestimating the cost of printing a manual that is 100+ pages as well as the cost it does add to shipping. For instance i recently printed out a manual for my yamaha rm1x its 154 pages an cost me over 25$ to have printed professionally. the octatrack manual is 189 pages, so at the cost i paid for the yamaha manual an OT manual would run about 26$-27$. printing one on my home printer would have been a little cheaper but significantly lower quality. that is a way from £8.00 even with conversion rate. large batch printing also does not guarantee discounted prices.
i personally prefer a hard copy cause i find it easier to look up things, mark important stuff, etc. but I am glad that manuals are more readily available online these days.
I think you must have misread my orig post. I got the Digi manual printed perfectbound paperback for less than £8… So no underestimation occurring there!
I did not misread, the thread is about the OT manual and your post doesn’t mention which manual you printed. The digitakt manual is less than half the size at 70 pages. The statement I made about the cost of printing still is rather applicable.
I state it clearly in my first post in this thread and Im aware its about OT manuals, I was tryin to be helpful to the original poster…Sorry about that…
I got full manuals for AR and A4 printed for about £17 each.
Pretty much same as the one that comes with OT.
sure it was from here -
PDFs are fine and dandy, but if you expect to sell me a complex device of any kind without a printed manual for “ecological reasons” well good luck. I’ll wait and buy your product secondhand for ecological reasons too.
Joking aside, manuals are essential for me, mostly as a reference for features not often used, and I tend to read printed manuals very differently from how I read pdfs, also they give gear a psychological permanence to people who plan on using the equipment for many years.
If a company is aiming for people who don’t RTFM, and whose products are replaced every couple of years with the next thing, then I can understand no printed manuals because that is disposable throwaway product culture, but any serious company making expensive and complex devices should include printed manuals, as most do and always have.
In my experience the firmware changes so little over the lifetime of Elektron gear that addendums are adequate to update any changes.
And on the ecological thing - I’d much prefer a company to make products that are good enough to make me want to use them for at least 10 years and to provide proper support, like manuals, spare parts, servicing and so on. Also on the ecological thing I’d bet that printed manuals would be kept longer than the electronic devices pdfs are read on, think about that.
Quick start guides are the fast food of manuals, cheap, no good for you, unsatisfying after completion. They should not exist in printed form ever, they should be in pdf only.
cool idea: make a community-sourced manual for the Octatrack based initially on Merlin’s Manual, then going further, replete with colourful illustrations for levity, and make it available via Blurb.
option: hardcover edition.
2 links for potential collab pro tips …
Eight Chapters…
audio looping
sampling techniques
effects
midi section
single sample sequencing
technical details (includes gain staging)
creative exploration (includes lfo technique)
tips and tricks
This is a brave and long path you’re on.
@Olaf_Wolkenhauer has gathered a large amount of tricks as well.
But I like this crazy idea of a manual written by the Community.
Nice idea. Community level tips and tricks and instructions and also an OT cookbook of sorts.
It would be nice if it was just made available as a pdf to be printed how and wherever the user chose than at a specific company. Im not saying I wouldnt want to pay for said manual just prefer a choice of where I got it printed. 
PS I bought the pdf of the MPC Live /X Bible and asked the author if he had any plans to offer a printed version he replied no but fine if I had the copy I had paid for printed wherever I chose. Which was nice!
PS the MPC live bible to have printed is 500 pages so will cost aprox £70. But as the book is pretty much a step by step in almost every aspect of composing on the Live to me its worth it. I havent had it printed yet but am considering breaking it into aprox 5 aprox 100 page manuals, keeping the orig page numbers for index ref of course and simply print on the cover/spine which page No’s each part is and chapter names on the cover too perhaps. I understand Im talking about a book for a diff device to the prig poster but nonetheless itmis an idea that could be used for most large books.
Its especially a good idea with the mpc bible as its a book you work through sequentially though of course you can just jump for reference but while Im waiting to afford the next printed part I will always have the pdf for reference. Just for me like has been mentioned before in this thread I tend to learn way faster from printed material.
*orig 
yes, very cool idea re/ five 100 page manuals vs 500 page manual