Underwhelmed by the Octatrack Mk2, looking for advice!

Yes! Just waiting a little for news on new AKmk2 :wink:

EDIT: just to be completely clear and avoid spreading any speculation as fact if someone reads this post a year from now, this is all 100% speculation based on casual listening and could easily be completely wrong!

My suspicion is that everything is always converted at 24 bit and gets converted down to 16 in software without any kind of dither (just truncating the least significant 8 bits) if you’re working at 16. The way working at 16 affects the sound quality is VERY similar (to my ears, anyway) to the difference between correctly dithered and undithered bitrate conversion - a kind of subtle “plastic” quality (I know it’s a really vague term but it absolutely captures the sound, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a lot of people use it), and kind of a one dimensional quality. When I first got a proper interface (MOTU 828, not really that great sounding but a lot better than using a bunch of Sound Blaster AWE64’s like I’d been doing before that) I used to describe the difference between 16 and 24 bit audio in general as being like the difference between looking at a very high quality, life size photo of a window vs. looking out of an actual window, but it turns out I wasn’t dithering correctly (back then DAWs didn’t always dither by default) and the difference got smaller after that. The OT at 16 bit has a very similar sound.

EDIT: Also, if I prepare a sample on the computer and load it into the OT over USB I typically save it as 16 bit and don’t have the same loss in sound quality when it’s in the OT, which obviously could be the converters themselves not working properly in 16 but but it could also be because if I convert to 16 in the computer I’m always dithering correctly. On top of everything else, if people are generally recording a bit on the low side it the OT (because it’s easier to err on the side of caution that to push it too hot and get digital clipping) that would also bring the truncation artifacts up more relative to the audio.

7 Likes

For clarify I’ll add that I turned 24 bit on for recording and flex in my first week with OT and have left it there ever since, so everything I’ve ever said about the sound is based off those settings… :slight_smile:

4 Likes

Same here. The only time I use 16 is if I load stuff in via USB, because I figure it saves a little disc space and converting from 16 to 24 is just a matter of adding a few empty bits that shouldn’t (and doesn’t seem to) have any negative impact on the way the samples sound.

1 Like

Can anyone comment on whether they’ve noticed any difference in quality when transferring via USB vs. the OT Mk2 inputs with proper settings and gain staging?

I think with USB there isn’t any noticeable quality difference.

On another note, since the OT has digital effects, is there any chance elektron would amp up the effects in a future update? Probably wishful thinking but that’d be great

2 Likes

Check @avantronica’s audio test !

7 Likes

Just listened, its a pretty minimal difference there. Noticeable in the peaks if you are really looking for it. I’d be curious to see the same test done on the Mk2.

3 Likes

Yeah, it’s really subtle, and the kind of thing that I think would only be worth worrying about if you were passing signals through the OT without actually doing any processing, in context of what the OT does it really isn’t something that bothers me at all.

Out of all the Elektrons, the OT is the least inspiring sonically in my opinion. Yet. The most feature rich. Go figure.

The AR comes in a close second.

The A4 MK2 is a very nice machine though.

For the record I don’t think the OT has any kind of superior sound quality, I consider it plenty good enough for what you get out of it, and certainly suitable to rock live performances…
I don’t mind recording it either, but it’s not the best sounding piece in my studio.

Just saying this because things get lost along the way, I try to tell people that it’s perfectly usable, but not that it’s the pinnacle of sound quality or anything…

3 Likes

automate the amp volume with a midi controller from -64 to 0. you loose the amp regulation vol but u can mute the track and the efx will blend out.

I did a little wxperiment last night. Recorded the ballsiest of my synths, the SEM Pro, into ableton and then transferred via USB to the OT and played it back to see if there was a difference.

I’ll get you guys the files to listen to when I get a chance so you can hear yourselves.

I’ve been contemplating the OT MK2 lately, but hearing the disparaging comments regarding the FX always makes me lose interest. I love the reverb and delay on the Digitakt, and look forward to trying them out on all types of sounds. Everything right there, ready to go, in that compact little box, is what is so appealing. Having to rely of outboard effects would kind of kill that for me.

OT’s FX sound better than the MPC Live’s. I know you didn’t ask that, but for some context.

1 Like

Actually, that does help put things into perspective.

2 Likes

Yeah, would be interested to hear that, I have an OB-6

1 Like

Alright, here it is!

So I’ve taken 3 different sounds: A kick sound and high hat loop from my Taznbar, and then an arpeggiated bass sound from the SEM pro. Each folder in the ZIP has 3 files in random order. One of the files is the unaltered sound from the source. Another file is that same sound, but transferred via USB to the OT Mk2 and played (time stretch off, 24 bit). The last file is a “wildcard” where I’ve done something to one of the files, or not, to trip you up.

I did my best to get the volumes pretty close to one another, so hopefully it isn’t too obvious which s which. Personally I found myself forgetting which was which and I had to check a little cheat sheet I made.

Let me know what your thoughts are! I’ll post back with the results after people have weighed in. Also feel free to use these samples in your music if you want.

2 Likes

haha, don’t think I’m too good at judging, they all sound soo close to me.

2 Likes

Same. I looked at the waveforms. 1 is stereo. 2 are mono. The waveforms are shaped slightly different but when using my ears it’s mostly too subtle to matter to me.

Also if you want me to test any more sounds let me know

Right sorry about that one, I should have made sure those were all mono, hopefully that doesn’t give anything away. Could either of you guess which ones are which?