I rememebr years ago someone on here replaced the DAC’s with more expensive ones. I don’t think they felt it was worth all the work. I think most of the problem’s people have with sound on the OT can be attributed to bad gain structure. I’m pretty sure Elektron tried to fix this on the MK2 by adding a more powerful input amp on the inputs? But, yeah, using an external amplifier to get a hotter signal, could help at times.
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He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Even cheap DACs still sound good these days. It’s not the 90s anymore.
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Who is Stimming and why do people hang their hat on his opinion?
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Someone who doesn’t know how to get high quality sounds out of the OT and for some reason people think he’s an authority on the subject.
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Fascinating.
I’m assuming he makes youTube videos.
Stuff like that always makes me wonder if someone like Dilla or Boards of Canada struggled with the sound of DAC’s 
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I often get myself out of GAS by reminding myself just how many of my favorite records were made with way worse gear than mine.
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I do that a lot.
I also remember being in my 20’s and excited to work with whatever I could get my hands on.
Make it work, develop creations with anything.
I definitely understand chasing elusive stuff in gear, but I try not to let myself fall too far down that rabbit hole. I’d be broke otherwise
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Yeah, it’s interesting to see successful artists just using stuff and the rest just obsessing over the feel of the buttons, special edition colours, memory, disk capacity, the next version … and DACs.
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Exactly!
It’s not DAC’s fault if I’m not writing decent material
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I really think it has to do with proper gain staging. If you record a loop at a lower level, then amplify (normalize?), you will get artifacts or noise in the more silent spaces where there is no sound. It actually happens to me from time to time. On my first try at recording into a recording buffer, the recording will sound a bit different, so I spend a few seconds to check all the settings on the track and make sure all my levels are right, and all the filters are straight. It just takes a little time and I get it back to where it should be. I have actually been thinking about getting an external amp to go between my sources, just to add a bit of extra bump I could use from time to time. To get the yellow flashing when I need it.
This is one of the threads about DAC’s and op amps. If you are really curious.
Meanwhile MPC users are complaining that the MPC X has “worse” converters than the MPC 3000. Truly baffling what people think are good and bad.
German techno producer who makes youtube content. Some people like his music. As previously mentioned, being able to make good music does not mandate technical knowledge so he tends to conflate a subjective impression with quantitative assessment.
Good counter examples. Donuts, Dilla’s magnum opus, was made with the SP-303 and while that sampler has loads of character I wouldn’t call it high fidelity. Boards of Canada actively degraded their sound quality through tape manipulation, sample rate reduction, and every other method for artistic expression.
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I was talking with a friend the other day about effects like the Genloss II.
We both like stuff like that A LOT.
I do find it fascinating that you can spend thousands on high quality gear, then buy a premium tape emulator like the AH+FX only to degrade the final output.
I love all this stuff, and I’ve definitely sought after gear like an OG Prophet 5 rev 2 because I read on a forum it has a “better sound.” I can definitely get lost in that and understand it’s power.
These days I hope I can land on a more tempered approach to buying gear and what I really need for the money I wish to spend.
Strange times indeed.
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Theres only one reason the OT ever, as stimming put it, ‘sounds bad’…
Drum roll… The user.
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or maybe if you use 2 octatracks you get twice the fidelity?
I mean, I’m not a fan of that type of music. But lets put that aside, I never understood that video.
No speakers, no crowd.
Just a dude, playing into ear buds, and a film crew. I dont get it.
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It’s musical presentation as surreal object, an exercise in the absurdity of posting DJ sets to youtube. Rather than a crowd responding to his music, he plays the indifferent landscape of the ocean-- an image that lingers in your mind even after you forget the music.
Generally though I was just sharing it because it’s an example of using the OT that isn’t LO-FI in any regard. Is it hi fi? well it’s kind of hard to tell in a youtube video.
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Good lord. 
Well those DAC’s sound fine to me.
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I’m sure he has a ton of followers who watch his videos for the gear, but ain’t nobody on pins and needles for the next Stimming album.
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@AdamJay has plenty of tracks that are Octatrack and they all sound very hifi to me. I can’t tell you which ones off hand but if you look I’m sure you’ll find. He’s very generous with showing his working methods and gear.
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I find the OT sounds more “hifi” when using signals properly gainstaged to analog signal flow levels.
As soon as things are pushed too far the sounds definitely can start break up and seems “lofi”
There so many aspects to gainstaging with OT though it can be a bit confusing
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