Borrowed from the meme thread:
54 Likes
This is spot on.
3 Likes
You know, this thread made me turn on my OT for the first time in ages (not had much time for music making lately, and when I have, I havenāt felt like dealing with the OT)ā¦ and I was really surprised listening to the projects Iād saved on there just how interesting some of them sounded!
I feel I often gravitate towards fairly standard 4/4 beats and sounds on most gear, but the OT really seems to encourage you to go a bit āout thereāā¦ I was honestly quite surprised that I had made some of the things on there (in a good way!).
The crossfader is such a killer feature too, it was fun to load up patterns and see what I had assigned to the various scenes - instant variations.
I had kind of been thinking that I might put it away for a while (just to make space, I donāt normally sell stuff 
) but this experience made me decide I really want to use it more actually! Soā¦ I dunnoā¦ keep at it? I think itās worth persevering a bit, it really is a unique device.
Edit: of course, I should add, half the projects I loaded were empty and I couldnāt work out why, probably forgot to save the samples, stupid bloody OT . I guess it is āidiosyncraticā
7 Likes
Always a trade-off between instant satisfaction, easy to use VS greater depth, harder to learn, more flexible, at least that is what I have learned. But really the OT isnāt any more difficult to learn than any similar complex system be that hardware or software, you just have to stick at it, IMHO.
4 Likes
I went through the same learning curve with the OT - always trying, always getting knocked back. It was 2 steps forward, 1 step back on good days. On bad days, it was one step forward, 3 steps back!
I read the manual and the āinformalā manual guide (available on this forum somewhere), and I never really grasped the logic. I guess I must have tried harder - but rest assured, I did try!
The real killer blow for me was when I heard the sound quality and FX quality on the Dt and the Dn (compared to my OT MKi). It was a revelation. I now own both a Dt and a Dn, and am very happy indeed.
The OT definitely wins on being a Swiss army knife, and in having a song/arranger mode and a slice mode.
My suggestion is give it at least a month. Let the ābuyerās remorseā subside.
1 Like
ā¦most ot users out there will relate to what ur sayināā¦u are not aloneā¦
step by stepā¦
and yes, ur point with that step back in evolution is perfectly correctā¦
the ot concept of thinking came from another state of swedish mindsā¦with all itās pros and consā¦
first point to mention are the fxā¦used with static parameters, they might sound a bit outdated on first sightā¦but one of the things that were always part of the big swedish pros are their integration of lfo that can modulate pretty much everythingā¦so no worries hereā¦once u learn to let the fx parameters move along, u gonna appreciacte them a lotā¦
besides the fact, that the comb filter is still one of the most famous sonic fingerprints to find out thereā¦
ot has so many ways to use AND abuse it, no wonder u stand in front of a huuuuge mountain at the beginningā¦
so give it time, take it slowā¦donāt try too much at onceā¦focus on single missions, then start to combineā¦for now iād say, turn off ur digis for a few days to come and take a closer look at the ot ONLYā¦
if it was a mistake for ur workflow u can only decide in at least a few weeks from nowā¦including at least 2 weeks of daily dealing with this machine exclusivelyā¦
and if u end up with ānot for meā than also no worriesā¦u can always sell it again with no big lossā¦
even in years from nowā¦
pick a random sound for a flex trackā¦have no specific sonic target in mind and just let goā¦
drop some trigsā¦
put a comb filter and a filterdelay on itās fx slotsā¦plock a littleā¦discover the sliderā¦and take it from thereā¦
AND read a few pages in the manual every night before u sleepā¦then put it under ur pillowā¦ 
if u have trouble to wrap ur head around the whole thing, check for merlinās guideā¦
ah, and one more thing for combining all three swedish boxesā¦
for now, best choice is to let the takt use the tones inputs and tone on otās a/b inputsā¦
use c/d inputs for ur guitar fx pedal sumā¦
dim the inputs to make sure u donāt overrun itās impedance and level the signals via otās individual amp page volumesā¦as u seeā¦even proper gainstaging is an item of itās own in this boxā¦
cue and master out can also be pushed againā¦take a deep breath and start divingā¦
alwas have a look what time stretch can do if itās manipulatedā¦u got two ways of stretching that all end up in different sonic prints depending on all the rate options again that interact different again with the overall pitchā¦puhā¦welcome to a neverending storyyyyyyyyyyyyyyā¦
4 Likes
Iāve been favoring ITB production lately but when having a million options at my fingertips and when mostly straight forward writing sessions start to feel stale, Iāll grab just the Octatrack. It can do straightforward but thereās also a lot to experiment with. And that happy accident thing keeps things fresh. If Elektron announces that the 
is being discontinued, Iām buying another for back up. I sold my first one but will never make that mistake again.
4 Likes
I might get one this week, I do find all this talk of it being really hard to learn interesting/amusing. If I get one and pick it up in a coupled of days, my estimation of you all, which is fairly high I guess, is going to plummet. haha 
Iām finding it really hard to assess the potential of it via video, they all just warble on about sampling to buffers like itās quantum physics tier complexity, without really showing anything spectacular.
3 Likes
I just got one on Tuesday. I read Merlinās guide and the manual beforehand, and watched quite a few videos.
It has been a bit of a struggle learning to use it over the last few days, but itās really just because for me Iām kind of discovering what I want to do with it as I understand it more. Itās like every time you figure something out, it immediately becomes more complicated because you realize āwow, if I do that but also link it up with thisā¦ā, and now you need to read how to do that.
Setting up a couple of THRU tracks and adding some effects and crossfading between scenes was super easy and took me like 10 minutes to figure out, but that use case doesnāt exactly capitalize on the power of the machine.
More on the thread topic, Iāve been really impressed with some of the stuff Iāve seen people do with the OT, but Iām trying to take it kind of slow to not get overwhelmed and discouraged. Right now Iām using it as a transition machine for a live set Iāve been working on on the Digitakt, and slowly dipping my toes into itās larger feature set.
Maybe before you sell OP, figure out one discrete feature you like and want to use on the Octatrack, and just focus on integrating that one feature into your workflow. Once you feel like youāve mastered it, go from there. My 2 cents 
10 Likes
OT isnāt that hard to learn if you go at it step by step. The hardest thing is to find musical ways to use this power, and avoid glitching the shit out of everything just for the sake of it.
Personally, I do mostly fairly āclassicā hiphop and I guess I could do it on another machine as well. But thereās something about the workflow with OT that just feels unique. Iām really anal about audio editing and stereo shaping of my samples, and OT offers some greats facilities for that. And once you get it, you can really try things ultra fast, from sampling to laying down a sequence.
9 Likes
I say itās the easiest box Iāve ever used!
And also: go for it! I love it. First few days is hard work, as opposed to DT for example, but if youāve managed your expectations a bit then fairly quickly the learning process will be enjoyable and exciting, it was for me at least:)
This guy really pushes the OTās possibilitiesā¦at least for video tutorials
5 Likes
The Octatrack is an instrument
āI learned a scale now. Wow, that was kind of complex. What can I do with the scale? Oh, I can make chordsā¦Okay thatās interesting. What can I do with chords? Oh I can write songs nowā¦ā
2 Likes
Amazingā¦ gave me a good chuckle haha
ā¦so, any further convincing efforts neededā¦?
I do āclassicā hiphop too and I love how dynamic my shacker/hats become with all the OT stuff.
But I think the OT is insane on vocal/āmainā chop.
Itās the only sampler where 16gb feels a lot. I can use the same sample and come up with something completely different.
Also thereās something magic about its performance workflow. I think a lot of box are really good to make you play/create or for live.
Like the MPC is really good for playing your idea and arrange a song. Other box are really good for live but the OT kinda merge both world, where the live aspect become part of your composition.
3 Likes
Iām not sure itās improvement as much as it is a shifting design objective. The design objective for the OT was clearly versatility as balanced against limitations, and the designers were very clever about making the different systems interact in a way that is coherent while transforming their functions in radical ways.
The design objective for the digi series was obviously to address the issues of huge learning curves putting off new users while still keeping the best parts of the elektron workflow. The model series sees a further simplification.
In some ways the OT is the apex of the early elektron design ethos of an āeverythingā box and it is quit compelling as an art object in and of itself. Sure, itās not 16 tracks or have independant LFO routing and all that, but it is very good at being a sampler, mixer, sequencer, and FX processor without hitting a ceiling of what you can achieve.
This kind of takes the guard rails off though. You can make bad music easily. You can confuse yourself and blame the device by not knowing what what mode you are in or what parameter is preventing playback. But it is exactly equivalent to any other real instrument. You will not be able to play the piano in a week, or a guitar. It will take years.
The OT is worth taking years to learn.
14 Likes
Very well put, speaking truth.
1 Like
Regarding the OPās difficulty with sending program changes from the Octatrack to the Digis, there is actually a whole course on combining Elektron machines (specifically the OT with the DN) on MacProVideo by Thavius Beck. I learned a ton about making these machines talk to each other by watching it. It includes sending CCās as well.
2 Likes
Yeah well if I remember correctly I still miss the more advanced and functional option to send program changes via triggs on the DN, which isnāt possible on the OT. Iād way rather have the option to send an external machine to any other program, easily with a trig. (Potentially a tangent and not what OP was talking about though, but info good to know for people considering an OT:)