Elektron Box Purchase decision

Elektron Gear
#1

Hello everyone,

I am currently making experimental ambient music with a 6u 60hp modular system which is sequenced by an Oxi One.

https://modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/2514893

Over time i’ve noticed that i often only use oxi one for sequencing a bass line when creating songs and most of the time i play sounds (guitar/synthesizer) into the squid salmple or morphagene, modulate them, send them through effects and experiment with them.

Now I was wondering if it wouldn’t be better to sell Oxi one and buy an Elektron box (Digitakt, Syntakt or Octatrack). Oxi One has too many functions for me that I simply don’t use. With an Elektron device I would sequence my Eurorack and at the same time get more useful functions. Now I have to ask myself which box would fit best into my setup. If I go for digitakt I would probably sell the Squid Salmple too as I would play the samples through the digitakt. I have already tried Syntakt once in a music store. I really like the analog machines.

What would you do? Which machine do you think makes the most sense in my setup?

#2

Octatrack - live Looping is amazing with eurorack

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#3

Wholeheartedly seconded. Any live looper with Eurorack is a joy, and if you’re into experimental processing Octatrack is a live looper in the form of a love letter to experimentalists.

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#4

Octatrack. Midi arp ain’t no slouch.

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#5

…sounds like, u need realtime sampling, mangeling and fx…plus nice midi sequencing…

then u got no big choice…only answer is octatrack…

dtakt has no big variety of fx and does not sample in realtime…
syntakt has no sampling at all and it’s sequencer can only feed midi to external devices if u kill one internal voice for each channel u wanna use…

so ot is it…

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#6

While the Octatrack is a great suggestion, it can be daunting for some. However, if you focus on sampling / looping / sound mangling, then the OT would be fantastic. Since you mentioned ambient music, I’d also suggest the Analog Four (either mk1 or mk2). The CV track is very flexible and can provide up to 4 CV outputs. Add that to MIDI sequencing and/or the onboard synth engines of the A4 and you could have a lot of fun with that too. I guess it depends on what you feel is your biggest need to fill (sampling, sequencing, more voices, FX, etc.).

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#7

that might happen with the OT too. its a beast of a modular sequencer/sampler/mixer/effect unit

i recommend to lend it from someone first (if that is an option) before buying one…

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#8

Saw a modular live show last summer. 3 out of the 4 acts used a Digitakt. It offers you 8 midi channels of sequencing or up to 16 if you use some of the dedicated sequencing tracks.

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#9

Octatrack would help you be able to play your modular setup while maintaining control if you use Cues and live recording.

Analog Four would be another good pick as you can feed your eurorack oscillators through its synth engine and also control CV or Gates with its four outputs. It wouldn’t be as useful for sequencing the salmple though.

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#10

I own an octatrack and use it with my modular (and other external gear). Works brilliantly, 8 midi channels, 8 audio channels for samples, flexible routing etc etc. Ability to sample on 8 channels, from any source simultaneously, while playing samples, and midi sequencing, all at the same time. (Theres not much out there that can do that.

I have owned a digitakt in the past, sure its got 8 midi channels, I didnt like the sampling on it, and lots of other things so I sold it.

Octatrack is the most flexible, most capable (midi arp, 3 LFOs per track etc can turn your modular into a mega modular)
Digitakt is simpler on the midi front, and more basic on the sampling front. Mono samples only.

Either one will do the job.

3 Likes
#11

Thank you very much for all the answers. I think I will probably have to read through every manual and test the boxes. The complexity of Octatrack does indeed put me off a bit. On the other hand, I can of course only use the functions that are really important to me at the beginning and Octatrack seems to be very powerful, especially in combination with the guitar. Maybe I’ll wait for the Superbooth in Berlin to see if Elektron launches a new box.
Is it actually possible to record a sequence in real time with an external midi keyboard?

#12

You already make music with modular and a hardware sequencer: you’ll have no trouble with an Octatrack.

Yes.

2 Likes
#13

Whatever Elektron is cooking right now, I think it’s wise to take some time to read about what the current boxes do anyway.

A sampler does make a lot of sense in your setup. Elektron samplers are not static, they can chew the samples and bring many different flavors out of them.

The choice between DT and OT is yours to make, I do believe a simpler box is a nice way to discover the Elektron paradigm, but OT has a lot to offer, both as a live performance sampler and a mixer++ (4 inputs!).

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#14

Or the Analog Keys, even, which then gets you a CV/MIDI controller keyboard for the Eurorack as well. I had mine set up right under my Eurorack playing that role for a long time.

#15

Are there also things that speak in favor of the digitakt or things that the digitakt does better than the octatrack?

#16

Digitakt is just a lot faster and easier to understand than OT, while it can do a lot of the basic sample playing functions OT can also do. At the cost of being less deep, having no stereo samples or live looper functions, no CF card or space for really long samples etc. It’s still a pretty versatile machine though. The effects are more modern and good imo but that is subjective, delay has a „real“ stereo ping pong for example. The UI is better imo, especially for how envelopes are displayed. You can also save sounds to a library, meaning things you did to samples with DT settings, OT can’t do that.

#17

Some stuff like start/end points and slice grids can be saved with a sample on the OT FWIW.

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#18

They can too on DT. Just save as a Sound (= preset) and you can reuse your sample+settings! You can even have different Sounds/settings based on the same sample, which you can’t on OT.

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