F this box! PU Machines, Trigs, Neighbor, LFO's! ARHHH!

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

This little box is driving me crazy today. Is it still in beta?

You can’t use TRIGS on the Pickup Machines but you can still use LFO’s to control the VOL of the AMP.
If I run the Pickup Machine through a Neighbor Machine I can use TRIGS to control the LFO but it doesn’t work on VOL!!! WTF?!
I’m just trying to create a ducking effect using TRIG’d LFO’s and IEXP waveform.
I can do this to realtime audio just fine.
It’s so annoying! There’s no consistency between the MACHINES!

Is anyone from Elektron even working on the OT anymore? Or at all?
I feel that Dataline is the only person I see on here.

Might have to grab a proper looper and a Cirklon and quit being pissed off about this somewhat half assed black box.

Why can’t we route more than one track to a Neighbor Machine? Can they not change the name if they add that functionality?

Still can’t map MIDI stuff to the SCENES. That seems like some basic shit that should’ve been sorted out in beta (if it’s even out of beta testing yet!!)

It’s hard to find any useful info on the Pickup Machines as everyone seems to hate the way they work. . . . except one guy at Elektron that created the weird ass implementation of them. . . . and what with this “Overdub Aborted” message that keeps happening? I didn’t ask the machine to give up?

I’ve spent a week just trying to do what I consider simple shit on this box and have left the studio with headache after headache.

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Pickup machines - who is using them?
Pick up hick up
#2

Yes.

#3

It’s hard to be constructive when we start with so much emotion.

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#4

Hah!
I don’t how constructive we can get. It is what it is I suppose. Just frustrating. Something about half executed, potentially great things really bugs me.
I just want them to finish this box before releasing two more. . . of which I purchased . . . that also could use some finishing.
Guess I’m an idiot. Elektron is about to be put in the same category as DSI for me. I won’t even consider a DSI instrument anymore.

#5

Personally I prefer to work with and remember what the OT can do without constantly hindering myself with what it cant do or simply what I perceive I think it should do.

#6

On Pickup you can put Recorder Trigs…it’s something =)

You can duck Pickup using its LFO to VOL.
On Neibor only the TrkLevel can control the actual volume.

It’s about architecture…don’t get mad…!

I used to damn all the saints in some moments…but OT is my fav piece of gear.

Also Neibor is derived from MM and doesn’t provide multiple sources feeding.,…just neighboring… :wink:

#7

This is a bit of a shite analogy but if you were a teacher with a truly brilliant but hugely lazy student would you just work with what the student is prepared to do? Or, more likely, would you push/coach/encourage him to fulfil his potential?

The OT is a flawed genius. People juts get frustrated as it’s difficult not to imagine that with a little help a killer editor or Strom like system could be pulled together to truly open up the device.

I’m finding my groove again with the OT and using it a lot more but I do think Elektron deserve criticism for pushing on with new releases and development of their OS’s while leaving the OT to gather dust. Hopefully some chap has been beavering away in the background tweaking and developing and something will come out this year to tidy things up bit then pigs might fly and all that jazz.

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#8

And this also is a good philosophy for life itself. It will make you a better person altogether.

#9

This is a bit of a shite analogy but if you were a teacher with a truly brilliant but hugely lazy student would you just work with what the student is prepared to do? Or, more likely, would you push/coach/encourage him to fulfil his potential?

The OT is a flawed genius. People juts get frustrated as it’s difficult not to imagine that with a little help a killer editor or Strom like system could be pulled together to truly open up the device.

I’m finding my groove again with the OT and using it a lot more but I do think Elektron deserve criticism for pushing on with new releases and development of their OS’s while leaving the OT to gather dust. Hopefully some chap has been beavering away in the background tweaking and developing and something will come out this year to tidy things up bit then pigs might fly and all that jazz.[/quote]
Thank you for pointing out that my personal view is a shite analogy. All i’m saying is that I think its a waste of time to be worrying about the negative and it makes it far more fun just to go with it. I appreciate that others may not share this view, its mine thats all.

#10

And this also is a good philosophy for life itself. It will make you a better person altogether.
[/quote]
And i would say in add, OT limitations make you a better creative music composer.

#11

And this also is a good philosophy for life itself. It will make you a better person altogether.
[/quote]
Good to know that Elektron are looking out for my life by not attending to the flaws in their products.

I haven’t heard such poor customer service over a buggy machine in… probably ever.

“Hey, your machine doesn’t work properly”

“Yeah, but you’ll grow some spiritual values trying to find a way to work within the flaws that we never advertised, and that we never got around to fixing”

“But I didn’t pay you for a lesson in life - I paid you for a finished product which was advertised to deliver features that, it has been proven, cannot be consistently delivered.”

“…”

#12

And this also is a good philosophy for life itself. It will make you a better person altogether.
[/quote]
And i would say in add, OT limitations make you a better creative music composer. [/quote]
Completely agree. Many have said that they love the OP-1 (for example) and get really creative with it because of its limitations.

#13

Many of us are super productive with the OT. Maybe the OT isn’t for you.

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#14

This sounds a lot like a comment someone made about Anders, which finally inspired me to buy my own Octatrack:
“He just rolls up his sleeves and gets to work, with the Octatrack as it its, not as it is not”
I would like Elektron to fix the memory leaks in the pickup machine/recorder and have other items on my OT wish list, but I use it because it inspires me to create something outside of my zone of habits.

#15

:smiley: this made me laugh a bit…
I see you point… if your shiny toy, isnt as shiny because it doesnt work how you think it should work.
it will just get more dull… and a less shiny toy just isnt as fun…

Though in the bigger scheme of things:
Life isnt always what you wish it would be like… but its what you get… if you cannot change the world.
fine, change the way how you live in it… Same is with weird gear… When I started working with the octatrack
I aproached everything from the right side… cause it made sense to me… cause I chose “right” … but… it didnt work for me… frustrated i started pulling out my lovely long hair, until the point my shiny toy needed a good polish… I hate polishing… so it stayed in its corner… At some point, i thought that was a waste of money and machine… so i looked at my aproaches/ways of looking at it… and ultimately had to choose the choice that was “left” … and hooray for everybody who likes my shitty music… it sounded great and i had fun again…
my octatrack is so shiny…

And yes, I had simular experiences with other gear… it was hardly ever the machine… it was me…
So, a life lesson instead of firmware, can be a kick in the balls… though that nutcrunching experience can be a good one…

#16

I’m hoping that all these bummed out reactions to the Octatrack drive the price down on second hand ones so I can get a spare…

I’ve managed to do all kinds of crazy good things on it so far

#17

Some great responses regarding the role of limitation in making art.

“True freedom doesn’t lie in the maximization of choice, but, ironically, is most easily found in a life where there is little choice.” — Steve Hagen

“When forced to work within a strict framework the imagination is taxed to its utmost – and will produce its richest ideas. Given total freedom the work is likely to sprawl." — T.S. Eliot

#18

To the OP - your opinion and view of the current state of the OT isn’t wrong.

There’s crap things about it that would make me burning mad if I thought about them too much. I do have a hope that Elektron waits until 99% of the gear-buying public gives up on the OT then they release a bunch of much-needed fixes for the 50 people that still own them. :slight_smile:

The reality is you’re right about some things - pickup machines, when you really start playing with them, ends up looking a lot like a flex machine with a slightly different (and more limited) front end.

You cannot insert play triggers for Pickup machines, but you can use recorder triggers and RLEN effectively. When you find your Pickup machine is changing the base tempo, change from sampling from AB or CD to SRC and point it to an unused track (say 7). Then set track 7 up to be continuously sampling the AB/CD source of your choice.

If you spend a day looking through this forum, you will see the complete range of opinions about the OT. I don’t agree with the people blindly defending the current implementation. I do agree with the people that say - use the features that do work and if those are good enough, keep the OT; if they are not then sell it and get something else.

You have to look at the machine as if there will never be another update for it. If it works for you great. If not, rant and rave about the problems for a while because it’s good for Elektron to keep hearing from pissed off owners, and then move on.

Personally, I have multiple OTs and when they’re doing what they do, it’s the most amazing experience. When I have to remember to stop what I’m doing, re-route audio and MIDI, change configuration options, and change my workflow because the OT has a bug or broken capability, I briefly get pissed at Elektron again.

I have not found anything else that does precisely what the OT does, so I live with my imperfect marriage and do what I can to make it work.

#19

Maybe I’m missing something here, but I have the OT midi sync’d to the machinedrum and it certainly seems like time stretch is working, regardless of the machine used. I can control the tempo with the MD just fine, turning the OT’s stretch knob does what you’d expect it too…

#20

I really like Kotare’s dialogue. Make me laugh. You would ear it in a comedy, you’d find it just coming out of the inspiration of a scenarist… and thinking that in real life it can’t happen…

but it happen here.

Nevermind. When i bought the OT, i knew that it was not finished. So, i cannot blame Elektron. But i must admit that i was very unhappy when i saw new products coming and OT os not improoved.

that’s my point of vew.

But i realy like this machine, have a lot of satisfaction with it, lot of fun and lot of pleasure.
i do agree with all philosphics sentences too.

i know one thing, i’m ready to pay for os improovment, if it can help Elektron cie to do it.