It took me a while to face a horrifying reality: Recording my hardware collection, even with an Octatrack at the center, is more efficient with a mixer and a digital recorder/audio interface with a DAW than internally re sampling on the OT alone. I know, I know- DAW is a dirty word around here, but even though the OT does so much so well, it isn’t a computer.
But…when working with recordings/samples more sensitive to the 64-step sequencer it has on board, the OT is fine. I agree it should manage long samples better, and slicing and mapping never fails to piss me off (see: changing parts and losing your locks). But arguing that it “isn’t an instrument” is pretty interesting when you’re here with frustrations over it’s limited RAM. It’s only an instrument when you use it like one. It’s like saying a Novation Bass Station II isn’t an instrument because the sequencer only runs up to 32 steps but you wanted to record 128 or VSTs can’t be instruments because sometimes they make your computer lag.
Some of the finest instruments ever made in the electronic age are samplers, as someone already pointed out. The closest thing to the OT still on the market, MPCs, can handle long samples well, slice them, and map them out and be saved to a file before you get your recorder trigs set up on the OT properly. But the OT has the MPC beat as a live performance sampler and the Elektron sequencer is far more expressive than an MPC’s pad sequencer. The MPC is more geared towards studio work, while the OT is a product that is most rewarding once all your studio work is DONE, and you’ve got your projects set up in the OT.
And that’s when it, without a doubt, is an instrument (and a very, very inspiring one at that).