Hello, I need a bit of advice about this octatrack, I think its not working properly.
when I insert any compact flash(tried many) in machine, the octatrack boots but seems to freeze on bpm screen playback mode red button on first channel, and that’s it jammed, I cannot changes sample or anything. The machine does boot in demo mode and performs fine, test seems alright except for stars {}ram{} is that normal? the rest says {ok}.
I think the unit is faulty, I bought it second hand, first buyer used it for a 2 weeks, worked fine for a bit with me then starts the freezing. I’m trying to contact 1rst buyer to see if he can find warranty paper as we speak. In the case I cannot get my hand on that paper, do you have an idea of the cost for that kind of repair? all my money went on the octatrack cost, not sure I can spend much more, Is it all doomed? Thank you.
PS: only thing I can think of doing is getting an other octatrack to send a new os upgrade through midi, at the moment running 1.25d
e-mail Elektron few minutes ago, so no answer yet. Strangely its when I insert a card that all goes wrong! But I checked the pins nothing is bent, tried extreem 60m/s, extreem4, kingston 133xthat used to work until last week, format , checked…
any help on that would be really cool. Raphael
Hey Raphael
Sorry to hear of these troubles…it certainly sounds like a faulty unit to me.
But no, all is not lost…
I’m no OT expert but this sounds like there may be bad connections e.g. modules (or maybe card reader) not seated correctly or suchlike. This could be caused by physical shock (I wonder if you had the unit sent through the post/courier?)
I’ve had similar issues with an MPC, opening it up and reseating all connectors fixed the issue. (I don’t recommend this with OT though)
A bit like when your PC tries to boot up but then some component doesn’t respond…it gets so far then freezes.
Given that it should be under warranty you should consider getting Elektron to do the fix. It will unfortunately mean paying postage to Sweden.
NB There isn’t an original ‘warranty paper’, but technically you need a sales receipt from original vendor to claim a warranty repair. You can still register the machine on Elektron website using the unit serial number though.
I’d then speak very nicely to Elektron and its possible they might honour the warranty even if you can’t get the sales receipt.
You really should chase the previous owner up for the receipt though - he could even contact the vendor and ask for a re-issued sales receipt. The remaining warranty was probably an implicit part of the deal when you bought the unit from him, so you should insist quite firmly!
Key thing is no matter what happens its probably fixable, and hopefully at not too much cost.
Best of luck…
thank you for this answer, yes I now registered machine and explained the problem to elektron, lets see what they say, no news of the previous owner yet. There is an other thread on this site that describes the same problem and the guy finnaly fixed it with new card, but I have tried several. I’ll keep you posted on what happens.
the machine has not had any hard shocks i dont think, no marks or anything.
great advice on asking nicely to elektron, that might actually work, worked once with fuji camera after writing a letter they fixed the camera for free.