I saw Octatrack on youtube and I thought to myself, well this is some kind of a techno machine and nothing more… So many lights, buttons, knobs and a fader… well it looks nice but… not my thing. Then I saw Dataline… Well I must say… Thank you Dataline!!!
Since the OT arrived to my humbled bedroom studio my workflow of computer based music production went down the toilet… I used to make music with tons of plugins and with a lot of midi controllers. I had no hardware what so ever. My synth and sequencer was a computer. Holding and clicking a mouse and hitting that space bar is not very inspiring way of creating. After I got the OT I can’t say how thankful I am to the people that came up with this device and set me free from looking into a computer and clicking the mouse and hitting the space bar again and again… I work in synchro studio and work in audio postproduction for films and documentaries which means I look in a computer screen for 8 hours a day and so it happened that I started to hate looking in a computer screen at home for next 8 hours when creating music.
Thanks to the Elektron guys, the weird Swedish people who I know nothing about, I now want to go there and meet the fathers of Octatrack. My workflow has completely changed, I flattered myself with first hardware synth Virus C which turned out to be a very good friend with OT because of multitimbarilty which was pure luck because I didn’t know what multitimbral synth is at the time. lol Added akai s3200 sampler, jomox t resonator and ultranova. My music changed tremendously and when creating music I only record the output into a computer. And I must say that I ENJOY turning the knobs and diving into menus and everything that comes with it. I am not sad that OT wont’t be supported with overbridge because that would be a step back to holding a mouse and hitting that space bar again… My friends don’t support this workflow I have now, they say; “you can’t get a good mix out of OT and you can’t make this and that and so on…” Well screw them! They don’t know what I CAN get out of OT and I love this creative way I make music now and I can get a good mix out of OT and it is the best sequencer I ever own.
I own Octatrack for about 2 years now and I still haven’t hit the rock bottom of what it can do.
In fact you can do whatever with the OT in a way or another, i could live with it only. OT reveals itself to people with a clear understanding of what they want and how to achieve it.
It’s like cooking something with what you have, and if you miss some ingredient, well then make it !!! That’s the way the OT changed my workflow, that thing is MUGEN
That’s pretty much my story too.
I work at an animation studio. Before I got the job I was heavy into making music on my laptop using various controllers.
When the OT came out I was kind of thinking it looked like a really expensive and strangely limited version of Ableton Live. I scoffed at the idea.
Years later, I only use my laptop to record stereo mixes of what I create.
I ended up getting the RYTM when it came out, and just last week got my A4 in the mail.
I love elektron boxes, but if I could only have one piece of hardware, it would be the OT.
OT, Monomachine, Nord Drum 2 and some effects & a mixer.
I definitely wouldn’t be, if it weren’t for the OT.
I’ve never enjoyed making music more, and I’ve never been more pleased with the music I’m making.
The OP-1 as a standalone device is a comparable joy to use, but things like clicks in recordings and slightly cumbersome sample editing made me look for more open-ended things. The MPC1000 and Ableton Live don’t come close to the OT as a master sequencer, if you ask me – in terms of enjoyment and even inspiration.
I have a lot more fun but get a lot less done. It’s a really fun machine but so open and full of possibility, I just get lost in the thing. I turn it on and next thing I know all of my free time has disappeared!
It’s made things more awkward. I’ve been trying to find a workflow with this thing for 2 years off and on. I really like it in general but I often feel like I don’t have the right samples in and it guides me in silly directions. I’ll oscillate between thinking that the modulation power of the OT is superior, and that the straightforwardness and layering of the MPC is. I think the truth is somewhere in between or both, but I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. I’ve heard some people say that they complement each other really well but just thinking about the routing and sample management involved gives me a headache.
I think another big problem has been trying to use it for melodic stuff, which it seems to fall flat with, at least the way I use it. This is why I just ordered a Monomachine. The OT can turn just about any sample into a decent drum of some sort so maybe they will complement each other nicely.
I’m not a huge fan of its MIDI sequencer either, although I can’t put my finger on why. On paper it’s great but I just haven’t found it very fun to use. And inputting notes from a controller is very awkward compared to the MPC.
Same happened to me for the last couple of years. Its only in the last couple of months I’ve nailed my workflow and have really figured out what it can do for me (rather than what I can do within its limitations).
Rather than stubbornly trying to stick to HW only, I’m now using the midi channels as an insane clip-trigger sequencer for Ableton + using midi notes to trigger MD patterns in gate mode. This has been a total game changer for me and has opened up a whole world of complexity that was lacking from my OT-only sets, where I would have had to bounce down to 128 bar stems.
Sucking all the Ableton / MD audio back in to the OT on a stereo pair and affecting with the crossfader / resampling etc - plus 4 channels of sweet OT tweakage - is so so sick.
Likewise, I’ve never fully gelled with it / found a workflow I’m really happy with, having tried a number of different ways. And end up hitting limitations, revising requirements, or it can be killer when you encounter issues that snuff your mega setup stone cold.
In saying that, I am going to have to get mine back from friends at some point, and basically start from scratch and see if that illuminates anything, else I’ll probably sellup…
For me it’s because of it’s limitations, which I find hard to adapt to coming from other sequencers i[/i]
So did I. I had to rearrange my setup so many times that i ended up with less and less. Now I finally have a setup that suits my needs and is giving me freedom from computer and inspiration which I previously didn’t have. Less is more they say. @Rusty - What are the limitations of OT’s midi sequencer you talk about?
The biggest change for me has been the ability to isolate myself in a creative space and work out song structure without being distracted by my DAW.
I’ve got severe ADD and the Octatrack is actually the only way I can get anything done. It allows me to compartmentalize my music making and focus.
One day I’ll spend hours in Logic just lining up drum hits and creating chains. Chopping up samples, generating soft synth chains. Just lots of meaty DAW work. I EQ my hits as well, a skill with which I lack sophistication so I often use a plugin called Trackspacer at this stage as a temp fix.
The next day I’ll load them all in to the Octatrack and start hacking away. Getting a feel for how the samples flow together. I write down any changes I need to make. Often it’s levels and weird panning problems with stereo samples, so I compensate with the OT’s effects until my next day…
When I load up my Logic files on the Mac and implement changes.
Along with these two work stages I’ll spend an entire day just sampling my MS20 mini directly into the OT, building a sample library which will get moved to Logic on Logic day.
Then back and forth. As somebody with ADD this is essential, splitting it up so that a day in which I want to lay out some song structures doesn’t get bogged down with drum EQ. A day of OTing will always give me some interesting ideas for chains. I’m getting very experimental with them, instead of a drum hit chain giving me something like a velocity slope I’ll try some other nutty stuff like a one kick blending into another and so on. This trip back also allows me a chance to pitch my drum hits once I understand what kind of melodic structure the song will have.
Well I must say… Thank you Dataline!!!
