67 hours with 13 minutes aprox.
I can give you all the tips and reduce it to 19 hours with 29 minutes.
tee hee heeeee
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I got an octatrack in 2018 but it wasn’t until 2019 that I really started to use it. After about six months I felt pretty confident and then pandemic happened which gave me PLENTY of time to really get into the nitty gritty.
So after three years I consider myself a pretty advanced user — I’m working on finishing a continuous mix dub techno album that is basically just octatrack and fx sends and also a live sampling set with two octatracks — and just a few weeks ago I learned how to use the arranger for the first time, and I still haven’t explored pickup machines!
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By now it should be apparent that the answer depends entirely on the user.
Also, cannot stress this enough- read the manual, with the octatrack infront of you. It wont make any sense other wise.
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I still haven’t learned everything on the Octatrack, and I’ve had one longer than just about anyone. 
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…it’s only complicated, because of it’s flexebility meets/mingles with complexity…
it can do soooo many tricks, has soooo many ways of use and abuse while sooo many different ways can lead to same or totally different results…
that’s why only a few out there, or in here, like szesare for example, can truly say, ok i’ve seen pretty much all of it, while most others use only 10 to 50 % of it’s truu potencial, sonic options and ways to use it, aware of that or not so much, while still beeing totally happy anyways…
and only some rare ones just can’t get their head wrapped around it or expected something totally different from it…or state it’s sounds bad…or whish for more while just not seeing the trees in all the woods…or, and that happens a lot, want it all too fast at once…
u can shoot one for 600 bux easily…give it a try…be ready for a funride, a sonic safari, take babysteps, one after the other…only one new gimmick at a time…otherwise, risk of brain overload…
just conquer it’s basic rules and start from there…
u got a cv card that worx like a desktopfolder…and there u create one SET…that’s ur main domain, ur top folder which will contain automaticly another folder called AUDIO POOL…and every snippet of audio u drop in there, or ur going to sample, will end up in there and can then be treated in various and mysterious ways…
all projects u gonna create in the future will also end up on that card…if u safe them…and they will adress all those samples in that same audio pool…u got 16 banks, each with 16 patterns for every project…and each project will “only” adress samples from it’s two lists…128 flex slots…and 128 static slots…flex will be treated by the on board ram…static will be streamed in realtime from the card…flex slots also host the recording buffers…so whatever u gonna sample will share the ram with that other flex slots…
the main secret is…if u “only” can adress 128 flex and 128 static slots, then following the math, that’s only 256 individual samples to work with…but NO…if u start thinking in so called sample chains, hey, each sample slot can still only adress one sample, but what if that sample could contain many many various snippets of audio u all then could individually play/adress again via various individual slices…!!!..and there u go…enjoy…
ps…playing with audio means nothing but plocking…parameter locking…every single trig on every sequencer track, can play all kinds of sample slices at any given moment, each containing all kinds of parameter settings at any giving moment …and yet, we have not talked about the three lfo’s for each track, not any scene/crossfader actions and the fact that there is also a midi sequencer with it’s own lfo’s and arps…ok…now…off u go…
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You learn more about yourself than the Octatrack.
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I think it is measured in number of rebirths
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For me, I played a decent show with it 3 weeks after I got it. But I’ve been using it for about 6 years and still have a lot to learn. So it kind of depends.
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“Oh I changed the record buffer length and that deletes the record buffer data and I didn’t save that sample I spent an hour creating? … sigh … ok that’s ok that’s ok”
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I was never able to jive with the manual.
Nevertheless before I got one, I had already watched enough videos to only have to skim the manual to get going.
Selected some Thru machines, plugged some synths in, set up a few midi tracks and loaded a hand full samples.
From there I made a couple tracks without the manual at all.
It’s when I tried resampling or trying to figure out parts when the manual really stumped me.
I ended up back on YouTube and this forum and got it figured out in a few days.
After I used it a lot, rehearsed getting the muscle memory going, it all set in.
If Parts were called Kits, it would have clicked much faster.
This describes me precisely.
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Testing all functions is not that long, a few full-time days imho. I didn’t watched videos, but practiced after reading the manual.
Time to experiment them all musically ?
Can be endless to experiment everything possible with OT.
Possible to focus on your essential needs, maybe you’ll realise OT is not for you, or maybe more than you expected (my case).
Depends on your needs.
The most impressive for me is the possibility to sequence realtime recordings on 8 stereo tracks with fx pitched feedback resampling abilities etc…plus crossfader scenes.
It was my 1st Elektron, not my 1st plockable gear (XBase09).
I had MCPs and loopers, OT was disappointing at first, but after a few weeks I realized how powerful it was.
All I can say : try it with enough time to go deep in before send it back.
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I bought mine in 2011, maybe Jan 2012. Still learning.
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Bought mine a week ago. I’ve read the manual cover to cover and am now ready to dive in. Setup will be Octatrack midi tracks sequencing a Sub 37 and controlling iPad Drambo which is hosting some instruments and sending more sequencing data out to my Eurorack. All audio then goes back into Octatrack for mixing, looping and FX.
Really looking forward to seeing where the Octatrack can take me.
…oh yes, i forgot…if ur already aware of some termology of the overall sonic ballpark of electronic music instruments and u got ur first level of muscle memory trained on the ot, what bodymechanics says is next level essential…treat “parts” as “kits”…
they would have called it that right from the get go back then, if in case of ot’s “parts” they would only stand just for various sound collections adressing all the tracks in realtime, at any given moment, but since it’s this unique old but timeless machine we’re talking about, these parts might work like kits but they are not, because they each, and u got got 4 of them at any given moment per bank, again, also contain each another next set of, again, various scenessettings…errr, again, 16 each…all with 8 A’s, 8 B’s options, since they’re handled by that crossfader…from a side to b side…and back…and forward…well, classic crossfadingbusiness, but way beyond all standard dj mixer options like fade in volume A while fade out volume B , cause u got these 8 classic decks, at any given moment, i mean tracks, i mean flex or static machines, that can also work as neighbour or through machines, that all, per part adress also a complete different and fresh setting of all fx blocks, u also could adress each individually to each side of that crossfader, that are all attached by default in pairs of two to each of those tracks, decks, machines, again, u know…
but as said, one babystep after the other babystep, pick only one gimmick at once, u’ll get there… once u need it… 
Took my quite a while and lots of reading of merlins guide, manual and watching youtube explanation videos. Its quite a journey. But managable.
Id say a few weeks for the basics, after months you become more familiar and quicker and years for the mastery…
Hardest thing to learn on the octatrack or in general was probably gainstaging and mixing kick and bass.
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…wait a second…if we now start talking about the various places u can set ur various gainstages, we loose him…
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no pains no gains 
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The OT is a machine which is so versatile that you can learn years step by step to use it as you need. Especially the sampling recording things and pick machine are not so easy (also to remember after a while). But for me the OT is so far the best music machine I ever had.
You can’t learn Octatrack, you can only stop learning it…
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