Not really.
If you are using an mpc you should be able to make beats in about one hour. The complication people talk about is all about the deeper functions. Load sounds, hit record, tap out a beat or set trigs (Roland style) and done.
The other area of confusion is various bits of routing and options that can make a track seemingly silent. I find this happens most often when sending midi notes into the octa (because various midi notes are mapped to mutes, solos, etc.).
Thanks all, I didn’t expect to get this many comments, but the consensus seems to be that it is about like any other piece of gear. Wonder why it is so common for people to complain about it. Anyhow, thanks for setting the record straight!
Didn’t read the thread but it takes buying one, selling it and then buying at least one more to learn it…works like a charm.
So, after all this, are you going to do it? Ready to take the plunge?? If so, you have to come back and tell us how long it took to learn 
I highly recommend it. I don’t think it’s too difficult, but it fundamentally changed the way I approach creating music.
Honestly you could learn it in a week or even a few days if you’re the kind of person that reads manuals in bed (like me) but it takes years to really master it, which isn’t that unusual really when it comes to musical instruments or music gear.
The whole thing about the Octatrack is just it’s so weird when compared to literally anything else in terms of gear, but if you go into it like okay this is one of those pieces of gear that I have to read the whole manual for them you’ll be fine. I have a tendency to understand new gear pretty quickly and it probably took me about a month of using it randomly and making my way through the manual randomly, if I had sat down with it for a couple hours a day I could have understood it in a matter of days and I imagine that’s the same with a lot of people.
Just go into it knowing it’s doesn’t operate off it things you already know like the knowledge of MPC is not applicable to the OT (wearas an MPC user could apply a lot of what they know and their work flow to the NI Maschine and vise versa)
I highly recommend the OT there are so many ways to use it and some good case use examples in the back of the manual, sometimes I just use mine as an effects unit with sequence-able effect parameters, other times I use it as the heart of my set up, other times I use it for sound design where I’ll sample things directly to it and then edit and mangle the sounds into something new. It can do a lot and it’s ve try inspiring and useful it’s just very strange compared to any other sample based gear you’ve used
First, ask why you have the itch, and what will it do for you that what you have doesn’t do already.
With that, it’s not that hard. It’s just remembering where stuff is. I don’t know WHY but as many times that I’ve done it, I ALWAYS forget where individual track lengths is. That one just doesn’t stick with me.
But it’s really not THAT hard. Try leaning MAX/MSP or Maya….
I’m really thinking about it… I think I am going to have to watch a bunch more octatrack videos first before I really decide though.
But right now I’m in the middle of building a bunch of acoustic panels and bass traps. I thought I could get done in like a week, but it is taking way longer than I expected and it will probably be another week or two before the studio is useable again.
Although learning the Octatrack is not on the level of rocket science, it is definitely one of the most confusing pieces of equipment I ever owned. It took me several reads through the manual to understand its system structure and basic workflow concepts. After working through the manual’s examples along with an Octatrack in hand, it started to make more sense in regards to how to best use the device for my particular use case.
Overall, the process took about two weeks to start feeling comfortable and productive using the Octatrack. It was not too bad once some basic concepts were understood, but I was obviously not expert by any means,
On the downside, after not using the Octatrack for several months, I am back to square one again.
I made a lot of progress, very quickly, after quiting weed 
Something that I’ve learned about the OT which is amusing is that people tend to buy it out of GAS and not really know why they bought it or what it does.
This isn’t particularly a dig at people who didn’t RTFM, but more of an interesting look at the reputation of the OT itself. Like it’s very interesting to see people asking if Octatrack can do x, y, or z when the device is already sitting on their desk.
I heard this will lead to the creation of an earth swallowing singularity.
I heard this will lead to the creation of an earth swallowing singularity.
The view’s great from down here.
Put an 808 kick on track 1-7 and do master effects on 8. Don’t try to “make a track” but try to make each track into a new sound like a snare, hat etc. then record p locks in real-time. Play with the LFOs and crossfader scenes. I learned the most doing that. Just letting the OT work its magic as opposed to trying to force it into my own workflow. That would probably just take a few hours of playing around.
If you have the time, take a moment to learn the arranger mode, because it’s sooo dope. It’s like a mini tracker hiding inside the Octatrack and it’s so much more interesting than the song mode of the other Elektron boxes. You can really experiment a lot with it.
It really is, and like everything else in the OT has a myriad of uses.
I’ve never used it much. What are these other uses?
Aside from simply stringing patterns into songs to play in order:
Use REM to put text notes about projects/parts/songs.
Use infinite loop rows to use as mute* states which you can select manually, or use infinite loop rows to jump to different BPMs/patterns/scenes.
*Trigger mutes, not audio mutes, so fx tails not impacted
Use scenes function to jump to different scenes automatically, use mutes to get more out of a pattern, use offset and length to chop up patterns.
Thanks for these tips! This inspires me to dig deeper into this side of the OT. 
That’s an excellent idea. Maybe add in some straight up noise samples and learn how to craft envelopes, use fx, resample, downsample, etc.
