I Created A Knowledge Base For Learning The Octatrack

[elektronortkele]

Hi all!

Screenshot:

I’m new to the forums and have recently purchased both an Octatrack MKII and a Digitakt II. Because I have ADHD, I knew that I needed both a curriculum to follow and I needed for the information to be visual. So, I decided to create a “syllabus” of sorts to help keep me on track.

After spending hours scouring YouTube for every. single. video. on the Octatrack and cataloging a huge database of video content, I decided to format that information in a timeline to follow along with. This was a lot of work, so I’d love to share it with this community in the hope that it helps other people.

For anyone unfamiliar, the system I used to create this is called Heptabase. It’s an incredible app for knowledge base management, linked-thinking, project management, basic notes, etc. I highly recommend Heptabase in general for business/life stuff. FYI, you don’t need a Heptabase account to view the link below!

Here are a few helpful MAC shortcuts to help you navigate the system:

Shift-1 = All cards in view
Shift-2 = After clicking on the top banner of an individual card, this zooms in on just that card.
Option-Enter = Open that individual card in side-panel view. You can also click on the side-panel icon on top of each card.

You can zoom in and out of the whiteboard, it’s all vector. You can also click any text within each card and scroll inside the card itself.

Click Here To See My Whiteboard, No Account Needed

FYI, I often learn new things a little “backwards”. So, instead of learning about the Octatrack from A to Z and then creating this whiteboard, I compiled this huge list of videos and learned just enough to create this learning tool for myself to follow along with. Because of this and the fact that I’m very new to Octatrack, I can’t guarantee that the order of learning is best for everyone or that everything is accurate. Definitely read the linked manuals and watch all of the videos from Elektron experts who know much more than I do. And if you see anything in my whiteboard that needs fixed or reorganized, let me know!

[Annette]

This is brilliant - thank you! Been thinking of buying the OT but the learning curve always scares me off.
Looking at the videos on your whiteboard and the hand holding starter videos and really it doesn’t look so bad.
I wish Heptabase didn’t want your credit card info on the first week trial it looks good and I might have been tempted.
Thanks again

[CreepBeat]

Nice. If you haven’t already, add a link to Merlin’s OT guide. Helped me a lot when I first got mine:

A polished version of Merlin's OT guide here

As you should all be aware, a few years back @Merlin wrote an excellent guide on how to approach the complexity of the Octatrack. It certainly helped me get to grips with the relationship between patterns and parts, which I think trip up a lot of new users. Consider it essential reading alongside the user manual. After reading it again recently, I thought it could be tidied up to enhance readability. I’ve left the meat of the content alone and simply corrected typos and altered the style somewh…

[elektronortkele]

Thank you! I have realized so far that it is a very deep device, but I’ve learned to think of it more as an instrument that I can’t expect to make sound good until I really understand the basics first. And that has helped me a lot. Having this visual timeline and collection of videos has been incredibly helpful for me.

Concerning Heptabase, I totally understand. I took a leap and signed up and really love it a lot, but I understand the apprehension. It’s a small-ish, niche community like this one and really helpful. But you can still interact with my whiteboard without signing up

[elektronortkele]

You bet, it’s actually added underneath the core manual on the resources card. I read that manual before the core version, and I agree, it’s very helpful!

[Hoshin]

Very interesting work and relly nice to share it. Thank you! I’ve seen you haven’t mentionned “The Octatrack Notebook” from Synthdawg (here) Is there a reason for it? I’ll receive my (second) octatrack next week and gathering helpful informations.

[elektronortkele]

Hi there, you’re welcome! And you’re right, that link should be added to the whiteboard, so I’ve just added it : )

Good luck with your second Octatrack!

[kairos]

Sounds like you made a massive effort. Have to say it’s a shame for a niche collection of info like this to not be more freely accessible.

[elektronortkele]

Hey there! Glad you appreciate it. Do you mean free as in access to the Heptabase whiteboard? If so, you don’t need an account to view and use the whiteboard. You just click the link in the post and you’re then viewing a free public whiteboard from my Heptabase account.

[kairos]

@elektronortkele

But you can still interact with my whiteboard without signing up

I missed this bit. Thanks

[elektronortkele]

You bet! I’ll make that more clear in the post.

[broom]

wow, amazing resource to share. thank you!

[elektronortkele]

You’re welcome!