I Heart the OT!

Elektron Gear Octatrack
1

Figured we could use a positive thread for experienced users who get it done. I’ve used Elektron gear for 10+ years and I’ve been an OT owner/daily user since the pre-order. The OT makes music creation effortless.

“Back in the day” I had many many synths and messed around with them a lot. Layering, midi control, and configuration after configuration of keys and control surfaces. At the time my music consisted almost entirely of weird noises and resampling with the MD-UW. At this point you would hear me offer long explanations about the complexities of my typical workflow and I’d compare my music to “popular” noise musicians.

Then the OT dropped and a few things started happening all at once. Suddenly my noise experiments became repeatable, saveable, and extraordinarily live-tweakable. Beats began to sneak their way into my tracks. Musical structure appeared and my audience began using words like “approachable” and “can I have a copy of this?”.

Then I discovered beat battles and everything changed again. All the skills I honed on the Monomachine, Machinedrum, and OT found an outlet and an audience. Making tracks that people move to has become my new addiction and filling those tracks with experimental features is just about the most musically fulfilling experience I’ve had. The toughest part about this year (musically) is sitting on 20+ fantastic tracks which are waiting for next month’s battles before they get released. In the meantime I am playing live shows with mostly ad-hoc material created on the fly which is so amazingly easy on the OT. :heart:

“But the pickup machines are no good bro!”. If you were serious about a looper, why would you choose the OT over the obvious and more powerful choices? :thinking:

1 Like
2

The Octatrack is that RPG that let you unlock more and unlimited insane skills the more you play it, as you ride on an epic journey that has no end to it.


I heart the OT!

3

Nothing but love for it from me too.

4

Just the “transition trick” alone makes it priceless to me. I also love how direct the midi sequencer is. Plus it’s a great mixer for live use and the midi clock is very solid. No complaints really.

5

ive had mine for nearly a year and i oh so adore it.

6

I would not know what to do without it!

7

:+1:

8

The OT is the holy Grail,
a real Gamechanger or in German “Die Eierlegende Wollmilchsau”

9

Best instrument ever. EVen just before the OP-1

10

Octa is ++good

11

This!

12

awesome thread, i kept seeing so much hate for the the ocatrack. I began to wonder if i had gotten a different machine, or if other people just didn’t read the manual. Its such a deep machine the possibilities are really only limited by the users imagination. There is something therapeutic about listening to something in your head and knowing you have the tools and abilities to create it.

13

Yeah its a good machine but, note this is my personal experience and taste , that style is easy to do on the OT though isn’t all that musical to my ears after a few minutes of playing and/or listening to…
Can be lots of fun, no doubt, but a lot of the good stuff I get out of it goes down the wormhole and is quite often unrepeatable.
There’s no hate from my side as some would suggest, just frustration

14

Sorry to be Devils Advocate :slight_smile:

I wan’t to say that, is not hate. I bet you that every negative comment around in the forum has a root, many users that “complain” about the device they do it to make it better. They want their machines to work propperly in all aspects, Im not talking about asking for new features requests.

If an user says, “I never had a problem with it”, maybe he bought it once it was nearly free of bugs, maybe is that he didn’t go deep enough, or he is lucky that his workaround doesn’t bring any issues upfront.

In my personal case, since the OT came out, I’ve sent Ticket supports to Elektron team in countless ocassions to report Bugs. This emails are what makes the OT what it is nowadays, without users finding Bugs and reporting, your machine would be less enjoyable that it is right now.

So accepting that something doesn’t work and reporting it, is not a negative thing IMHO.

I’m going to avoid using names, but Im sure that a high percentage of the people that “Complains” are Expert users who have read the manual many times and their brains are not a limitation. They also come here and share Samples, Software, Templates… To expand it’s functionallity.

I love my OT cause I bought it for 1 thing, and does it perfectly, would never change it, I carry no Laptop and less Gear to international gigs, It was a game changer in my Live Set… all of this is true for me too.

So all in all, we all Love this machine, but if something doesn’t work, let’s find solutions!! :slight_smile:

All the best! and again I love my OT :slight_smile:

15

I absolutely love my Octatracks.

I’m using them to perform pre-made tracks. One OT is drums, the other instruments. So I chop up a lot of wavs and re-sequence my songs on them, leaving room for variations and scene stuff. I have to consider whether I want recreate the effects on the OT or render with them (both techniques have interesting consequences).

The latest track I’ve programmed into them have awesome performance features.

The song has a big distorted bassline that’s sliced up. I’ve sequenced certain slices that have to happen in a certain order - and then for “fills” I’ve allowed the slices to be randomised through a select group of slices with high distortion notes.

On top of this I’ve made some scenes that effectively recreate the echo freeze delay and reverse the playback of the slices too.

It makes for awesome bass-fuckery that suits the song so much. Such a joy to use, and it’s inspiring my songwriting too. I’m trying things I would never do on my PC because everything is at my fingertips.

Over time I’m delving further into these beasts and seeing massive potential.

Worth every dollar I saved to get these.

16

I heart it as well…

Had the most amazing weekend of pure making music bliss with this little black box…

And a lot of things clicked in my head… Now everything makes sense somehow… :smiley:

Love it…

17

In spring 2011, OT replaced ableton in my club setup. Haven’t looked back much since. In the studio, it is a MIDI/audio hub for my hardware. Ableton still here for recording and editing.
I expected a few things from OT which elektron never managed to deliver (and i ended up having to implement external solutions) but it does most of what i need just fine.

18

Same here. My OT replaced my Ableton live. I use it as a very creative machine by transforming my samples a lot (not just use them). Effects are just perfect for what i’m doing with it, and since i’ve got the OT, i use no more mixer … excellent :slight_smile:

19

[quote=“” clunky""]

[quote=“Allerian”] mostly ad-hoc material created on the fly which is so amazingly easy on the OT. :heart:

[/quote]

Yeah its a good machine but, note this is my personal experience and taste , that style is easy to do on the OT though isn’t all that musical to my ears after a few minutes of playing and/or listening to…
Can be lots of fun, no doubt, but a lot of the good stuff I get out of it goes down the wormhole and is quite often unrepeatable.
There’s no hate from my side as some would suggest, just frustration [/quote]
Interesting comment but I’m left wondering what style you’re referring to? My ad-hoc stuff has been called hip hop, techno, IDM, complextro, shoegaze, and ambient. Octatrack!

20

Hades of Spades, I love the discussion of programming performance features. Often I run into that same quandry: Render the FX or perform them? Talk about problems I enjoy having!

One other theme deserves a little discussion. What I talk positively about the OT it tends to leave the impression that I think the machine is perfect. Nope! Like all Elektron boxes there are weak points. And like all other synths and drum machines there are weak points. This is an ordinary part of the world of music-making. Do I run into limitations and problems? Are there features I wish were better or more detailed? Yes and yes. Does any of this stop me from creating what I want to hear? Nope.

The trade off is that I can show up at a gig with one box that contains the sum of all my gear and effort. A box that allows me to creatively perform as an instrument rather than pressing play on a laptop and waving my hands around. A box that allows me to think of a musical idea and to immediately construct that idea.