Is it worth it to invest in Octatrack in late 2016? 
Yep, it totally worth it.
It still sounds modern, IMO.
And for the price you have a loooooot of options 
Go for a used one if you’re unsure…
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Nothing is worth anything. It’s all subjective and based on individuals. Some will say “not worth it” while others will sing its’ praises.
If you are on the fence, try to borrow one to try it for a bit. Previous elektron machine experience will radically lower the learning curve (I’d say its a must for learning the OT in a reasonably short time).
Easier question to answer would be “is it unique?” To that, the answer is a HELL YASS
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Yeah, as long as you know what you’re getting into and how to get around the limitations. There’s still nothing out there that fills this particular niche, so if you want it you want it.
Considering they just released a new box and they’re a small company, it’ll probably be at least 2 years until Elektron comes out with a successor, if they ever decide to at all.
As mentioned by the Dalai, go for a used one, they’re built to last and hold their value well!
It depends how you work too. I find that what I make with the OT is completely different to what I make ITB. I will export say 4 bars from an ITB track into the OT and then mess with it. So I wil have a synth melody on 1 track, sliced drums on another, bass line generated in Serum on another track and so on. Then mangle it in the OT. You can get variations that you wouldn’t even think of using software.
Another this is you need to come to grips with operating it. Once you’ve memorized the button combos it is super fast to get things done. This takes some time though.
It does worth it provided you do want play with sound on those new level. And if you want have fun if money
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The Octatrack is the best machine I ever used. Got it 5 months ago, and can’t stop loving it more and more each day after day…
Back in the days I’ve used and abused groove machines, synths and samplers, then came ableton and midi controllers and VSTs, maschine, moar synths…
I sold a lot of stuff… then bought the octatrack to use as a single machine live instrument and creation tool, and I could’nt imagine using ableton live to compose or play live now (using ableton since live 5, I know it quite well now).
I feed the octa with samplechains and samples I create with ableton and nice VSTs, a bit of hardware synths, then I can switch the computer OFF for MONTHS and create, jam, play live just with this little machine with a ton of pleasure I could’nt have with other gear… and trust me I used a lot of gear since 1998…
the ONE question is : with or without a computer for live gigs?
I choosed the octa because I didn’t want to use ableton live for live anymore and the octatrack seemed the best for me (I owned a machinedrum so I knew how powerful the sequencer was, in fact I didn’t know the OT sequencer was THAT MUCH powerful with its scenes and Xfader features…),
Each day I’m using the OT, I realise how far from the reality I was when I thought the OT could be interesting… it is HUGELY DEEP, and a live beast. No machine I used was that much a joy to play with… I can do stuff I could’nt with ableton live and 8 MIDI controllers and a friend next to me to handle all these controls… just with the little octatrack and my 2 hands
it is absolutely worth it, if you got great samples to feed it, and if you prefer deep and serious machines with a decent learning curve rather than blinky-colored-touch-usb-computered-generic-devices!
By the way, one say “is it worth the price?” or “is it worth it?”, but I think “does it worth?” is not the good grammar 
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The true investment in the OT is not the money but the time.
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Yes then. Worth it.
There’s competition out there of late that will do stuff the OT does, and may do some ofit better. But the OT can also be an expressive instrument where you can explore it’s quirks and make it sing in your personal way.
You can also play back loops with it I guess. Probably not worth it just for that.
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Its value is no less now than in 2011, when it was launched. Since no one comes close to besting it, I’d say any musician of any kind will benefit from an Octatrack.
Putting in the time is assumed. If you’re a musician and don’t expect lots of practice and work to be part of learning a new instrument, then you’re wasting it. Your time, that is.
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Thanks for your replies
Yeah, it’s all about taste and habit from individual perspective. However I’m wondering if it still worths to invest in Octatrack in the context of new and evolving gears like Toraiz or Live 9 with Push 2, while Octatrack seems to be a “discontinued” product regarding to improvements. Especially Push 2 has become a really great competitor to Octatrack, I think, and it gets better and better.
Octatrack was a very innovative and unique product at its launch time, but it seems to me that new stuffs are coming up with similar deep functionalities.
So what is its real selling point today?
OT you know what you are getting for the money as it isn’t going to change…
Toraiz seems to have a lot of hope factor built-in based on announced upgrades. Even when the likely ones are delivered OT and Toraiz are still quite different propositions, and I prefer the depth of the OT audio/midi offering (though the Toraiz cosmetics and GUI are attractive).
Push 2 is great, but despite the endless possibilities of ableton M4L the OT still has a standalone role as an instrument.
Ableton as your material-generator and OT as your stems, loops & hits destination for further creativity is a nice yin & yang
if you are looking at simplicity with an edge on tech, get the Toraiz. It has its strengths even with the bare firmware
ot is still not old technology. the possibilities are still top notch. but you really need to invest time as its one of the most complex gears out there. its also no competition to push, its in a game of its own as a standalone device. so i wouldnt hold my breath for an ot2 coming anytime soon
A second hand OT is still a very good investment, but it all depends of your needs. I find the OT is particularly efficient as 1) a digital drum machine, 2) to sequence and sample midi device and 3) to “assemble” a song from sample.
It can also be used creatively as an FX machine (you can use it as filterbank to process pads for instance, create formant filter, generate low-fi sound,…), and for drones (you can sample and read its output to create feedback effects).
But on the other hand it has its shortcoming for melodic things (no polyphony, sample can be played only over two octaves,…)
If the OT, in your opinion, lacks a wide screen, color pads, computer, never-ending updates and seems an old dinosaur…
Then you should get Push, Toraiz or Maschine + its new extension controller.
No one here will tell you that the OT is too old, you come here in the forum of elektron lovers he he!
And last but not least, 4) the OT is a beast of a live machine! Designed for heavy live tweaking, no more boring live sets with this instrument!
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Truth right here. Whilst there are some interface quirks and daft button combos to remember, once familiar it is very easy to use, but it has sufficoent depth and flexibility that even after years you can still find new ways to use it, and that is what makes ot the best sampler I have ever used - and I have used a lot.
There are still things I do not like about it, the pickup machines being the main one, but also the midi mapping for audio and midi tracks, assigning of tracks and samples, the parts limitation, the way that you cannot manipulate loop points from the sequencer the same way as in the audio editor, the default settings, some of the midi sequencer limitations like note lengths, and the timestretch can sound bad at times.
But then there is the huge list of things that are great about it, which do outweigh the above, but I do think it is a real shame that with some updates early on a lot of these could have been improved, but I won’t hold my breath, so learn to live with it and love it for what it is.
I’d love to see a third party OS like JJ MPC but based around the Elektron code - I’d pay good money for that.
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Hell yeah. OT is amazing as it is but (cpu etc allowing…) it could still be taken further/tidied up.
I heard about that time stretching and transposing are not the best on Octatrack, which I find a bit worrying. Otherwise how good is this machine for playing/recording some melodies? I’m aware of the monophony and the two octave range limitations.