Why would it be an underusage tho? I mean I know the MPC can do it as well for 500 bucks but the fact that you could just make techno house and everything else just as easily is pretty appealing. Also the elektron sequencer of course! My very first piece of gear was a DT and I wouldn’t want to learn something else per se, Ableton and elektron are extensive enough.
Tracks sound cool man very rappable!
I only say it’s overkill from my experience, and this was before the most recent update so YMMV. I make two/four bar loops, which is pretty much how all classic hip-hop is structured. I was making one beat per project and not fully utilizing Patterns or Parts. Never used arranger or pickup machines (what are those?). I used a Thru machine for my DT, neighbor tracks for effects, flex tracks for slicing samples, master track on track 8, crossfader and scenes for Low Pass Filter…so maybe I was using it extensively but it feels simple to me? idk since everyone says it’s hard to use. I don’t use LFO’s, I’m not into synthesis, or creating ambient music and drones (PLEASE DON’T FLAME ME ON THIS FORUM LOL). I think that type of music cool and all, but I’m a hip-hop head down to my DNA…just how I was raised. You can make these type of beats on OT, DT, SP404, Ableton, SP1200, MPC, etc. It’s all about finding the dopest samples and flipping it.
NO OT HATE AT ALL. I think it’s lovely and the crossfader is smooth as butter. You can make Hip-Hop with anything.
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Yeah i think that’s the video that made the octatrack look the most accessible to me.
I make mostly hip hop using the Octatrack, I have a few workflow tutorials by request but it’s mostly performances on my channel.
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Oh hey it’s you.
Your videos made me chuckle and you make really good stuff please keep going no matter what.
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Can anybody teach me ot on zoom?
Thanks man, that’s really great to hear! I do need a little bump of encouragement every so often to keep me going! 
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Bro, these are great.
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Sorry for the necrobump but I was curious about what the OT would bring to the table in the hands of a truly good beat maker like jonwayne, so I watched the video at https://youtu.be/BpYU5DC30Bw?si=c4GIzBjiQLqf7gjx and was surprised there basically is nothing that he does that you can’t do on an SP404 mk2 or an MPC.
What am I missing here?
MPC’s (or Maschine’s) are not just boom bap hip hop creators. What is this with the pigeon hole hop-on-the-bandwagon nonsense?
Sorry if I came across that way. What I meant to express was surprise at him not using the advanced sample mangling features of the OT at all, so I was wondering what the benefits would be of using a €1400 machine for something you could do with Koala.
ui, feeling, inspiration… I mean the best tool is the one you use it.
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You can do most things on most devices if you apply enough imagination and time. It’s kind of more about the differences in workflow that draw people into mostly using one device or another.
Jon recommends going for what you can reasonably afford and use given your available time/experience -
It mostly just boils down to using devices/software that best inspire you to create the things you want to create.
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Because nobody is going to watch someone make koala beat. It’s a tv show, it’s all about aesthetics not “the right tool”
@Voltagectrlr makes use of more of the OT for hip hop
Hip hop is simple music, it’s all about the lyrics which are not simple at all, the beat is just there to deliver the message.
this.
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He has covered this in a video before, but I’m not sure where.
The thing he mentioned (and that I agree with in my own experience) is that the precision of the Elektron sequencer is a big benefit to him. In the older videos where he chops up samples, he is not only running the sequencer at 2x tempo to get higher resolution, he is also chopping up a long musical sample and then retaining the musicality by using micro timing to get the pieces to fit back together so they sound smooth.
You can do this on other sequencers (for example, the modern MPCs), but imo it’s way slower. I believe Jimbo mentions that he likes other machines for other purposes but nothing beats the OT (for him) for getting the final 5% of polish in this way.
But yes, also his latest video about “just use whatever you want/works for you” is great.
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Hope you all don’t mind me jumping in here. I have a bad habit of lurking these forums lol.
I’d like to start by saying I really appreciate the interest in what I’m doing and I’m grateful that you folks watch the channel. It means a lot to me that my efforts make their way out to others. The rest of this message might have a small bite but that’s only because I want to be clear.
I’d like to once again defend hip hop production against those who like to say it’s “simple” or “basic”. If you truly think that then you’re probably not making very good hip hop. I also don’t use the gear I do for “aesthetics”. That comment made me laugh. If I wanted people to watch me based on what I was using I would just use an SP404. Not sure if you’re aware how much bigger my (or anyone’s) audience would be if I used that every video. There’s little to no demand for octatrack hip hop videos in comparison.
With that out of the way, I can answer the question. I love using the OT because of how dialed in its sequencer is as well as how it multi tracks in an open environment. The fact that I can chop and get just right drum breaks/ resampled one shots and samples on the same way I would a computer and then turn around and layer some keyboard performances or midi programmed synth stuff is very freeing. I’m also at the point where it’s more exciting to commit as I go and then mix the audio clips in the box. If you folks can show me another machine that does (that doesn’t keep half of its functionality behind a shit touch screen) i would love to hear about it.
Also would like some concrete examples of advanced techniques on the OT that I haven’t utilized to justify its use. A lot of the moves I make are subtle but they use the framework of it in a way that serves the music.
That video is a couple years old at this point and it’s pretty vanilla but I still stand by it. It wasn’t meant to be a show off video more like “here’s how this thing they marketed as a performance DJ mixer sampler that no one in hip hop really understands can be used traditionally.”
One more note on general conversation behind gear and how it is justified and gatekept, because it’s a double edged sword even if you’re wielding it:
I think once you start to make music to justify what gear you’re using you have lost. The gear you use should only serve to tell the story you want to tell. If that story can ONLY be told on that gear from a technicality standpoint, that’s okay too. Just don’t let it be the driving factor of your voice and don’t let it keep you from doing what you want with whatever you want.
Hope this helps.
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Well that’s a good explanation for what the OT actually is: an Instrument. As long as it works for what you are trying to achieve there’s really no justification necessary on how you are using it as long as the result speaks for itself. I think you explained that very nice in your last video - some gear or instruments just have to make sense (and bring joy) to the user in the end. That is totally the case when it comes to the OT. It can be as simply or complex as you want it to be and I really love that about it. Especially compared to something like a DAW.
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There’s so many ways to use the Octatrack to create unique and interesting effects that it’s almost certainly a bad idea to try and use all it has to offer in one project. You’ll just end up spending more time in the engineering side of it than actually composing. It’s best to just make a decision about how you’re going to use it and roll with it, that’s the fun part about DAWless workflows.
“The music is not in the piano”
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