I’ve just purchased a secondhand Elektron octatrack mk1 which seems in good condition
on arrival it had no compact flash card , which isn’t a problem and I’ve ordered one which is not coming until tomorrow
I’m not sure if I can do the test mode without a flash card? Does anyone know
More of a concern is I believe something small rattling inside the unit when you tilt unit from left to right you can hear something which to me sounds like a small screw
so my next question is how easy is it to open up the mk1 octatrack
Does anyone have any thoughts , I could send it back to seller but opens up the whole , it was fine when they dispatched it and not there fault etc
Obviously mk1 is nearly 11 years old so I’m expecting so minor issues but worried about this loose screw etc
Thanks for anyone who replies
I’d figure out what the rattling sound is before you decide to keep it. If it’s a screw and didn’t come from somewhere obvious, look to the crossfader mount as it is also screwed on.
I’ve had rattling screw syndrome on lots of my gear. Believe me its not worth investigating if it wont drop out.(and everything is functioning)/ Just put it down as a friend for life.
Ok that’s what’s happened, very shi**y by the seller
It is definitely what was inside octatrack and obviously broken off
I’ve literally just ordered a flash card today in excitement , proper deflated now
I didn’t want to spend big money on mk2
Did test mode and says all ok but no idea if will take a flash card
I guess I should just send back
It may well take the flash card without issue but if you’ve paid full market price, I might try to negotiate some kind of partial refund as this will be difficult to fix.
From what I’m aware of, elektron no longer has mk1 octatrack components for sale and that would leave you on your own to find a replacement card reader since purchasing an entire PCB won’t be an option. There would also be the issue of installation as it would require precision soldering.
As far as the longevity of the device, it’s a gamble. It is not a safe bet compared to an intact fully functional device, and you should make your decision accordingly.
If you got it for a great price then you could always consider this a trial run with the OT. You can also interface with the card in USB mode without removing it, so functionally it may not make any difference in your day to day use, however I’d be a little upset if it were me and I’ve just purchased it.
I can hardly imagine that this is the type of thing to break during shipping, but anything is possible.
If the CF card came from Amazon, you can probably return it pretty easily even if you try it, but be careful because some other retailers won’t allow the return of various electronic components (at times also media cards) if they’ve been installed. I’d just make sure to check the terms of the CF purchase before you decide to test it, but more than likely if the OT were bricked, you would be getting errors so I think that’s less of the concern.
If you go to resell it, you’ll probably take some kind of loss due to the defect, but it might not be much.
yea i wouldn’t risk it myself. inserting the card in this state could be a gamble, & if you damage it whilst doing so you’re bunched, as shiggin stated above.
If you got it for a good price and it passes the function test then i’ve known people get CF card readers repaired by camera repair shops who are well versed in CF cards. (About £60). Maybe worth looking into if its okay apart from that.
FWIW, my Octatrack came missing the button on the card slot. I was able to extract/insert a fresh card (which will probably never be removed again). I was annoyed with the guy who sold me the OT2 and wouldn’t fault you for sending it back.
The tab, when pushed, hooks to a lever or something that safely force-ejects the card, when one is inserted.
The error test will explicitly report errors.
Also after the error test if you push buttons on the OT, it will say the name of the button or encoder on the screen to confirm that it registers.
Also, during the “keys test” which I’ve just described, I think that the first 5 trigs will be sub-tests. To make the screen fully filed or fully blank, and then to test the LEDs. Just press and hold them one at a time after the error test completes. I’ve never done it on a mk1 OT but this is elektron standard test mode behavior.
Hello
So the compact flash card came today
I formatted as fat32 on my MacBook with a card reader
I tentatively pushed the compact card into the card slot
I wasn’t sure what to do as black eject button missing
But card seemed to slot in
So the card isn’t flush see images is this normal?
Anyone with mk1 confirm
I did test mode and said all sections were ok
Is there a way to know if it’s installed ok and recognised
I have no factory content on the flash card , can I ask Elektron for whatever was originally on original compact flash card
I’m not sure how to test flash card installation with nothing on the new card I.e no sounds presets etc loaded on new card ?
I’m new to using elektron devices so I’m bit clueless as well I’m sorry if these are dumb questions
I’m just trying to see if device is functional before starting any return to seller
Someone else can confirm, but photographic evidence indicates that this is the standard position of the card (this OT is modified so ignore the extra hardware connections).
I suspect that elektron will provide the factory content but response times are inconsistent lately so you may need to be a bit patient with them.
If the card is detected in test mode I think it’s fine but you could probably format a few samples for the OT then switch the menu to usb disk mode and connect to your computer and check to see that it’s detected, then move the samples to the CF and afterwards make sure you can access them from and load to the device.
If everything is normal at that point, then it’s likely fully functional (at least at the software level). Mechanically, the eject button seems prone to breaking so it’s not totally uncommon, but I still think it’s a bit shady that he didn’t disclose it to you.
None the less, if it’s fully functional then that sounds good.
Yeah, best way to see if the OT is working (and to learn a very important part of using the OT) is just to start a new “set”. I haven’t done it in a few years, but I think you press function-mixer, then scroll to create set or new set. That should create a new folder on your disk. Inside that folder should be a folder named “audio”. Then, using the same func-mixer menu, scroll down and find USB mode and hook up your computer with usb. Your CF card should pop up on your computer as a drive. Go to the Audio folder on the CF card and drop some samples into it and eject the disk from the computer.
Now when you double click a track button, you should be able to dive into your CF card and find the audio folder and assign a sample to that track. I doubt there’s anything wrong with the octatrack. I’m sure it’s fine. Now it’s just time to learn the basics. There are sooo many online tutorials these days to help you through this journey. Any questions, or if you get stuck (Hope I explained things correctly) let us know.
I suspect you’re good to go. Create a set, create a project. Connect to a computer and move some samples over to the OT. If that works, you should be in business.
Then the fun begins! The OT is a complex beast, but I love what it is capable of. A fantastic instrument.
Hello once again thank you so much for all helping me get started with the octatrack
I’ve spent an hour trying to get my new Apple MacBook Pro and an older MacBook that I use just for my access virus ti2 and its access virus control centre
But octatrack compact flash card is just not been recognised by either device and I’ve tried both laptops and different usb cables
I did put octatrack in usb mode so I’ll just have to bite the bullet and fiddle with octatrack compact flash card slot and take it out again and use a flash card reader to get some samples on it to test the card
I’ll let you know how it goes and if it’s a success
Cheers
