You have to be patient with yourself. It is so deep, it is easy to get lost & frustrated at first. But over time, it makes more & more sense.
This greatly aided my understanding: https://www.elektronauts.com/t/a-polished-version-of-merlins-ot-guide-here/42860
Enjoy 
Patience is the biggest thing here. Don’t worry, it’s worth it… but there aren’t really shortcuts, you have to study and learn. Tutorial vids were best for me - the manual is only really starting to make sense to me now that I already know my round a bit - I found the Macprovideo courses really helpful personally. You’ll make a few mistakes, have a lot of times where you’ll convince yourself it’s broken only to find it’s user error, but also start to have some tremendously rewarding eureka moments with it, and it starts to click. Still learning something new every time I switch it on, but it’s an incredible instrument.
thanks, happy you gained some inspiration 
have fun!
May the Gawds of patience and forum searches smile upon your face.
Don’t feel like you have to boil the ocean. Focus on one thing at a time, and bring them together. You’ll start to bookmark threads here that have a lot of great info. I also have a running note of commentary from posts that I’ve copy/pasted regarding how people do things. I didn’t always understand it when I read it here, so I tried to come back to it later.
Just mess around in a sandbox project with random samples for a while - don’t worry too much about your end goals/result.
Once you’re getting around the machine you can start new sets with samples you know you want to use and approach it wth more experience.
Practice OT first, it can open your mind to new ways of making music. You can start with @darenager’s One Year Lab!
Id start with a simple pad drone. Make it several minutes long. Then add to it. If you can forget about measures and timing you will be freer to learn.
Oh yeah - I forgot I started one too! I should keep updating that document. It started with @darenager post that simplified sampling / resampling. Hugely helpful.
Glad I’m not the only one! It’s kind of my “starters and experiments” concept list.
Heck yeah, the ideas flow at all kinds of odd times. I actually keep a small notebook with me most of the time to write ideas and concepts down in there. With octatrack, I have found that I actually do go back and reference it!
Ha! Exactly the same for me! Glad I’m not alone.
watch the Thavius Beck videos. Totally worth it.
That’s the Mac Pro. Strongly agree.
Be patient. Be prepared to get pissed off. Become amazed.
I’ve gone through 5 OTs over the past few years. Finally clicked with me when I got an OT2 18 months or so ago. Might not use it often enough but worth every penny for the smiles it gives alone.
Man I did the same thing for 2 years. Finally made an account. Welcome to octatrack family.
do not expect anything from that thing.
just experiment with it and you´ll see (hear).
treat it like a sophisticated? programmable sampling/fx/mix machine first before making it a main part of your setup.
i really was very frustrated with that machine very often but feel so comfortable with it today.
sometimes i just use it for very simple stuff like syncing or mixing other machines without using that dynamic sampler at all.
it never gets boring, it´s a very open system, reminded me of a modular from the beginning. swiss army knife is a good word for it too.
setting the OT up for different tasks is a big part.
if you expect to control and perform full tracks on that machine from the beginning you propably will hate it … a lot 
@PersianHugs: I think there is a whole tribe out there:
The OT Shadow Lurkers (I was also one of them as many others here I’ll guess) … 
Exactly this. If you approach the OT with a fixed workflow in mind it may easily disappoint you, because in many aspects it’s very different from all the other machines out there.
The OT is like a Diva which wants you to adapt to her and not the other way around.
You’ll need to free your mind about any fixed ideas how a sampler, looper or mixer should behave and learn her ways. Then a completely new universe of different workflows (optimized for live play) will open up.
I definitely wouldn’t start by trying to make a song with it, that in my opinion would just limit you from seeing its potential. It needs to be experimented with by making grooves and trying and testing out all the features before the ability to grock how it can be utilized to make a song that actually exploits its capabilities can be accomplished… You need to take time and learn its ways, and after you do the songs you make with it will be a lot more interesting and dynamic then a song made right when you get it. It can be quite a rewarding journey but shouldn’t be rushed or it won’t do the machine justice and might as well be done on a simpler device.
Totally worth the time and effort, take it slow and easy without any expectations, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Taking it slow and easy is very difficult. Very few people can actually pull this one off. But it is the correct advice.
Just spent a good few hours on mine. It’s incredible! There is no other thing like it on the planet!!! I feel so lucky!
I highly recommend the Samples From Mars. I’m not sure if it’s on sale now but you can buy there whole collection for $39 I think… a crazy low price to get started with samples. Also, I’ve made my own samples from my hardware and from going out with a microphone and recording stuff outside. It’s so cool to use my personal samples as they mean something to me.
Load up some flex machines and enter some trigs. Get a groove going. Then have fun playing with the parameters. Next hold down a trig and lock parameters to it. Repeat, repeat, repeat… and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Hours will pass by like ships in the night, dear friend… ships in the night!