I have an OT on loan for the next 24h.
What should I do with it to try and get the most out of it before it’s gone?
What should I try with it that may help convince me to buy this beast?
I’ve got lots of other synths and drum machines to test it with.
If i were you i would try out scenes.
Read the first 50 pages of the manual, at least regarding machines, then try and make a track from scratch.
When you hear something you like, SAVE IT, you WILL hit a point where you mangle it too much, have no idea what you did, and wish you could go back to what you liked.
Once you have a decent song going, do what @mess5 said and mess with scenes. If you do not read any of the manual it’s going to be a waste of 24 hours, IMO, especially if you want to sample any of those synths and drum machines.
Well what do you see it as in your setup? it can be a drum sampler, a backing track player, a live looper (with some issues), a mixer, a midi sequencer, a Live sampler/audio mangler. an FX box. The best way to maximize the OT is to have a plan of what you want to use it for in a given project. it’s not something you just browse your way into. at least that’s how I view it.
I always say okay Octa is on drum duties this time, or it’s gonna be mixer and vocal chops while Digitone does the main sounds etc. like have a small game plan.
If you wanna just mess with it by itself. I think messing with breaks and neighbor machines for crazy FX scenes is the most “fun” thing to just dick with it and learn the workflow.
Then start to think about how you can do that with live audio. 
Load the card with one shots and loops.
Learn scenes
Mangle.
Make sure there is enough coffee around …
Forget midi for now and just try to sample some of your synths or a pattern out of a drum machine. Then give slicing a go and just try all sorts. 24 hours aint long enough to plan things properly so best just to have fun and see how many happy accidents you end up with.
Chuck some samples onto the card and then let rip!
Put your favorite loops and one shots. Don’t worry about anything else. Just start the sequence and play along.
It’s a deep machine but start on the shallow end of the pool so you can get some air. You will have a lot of “ah ha” moments during the discovery phase
Just sell the darn thing already, you gave it a try
Not waste time in web forums.
visiting elektronauts is never a waste of time
Book a flight out of the country with the OT and never return it.
It is! And it s also a very expensive passtime
Thanks for the helpful replies.
After this 24h experiment I’ve concluded a few things.
The OT definitely feels like a musical instrument - in that you shouldn’t spend less than 24h with and expect to achieve meaningful results.
Also, I don’t think sampling is for me. Turns out I want something that creates sound, like a synth or drum machine, not something that replays sounds. I don’t have the patience for loading a unit with my own sounds.
I found the lack of immediacy discouraging. I know I would overcome the depth with time but I’m not sure what I would gain from it would be worth the investment.
The concept of recording tracks, trig tracks, and inputs being disparate and freely routable was too confusing. So many loose ends that actively need to be pointed somewhere useful.
I see the power but I’m not sure it’s worth the investment - $$$ or time wise.
So maybe I’ll check out the DT or the MS or the TR8S - this experiment has made me realize that I DO enjoy incorporating some organic sampled elements into what is more or less mechanical music. So there maybe some room for a sample playback unit in my setup.
Also – with the advent of a firmware update for the DN, my GAS is satisfied for a few days at least.
Thanks for your help!
While it can be used as standalone device, the OT is more a central hub thing to run other audio streams into it (or long stems from the CF card), mix them, add fx, record them, loop them, argument them with some sample tracks and on and on and on. In the center of a (small) setup is the place where it really shines due to its compactness and versatility.
And as a central hub its not that immediate due to all its possibilities, of course. When using an OT (longer than 24h) you will produce quite a bunch of template projects (your own custom setups) to re-use over and over again.
So what looks like time-consuming in the beginning is just a matter of getting such setups done “right” once and afterwards just tweak them a little to meet your actual requirements.
But, yes, if you are looking for a kind of standalone unit, a sound source or even just a normal sampler, there are better devices out there.
OT’s flexibility is highly regarded by some and highly frustrating for others… As @tnussb said you need to build template projects to get it to the point where other boxes start at, it can be configured in many ways and those ways are sort of like how the majority of boxes that aren’t so flexible are already set up. After configuring when you load that template it is way more immediate. Various uses/setups can also be configured per bank/part instead of per project making it like multiple devices ready to go live.
It requires being very creative and putting in a good amount of effort to build your own projects and come up with a workflow. There is no one way to go, you learn how it works and then pick your own path with it. This is both the greatest thing ever to some and a reason other folks don’t use it. Depends on user and how they like to operate, it’s not for everyone. Certainly can go many places unreachable by less configurable devices, if you put in the time and creative juju…