If you can wrap your head around Elektron stuff, then trackers should be pretty easy. They’re not that far removed from each other.
I would highly recommend trying out the headless version of M8. This should give you a good idea about what the workflow is like at a very affordable price (a teensy 4.1 is about 30 usd).
As for the OP1f, my recommendation is to embrace the janky tape arrangements 
Record phrases in the tape, resample them into M8, chop them up, and get weird with it.
thanks so much for the replies. sounds my GAS is justified 
So, I have the teensy 4.1, correct microsd and cable. Used the tytools tyuploader and tried numerous builds and it always gives me “Ihex parse error on Line 1”
Tried to reboot and plug/unplug, all sorts of stuff and always that error when I try and install on the teensy.
Anyone have this issue and know how to fix it? I miss my M8 and really want to get this working on my laptop.
Once you’re accustomed to the M8, it feels like you have a Game Boy in the hands.
You basically don’t look at your fingers, and the time between « I want » and « done » gets shorter and shorter…
I totally agree with this. By no means am I an expert, but after the first 4-5 hrs with it, things start to fly by and it’s really easy to figure out how to do something. Still learning how I can best leverage tables, but in general, everything just makes sense and the workflow seems as intuitive as it gets.
With the M8 01, if a USB cable is plugged in for power, but the unit is powered off, I hear quite a loud and constant buzz coming through the audio outputs to my mixer. Is this the case for the M8 02 as well? I’ve learned to work around it, so it’s the not the biggest deal, but I’m curious if this behaviour has changed…
For me on 01 it doesnt matter if usb is plugged in or not, the buzz is there anyway when powered off. Really annoying! Great if it is fixed in 02.
No buzz with my model 2, in fact I can’t hear any ground noise. It’s great.
My 02 just landed here in Australia - DHL weekend delivery for the win! And no taxes payable on the import which is great! (Had to pay $450 in tax last week for my cirklon 2, even though I paid UK VAT as part of the purchase price 
).
Wow, the feel of the unit is so luxe! It’s the perfect weight in your hands, and I’m loving the bigger screen … I felt the 01 screen was fine even for my bad eyes, but a bit squinty when on the train. Not any more 
… What’s everyone’s favourite font? I’m liking uppercase bold alt zero
USB is quite notorious for causing audio noise. You can find cheap USB audio noise suppressors that may help.
Surely the VAT shouldn’t have been charged - you mighy be able to get a refund.
who charged you VAT and why?
I got a shipping from US and didn’t pay tax. But I got billed later and still paid.
Are you flashing the dedicated headless firmware? Normal hardware-M8 firmware won’t work.
Also, the Teensy is finicky when it comes to USB cables, so if you can try a few others that might help.
I thought the 02 would be an incremental improvement, and technically it is, but the whole is greater than the sum. It looks and feels even better, and battery life is now a non issue. It’s quickly becoming my musical center of gravity again.
The teensy is blinking and the uploader reads the teensy…I’ve tried numerous headless firmware versions and I get that error on all of them.
if octatrack doesn’t make you go crosseyed M8 will be like a ballpit for you. the only thing to actually learn is navigation (shift+arrow), highlight and copy/cut/paste (shift+option, shift+edit), and how to access FX menu (edit+up). it comes with a card. octatrack is like a tracker laid on its side and u have a blindfold on, u just have to remember what’s doing what to what. M8 is like a tracker right side up where you can actually SEE wtf is doing what, and fine tune every little tick exactly how you want it, or just spam RND (random) and one SED (seed) to just let M8 do it for you lol.
I had been playing with the FX and their limits, and was finding that the sound would saturate in an unpleasant way…
Yesterday I figured out I could use a bit of limiter to get some control of it, and 
all the cracks have disappeared, I felt like an idiot for not realizing it sooner!
The reverb in particular, can be really insane, Caterina Barbieri’s Fantas kind of crazy
With the modulations you can drastically change the timbres of the initial sound, I love it!
The overdrive algorithm (when the mix meter is above red) is a soft clip so it should not drive in an unpleasant/crackly way unless the output itself is overdriven a considerable amount and your headphones or whatever it is plugged into is clipping. I would check your “output vol” at the top of the mixer screen is initially at a good value for whatever M8 is plugged into (up to F0 for earbuds, F0 on up for large headphones or line level usually), the limiter might be fixing it because it may be lowering the overall output.
