In my case sometimes the OT takes me to places that I would never reach with Ableton, maybe ´cause I don´t know how, or maybe ´cause OT´s workflow and limitations forces me to go that way.
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It’s worth noting that after a month, there is no way you’re going to have the muscle memory to do things quickly on the OT. You’re almost definitely stil finding your way around the system and getting used to the basic structure of the controls and the menu. I’ve had my OT for 6 months, and I’ve used it every single day, for at least 1h, and I’m only now at a point where I can do things quickly on the OT. Having said that, I can now do things much more quickly on the OT than I used to in a DAW. It’s become very instant.
It sounds like you did your research before buying the OT, which means you knew it was a complex box. You’ve only had it for a month. Why bother getting it without being prepared to learn how to use it properly? It’s an instrument in its own right. Take your time, stick with it, and you’ll reap the benefits.
As for advantages over Ableton, there are none in terms of features or functionality. On paper, Ableton can to so much more than the OT. However, that’s not a fair comparison. The OT is about creativity and performance. Using things like conditional trigs, pattern scales, p-locks and scenes, you can create very unique and interesting arrangements that would not be intuitive to do at all in Abelton. You can go down creative and conceptual rabbit holes that generally don’t exist in Ableton, and end up with results that you wouldn’t have otherwise. It’s a very different way of working, and when you get to know it, you’ll find some very interesting characteristics. I have spent about 15 years using DAWs, and 6 months with the OT, and I have a much more instant and organic creative process with the OT now than I ever had with a DAW.
The OT can play well with Ableton, but IMO that’s not what it’s really designed for. It also depends massively on what your actual process looks like in Ableton. How compatible are your OT sequences with your ableton sequences? Are you launching clips or working on linear arrangements?
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Yeah you have some good points but in the month I’ve used it a lot I’m not confused by it or anything I probably haven’t had enough time to see it’s potential
I’ve put it aside and won’t sell for now.
There are Few things I don’t like though about it
1… when you pitch a sample up or down it sounds pretty bad to me like it’s an old algorithm or something it just doesn’t sound good changing the pitch to me at least?
2… On a bass loop the time stretch sounds pretty bad even with just 1 bpm difference
on good headphones, it breaks up pretty bad after that
3… No transient detection for slicing samples. Which is very time consuming compared to simpler in ableton
4… no overbridge it’s the odd one out, but I can deal with that but would much prefer overbridge
5… the effects do sound a bit dated but not that terrible
Thanks for the comment though will give it more time see if I can come up with some better ways to use it before I do anything and think I bought a bit too much gear recently and need to sell some that is just overkill and not necessary … anyhow cheers
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Turn timestretch off.
Use slices instead.
You can make your slices with your computer, use Octachainer or OctaEdit to export with Octatrack ot slices files.
Some are good. Not a question of dated or not, i’d say with limited CPU usage, especially for reverbs. Much older fx can be better.
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I’ll give that a try next time, and have a look at the apps
I don’t mind the fx but would be good to have a Digitakt type newer type of reverb and the delay is only mono from what I can tell not the best sounding to me…
Hey, man. Just use the gear that works for you! If the Octatrack ain’t it, that’s totally OK.
I spend my working life looking at a computer, so I find myself about 8000x more productive with music hardware than I do by looking at software on another computer screen. And I like to “perform” the songs as much or more than record them, so the Octatrack’s scenes really work for me.
But if you’re finding yourself fighting with pitch or sound quality or whatever, there’s no reason to waste any more time on it. The goal is fun and creation, right? Just do what works for you. Best of luck!
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DeLay and reverb are stereo Ob dt
Only samples are mono
Output is stereo
I was talking about the Octatrack
I think mono reverb makes no sense
And the delay is also stereo on ot
Ok yeah it is stereo, thanks I overlooked that
what the OT does better than Ableton (to me):
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dedicated hands-on control (thus: muscle memory)
this point is sort of mute if you have eg a Push 2, but sort of also isn’t, cause even then you still need to build and decide on your instruments and effects chains (and map them), whereas with the OT, things are where they are and once you’ve got it down, it’s super fun to use -
sample mangling and happy accidents
given point 1, the OT really lends itself to messing around and stumbling upon the unexpected. Also, it’s the meanest live mangling sampler around. You’d have to do quite a bit of setting up in Ableton Live to recreate the capabilities (and emergent properties between the capabilities) that the OT provides in that department. -
live performance, p-locking, and the crossfader + scenes
if you want to play and perform your samples, the OT is unbeatable in my book. Again, this too can be recreated in Ableton, but you’d have to do some serious setup work + midi mapping assuming you’ve got enough quality controllers to make it all work and feel good too -
limitations
the OT is limited and that can really push the user to creative heights. I love that about hardware in general and the OT in particular. Note that this point can easily transform into a negative, depending on one’s state of mind in the moment!
everything else, Live does better. Better timestretching & pitch shifting, better sample slicing, better effects quality, undo, easier expandability, etc.
And still, the OT has its place. Though for me, I don’t know if I’d keep it if I were to use it for production only. for me this thing is for performance and production meant for performance.
hope this contributes to your reflections.
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I was never really confused by it either, since I spent long enough researching it before I bought one. It’s not about confusion though, it’s more about practicing and learning the sweet spots. You can’t intellectualise that stuff - it’s all about hours invested.
As for your points…
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Yeah, the timestretch algo is dated as hell. Turn off timestretching on tracks when you aren’t using it. It’s always on by default.
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As above.
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Absolutely. A lot of people prefer to prep samples prior to loading into the OT for this reason among others.
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You can get stems out of it if you are prepared to get down and dirty with Ableton for a bit. Check @jbone1313’s post above.
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Agreed, but if you set the parameters right you can still get them sounding great imo.
If it’s not for you, it’s not for you. All I’m saying is you need to give it a hell of a lot more time before you can make an educated decision on that, at least in my experience.
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I think that stating that mono reverb makes no sense, makes no sense 
I know of plenty of gorgeous records made with mono reverb, not to speak of guitar amps and hammond organs and their spring reverbs. Plate reverbs were mono until the late 60’s…
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thought with digital reverbs, part of the space comes from delay in stereo spectrum
Amazing track, I like it!!
Yes, they can coexist, I‘d even say it‘s a dream team.
Had a lot of fun recently after a rehearsal session, high-pass filter, reverb, about to finish, oh wait, the OT could sample and bitcrush that reverb tail! Back to an Ableton slot, pitching up/down with the nice Fabfilter delay, back to the OT, about one hour long, pure resampling ping-pong.
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its OK not to gel with stuff. If you cant connect with your instrument, you wont play it. Simple.
I have always loved the sound of Korg EMX1. Ive owned 2. But no matter how much time I spent with them, no matter how much I wanted to, it just never clicked for me.
Whereas, with the Octatrack it was I clicked with it straight away. I have never struggled with it ever. I have other instruments that just clicked straight away too.
So I sold the EMX1 and just gave up on them. (Still love hearing them though, and I would totally recommend them, they are brilliant)
I used to use Ableton exclusively to make music, but the last few years has seen a decline in use, I only use it as a glorified recorder now, and to put finishing touches on things before mastering.
Go with your guts.
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Yeah I would say sell it if you don’t enjoy learning it. For me, I’m a slow learner, but love a challenge. Think I’ve had the OT for 2.5 years, and I love working on it. Some days I spend half my day dreaming thinking about my approach, and how to work with it. That is now that I am fully comfortable with it. Before that I spent soo much time learning and practicing, which I also enjoyed.
Last year I spent a winter using the Reaktor ensemble TRK-01 inside Live. Just got addicted to it… maybe something like that would gel with you. It’s very similar to the Elektron workflow. And it fits right inside Live. Very intuitive and simpler than the OT. Was a good break from my OT, but one day I decided to go back to the OT for a try, and it was night and day. Didn’t even realize how much I had missed my of friend.
Anyways, if you are frustrated with a piece of gear sell it. Good luck
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I have the opposite problem. I gel with everything and never get anything done.
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Unless you do this for a living, that’s not really a problem, as long as you have a great time…
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