Don’t kill me, i won’t say those things ever again!
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No I can’t. Not while performing.
I can do it with OT though, improvising and messing with sampling and sample in real time.
Can’t say where the difference lies, most likely in my 5 years of using OT whereas in Ableton I’ve been only mixing recorded tracks. Would take me some practice to live resample and mess with the sample, retrigging and plocking retrig time + filter cutoff.
Whereas with OT I reach such point in a few loops and build on top.
I just can’t go there with Ableton. And if I would, it be less fun nonetheless I guess.
I wasn’t comparing OT and Ableton like that, they do different things. Very different and very complex things.
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Indeed.
Where OT shines is it makes simple things complicated.
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that was the point.
People are not complaining about ableton being complicated cause many use it for simple stuff and are happy with that.
Doesn’t mean you can‘t go deep as crazy, but you don’t have to.
Same with OT
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The most complicated thing is setting up a project/pattern/part to do what you want because the OT can do so much and everything is tied to how you set up your tracks/machines.
I’d advise everyone to thoroughly read the manual about the structure of a octatrack project (what are banks, patterns, parts, scenes, the sample lists, all the different machines and how they are related to each other?) There is also “Merlin’s Guide” floating around the web which explains the OT structure nicely.
After that I would make a standard starting pattern with a part (rtfm if you dont know what “part” means 
) that has every track configured the way I want to work, for example this is mine:
T1-5 = flex machines
T6 = thru machine for Input AB
T7 = thru machine for Input BC
T8 = mastertrack
(If you want to have this “part” to be your default across the whole project you need to copy this part to the other three parts (overwriting them) and do this for every bank because every bank stores four different parts)
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This is the one for me, if you don’t use it regularly I often find I come back to it and can’t work out why something is silent or whatever and it can take a bit of digging. Once you are in the flow with it, it’s not too bad a lot of the time. I’ve not used mine for months and I’m kind of scared to turn it on as I’ll be back to square one
I agree with the majority (?) here, Ive not found anything particularly complicated.
rather its just a bit esoteric in places.
What I love about the OT, and is a little rare in electronic instruments, is it allows you to do things that might not work in a consistent/obvious way…
e.g. i think most gear these days would actively prevent you from recording and playing the same track at once …
not the OT, it just lets you do it, good idea or not, it just hands you the rope
probably what catches me out most, is also at the same time a really cool feature…
when you turn the OT back on it restores exactly the state you left it in.
(except recorder buffers which is easy to remember)
this catches me out, as there is nothing to say when (2 days ago) I stopped playing with the OT - I left it in a ‘consistent’ state … I more than likely was experimenting with it, muting stuff or some odd scene.
but I kind of assume when I come back to the OT, its in my ‘normal’ default state… but instead find it doing ‘weird’ stuff 
its not a big deal, usually I’ll just reload the part, or the project…
I think that’s the most complicated part of the OT, when starting out.
the ‘state’ of the OT is a complex thing… all the setting, the current part, scene, pattern, bank… so many things which affect one another.
(though - perhaps gain staging is the single most complex topic?!)
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Oh yeah gain staging indeed.
Surprised you’re the first to mention it 
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the most difficult thing about OT is that ridiculous but persistent feeling that you kinda need a second one
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I think its a typical octatrack ‘topic’
the defaults are really great, and as a beginner - you don’t even think about it.
then you innocently ask
‘when I record a loop, and play it back its quieter - how do I fix this?’
(innocently, thinking you have missed something in the manual 
)
then a deep chasm opens up in front of you… and you are are faced with 2 choices:
a) follow the ritual some elder prescribes
b) delve into the depths of the OT, and ask some deep meaningful questions
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Unless this is much different, I’m quite used to this “saves most recent state” on the Digitakt. I usually reload pattern / project if things get too spicy. So I’d think this maybe won’t be as much of an issue if I’m used to it already? (although maybe I’ve missed something and it’s more bonkers on OT than DT )
could be @JPM, I don’t have another Elektron device to compare too…
however, the OT ‘state’ is large, e.g. when you turn it on, its not ‘obvious’ that you are using a particular scene… e.g. the other night, i found the OT was completely silent, because I’d completely forgotten i’d been messing with XVOL and routing external inputs.
it didn’t take me long to figure it out… but was part of the regular OT head scratching…
and as i say, worst case scenario, I just reload part/project and on my merry way I go… with an uneasy feeling of 'did I save everything last time ?! - but hey 'live in the moment
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Not in the manual!
If your sampling a Thru, set Level identically for the playback track.
If your sampling AB/CD, set Level as DIR.
VOL set 0 in both case.
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Always. If imported or recorded samples need level changed I do it in attributes 
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thanks, I know all this… I was just using as an example, when you turn up as a newcomer the kind of things that are not immediately obvious - so many places to change gain… which one to choose
but that’s the fun of the OT so many nuances to it.
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On the contrary young padawan, the most difficult thing is the persistent whisper in your dreams… " you dont need any other gear at all, Octatrack is all you need, octatrack is life. YESSSSSSS human, yesssss, octratrack is life… "
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I realize you were talking about Abelton…
However, I would compare Octatrack to The great Outer God Yog Sothoth, who is both the Gate and the Key. His followers are mostly sorcerers (insane, yes) seeking Outer knowledge and he is occasionally amused enough to oblige.
Or perhaps I would compare it to Hastur, the embodiment of entropy and madness, followed by unwitting artists and sculptors, poets and playwrights and hapless musicians. The manual is our copy of The King in Yellow… and I must ask…,
Have you seen the Yellow Sign?
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apart from coming to terms with OT parts, in the beginning I found elektrons naming of steps “trigs” caused a fair bit of confusion when learning what was goin on. trig this, trig that. but it’s a step sequencer not a trig sequencer 
I wonder is there a reason they call em trigs rather than steps?
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It allowed Elektron to come up with a whole new mystifying vocabulary for something which is basically just step modulation.
Every step sequencer ever made is capable of “parameter locking” even if the only parameter they can lock is pitch.
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