New Octatrack MK II or Digitakt?

Yeah good idea and can return the one that does not work for me. Zero risk. BTW, nice studio- you have an impressive setup!
What kind of mixer works great for chaining all this mobile gear together well?

To be perfectly honest just as I was critical of the price for the new OP-1 synthesizer that I hear accolades online about, I need to try and buy.
MPC looks like a great portable DAW and sequencer and Digitakt/Octatrack a perfect stage manager for the gear. As for synths, not sure how well the Analog 4 compares with the digital Virus TI2? I did enjoy the Virus synth that I tried recently but it is expensive. I figure for what JUST the Virus costs, I can have the Octatrack, OP-1, and MPC Live gear.

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Thanks man!

I use a very old and noisy Mackie 1402. I bought it on CL for $50 like 5 years ago but itā€™s awesome.

The Alt 3/4 from the mixer goes to either the DT or Live for sampling. I can sample from any source including my computer.

I run a couple send/returns from the mixer to a BlueSky reverb and El Capistan delay.

I just made a track last night Iā€™ll post when I get off work.

No job. No stuff :slight_smile:

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I donā€™t want to sound bad or anything but if I were you I would first learn about different synthesis.
Something to get you started on this subject:
http://synthesizeracademy.com/category/lessons/types-of-synthesis/

Then I would research about Analog Vs Digital and ā€œhybridsā€.
Then look if it is multitimbral or not. How many parts and so on.

You canā€™t really compare a virus to A4 as they are two very different machines. At best you should consider them both in one setup to cover a broader range of sounds.

Once you understand whatā€™s what and listen to good quality audio examples you will have a much better understanding of what is it that you want.

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Agree in fact, I just ordered a few of the only books written on synthesizers. It is rare to find material on this area. I have been learning by reading online and trial and error about LFO, filters, oscillators and so forth.
Thanks for the links on synthesizers. What is sad is that so many EDM folks lack the core knowledge in this area and then they go out and buy the latest and wrong types of gear. One guy bought a Microbrute but no sequencer/sampler to go with it.

If anyone wants to get a basic knowledge with synthesis, I strongly recommend grabbing/reading Synth Secrets by Sound On Sound magazine. IIRC they are all available online.

Once you have read most of the resources available on the internets (not just wrt synthesis but audio engineering in general), grab Glenn Ballouā€™s ā€œHandbook for sound engineersā€ for the cherry on top. But forget about it until youā€™re already yawning to most of the online material you run across, that one is not for the faint of heart.

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Wasnā€™t at you directly, sorry, was speaking in general of whats accumilated from people who donā€™t own the gear. Its really an insane box but I can see some looking for something new to take their music to another level. MPCs are linear, you approach it with an idea in mind and bang it out, but unlike the Digitakt, ideas are morphed into lucid dreams with every direction leading you into strange adventures you would never partake in real life.

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https://soundcloud.com/djadonis206/kick-that

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Cool no worries and before I started jamming with EDM friends here in San Diego, I had never even heard or seen Elektron gear before. It was exposure and rave reviews by my fellow San Diego EDM geek musician friends that sparked my interest in the Elektron products for their quality and deep features to produce and create music at live settings. I want the Digitakt but it does not have the ability to use SD type flash cards for saving and importing files which is a bummer as that would be perfect for me otherwise. I mean the cheaper Electribe has that as does the more expensive Octatrack.

Iā€™m curious if the OTmk2 will have a sound closer to that of the DT or to the original OT? Iā€™m just really digging the sound of the output of the DT- and it would fit nicely on my desk for programming in Parameter changes into my VSTs or probably sit nicely on the AK I hope to attain in the future.

However, the plentiful more options of the OT would be cool, too if the sound is the same.

It what way? Just curious, since it seems the OT mkII will pretty much be the same as a mkI except the higher headroom inputs (sonically) ā€¦ I donā€™t own a DT so Iā€™m not familiar with the ā€œsonic imprintā€ it has. But since itā€™s also a sampler, that could be pretty varied, unless we are talking about the sound of specific effects, pitch shift, etc.

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Makes sense! Thanks!

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Can you feed output from the Digitakt into the Octatrack for recording, sampling and sequencing? If so, then it would be a more affordable buy than the Rytm for me at this time and more compact to boot!

:elot: eats anything that terminates to a 1/4in plug carrying voltageā€¦ :wink:

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The DT sequences itself and is a sampler, so itā€™s not really nessecary to sample and sequence it, but you can if you want and it could get stupid crazy. You could use OT to sample whole patterns from DT and then mix in between the sampled pattern and a different one on the DT using OT fader, almost like having two DTā€™sā€¦ You can get crazy with pre arranged slice patterns on OT to remix DT tracks liveā€¦ You could be midi controlling each one from the other, the list goes on and onā€¦

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That and a whole lot more! I have both and it gets really weird and creative limits are virtually gone. Iā€™ve been trying dt with everything, I think so far the dt with the mduw is my favorite, try doing a cntrl-all on the othersā€™ cntrl-all. Then fun-ext/fun-no while the other is still in cntrl-all. Whikid!

Youā€™ve gotta stay simple for how complex it gets weird. Multi-LFO mode gooooo!!!

OT with DT fun level is no less either! You now have conditional trigs for your OT if you felt like you needed them while using the OTā€™s scenes. You wanna get creative beyond any imaginable capacity? Link up another Elektron with digitakt sequencers and sound routed to each other is just knucking futs! Donā€™t believe me? Get off of here and go experiment for yourselves!

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Elektron as far as I know have only mentioned they have updated the ADC, not the DAC of the OT which is a shame.
If this is the case, the DT being a much newer device should have a better sounding DAC than the OT mk2. Much the same way the RYTM DAC sounds much cleaner, bigger and punchier than the OTā€™s imo.
Sound benefits may be utilised even further when OB for the DT drops, enabling the signal to stay in the digital realm completely, bypassing the DT onboard DAC altogether.

Mother 32 has midi in, and can translate midi to cv via the assignable out

What iā€™ve heard come out of the DT has been gorgeous! Thatā€™s not to say the the OT doesnā€™t have itā€™s charm, it certainly does. Like a kinda rough, dirty charm almost.

But the DT sounds so luscious and refined! That coupled with the ultimate ease of use for live sampling, itā€™s compact size, and capability for OB(Oh yes, after FINALLY trying it- Iā€™m just going ahead and adding it to the figurative cost of the unit)- It wins hands down-I think even IF OT eventually DID get OB(doubtful- though they DID update the USB, so itā€™s on the table despite not being planned for)

It is, however, a HUGE shame you canā€™t sound lock on the DT thoughā€¦

This seems like a fantasy box at present. Have you seen the problems people are having? On paper the DT looks great. But it appears sample managing is cumbersome, and the fact remains OB currently does not exist.

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