I wonder how you configured the OT MK1.
FX1/2: NONE & 24 bit & AB/CD GAIN=+0?
Just inputs A/B with DIR127 on a new project.
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I always thought OT grabbed my sounds with ice-cold hand. Similar feelings with MD and MM.
Contrary DT and DN have nice thru sound, could compare the quality to my RME soundcard.
Probably improved circuit design my tip is the power supply/line.
I did some A/B tests of my own a while back, my conclusion was that the Octatrack does not appreciably colour the sound in any significant way.
I think either a lot of people have better ears than me, or that they don’t know how to use the Octatrack properly.
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It can be really challenging to get the gain staging on the octatrack correct when you’re playing many tracks of samples. Some sort of visual feedback on levels would be so useful, other than that it’s a bunch of trial and error. Or some tricks like using the noise gate and adjusting it’s threshold to figure out what level your channel is hitting,
Lots of little details to slowly learn, like “turn off timestretch and the filter” if you want cleaner sound. And on the machinedrum I was reading an old post from the old forum yesterday where an elektron engineer said that having master volume at 100% adds gain to the output, and if you want a cleaner signal put the master at 3 o’clock.
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Well, it doesn’t touch the sound (when careful configured / not with the default filter settings) and that’s what I expect from a sampler.
At least the DT “colorize” the sound and you cannot turn off this colorization:
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Me too, for the most part, I quite like old samplers for character/crunch, but a modern sampler that colours the sound is not as desirable to me.
@Abhoth I will do the reply once I listened properly.
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I’ve always been quite happy with sampling through the Octatrack though I think too much internet reading has made me question my own ears!
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…there were days when people hated each other, once finding themselves on the side of emu samplers…or on the side of akai samplers…
u could’nt be on no side…u had to pick one…
while most people arguing against each other never owned both of them…
emu was always consiered warmer…akai always colder…
but that was at least same gerneation of converters talk…
now u guys comparing even samplers with gaps of years inbetween and same brand…
wondering what makes a difference, when even most basics are different…like sample rates and stereo versus mono…and a copy of a copy of a copy is a copy of a copy and never the original again…ooops how can it be?..i hear clearly that copy 3 is not that accurate as copy 5…but i need total accuaracy, otherwise i can’t work with THAT…
meanwhile oto makes a cult out of bad converters again…
i never could imagine myself testing and comparing instead of using and working…
really nothing else to do…?
but hey…whatever makes u happy, right?
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While I certainly agree with the general gist of this, I would still like to point out that it obviously isn’t a case of either/or. 
Unless someone is able to work on their music 24/7 that is.
My personal motivation for educating myself on nerdy details like this is mostly just curiousity, but also to be able to help myself and others make informed decisions.
I remember that a couple of years ago, someone asked if it would be ok to route their synth via the OT, and one or more replies claimed with absolute certainty that it would sound awful and that they should buy a bigger mixer instead (or something to that effect, I don’t remember exactly). That is the kind of scenario where I suspect the advice is bad, but would prefer to have done some testing instead of just posting yet another uninformed opinion.
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Please let those of us with scientific / engineering mindset to do what we like
A year ago I was unboxing my new synth and playing after 5 minutes I realized I don’t like the sound. Hooked on the oscilloscope to see what is wrong. Also made samples and A/B compare with other synth. Had a conversation with the support and the circuit designer. Got some tip and modified the electronics. Shared the info and help others with the mod. Yes, I am happy.
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Hi there,
I had OT mkI early batch (more kinda grayish) and now I have the mkI late (more blackish smoother finish).
With the early batch I had clearly noticeable drop in sound quality when sampling or just playing thru, especially in the low and low-mid range! this was the main reason I had to sell it.
For about a 1 year ago I bought another mkI (really cheap). I was expecting the same audio problem like the unit I used before. But for my surprise the sound quality is much, much better. Actually completely incomparable with the first one.
cheers!
PS. and yes: always use 24 bit!
I think alot of the “problem” is that alot of people where driving AD converters too hard. I think that more and more people have learned/experienced that when using 24bit you dont have to gain the input signal all the way up into the almost clipping range like we did with 16bit equipement 20 years ago.
IMO the slight colouration of the OT only happens after recording, rather than with thru tracks or dir.
Had the exact same problem with my mk1 octa bough used 5 years ago. No problem with imported samples but anything i passed through the inputs sounded a bit muffled and flat.
Never thought that could be an early batch issue.
Is it something that is documented or at least knowned?
So now we want to know which version OT @Abhoth used? I don’t expect a mkI because I don’t hear the muffled and flat. Maybe it’s just my ears.
All the coloring people are talking about the Octatrack has very little to do with the converters, it’s more the built-in effects and gain staging affecting things. Even a fully open filter (which is default on a track) will color the sound slightly.
The converters are fine, I’ve measured them quite a bit and they are pretty much on par with an RME Fireface. 
Maybe it would be more interesting to hear how different effect blocks affect the sound even on subtle settings.
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… Then there’s the whole aspects of pscyhoacoustics playing into this, which is very interesting.
A lot of the time when people complain about things like converters or op-amps etc sounding bad the playback is actually quite transparent. On the flip side, a lot of the time people praise things for sounding good, they actually color the sound more. Perception is very funny, and there are a lot of factors in play.
Interestingly, Elektron packaged the exact same reverb algorithm across five separate devices, yet people think it sounds different on each machine. The reason why is that each machine has a different kind of sound source (e.g synthesis vs sampling, analog vs digital etc) and a different way of interacting with the same reverb.
Things like the user interface will have an effect on perceived sound quality. Something that looks and feels great to use will likely be perceived as sounding a bit better. Making great sounding DSP algorithms is only half the battle - you need to package it in an attractive way too.
I think when you approach a piece of hardware you expect it to do something to your sound, so in the case of more transparent-sounding instruments I think there is a cognitive dissonance happening. You expected it to sound ‘better’ because it’s in this shiny box, but it sounds virtually the same. This is just my thoughts around it, don’t take it as facts at all - but there are many, many times where people have said that X has better Y than Z, and often the case has been the opposite.
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A while back a few of us did some generation loss experiments on the OT, feels relevant to link the thread here Testing the quality of re-sampling on the DT - #8 by knobgoblin