Hi,
I’m thinking about buying an Octatrack, but what I’ve read about its sound and FX quality holds me back. Based on what people say on forums and youtube, OT’s effects don’t sound very good compared to, let’s say, the more modern Digitakt.
Could anyone share their insight on the topic? Aren’t FX something that could be updated and improved? (I thought they would with MKII, but apparently it hasn’t changed)
Thanks,
Tomás
I don’t think they will ever change because people who have already created projects will have them sound totally different if loaded on an updated OS with different effects. More effects could be added, but I doubt they will do this either
The OT mkii is a mechanical upgrade over the mki, with better encoders, buttons, screen, i/o circuitry, etc. The sound engine is the same as the mki and in spirit they are identical devices. They run pretty much the same OS and projects are pretty much compatible across the two devices. From what i understand a large part of the reason they released the mkii was because sourcing parts used in the mki was starting to get difficult. They can’t simply update the FX because the available processing power is essentially maxed out.
The FX are good quality but basic. If you think about the OT as a modular environment where you need to build sounds up from the ground up, the number and quality of effects will get you very very far. If you are looking for a kind of magic bullet fancy plugin that you can drop on a drum track and make everything sound way better, you probably will be disappointed with the FX.
Ultimately the octatrack is about finding freedom in the strange opportunity it provides. It is both unbelievably open and shape-shifting while imposing significant limitations.
There were only two things I slightly preferred about the DT to the OT. The envelope and the reverb, though I quite like the Dark Reverb in OT.
The so called “DJ Equalizer” is a solid semi parametric eq that does wonders for helping your mix along. Lo-Fi is awesome, the delay is more than fine for basic use. I much prefer the compressor on the OT to the DT as it works pretty much like a classic compressor and is very musical. What the OT CAN do, far outweighs any (real or perceived) shortcomings in the effects section, I think. And don’t forget, with the OT Cue, you can route any external effects you like, which ups the ante even further 
The DT’s FX might sound a little better but it’s like 100 times more limited - on the DT you only get one global send for reverb and delay each, then a master comp. The OT has two FX per track, you can run external signals through them, you can chain them up with neighbours for up to 8 FX on a single track, you can plock them, you can assign them to the fader… in practice I find I’m never stressing about sound quality, just making the most of all the crazy shit they can do.
I’ll fight for the OT dark reverb all day. Comb filter too. There are a few duds but most really come to life with the LFOs.
I use all the FX frequently. Phaser and chorus I love. Flanger is good. Delay and dark verb go on almost anything. Spring verb goes on sounds I want to sound wet. Gated verb for big snares. EQ for obvious reasons. Filter for anything and everything.
I end up using neighbor machines a lot, then resampling and applying more FX.
I think the OTs FX get a bit of a bad rap to a certain degree, the filter is excellent and easily on par with most other digital filters and some analog ones too, it is pretty flexible and sounds VERY nice IMHO.
The dark reverb is pretty good too, yeah it ain’t a Strymon but it does the job of adding all manner of ambience when you dial in the parameters correctly.
The spring reverb is quite trashy by nature and good on snares etc.
The chorus, spatializer and phaser are serviceable, not going to compete with dedicated units but add sufficient movement/modulation to pads etc.
The lo-fi can be good for adding grit or weirdo sideband harmonics, or completely destroying nice sounds.
The comb filter is really nice with convenient semitone tuning to turn mundane sounds into something a bit more interesting, good for FM style wavetable shenanigans and plenty more besides.
The delay is pretty flexible, key is to set up the filters accordingly.
The eqs and compressor are very handy for shaping tonal or transients respectively, for drums in particular I find them perfectly usable.
In short the OT fx require a bit of experimentation to get the best from them, it isn’t realistic to expect them to be world class standalone fx, but they definitely are useful and in most cases get the job done just fine.
The later fx in the DT, DN, AR, A4 are probably a little more refined, but don’t rule out the OT as it can sound excellent in its own right.
I also think OT‘s fx are actually pretty good. Love the Filter, it‘s just so good and versatile, Delay is great, Dark Reverb can sound amazing!
Spring Reverb on hi hats!
Compressor is so versatile, it does an equally good job shaping kick drums or as a mix bus compressor on the master track.
If you feel a particular effect sounds to static, start modulating!
Slow modulation with different speeds and depths of delay time, feedback and mix on the Chorus and Flanger, Hp, Lp filters and reverb decay time on the Dark Reverb can really make those effects shine.
They might need some serious fine tuning sometimes, but all are good and versatile effects.
Might be a good idea to do some tracks only with OT effects to get to know them better.
That‘s what I did (eight tracks with OT and AK fx only).
I luv the lo-fi effect, distortion sounds great on digital synths. Filter I use all the time.
Cue out to an AH, and you have a big ol’ Bag of fantastic!
Depends on your goals I suppose, like anything…
Even if they don’t sound like top notch artisanal boutique stompboxes, they are still very usable, and tweakable.
Oh, btw OT FX can be plocked, unlike DT’s 
Add probability on top…
You end playing with the parameters to sculpt the sound way more, I feel.
This is just my opinion I don’t like the overal sound of the OT even with a dry sample. I had a OT for 3 years and the concept is brilliant but the sound quality is not that great.
It’s just a sound man… Playback is transparent. Octa doesn’t impart character like MPC, SP, etc.
Maybe this was a gain staging issue? If you don´t watch the levels and do proper gain staging, the OT can sound flat and and artifacts can start to pile up.
There are several threads about OT gain staging here.
Agreed with most of what has been so far. My 2c is a bunch of very quick and dirty demos of most OT FX on a loop. I did these a few months back when I was still very new to OT so they’re also me experimenting quite a bit.
Filter https://clyp.it/s4ioq1mm?token=7185bddd9ec9f70c55844877ea938d8d
Lo-fi https://clyp.it/y4ra4yx5?token=f716cf8219ec6f50ed51a65c81646e4f
Flanger https://clyp.it/mh551f1x?token=d7c6cbe65cf77e5302f26a628beb3d30
Phaser https://clyp.it/pd0yz2pd?token=cebc5caa2dc430acffa706fe4dc19a8b
Chorus https://clyp.it/lmgmeu2k?token=21fb7185ce8a1666c6c4d7521d0620e5
Compressor https://clyp.it/ar5ayg2h?token=9ffd4d377782a54159b98697953644b8
Delay https://clyp.it/r1p1zeqi?token=48cf36b5ba7179d1da0c33492ef88856
Plate reverb https://clyp.it/5iqiqaie?token=121a750ec856dbe3584af72bbe02c31c
Spring reverb https://clyp.it/ueunt0bn?token=9c3d78563a24cde1ad37ae807f908778
Dark reverb https://clyp.it/vzg5tlcg?token=a9cc9ef3e9d4ed59f03bf45f62a2b547
I’ve never used the OT and thought the fx were lacking.
With all the resampling and mangling it seems my imagination was the only hurdle.
I never used the audio inputs of the OT for sampling. For my sample/sound library recordings I use a Sound Devices mic pre and AD conversion. But like I said it’s just my personal opinion about the sound quality of the OT.
You can still run into gain staging issues and encounter digital artifacts/internal clipping when playing back samples on the OT, though.
Not saying this necessarily was the case, just wanted to point out that it could be an issue.
…oh, ot’s filter delay is a beauty…the comb filter is endless in timbres and pretty unique…
the eq’s do what eq’s do…
the staializer can outstretch pretty cool…
the filter is extremly versatile…
only ot’s reverbs are a bit outdated…and that one overall master send reverb in the takt is fresh and better…yes,but that’s about it…no real comparison to the three reverbs ot is offering to u at anytime, individual on two fx slots on each of it’s 8 decks…
and this whole machine is made for discovering new sonic terretories…and for resampling…
rethinking structures…not for reproduction as natural and accurate as possible…
and yes, i can spot a little difference in sound quality when i directly compare it with converters of an audiointerface that cost a quite a bit more than a brand new ot…
but interfaces are no music instruments…while ot is nothing but exactly that…a truu music instrument…
so don’t u worry…and wait til u’ve heard the dark reverb in some timestretch moves…
or go and spent ur money on some roland thing…
The filter is good.really nice.
The delay is too safe.
the Modulation fx used to be good … about 7 years ago…
the reverbs are okay…
Ive had enough
Christ. Elektron! if you put some more effort into this unit it would SLAY the competition!
That Mk2 Octatrack is a 15% improvement on the Mk1… A few buttons more and a different colour screen!.. No wonder d.T. walked.
Wake up!
The effects are shit circa 2019. Sorry.