Octatrack Effects [Mk1/Mk2]

Who cares lol, we’ll pay thousands for tape/vinyl setups then complain about sound degradation

I wish my OT sounded like a broken walkman

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I dunno about others, but all this talk/obsession over “converters” really annoys me. It always comes up in threads like this. Have AD/DA converters even varied in quality in gear produced in the last 30 years? Shut up and make music :stuck_out_tongue:

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I’ve had my mk2 a couple of months and initially I wasn’t impressed at all with the onboard fx but I’ve found once you start getting used to machine they are actually pretty good and pretty useful.

They are not out there ground breaking fx but from a mixing point of view as bread and butter fx they definitely do the job you’ve just got to get used to tweaking them.

Like any Elektron box completely different to tweaking vst’s

Just wanted to chime in and say as a owner of OT mkii and digitone I love OTs FX just as much as the same ones on Dn.

I view the OT’s FXs more like building blocks to plug together (in the many wicked ways the OT provide, be it neighbour tracks, resampling, modulating with plock/lfos/scenes) more than “set, forget and send to” kind of FXs. Think the delay is too clean? Route it to another track with a filter fx and lo-fi on top, modulate them and so on…

I think these kind of combinations are keys to love that crazy machine’s effects.

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Totally agree…They are not set and forget. In fact, nothing on the Octa is really set and forget. Resample a chorused sound with filter modulation…Resample that combined with another sound and add lofi and reverb to glue them together. Now you have something you never imagined and the FX played a big role.

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I don’t think vinyl belongs in that sentence. Vinyl is potentially very hi-fi. A more complete medium, frequency-wise, than CD. But let’s not go there… :slight_smile:

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I’m always a little surprised by the direction of this ongoing debate. To me it’s quite clear, that the OT does not degrade the sound, when you sample into it. The problems (to me, and others) occur, when you start mangling the sound. By that point everything starts to sound very Octatrack, which to me is like a pillow over the speakers, but to others is either irrelevant, or maybe desirable.

I take the word of SOS over any anon forum poster, regardless of post counts, years on board etc. Feel free to disagree. YMMV

There is a reason why people in the industry read SOS, TapeOp and not future music :sunglasses:

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I disagree :slight_smile: :heart:

I wonder how many people who complain about OT sound quality are inadvertently leaving time stretch on? I only say this because I can’t hear any real flaws in the OT output when compared to the source if record level is set properly and time stretch is off.

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dark reverb always reminds me of being at warehouse raves in Berlin.

ain’t complaining :ok_hand:t3:

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And measurably more distorted in the audible range. Vinyl is inherently flawed in terms of sound quality. I enjoy listening to records as well, just making the point that perfect sound reproduction isn’t always the ultimate goal. I probably should have brought up the SP404 or something instead of opening this can of worms but hey ho

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I like the effects included in the OT. Sure, they may not sound as amazing as recent VSTs (e.g. Valhalla Delay), but they are good enough for me in creating captivating sound design and cool generative music.

My favourites are the comb filter, dark reverb, lo fi and delay. I love modulating the parameters using LFOs (audio and MIDI). I haven’t gone into scenes yet but it’s cool that you can modulate scenes via MIDI loopback as well.

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Modulating reverb time via scenes and/or LFOs is essential for getting recent Autechre spatial fuckery type effects.

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You are absolutely right - I didn’t know that. Thank you :+1:

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Short delay time and crossfader on feedback up to inf.

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Really a joy to mangle drums with the Octatrack.
Fast amp hold and amp release lfo modulation (hold type lfo) with different speeds on sample chain hi hats.
Then short delay times with high feedback combined with other scene locks like RTRG and RTIM (increasing retrigs and shortening retrig time on Scene B, less retrigs and longer retrig time on Scene A) and rate modulation (trig type lfo, hold lfo or one shot lfo) with lfo depth scene locked + neighbour machine with Dark Reverb or another Delay is so much fun.
Could do that every day while I’m having breakfast to start the day^^
Maybe sample some cereal crunching and toast popping lol^^

Release on cassette only btw. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Hello,

I have been looking days, for some FX-parameters on the Octatrack. I have found that many other people have been looking for years, for some FX-parameters on the Octatrack.

I need this because the instrument dosen’t have effect presets. And also I’am interested to recreate some other effects, in the Octatrack, as presets.

As good as possible.

I am surpriced that I can`t find all, detailed and nesscary informations for effects, in the EFFECTS REFERENCE.

So I have sent this letter and a List, to Elektron.

It’s possible to became not reply, but I have combinated, with an order.
:slight_smile:

Here ist the FX Questions List.
If someone have answers, or find a mistake, …
… it would be nice to complete it, …
… or help.

Thank you very much,
Martin

FX Questions List

B.3 2-BAND PARAMETRIC EQ
FRQ1 - Hz-kHz = ?
GN1 - +/-dB = ?

FRQ2 - Hz-kHz = ?
GN2 - +/-dB = ?

B.4 DJ STYLE KILL EQ
LS F - Hz-kHz = ?
HS F - Hz-kHz = ?

B.5 2-10 STAGE PHASER
SPD - ms-s or Ratio = ?

B.6 FLANGER
DEL - ms-s = ?
SPD - Hz = ?

B.7 2-10 TAP CHORUS
DEL - ms-s = ?
SPD - Hz = ?
FBLP - Hz-kHz = ?

B.8 SPATIALIZER
INP - +/-dB = ?
WDTH - degrees [°] (Like the AMPH LO-FI SETUP)
HP - Hz-kHz = ?
LP - Hz-kHz = ?

B.9 COMB FILTER
TYPE - positive or. negativ, or variable = ?

B.10 DYNAMIX COMPRESSOR
RMS - ms = ?

B.12 ECHO FREEZE DELAY
TIME - ms-s = ?
BASE - Hz-kHz = ?
WDTH - Hz-kHz = ?

B.13 GATEBOX PLATE REVERB
TIME - ms-s = ?
GATE - ms-s = ?
HP - Hz-kHz = ?
LP - Hz-kHz = ?
GVOL - -dB = ?

B.14 SPRING REVERB
TIME - ms-s = ?
HP - Hz-kHz = ?
LP - Hz-kHz = ?

B.15 DARK REVERB
TIME - ms-s = ?
SHVG - Hz-kHz = ?
SHVF - Hz-kHz = ?
HP - Hz-kHz = ?
LP - Hz-kHz = ?
PRE - ms-s = ?

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Welcome to the forum! Good luck in completing that list. My advice would be to not worry too much about frequncies and milliseconds, dial the effects in by ear and adjust them until they sound good to you.
Don’t forget that every parameter can be modulated by p-locks, LFOs, slide trigs, scenes etc. on the OT, and that is one of its strengths. You will miss out on a lot of fun and happy accidents if you just dial in a ‘preset’ and leave it static.

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