Octatrack: Is buying this a mistake in 2021?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#353

Akai timestretching is an offline thing you do via menus.

  1. Make some coffee
  2. Get your audio into the AKAI, perhaps by recording via the analog ins, maybe via SCSI or MIDI (both of which are very slow by modern standards)
  3. Drink some coffee
  4. Select the file you want to stretch
  5. Run the stretch operation
  6. Drink more coffee
  7. Check out your stretched file

Some perspective on how much more powerful computers are now than in the 1990s: A Raspberry Pi 3 has more compute power than any publicly known supercomputer that shipped during the 1990s.

Edit: the S612 is the one you want for real-time sound manipulation.

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#354

that takes me back :relieved:

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#355

The S1100 can’t stretch in real time like the Octatrack, but yes, you could in theory timestretch the samples you want to the length needed, then trigger playback from the Octatrack. It doesn’t have any BPM stretch function by the way, it’s done by percentage, so getting exact tempos out will require some maths.

I don’t know what OT TS forum is, but when you say ‘superior’ I would point out that that is highly subjective, and in the case of complete tracks or parts then more likely than not it’s not going to be what you expect. Perhaps check out some audio demos on Youtube etc. And if you do decide to go the classic sampler route, as @obscurerobot says, get ready to do some home chores while waiting for the stretch to compute.

I like the operation of old samplers, lots of buttons and screens to page through. It’s a more considered approach because you have to really plan out what you want to do to the samples with far less visual information to guide you, which gets you in a different head space. Very slow way of working. But don’t believe everything you read about the ‘sound’, especially not of the later Akais. S1100 was considered a very hi-fi machine in its day. By the time of S5000/6000 they were basically rack mount computers designed for CD quality audio playback, very little ‘mojo’.

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#356

You could slave the mpc to the octatrack, and switch its sequences via program change, the thing the octatrack can - is the scene morph part, the force can do it too, to an extend, but nothing feels so hands on like the Octatrack, so that is a major point imho - Elektron nailed the user interface in this respect, which makes it more fun imho. When i play with the analog 4 and the mpc, i come always to the point, that the A4 is just more fun to work with. (not that the mpc is bad in any way, i like it too, but its just not so immediate to handle. They should have setup a performance mode on this thing too.

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#357

Wealth of knowledge- Thanks! What about real time or live mangling with the s5000/s6000??

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#358

Sound on Sound is a good source for detailed reviews of old (and new) gear. I’m pretty sure the 612 is the only Akai that had much in the way of real time controls, the rest of the S series were all about sampling workflow and features to be triggered via MIDI.

If you are looking for vintage real time sample mangling then you may want to look into Roland Variphrase - the VP9000 as well as the V-Synths, XT and GT.

Or maybe something more modern like the Microgranny.

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#359

Someone needs to make a modern clone of the S612…

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#360

A Piston Honda might be close. There are probably other Euro modules that do similar things.

#361

Can we have a 2023 update please, been thinking of getting OT for years but always shy away in the end.

#362

With the time I’ve spent with it so far over the last half year I have zero regrets. AFAICT there’s still nothing else that quite matches its capabilities for the kind of live workflow I’m into atm, Dynamic Performance Sampler is very apt.

I do really wish it had some polyphony per track, velocity and maybe key tracking features while I’m dreaming, but even so there’s just so much fascinating stuff to get stuck into that sounds great and is fun to experiment with that I really don’t mind the odd lack of a feature here and there.

#363

The answer in 2023 is the same as 2021.

There’s a very distinct workflow that may or may not work for you. There are particular uses of it that aren’t available on any other sampler, but if your brain doesn’t work that way, it’s hard to get along with. If your brain does work that way, it’s the best thing ever.

The key, if you choose to try it, is to learn it slowly rather than trying to take in every bit of functionality at once. I think too many people learn everything available with it, get overwhelmed and struggle from analysis paralysis on how to use it.

Try it as merely a sampler first. Next, try it as a sequencer for internal and external sources. Finally, try it as an external (along with potentially some internal sources) mixer. See EZBot’s videos for an example of setting this up. Mangle the hell out of your sources and use the crossfader. This is really where it shines in terms of functionality you won’t find elsewhere. EZBot and Max Marcos have videos that really dig in to show the overall functionality available.

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#364

Saw a local MK1 listed for under $700 and thought, why not. Always wanted to try an OT so here we go! First impression: super fun and not as complicated as rumor has it. Enjoying myself plenty and already doing things that never would have been possible with my setup before. Is it worth it? Only you can decide!

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#365

I’m still on the path to learning the OT, and I’ve reached the re-acquiring an OT after selling my first one milestone. There’s one for sale here that’s relatively cheap, and I’d likely buy it if it was in better condition.

It’s an old OT mk2, so the inputs are noisy when monitoring them while nothing is plugged in (they behave normally when plugged in). Some of the paint has worn off in places and the up button lights up pale blue instead of white, but there are no jumpy encoders. A few buttons and knobs have been replaced with new original parts. But what worries me the most is the screen burn-in:

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I’ve had a Rytm with a little burn-in, and while it irked me a bit, it wasn’t THAT noticeable unless I was looking at a fat waveform. Here in Norway, a new OT mk2 costs roughly $1700 after tax. At $900 (seller is willing to go a bit lower), is this a good deal, or is it better to wait for one in better condition to show up, and likely to cost around $1200 USD?

#366

How much is it to buy a new screen part from Elektron?

#367
#368

I’m pretty picky about that kind of thing.
I would want one that was fairly flawless at any price really.
I see MKI’s and II’s for sale at a wide variety of price all the time.
I’d want one where everything works perfectly, as it should.
If you want to fall in love with it, get a nice one.

Any particular reason to not get a minty MKI?

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#369

…is not buying it a mistake :face_with_monocle:

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#370

I din’t know that about the s1100, one more reason I regret not buying the one I found on Yahoo Auctions Japan for $40 a few years ago (international shipping was over $100 so $40 isn’t as good a deal as it sounds, since you could still get an S1100 for around $200 on eBay in the USA back in 2017-18 whan I saw it).

Maybe I missed something but I don’t thing the S5000 I ended up with (because it was only a little more than an 1100, and I already have a couple older samplers so features were more important than “character” and I was mostly looking at the 1100 for the reverb) can do that. SMPTE tiing is still way better than MIDI so it would be a really handy feature to have for certain things, but prices for the 1100 are way too high now.

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#371

Yeah, it’s a very cool feature. Limited to one stereo track at a time, but it doesn’t count towards the polyphony, so you still have the 16 voices of sample RAM playback on top (plus the internal FX). By the time of the S5000 Akai had a range of full-featured HDD recorders, so maybe they didn’t want to bite in to the sales of that side of the business. The HDD recorder part of the S1100 was a later software addition, kind of as a sweetener to get people to buy them even if they already owned an S1000, for instance.

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#372

There is one selling in Gothenburg Sweden bought this winter so 2,5 years warranty left for 13.000 SEK. Maybe worth a trip? :grin: