Yeah at group level but that’s not very convenient though.
You can record parameters at step level but also edit them easily afterwards? I thought that was one of the things missing from +.
Yeah arrangement wise the maschine goes well beyond the elektron sequencer when it comes to longer structures etc.
Must admit is had been a long time since ive used maschine. It has a lot of great features the octatrack lacks. And visa versa. In the end it’s a matter of feel, workflow and feature sets one’s looking for.
I think Junkie XL must use one too, because I remember it being a different Wacom that was actually mounted UNDER the keyboard on a different desk. But I could still be misremembering.
EDIT: I was confusing Stimming’s Wacom with Junkie XL’s regular touchscreen:
Here’s my final opinion on the the topic of my original post.
I went ahead and purchased an Octatrack, and my conclusion is that there is really no product out there that can serve as a viable alternative for it. The similarities between the OT and the products mentioned in the original post are superficial at best; the OT is truly unique in that sense. I’m looking forward to making it the center of my musical setup.
Objectively speaking however (and this is not to bash the OT), I think Elektron have really let us down when it comes to maintaining the viability of the OT, and frankly, are not delivering a product worth the money that you are paying for it in 2021.
Let’s remember that this is an expensive product. 85 mb of RAM is unacceptable for that amount of money. To me, it’s unimaginable for 16 bit recording to even be an option in 2021. Their failure to improve on the OT when the MK2 was released was disappointing enough, but there are simple things which their failure to implement really puzzles me. The lack of an undo function when using the pickup machine, some kind of pre-delay on the spring reverb, the quality of the spring reverb itself for example
While it is true that some limitations breeds creativity, some limitations are just downright debilitating.
What angers me the most is that the OT could be perfect, if it wasn’t for Elektron’s incomprehensible oversights regarding the OT
The price is due to it being a niche product with a relatively small market, more than anything else.
Overbridge, the failed Power Handle, and maintenance of their current products seem to have eaten up the larger portion of their resources. Add to that new product development and chip shortages, it’s no surprise nothing substantial has been added to OT.
It’s kind of insane how much OT does… in my opinion it’s a bit of an anomaly, as given the choice between semi-unlimited (but crappy) effects and, say, more voices, I’d choose the latter, and a few fixed (but good) send effects and an insert effects bus with bitcrush and distortion.
But you’re not going to see any updates to OT that’s for sure. People are happy with it being “good enough” and it must be kind of a cash cow for Elektron seeing as they just re-issue in a new color and people are falling over themselves to buy it.
Elektron has done a great job of updating the Octatrack. Firmware 1.4 added a lot. It’s still got limitations, but it’s pretty great that a ten year old device is still getting new features.
I know we are getting a little circular on the reasoning, but here’s my take on the price/value question. The OT is wholly unique, and it probably risked being discontinued right before we got the MK II, especially given the success of the Digitakt. Imagine if they had discontinued the OT.
Is it one of those devices that stand the test of time and would maintain/increase in value if discontinued? Just look at the Monomachine/Machinedrum, or vintage samplers. People are attracted to them because there just isn’t anything quite like them.
I think it’s culturally and functionally one of those classics, and I’m glad it can be purchased new still. It just comes with the cobwebs of being an overly ambitious piece of specialized hardware from a time when Elektron’s business management-side was still finding its legs.
No fancy spreadsheet would ever have supported the idea of the Octatrack from a business case perspective.
And thats why it exists and why now the possibility of a future successor is unsure.
When it was released there was nothing like it…not even close. That gap has closed somewhat since then, but it’s still pretty singular. There are some units that can do more, but sacrifice immediacy. Some units do specific things better, but pale in other ways compared to the OT. There is imo not (yet) a better performance sampler*.
*Of single unit hardware, not iPad or modular. That’s a different conversation.
I’ve never even filled up the 32 megs of RAM on my old MPC; the only time I’ve filled up the Octatrack is if I’ve messed something up with length multipliers on pickup machines to where I end up with the second or third one trying to record 256 steps or something when I meant it to do 64.
It would be nice to be able to stream to the card, though. The SP303 could do it with much slower cards a decade earlier, there’s really no reason it shouldn’t be an option, even if it had serious limitations like not being able to play a sample while it was being recorded it would still be useful But it would also mean kind of reworking the entire architecture of the machine.
I agree If you listen to his version of Terminator and then Brad Fiedel’s original on Judgement Day with just two Fairlight CMI Series III what a masterpiece especially Sarah’s Nuclear Nightmare.
So with just two Octotrack’s there will be magic!!!
If you haven’t, I HIGHLY recommend watching the original Octatrack launch video. Its literally insane. There is no way they would’ve made a launch video like that today.
Because it’s the best device in its class for what I want to do. Again, the OT is unmatched in terms of what it’s capable of and the workflow it offers. My praise of the OT and the criticisms I mentioned are not mutually exclusive.
If you’re using the RAM mainly for one shots and short loops, then 85 MB is plenty, no argument there. But my needs are that of a device which can record and play back instrumental parts in a live situation. 5 mins of recording time is not a limitation which is going to “make me more creative,” it’s just going to be annoying.
Especially annoying is the fact that there is no good technical reason for making a device which has only 85MB of RAM in 2017…
As I said, the OT is a nearly perfect device with small, stupid shortcomings which are just annoying. I’m still glad I bought it
