Do you still intend to use Live sometimes or even for final arrangement and mixdown purposes? Because I think Overbridge is amazing for linking to the DT and processing in the computer. OT has no Overbridge compatibility and is more cumbersome for getting things into a DAW later on. Just another consideration for you to think about. For the record, I’m a DT owner and I’m about to get an OT for the second time.
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I got bitten by sample fly, and I was just going to create this same topic! I was drawn towards Octatrack or Digitakt and I had all these bullet points in my mind too!!!
(Plus OT would also work as a mixer)
In addition, I was going to ask people, how would they rate the time stretch and pitch shift quality of different devices, especially Octatrack and the new Roland MC-707.
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recently got a digitakt to go with my octa which is the brains of my setup. i’ve had many situations where i had so many tracks on the octa occupied with something else that i found myself needing another machine just for drums, and digitakt seems pretty great for that.
regarding your points, those sound mostly accurate. however, i do think that octa’s dark reverb is pretty much on par with digitakt’s reverb quality-wise. digitakt does have a width control on the delay though which the octa doesn’t. on top of that, i would say that the digitakt is more “hands-on” and immediate just because it isn’t nearly as deep as the octa.
i haven’t noticed that the octa would sound worse than the digitakt in any way. on octa you can have stereo samples which i miss a bit on the digitakt but you can still create some nice stereo-sounding beats with panning sounds around. oh and also miss the A/B slider!
I am looking for something to chop and mangle samples and help sequence my synthesizers. I like my SP404 but I would prefer precise waveform editing, I have a lot of trouble with everything syncing up and I do not like the sequencer that much
but judging by this, it seems like an octatrack would be best for you. it has very precise waveform editing, and slicing samples is pretty easy once you get used to it. on the digitakt you can’t really see precisely what you’re doing for longer samples and there’s no slicing. sequencing other gear works also great (however i don’t know if octa is different than the digitakt on this front).
yeah, I probably would but for the most part its largely that I don’t want to be tethered to my computer for a large part of the process even if it has the most features…I have read that about the OT it is another good thing I will keep in mind w/r/t actually finishing stuff off
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I have zero knowledge about the DT, but the OT definitely is a great machine and so much more than just a sampler.
I just upgraded to the MKII because tje workflow of the MKI really needs a lot of time for building muscle memory and makes it hard to use when you do not use it frequently.
They both sound great, sample editing and slicing works ok. The reverb needs some tweaking and does not compare to an outbound unit bit gets the job done in 99%.
No need for a new unit though, as they are build like a tank and serve as a hammer.
My choice would be a used OT 1 or 2, depends on the effort you are willing to invest. UX is berter on the 2, knobs and buttons feel better on the 1. And the latter has a bigger tiny screen 
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Some points missing in your list.
OT’s crossfader with A/B scenes is something huge. You can morph up to 250 parameters on the 8 tracks with A/B scenes (16 scenes available per part, 64 parts). You can make a whole song with a single pattern with it.
Reverbs are not great, but there are much more fx types, 2 different plockable fx per track, a master track with fx. You can chain up to 8 fx (16 with trickery). Delay seem similar, some fx are really good (filters, eq, compressor, comb filters…)
Stereo samples, readable from card : 2GB max files = 3h30mn stereo samples max per track.
64GB max on the card > 64GB max per project. (64MB for DT).
8 stereo recorders, with rec trigs to automate them > record perfect loops without editing, sequence your recordings and play / mangle them on the fly, pre-sliced. They can be used as really good quality fx. Max recording time : 8m28s. (30s for DT?)
8 tracks looper ability.
3 lfos per track with lfo designer : you can randomize things with selected values, add tons of subtle variations.
Midi tracks having 3 midi lfos* and arp you can combine in very realistic ways, or totally random, musical scales…
*Or other parameters like velocity
Tranferring files doesn’t require a software.
…
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I dont think you can really compare Digitakt and Octatrack. They are very different machines.
A quick look at the front panel really gives it away in my opinion. One has ‘‘Digital Drum computer and sampler’’ written on it. The other has ‘‘8 track Dynamic Performance Sampler’’ written on it.
@sezare56 makes some very good points above.
I am totally biased because I have an octatrack and love it. Reading the OP just screams octatrack, at least to my mind anyway.
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thanks this post is really helpful…i do think it would take me a little while to get adjusted to octatrack (just based on skimming the manual/workflow videos, i have never really had very complex pieces of hardware) but it does seem to have a lot more options than DT so i am leaning towards getting it instead, that and the live capabilities of it are pretty appealing to me
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just get a used one. if it does not gel with you, sell it without loss in money but gain in experience
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Then take a DT to sequence the SP404 (having an event recorder rather than a sequencer).
Just out of interest as a non oktatrack owner but aspiring one, can you use the cross fader to effect things like midi cc values of other gear or is just for the audio tracks?
Just for the audio tracks.
The crossfader sends CC48. With a midi processor you can map it to anything.
@guga made a dedicated one : Goliath.
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Thanks for the info 
That little Goliath looks immense!
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DT is a beaut.
But in your shoes, I’d go for the OT mk1.
Its extra features are really significant for creativity if you want to be able to do a lot more in the box itself. With 8 secs of random melodic audio from a radio you could create a full diverse set with it; slice dice mangle effect resample - the world is your oyster.
What you’ll miss on not getting the DT is that it has a hifi/excited crisp sound and is very straightforward to use - whereas the OT is more neutral and clean though still a very good sound.
If you’ve a big pool of well prepped samples however, and have less interest in going on a OT journey with all its extra capabilities, the DT might be the better call to start mixing and sequencing and getting very quick great sounding results rather than lower level slicing, stretching, mangling in the OT …
Last point - as a performance box, the OT offers more interaction and FX variety that you can physically be doing interesting things that make a big difference to what people are hearing.
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I’m a dt owner that will certainly own an octa and a rytm one day but if you’re really into sample base production whether you use it with only samples or apply sample based production techniques to original music that you make yourself via synths, drums, guitars, bass, keys etc… I would go for a digitakt and pair it with a cheap used mpc live, I would resample the digitakts magic all day long into the mpc live and resample the mpc live magic into the digitakt, and also the mpc live has what I would almost consider vital next level sampling features… the layering, the track exploding feature, the looper, the fx, the pad linking, and the sequencer is supremely organic… the combination between the two ethos of the digitakt and the mpc live will get you into a very creative and fluid space… you will be surprised, and you can get them both for cheap enough. They will super compliment each other.
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I had an Octatrack for quite a while and never got on with it. Every idea required a lengthy setup.
The Digitakt is much more immediate. I use it for composition rather than performance, and I find I can go from zero to working song much faster than on the Octatrack.
I don’t really miss the cross fader. But I do miss slice mode, and the extra LFOs.
But there’s no way I’d go back. To me, Octatrack is too much like working on an excel spreadsheet.
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I had a DT, loved it, but still upgraded to the OT, and I’m glad I did.
Here are what I consider the most important differences:
-
for Digitakt:
-faster to learn and use
-crisper sound
-more octaves
-better as a synth (using single-cycle waveforms), repitching algorithm is very nice. Also great for repitching eg sampled bells, percussion…
-has Overbridge, very useful for recording -
for Octatrack:
-more effects
-more storage
-great flexibility with parts/scenes/tracks (this is where the confusion comes in, but also the power…)
-can use as a mixer. Having a master track w/FX is good for live too.
-slices
-cool live recording/looping capabilities which may or may not be important depending on your musical goals
I’d argue that the OT is superior, especially since you have synths to sequence/sample.
BUT you have to go in with the knowledge that it takes some time to learn the OT, that it has many many possible workflows, and it might be a long time before you work out the best way for you to use it. I’m still doing that myself after 6months of OT ownership. It takes dedication and practice to get it sounding good and to have enough muscle memory to use it fluently.
ps. aesthetically I find the OT mk1 most attractive. but the DT feels really good to use, pleasing to touch…
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hey, I was wondering to what extent you find this limiting on the octatrack compared to the digitakt? ive read there are kind of workarounds (speeding up I think) but not any that work too well
You can get good results by pitching things way up or down past the initial range on the DT, so I do miss it for things like guitar-ish plucks and also using SCWs. I haven’t found a good workaround.
But: I think this is less important if you have a decent synth. If you’re using the OT for percussion, longer loops, etc., you’re unlikely to want to repitch very far. Overall the trade-off is worthwhile.
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the OT is vastly superior really. trickier to get to grips with but once it clicks, oh boy.
DT is a breeze to get working with but it is very limited, comparatively. its plenty of fun initially, but the limits become a frustration in my experience. sort of the opposite of the OT 
Though if pure simplicity is what youre after, the DT shines.
if getting an OT id go for the mk2 as the extra buttons make it much more user friendly.
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