OctaTrack
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sounds like you need a digitakt buddy.
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Nah, DigiTakt (just to entertain glooms here) is mono only. In the 2020s that is.
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Ahaha Iâm entertained ! But I thought digitakt had stereo samples ?
Really just sounds like you need to be using a DAW. Or devise something yourself in Max
I love the use of the term âmatrioshka structureâ, itâs a lovely visual analogy which describes the inner workings of the Octatrack (OT) quite nicely. In terms of the âstructural debilitationâ (another lovely use of language by the way), I would say that itâs more fun to overcome perceived limitations than be ruled by them, and the OT is begging to be bent to the whim of the user.
Iâm not comfortable enough with the OT to comment on the technical specifications you have provided, but I appreciate the visual elements of how the OT works vs how you would like it to work. However, the OT does not have:
As it is capable of having a step play only once every eight repeats, which I think is the equivalent of what, 2048 steps? I may be wrong on the actual number as my maths is shit but itâs a helluva lot more than 64 thatâs for sure. Plus you can set a trig to only play the first time round and never again, which is perfect for playing stems, and how a lot of people play live. So the sequencer is not as restrictive as you seem to believe!
I find autosave a wonderful thing, and itâs something easily overcome, not least by simply copying the pattern or project in a âperfectâ state to somewhere else where it can be mangled without fear of permanently mangling your patterns.
I take it from your post that you have an OT. In which case, I seriously suggest digging in to the trig conditions and ways in which it can be played live in a non-destructive way. There are countless threads on these subjects on the forum - the search function is your friend - as well as lots of videos on YouTube which may help you make the most of the machine.
Thanks again for the quality post and I wish you all the best!
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OT owners would hate this but Iâve replaced my OT with Dirtywave M8 tracker as my main brain. Pretty good sampling capabilities and synthesis and Re rendering your tracks liek all 8 of em into slices then you get 7 more tracks ! Master compression not much Fx but you get the ability to mangle audio in creative ways. Idk just throwing it out there. Digitakt was reccomended because you could be tweaking everything and then reload your pattern easier than in the Ot ? I thought Ot had more manpower lol
Yes, DAW (including DAW-in-a-box style instruments, Akai Force / NI Machine+ et. al.) is exactly what I want to avoid. Just not the same feel. Maybe Iâll end up with one, although much of the DAW features in these, I do not need in an instrument I only every use for track design & performance, never for sound design (thatâs the DAW job).
Well Iâve owned OT and now own mpc live 2 and for what you want to do OT is the best performance sampler and I find my moc lacking in sequencing features and it takes way longer to get sound exportation and a live set together. I miss you OT !
Octatrack is basically at the end of its development arc. How it is now is more or less how itâs always going to be, so if it doesnât work for you now, then it doesnât work for you ever.
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512, but thatâd still fail to deliver what I need: timings and triggers at that resolution. However, I didnât know this, many thanks for pointing this out, quite probably useful elsehwere.
Thatâd mean I need to make as many copies elsewhere as many returns to a particular theme are planned, and do so every single theme that is ever to be returned to. Immense amount of tedium, ultra cumbersome, and considering 256 patterns maximum (already need at least that amount for a single set)âŚ
No I donât, but I really, really would like to make it work for me so I can immediately and quite happily purchase one. I just read the guide + some crucial sections of the manual whilst watching (mostly useless) videos. Iâll dig up âtrig conditionsâ, thanks!
âŚwhen it comes to all this, ot is still the most flexible sonic swiss knife sample tool out there to findâŚ
i hardly suggest u start to use one for real instead of thinking, planning ahead of urselfâŚ
ââŚtranscoding all my 100% sample projects accurately reproduced, but kept safe yet flexible for performanceâŚâ sounds way more like a head heavy wet dream than a real world experienced scenarioâŚ
do urself the favour and get it startedâŚto look, learn and find out for urself, that truu flexibilty has too many faces to plan upfront on and is nothing to whish for beyond a certain extent, end of all real world daysâŚ
if u donât see thatâŚthe ot wonât satisfy uâŚ
Yeah, exactly what I was after in the OTmkII, the much praised step sequencer, parameter grouping w/ slider, top-tier audio quality (hopefully), alongside its exellent sheer linear front panel layout (if a bit too simplistic perhaps). Beautiful industrial grey steel hull only adds to the crave (the heavier, the better), almost as cruel and heavy as my genre. Almost.
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you should wait for octatrack mk3 
there are rumors itâs coming soonâŚ
Whatâs so difficult to understand there? Samples only, all my own, some long loops, and step sequencing beyond probalby beyond you (sorry). Need to find a new centerpiece for existing stuff. Need to reproduce copyrighted audio accurately, whilst keeping it safe & flex for performance.
Would be keen myself, although I hope it wonât just be another DAW-in-a-box as per current fashion.
Besides, rumours are that OTmk3 comes out exactly on the same day as the Korg ESX3 does. Informed sources have also confirmed that theyâll still just be DJ toys w/ 64 step patterns, and a customer base gravitating around DB-ts-BD-ts-BD-ts-DB-ts⌠oh wait, I just used up 32 steps in 1:1 resolution tempo-ed 4/4, HALF of what the OTmk2, the âswiss knifeâ of the most imaginative sequencing pros can do. Damn, I must be a musician by virtue of those 32 steps alone.
Sure, but given your extensive list of âgraveâ limitations I really donât think that you are going to find something that satisfies your particular requirements, certainly not each and every one.
256 patterns per project is quite a lot, imo at least. 128 flex samples (and 128 static, so 256 in total) per project is also something that I never really had too much of an issue with when I had an OT, but one way of overcoming this is using sample chains. The RAM limitations are frustrating, and are one of the reasons that I was quite happy to get rid of my last OT and havenât looked back since, but it is worth remembering that it is a mature machine, and the RAM specs kind of reflect what probably would have been perfectly acceptable 13 years ago.
This, and that 256 patterns per project would be a problem for you, and the issues with the RAM limitations, and the seemingly large scope of your projects, are why I think what would suit your needs best would be either a DAW/Max (certainly a computer) as it sounds like the scope of whatever it is youâre working with would just be unruly and a total headache to try and work with on hardware
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Look into conditional locks, retriggers, and micro timing.
pattern reload.
and while youâre at it⌠ctrl all. for the buzz. but mostly pattern reload
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