Okay. And I see where you’re coming from with this post. However, I feel I should outline some user perspective. My first 2 years of OT ownership have been somewhat marred not only by discovering bugs on a regular basis, but also persistent hardware faults requiring 3 returns to date. At such times one can feel somewhat ‘at the mercy’ of a manufacturer. I didn’t want to become a bigger pain in the ass by reporting all bugs, especially if I might be mistaken - I wanted Elektron on my side regarding getting my OT fixed (including the associated costs - which they have so far met, thank you Elektron!). I’m not saying that’s the reality of how Elektron approach support, just that my concern over the hardware made me wary of bringing up other stuff.
So when it comes to suspected bugs I’ve taken the policy of trying to eliminate user error first. I do this on my own to start with - isolating, replicating, re-reading the manual, searching the forums…
& When that doesn’t work I have often posted my issue here. In doing this I’m again trying to eliminate user error, but also I’m trying to get someone else to either confirm it’s been acknowledged or, if I’m honest, to report the bug themselves!! More than once my OT has been with Elektron while I’ve been chasing down a bug on here. Just doesn’t seem a good time to add more service tickets. Kinda hoping that users with no hardware worries can chase up OS issues, but kinda helping the process along with discussion…
I’m out of warranty now and that’s probably part of why I’m speaking up (though I hope Elektron will play nice if the same fault recurrs…)
Okay, so the hardware thing is a particular circumstance for me. But a consideration that applies more widely and has a bearing on how people react when they run into suspected bugs is how much TIME we have to spare. Too often I’ve started using the OT, working around those issues I’ve learned about the hard way (don’t copy and paste a slot, don’t touch the memory settings once you have some work down, don’t put midi tracks into plays free direct…) only to run into something else. Next hour is spent investigating, then it’s just “oh FFS” and switch the thing off & go to bed. Next chance I get to spend some time with it I have to decide whether to investigate and explain bugs or try to produce something, maybe just have fun. I have bug related projects piled up named “testing…” Compiling a bug report or a forum post, then following up takes even more time. Ideally yes we should challenge each other’s reports, discuss at length, eliminate user error, decide whether to roll back OS etc. But I bought this thing to USE it. A weariness sets in.
My last session ended with me watching the audio editor tracking over a completely different waveform to the one I could hear playing from that slot! Another WTF moment courtesy Octatrack (maybe courtesy incompetent user but experience tells me probably not). It’s clear something has probably gone wrong but picking that apart is going to be a lengthy process & communicating it to anyone else even longer. Freezes (whether the whole system or the sequencer), unexpected muting of all tracks, or of some tracks, slots - these are not uncommon for someone who tries to use the OT everyday. I’m talking about users who by now know to check if they have a scene overriding settings, know not to just jump up and ask others to direct them to a page in the manual. Every time something happens it’s a case of choosing to make music regardless or start detaching things, testing, discussing.
There’s no way round it. The machine is buggy. Yes there have been a ton of things where it’s my error, but I’ve unearthed lots of bugs, spent lots of time on them.
My suggestion: Elektron should provide a list of acknowledged bugs. That would save us all some time.
And if there’s a workaround that Elektron support suggest to a user on the support ticket, make that public too.
Yes I can see how that might not look good commercially, but with the OT you unleashed a beast. Nothing like it will likely come again (fingers burned even?). The OT is likely on its way to legendary status and that maverick experimental reputation will benefit Elektron, whatever they get into in future. Manage that reputation. And if you do bring out something as mould breaking again people will invest their cash, time, patience - knowing you’re going to be open about how things are progressing.
Okay I feel a little conflicted about posting this now. I don’t like the overly negative, demanding style but I’ve looked back over my past posts & it’s usually about tips or attempts to replicate bugs. Positive stuff on the whole, so maybe I can get away with a little venting here?!
I do take care to outline how to replicate a bug when I first go looking for help & here’s where I first brought up this particular bug: [EDIT: see my next post for a clearer explanation of what happens]
Hope that makes it clearer.
I really appreciate you chipping in Olle. I appreciate that someone from Elektron is keeping at least half an eye on what gets said here - especially when it gets noisy & cluttered with irrelevant spats of the kind that had to be split off from this thread. I especially take on what you say about starting unhelpful rumours and hope I haven’t contributed to that. In the case of this particular issue it looks like I took confirmation from just one other user and perhaps that’s not enough to justify repeating it here…
Well, I hope this lengthy post reflects more than just my own experience and is in some way helpful in getting the OT to a less snaggy place! Thanks!