OT - sound quality

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#674

No disrespect intended, but that is absolutely user error. OT does not magically have a preference or dislike of “certain synths”. If your waveform in the AED looks like a block, it’s because you recorded too hot. If your waveform is not a block, and the output is distorted, check the gain staging of the OT, your mixer, interface, etc. Turn it down! I sample an arguably super-fat OB-6 all the time, and it sounds great.

This thread has been fun, but also makes me want to pull my face off. To be sure, the OT converters impart some (relatively neutral) coloration, but what machine doesn’t have its own sound? Is this real life? It’s the weird unsubstantiated claims like this that keep the myth of “OT sounds bad” alive on the web. Just learn to gain stage correctly, and enjoy the OT for what it is. Your samples shouldn’t be distorting. OT fidelity is fine. If you need something better, save up for a Kyma system.

Just my 2c. Carry on!

16 Likes
#675

I could make a Stradavarius violin sound like rubbish. User error.

6 Likes
#676

I don’t believe you. Can we get an audio A/B test?

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#677

Wisdom.

#678

This is just not true.
Have you ever heard a 2005 Apogee or 1998 Akai s5/6000? Even late 80’s/early 90s Akai samplers had a very hi-fi clear sound without too much colouring and lot’s of bass.

The Octatrack is just an average sounding sampler with below average converters and compared to Apogee and (earlier) Akai samplers it is very cheap indeed (in terms of price). The MPC4000 for example was IIRC close to 3000$ Which is double the price of an octatrack, which is reflected in quality of converters etc. If you’d stick in apogee like comverters in the octatrack, it would be too expensive.

It is acrually quite the opposite from what you’re saying. Lots of gear made in the last 10-15 years acrually sound less good than stuff before that. Especially samplers.

People tend to associate “old samplers” with just the sp1200 and mpc60 and Mirage etc. There were many more. From late 80’s onwards most samplers sounded pretty good and neutral. I’ve had many and the octatrack (mk1 and 2) was my least favorite sounding sampler for bass and drums. The pitching / interpolation is just really bad for my taste. And the filter and reverb. Just bleh on drums - bass

2 Likes
#679

Here is the thread i talked about earlier.

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#680

I never said anything to the contrary of any of that, and I certainly don’t think the octatrack is the best sounding sampler ever, but I definitely think it doesn’t really matter.
Long posts like these are exactly why I don’t engage in these kinds of threads; how is any of that relevant to my post or what the octatrack is supposed to do? It’s a performance sampler that offers a different set of functions and tools to something like an akai or whatever other sampler you like the sound of. If you want perfectly clean sampling, or sampling with any color, flavor, or texture under the sun use one of the ones you listed, or better yet just use a computer! That’s what’s great about making music today; there are so many options and you’re allowed to have any preference you want. Threads like these are always full of people aggressively writing essays complaining that gear A isn’t more like gear B, when 90% the time it’s just comparing apples and oranges. When elektron comes out with an OT mk3 and it sounds even worse than the mk2 to your ears, get back to me.

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#681

Case Closed!

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#682

I wonder if anyone’s ever told some persons it’s okay to not like something, it’s not that big of a deal.

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#683

The patience of a saint!

Didn’t come here at all yesterday and now I want the last 30 min of my life back.

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#684

Me too!!!
Me tooooo!!! :joy:

Elektronauts now have their own infinite scrolling loop!

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#685

I wish the OT tracks could handle mixed sample rates. How about that as a upgrade for the mk3? Let’s look forward about possibilities in the world of hardware samplers.

#686

Honestly no one could tell a sample has gone thru the OT if you know how to use it and can polish it a bit in a DAW, and even the polishin is unnecessary in most cases. No one. All these guys saying they got ripped off, that it’s unusable etc. have the kind of golden ears that the colour peels off in a blind test. A sampler from '91 has better sound… Yeah, it could well have but it doesn’t matter one bit in a finished product. As far as the onboard effects go, yeah they’re kinda shit, which is why I have pedals (which are also kind of shit but in a more pleasing way). Unfortunate, but back in 2010 multieffects weren’t quite as good as they are now. I do wish they’d release an update to make the effects modular, to let you add and remove effects and have fewer but of higher q. That very likely won’t happen, so I’m content with using my pedals.

1 Like
#687

in regards to FX - i recognized that the tweakability of the FX is not as wide-ranged as a usual vst plugin is - but, and this is important: using Neighbour -Tracks to build custom FX is really, really amazing and maybe one of the best things I’m liking about the OT right now. I couldn’t care less for “pristine” sound quality, because most of the music that’s interesting is never going to be “authentic” or “realistic”. A classical recording might come close to this feeling, but even there: why should I listen to a raw recording when I enjoy mixed/mastered Recordings much more?

I just mastered an album with Tracks each from a different artists, where people made their tracks with Digitakts, Ableton, Octatrack (myself :-), Modular Synth, etc.

And I think that all sounded great, although one Track had missing highend due to a malfunctional mixing desk (the artist performed it “live”) as I was told - and in the end I even liked most a Track that had obvious problems with overcompression at some part of the Track. OT Sound Quality is just no category that’s interesting in regard to electronic music production. As was mentioned a lot: subjective taste and if you can really become fond of a workflow.

#688

Seriously, why is this thread still going?

End this madness.

4 Likes
#689

We could all go back to the analog four sound quality thread for a bit if you like :slight_smile:

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#690

I have some concerns about this thread’s quality. If you sample this thread with an Octatrack will it implode?|

4 Likes
#691

I actually really enjoyed it, A+ would read again

4 Likes
#692

I probably just need to sort my gainstaging out.

3 Likes
#693

I really liked the thread, even though it seemed a little gearslutesque, because some people brought some good points. but yeah, maybe 20/682 readable and enjoyable posts in total is a little meager :wink:

1 Like