OT - sound quality

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#268

…why not stop this convincing game…actual ot users know what they got…and know for good…
…so if the next “no clue yet non ot user” talks about his personal “experience” from just hearsay, why not just let go in thinking so…?

if somebody needs a tip…fine…deserves a good hint…
but if somebody obviously does’nt get it…also fine…there u go…

so, one last time…

ot mk1 and mk2 are pretty much the same in all sonic essentials…
they are the only option to really perform LIVE without a computer…or even a mixer…
it NEVER failed me in over 3000 shows…!!!
and yes, it sounds great in all kind of venues, on all kind of sound systems…
IF, and only IF u actually KNOW what ur doing…!
it’s NOT a toy…it’s a professional and serious MUSICINSTRUMENT of it’s own…
the more work u put in ur work, the more u can actually HEAR that…
an NO, sonic quality was NEVER an issue…not in the studio…not on stage…
at least if u know sonic basics of proper mixing, how frequencies/gainstaging can add up to mess up and 24 bit / 44k is good enough for U…
my goodness…

and HEY…joyeux anniversaire, szezare…

3 Likes
#269

I’ve been following the thread everyday since I came across it and amazed it’s still going.

And I’ve made the changes suggested (changed everything to 24bit, got rid of all FX settings, turned Timestretch off ) and yes - definitely makes a difference! Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I’ve saved it as a template labeled HQ mode.

But I’m with you…I swear to god I still hear a certain quality to it. Not a bad one per se (certainly not like it was) but there’s something.

That said - all my gear has a certain sound to it so I’m OK with it. It’s actually quite clean now.

It would be great if a OT guru made a sticky post in the forum labeled ‘HQ Octatrack Mode’ with all the settings (I’m afraid I’m too new to the machine that I’d miss something obvious).

It might kill this wonderful thread if they did :slight_smile:

#270

People love it so much they want it also to sound like there other favourite samplers…lol

1 Like
#271

A funny thing about samplers, I am unable to think of one that did not impart its own character on sample material. Some have had a more extreme impact on the original source, others less so. Either way, I’ve never found either extreme to be a detriment to the enjoyment of music making.

3 Likes
#272

I downloaded the Tic Tac test WAV and compared with and without OT hits.
They differs a bit but the biggest difference is the peak level which is 0.6 db less on the OT part. Maybe the level was too hot and started to clamp?
When I did my test I tried to have the indicator LED red at peak as there were some suggestions on gain staging but it was worse. Best result with yellow/orange, never red.
But in this case need a lot of digital gain to compensate.
At least I am optimistic that with careful levelling and extra gaining the OT sound can be good enough.

#273

I’m one that doesn’t think the OT sounds great. To me it can sometimes end up with something of a congested sound. NB I don’t own it but have heard a lot of sets.

I wonder if it’s mix engine thing; does anyone know if the OT works at 32 bit floating point? Wondering if it could have a fixed integer mix engine which, in that case, could be why people have to pay attention to gain structure etc and means it would be easy to mess things up.

I’m sure the converters play a part too - they can be a bit “dry” sounding to me. Digitakt converters aren’t wonderful either, but seem better. But I use some Prism gear so I’m admittedly a fussy bugger!

1 Like
#274

Fixed probably, read it on GS forum. It is DSP based, Motorola 56303 chip, 24 bit arithmetic.

#275

This thread is way to long and convoluted to try search those settings, I would like to try these changes as well. If you don’t mind, when you say FX setting do you mean no FX at all or is there more?

It’s not a sound difference I’m after, just curious to play around later. Thanks!

#276

If your cat’s making tracks you might want to check with the vet, could be worms.

2 Likes
#277

Well that’s probably the issue then, for those that hear an issue anyway.

To get an idea, try moving a mix from the default 64 bit mix engine in REAPER to the fixed integer options and hear mix sound smaller and more “congested”.

1 Like
#278

But is a computer using Prism converters a fair comparison?

Are there samplers that use 32 float?

#279

Hi Kegeratorz,

To change to 24bit go into Project>Control>Memeory and change Flex Format to 24 bit and Recorder Format to 24bit.

Then in all of your track settings (Flex/Static/Master (if you have that enabled), go into FX slot 1 and select [none] and then copy that page to FX slot 2, and then copy that over to FX slot 1 and 2 of all the remaining tracks.

Then go into each track and turned off Time Stretch (double click SRC and TSTR is the time stretch setting) [Apologies if you know this but maybe someone else who’s very new will find this useful].

I think it really makes a difference and at least now when I add a filter/timestretch etc, I know I’m doing so at the expense of the sound quality - which is kind of obvious but it makes it more deliberate.

I save it as HQ Mode as a template btw.

Having done this - when I use the effects, I have to say, I think that is where the drop of quality is for me. They do sound quite long in the tooth to be honest.

One thing I’d love a more experienced user to describe is a clear approach to the gain staging aspects, both when sampling into the machine as well as resampling within the machine.

9 Likes
What do you wish you knew when you first started using the OT?
#280

Yeah, I don’t know but my gut feeling and ears say 24 bit fixed with no dithering. The tiny difference I can hear when audio runs through it is VERY, VERY similar to the difference between dithered and undithered audio. It’s really small. There was a long period of time in the 90s and even into the 2000s where apparently a lot of old-school engineers refused to dither because it was “adding noise” and they were from an era when avoiding noise was a big part of their craft. There were still plenty of good recording made. Hell, Pro Tools was still using fixed point until something like 2014.

The takeaway is that you can clip your audio inside the OT with poor gainstaging, and even a simple volume adjustment is probably introducing a bit of truncation distortion and that will have a very small but real effect on the sound. I’ve always head truncation as mostly a slight loss of soundstage depth, and I’ve also heard that from the Octatrack but again it’s really subtle. I wouldn’t use the Octatrack on the master buss of a mix but beyond that it’s insignificant for me.

This thread is a guilty pleasure, I’m not going to deny it.

EDIT: this thread might have never happened if the OT ran at 48kHz, too. I have a feeling a lot of what people who don’t like the Octatrack sound are hearing is a little bit of phase shift on the high end from the antialias flter.

3 Likes
#281

Yeah I’m not comparing the two; I’m saying my ears are fussy hence I use high end converters… and to my fussy ears the OT doesn’t sound great. YMMV etc.

Point about REAPER was to compare mix engine differences, not converters. Hope that’s clearer :slight_smile:

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#282

Out of curiosity is there a standalone sampler which isn’t grating to your ears?

I keep asking people cause I’m genuinely curious about what in samplerhood outshines the OT in this regard.

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#283

What is Tic Tac Test ? Seems interesting.

MKI or MKII? They may behave differently…

#284

I love the Digitakt.

3 Likes
#285

Thanks for all the detail @Prof_lofi, saved me a ton of time! I’ll give it a run later!

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#286

I have MK1 like in the test.

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#287

I love it too, it’s the spice of life!

1 Like