Is that a problem? Are you working for Elektron sales dept? 
In rethoric it is called a peripherical argument. Quality of sound has some subjectivity and many people have long careers with what i consider being a shit sound.
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Itās not about sales, itās about having a constant supply of new OT users asking questions and making us all feel super smart and cool.
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Okay. Got it. So, what exactly does āis not that greatā mean? Can you describe what freq is missing, or boosted, orā¦ Iām just wondering. Would love to hear some examples. Maybe record the same samples with each sampler type of thing. Put it through a spectrum analyzer? Maybe we can learn something. Most likely, I would guess, you are having a gain staging problem. But, hey, maybe you are right. This thread is interesting to me when people have examples for me to listen to.
Is there any ādata compressionā or other conversion occuring once the audio is inside, for the OT to do all of its tricks on 8 stereo streams of audio?
- ie - old samplers used their own audio data format, not WAV.
- ie - the modern Akais convert all imported audio to 32 bit; also everything recorded through its audio inputs is recorded at 32 bit. Donāt know about any conversion happening inside, is it still in its native WAV format when the Akai is processing the audio?
Donāt want to ruffle any feathers here, just curious.
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This is a good example. I canāt tell. I do have soundboy ears, but, yeah. Great link. Octatrack1_Beat.wav - Google Drive
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Since I already had everything powered up but got interrupted and donāt have time to actually do any recording tonight, and this thread made me curious, I just ran a quick test.
Started a default project. Changed to 24 bit. Set DIR A/B and master volume to 127, all other settings left default. Looped a 440Hz tone and then white noise through both the OT (via DIR, so the audio wasnāt touching any of the track level processing and I was getting the most neutral signal path possible through it) and a direct loopback connection. I didnāt go through the trouble of actually repatching and using the same input and output on my interface or anything, theyāre all matched well enough that using two different inputs and outputs is more than good enough. The audio sources were Reaperās built in tone and noise generators, set to their default settings of -12dBFS. Here are the results:
440Hz tone through Octatrack:
440Hz tone direct loopback:
White noise through Octatrack:
White noise direct loopback:
Itās a little hard to see (I should have set Span to smooth more) but there was a very, very slight rolloff above about 17.5kHz through the Octatrack, just shy of 1db by the time it hit 20kHz. Otherwise it was identical to the loopback for all intents and purposes.
Also worth mentioning that the OTās input LED was pinned fully in the red for these tests but as you can see from the 440Hz tone there wasnāt any distortion or clipping at all, which just reinforces my experience that the OTās input LEDs go red when thereās still plenty of headroom, and it sounds best when theyāre in the yellow to orange range.
I didnāt check phase response or anything and donāt care enough to bother with that but if someone else did it Iād be interested to see the results - from what Iāve read our hearing is WAY more sensitive to phase than to frequency, so that could still be relevant I guess. I think the OT sounds pretty neutral and this just confirms it more IMO.
EDIT: it also looks like in the 440 tone measurements thereās maybe a .1db volume drop through the Octatrack, but that signal path also has more than twice as much cable (a 10ā balanced cable to the OTās input and a 15ā back from its output, vs. a single 10ā for the direct loopback measurement) and that could easily be whatās causing the tiny volume drop AND the tiny rolloff in the air band.
EDIT 2: This was a late MKI bought about a month before the MKII announcement.
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Nice. Thanks for the effort.
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I wonder if some of the arguments here are missing a major factor: compression
I donāt have an OT, so I have no opinion on which is ābetter,ā but I do have a DT, and the master compressor is on by default. Converters nowadays are all pretty good, and if they create any perceptible difference itās a subtle one. Compressors, on the other hand, can easily make a very obvious difference in sound. I would suspect that if people are noticing a difference between these machines it has to do with compression. Even if they had identical compressors if they had different default setting that could create a pretty big perceived difference in sound.
As I said, I donāt have an OT, but I love the sound of the DT. I feel like anything I put in there sounds amazing. Maybe thatās because of some fairly heavy-handed default compressor settings, and maybe the OT is not set up this way?
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Good point! Iāve never used a Digitakt so I donāt have any real frame of reference but that sounds pretty plausible.
Iām getting vinyl vs. digital (remember that whole thing) vibes here. People go through so much hassle to āimproveā the sound of something, which to begin with was meticulously labored over by engineers in its infancy, only to then feed it into some efx, or rink-a-dink mixer/audio interface. It reminds me of people who spend a lot of money on top shelf booze, only to mix it with soda, or cranberry juice.
Didnāt realize there is two topics discussing the OT sound. My response was meant for the modding of the OT one. More power to those whoāve got the chops to do that, I on the other hand am not that brave.
DT is legit.
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I still use a bunch of sub bass samples I made on the DT. It does have some sort of magic going on when it quickly normalizes after you sample. I havenāt used one since the first few months it was out, so my opinion on it is irrelevant. It is a great box tho. Legit for sure.
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Good question, itās not only in the ad/da converters. The type how things sounding on Elektron machines in general is also part of this. It also clarifies why I sold the MD & MM either.
Another important aspect is how they sound in combination with the other tools I have? For me itās nothing more than fun to make a test setup, to tune and tweak it until a sound is created that surprises. But if an Elektron is used at the end of the chain there stereo field sounds narrow and a kind digital compressed, I miss precision about the details of sounds.
About the differences with the other samplers I mentioned. You could also approach it to the build up elements of these, like the fx section they are using. The S1100 fx board sounds amazing. Kyma is still next level sound quality and the Quantum sounds exceptionally good for build in fx.
The Elektron machines are winning on their sequencer implementation with their all-in-one stand alone concept. Thats the mean reason I still have the A4mk2, ARmk2, AHmk2 & Digitone This makes me think about to test the Digitone fully digital via OB, just wondering?
Forgot to say that I have a Sidstation also thatās sounds like a beast and great for contrast to put in some dirt on the sound palette. Same for the Plogue Chipsynth SFC sound, but of course thatās a plug-in.
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If you need HQ timestretch and you can do with offline processing Iād recommend TS2 from IrcamLab
Itās a bit pricey (199ā¬)but there are special sales sometimes (I seem to remember I paid 29ā¬ for my licence).
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As far as we know, there is no default master compressor on OT.
Compression and high freq boost on the DT, tho. Sounds plausible.
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Whatever I put into my OT sounds great. I really do think you had some settings wrong, or were not gain staging correctly. But, who knows, because it seems you donāt have a OT anymore anyways, so what does it matter?
From what I gather you now have a Kyma, an Akai s1100 and a Waldorf Quantum, so seems you have found a way to capture the sound you want. Thatās all that matters really. Good luck.
Thanks. Iāll keep an eye pealed for a sale.
I really like dynamics, are you saying the OT has limited headroom to work with?
Sound can be a very subjective thing, so Iād never say my perspective is more true than anyone elseās. But, having worked with the OT (MK1) for few years now, hereās what Iāve noticed:
Itās easy to take a sample and inadvertently make it sound less than modern. The big contributors have all been mentioned already - not changing to 24 bit, using the dated timestretch algos, stacking filters, and most importantly, bad gain staging. Avoiding these things, to my ears, the OT sounds extremely neutral. Unremarkable even. Add some subtle eq, and the compressor with the right settings, and you easily start tapping that character people like about the DT.
To me, as long as the settings are right, internal samples and external sources through DIR or the thru machines sound nearly indistinguishable from the source. However, I have noticed that once a thru machine is sampled, there is a very subtle āsomethingā that happens to the sound. Itās like some people have mentioned - a kind of slight reduction in dimension/depth, narrowing of the stereo field, and some attenuation of very high āairā frequencies. This effect is minor, and barely perceptible once youāve got a full mix going. You really need to be listening for it.
I have no idea what is technically behind the change to sonic characteristics that Iām perceiving, but itās so subtle it rarely bothers me. And, as I mentioned, simple sample playback with the right settings sounds faithful to the source, to my ears. Thereās a lot of different ways the OT can get grainy and dated sounding, but it doesnāt have to. Itās perfectly capable of punching clean, crisp and hi-fi, in my experience.
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