Yeah, that’s what I used to use a bit in college and I really wished I could afford one at the time, but by the time I graduated in the mid 2000s I was so sick of working in software I almost completely stopped recording and just played live until around 2014 so by the time they got even vaguely attainable (they’ve been about the same price as an Octatrack for years, so far from cheap but possible) secondhand I wasn’t interested at all.
Very good but not for me.
I completely understand why Kyma is not for everyone. You really need to know what you want to create and make it with Kyma.
My use of Kyma is more like a fx unit, kind of the Eventide H9000 approach. The timeline is quite handy for automation on real-time sound processing. And the Motormix controller makes it more tactile.
My next project is builing this ‘nightmare machine’
There are a lot of new electro acoustic instruments out there that could use the OT approach. Now you see a lot of Boss RC-505. So an next generation OT with more I/O plus CV for modular options would be something. Just saying…
Picked one of the best there for to make that point 
, Repro sounds better than MOST things
well, it shows what software is capable of
The thing about Kyma is the same issue I have with Reaktor, Max/MSP/PD, VVVV, Praxis Live, and other node based stuff - it’s fun and intuitive but I never actually produce anything worthwhile with it, I just tinker for hours and end up feeling unfulfilled. Axoloti works for me because it runs without a computer so there’s a clear line between development and use.
I resisted getting an Octatrack for years because I thought the i/o was limited but it hasn’t been an issue at all. In fact I generalyl find that the less I worry about keeping things separate as long as possible to give myself more mix options, as opposed to committing early, the worse the end results are and the less I finish. I tend to drift back and forth betwen “everything direct to stereo” and “tracking everything and micromanaging my mix” every few years but I definitely finish more and am happier with the results later on if I work fast, commit early and use as few tracks as possible.
The ideal would be to have a big mixer and print everything live to stereo, but no space or money for that now. Maybe some day I’ll be able to grab an old Soundcraft or something but not any time soon. Wen I was keeping things more lo-fi and deliberately mixing only through a Mackie 1202 and a little 1u, 2x10 channel line mixer with nothing but level, pan and an aux send I was more productive than I’ve ever been before or since but I don’t think I could quite go back to that.
Anyhow, I can definitely hear the slight flattening of the soundstage that people mention with mixes run through the Octatrack but it’s realyl subtle. The sound quality of the inputs on the OT is comparable to the sound quality of the line in on my Zoom H5 - it’s fine, more than good enough for an instrument and you wouldn’t usually put the Octatrack on the master buss of your mix or anything but if you did most people wouldn’t notice. It’s there but it’s nothing that should worry anyone who’s considering buying an Octatrack, becasue it’s absolutely not what’s going to make or break the music you create with it.
From what I understand, the Kyma Capybara had pretty high-end analog-digital converters. Comparing the sound quality to an Octatrack’s might be analogous to comparing a UAD Apollo to a Focusrite Scarlett.
In the end, it’s all about what you really need to get your business done. I don’t need super high-end audio quality to make my sound art, music or whatever you want to call it. That’s why i bought a Scarlett instead of an Apollo and would buy another OT over a Kyma if my current unit was suddenly destroyed… Nobody is paying me to do my thing anyway.
If you really feel the OT sound quality is a deterrent to getting your work/art/whatever done, just move on to a tool better suited to you.
Yeah, the Kyma software is notoriously good sounding, too. The only thing they really have in common is both are digital and can process and make sounds.
I suspect some of the Kyma DNA was inherited by the Haken Continuum. Earlier Continuum models were designed to interface with Kyma via some sort of custom protocol through the Firewire port as I recall. I believe Edmund Eagan created Eagan Matrix in Kyma, which was later ported to Continuum for standalone operation - no more Kyma needed!
Would have loved to check out Kyma running on Capybara or Pacarana (which required you supply your own audio interface, thus no built-in converters) in person. Next best thing was trying a half-size Continuum at Discovery World, which sounded fantastic. But of course that’s the synthesis side - not the sample-and-mangle side.
So in a way, I’ll be getting my own little piece of Kyma DNA when my Osmose arrives and I’ll be perfectly happy to sample it into my OT, OT converters and all.
2027… the thread about sound quality of the OT is still going on…
Future religious scisms will be based around the OT’s sound quality.
The thing that’s real bummer for me in this whole conversation, is that I have had this problem where my OT sounds kinda “thin” or “poorer”, or whatever adjective you like to use, and it’s always gainstaging, or timestretch. Once I get that sorted it sounds great. Just like everything in the OT universe, it takes practice, and perseverance. If you don’t have those two things, you have opinions about what it was like, or you need to do the work.
What year is it?
It’s 2020 for eternity
Sketching ideas on the OT, performing them to Ableton, then slapping on a drum buss is such a sexy sound I can’t imagine why anyone would have an issue with this thing. Yes, it probably will need mastering but what are you creating that doesn’t.
I noticed Continuum support was its own separate feature in the new version, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
What’s time anymore, really?
I haven’t seen a thread complaining about Continuum sound quality, which perhaps can be viewed as an optimistic sign for Osmose.
Later on when I’m sampling Osmose into OT and people are complaining about crap sound quality, I’ll… probably just eat some popcorn and laugh
I spent most of my spare income from January 2019 to February 2020 collecting the parts to build a Kijimi, then I spent the first 6 or 7 weeks of the first lockdown building the Kijimi. Since May 2020 I’ve used it probably 5-10 hours a week as my main non-guitar instrument and I’d estimate in all that time there have been maybe 4 or 5 hours when it DIDN’T go through the Octatrack in its way to the DAW. No complaints.
sry to have to ask… but what is a Kijimi?
Seems like Elektron Fanboys you can’t handle the truth 
I use Elektron machines since the beginning of the Machinedrum and it’s very clear to me how brilliant they are. But sound quality is not the strongest point of Elektron. An interesting contrast is how the sound of the Sidstation leaves all later Elektron machines behind. I will cherish the Sidstation forever 
All other Elektron’s just depends.
One other thing worries me about Elektron. No new Machine has emerged in the flagship range since 2014…
Must also say that I now have almost all the tools to realize my ideas. Exept, new technology is also a good inspiration!
Maybe, but I’ve seen lots of charts and graphs that support the idea that the OT is just very neutral, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of evidence that there’s anything lacking, quality wise. Obviously it doesn’t sound as “good” as kit that is orders of magnitude more expensive but, objectively speaking, there isn’t anything wrong with the OT’s sound quality. Not every tool works for every person, that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with the tool.
