Plz help me to decide purchasing OT (or not)

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hi,

I just return back 1010music Blackbox after 3 days of struggling. I needed a decent sampler/groovebox/looper to accompany my DT + modular liveset, and although Blackbox indeed was wonder machine, I just couldn’t play “live” because of this touch screen, sub-menu based work flow and lack of any usuable live modulation/mengling options for loaded samples/loops. I returned it and the shop manager proposed me to buy an OT as alternative solution. It seems like reasonable move but it’s twice more expensive. So, I need you guys help to decide to buy OT or not.

How much REALLY is OT playable in live situation? Like, ‘for real’.

Are you guys really using OT in your live sets? I see countless YT videos ‘recommend’ to use it in live and do a little 4 min. jam thing here and there with power of video editing, but I haven’t seen one in real action. Plus the added fact of having tons of menus and this reputation of being ‘complicated’, I just want to hear some real opinions from you guys who have some real battle field experiences with the machine. Is it the place I can get unbiased opinion about the usuability on its fx? its compressor? its workflow? its looping capability? its ADA converter? How bad/good is menu diving in OT? Can it work like DT? in a sense that with DT I can do ‘whatever I want’ with its parameters…you know what I mean. after some relatively short time of practice, I could already play DT with my eyes closed, with one hand while other hand on my other gears. For me DT is an “instrument” just like guitar/saxophone…etc. not just a ‘machine’. Can I consider OT as an ‘instrument’ as well or is it well curated Ableton live in sexy box? Can I buy OT as an ‘extended DT’ or is it a bad idea??

For info I’m playing minimal/raw techno with small (semi)modular set up and DT as drum/bass machine. I do a lot of real time parameter editing and live sequencing in DT with help of ‘func+no’ magic and I’d like to be able to play loops not only sequences, which in DT is tricky and after all, DT has 8 voices and that’s all. That’s why I bought a Blackbox to add more drum voices and be able to use loops. But for me it’s unusable becasue of its interface and lack of interesting parameters in order to have fun in real time.

Thanks for any input from you guys!!

1 Like
#2

The clue is in the title, it’s a Dynamic Performance Sampler. It’s designed specifically for live performance.

Just search for Ezbot on YouTube, all your questions will be answered.

But if you don’t believe Ezbot, how about all these very successful artists…

10 Likes
#3

It’s immensely playable

And max marco videos

A joy to use. The AD conversion/sampling is clean (whereas the DT is not) and, while the fx are ageing, there are a lot of them, and piling them on top of one another, in addition to using the crossfader in tandem, can go very far.

The consensus on this forum is that reports about how complicated the OT is to learn are overblown. Especially if you focus at first on what it is exactly you want to do. The OT can so much (so much) that at first glance it seems inscrutable; naturally cause if it can do a ton there are a lot of ways to get there. But by honing in on exactly what you want will make it much much easier. After which you can learn its other skills.

DT for drums. OT for loops and mangling the modular. :basketball:

4 Likes
#4

yes

#5

Only made live with an OT and a Pulsar 23

#6

Apparently Stimming uses two OTs for live performance.

One just isn’t enough…

1 Like
#7

I had two for a while. Fantastic.

#8

I’d say it is the majority opinion, but not the consensus. Many instruments are plenty complex. The OT is complicated too, but I don’t think that is the issue. It is HOW the OT operates that is the issue–all that recording buffer assignment stuff, for instance. Once you get the hang of it, and it becomes lodged in your brain, not an issue. But getting there is anything but obvious or immediate (as is the case with sampling stuff. into other boxes, like an MPC).

4 Likes
#9

A bundle of thoughts after using it for a year or so:

  • the defaults seem to have been chosen such they don’t make any one process or feature seem like “this is what the OT does”. It’s basically useless after an init - you’ll have to configure it for some specific purpose
  • you probably can’t do everything with it all at once, even if you know loads about it; the track count, or the machine behaviours mean that some configurations just wont support some use cases. It helps to think of it like building a custom mini studio set-up in a box for a given project (or maybe it’s like a small, focused modular case)
  • you’re always using a Part, so learn how Parts interact with the rest of it. It’s not hard, they’re a lot like Kits.
6 Likes
#10

That’s his old live setup. His current setup is more travel friendly. ( 2x Blackbox, Lemondrop, Typhon, etc.)

1 Like
#11

You don’t get to decide. The OT has decided for you and you will obey your new master from now on…

#12

Buy it and try it. Seriously the only way to figure it out. Ideally you can return it if you don’t love it.

#13

I have had an OT for about 5/6 months.
Previously owned a DT so it helped a lot with common features (sequencer, p-locks, probability etc…).
I am not using it for live but probably would do so.
As @Octagonist said, you will have to create templates for various situations: live sampling, mixing, playing stems…
Learning curve was not as hard as I feared to be honest.

#14

I would argue that the Octatrack is much more “playable” than the Digitakt. I currently just use it as a stem player/stem mangler more than an FX box or some sort of drum machine, and just loading a bunch of bigger samples of pads + drum loops and “walking through the parameters” with the cross fader can create some instant jungle/drum and bass/odd ambient kind of stuff.

1 Like
#15

Thanks for all the replies! awesome community here. :slight_smile:
I made a lot of research and I found a few deal makers:

  1. it’s a sort of ‘modular’ system, it can be configured as you want. (drum machine, sampler, looper, fx processor, mixer, or anything in between…etc.)
  2. it seems like the cross fader allows to transition between different amplitude settings of each tracks (I know it does much more, but that’s what I need the most)
  3. it has Elektron sequencer and knobs/buttons are identical to DT
  4. it does not process incoming audio like DT (normalization)
  5. it’ll be hard to be bored with OT, as it seems to be really deep machine
  6. it has 4 ins and 4 outs and midi through
  7. it’s black and it looks very good
  8. Surgeon used it
  9. I can make youtube video :wink:

deal breakers are:

  1. expensive
  2. old (compact flash card?! xd) so probably I won’t experinece lightning speed of DT workflow
  3. I’m not sure 100% but it seems like it’s not possible to stream audio which is over 4 bars ('cause audio tracks somewhat bound to the internal sequencer??)
  4. it has no polyphony in midi seqeuncing

but anyway, f**k it. I’ll buy one. it’s already worth the cash just for scratching my itch of curiosity. :smiley:

1 Like
#16

It’s got 4 notes polyphony pr midi track, x8 tracks. And fabulous midi arpeggiators.

2 Likes
#17
  1. Expensive - Yes
  2. Old CF Card - You probably won’t notice in any situation, except when importing/exporting
  3. You can stream audio as long as you can store on the card - You can trigger the sample using a… I forget what they’re called, but the trigger only trigs once, the sample continues to play.
  4. I thought that the Octatrack had 4 note polyphony?
1 Like
#18

my bad. somewhere was written ‘para phonic’ but I checked again and indeed it has 4 voice polyphony per midi track. :slight_smile:

1 Like
#19

Also, have you checked out SP404Mk2? Could fulfill your needs, for like 1/3 of the price.

2 Likes
#20

Get one with the intention of keeping it around until you know it inside and out. Once you know it reasonably well, you’ll likely want to keep it forever anyways. It is such a versatile piece of gear that has the potential to make any other gear you plug into it even better. Looping, FX, Midi LFOs, sequencing. Once you get it set up, and you’re comfortable with it, the scenes and live remixing make it super fun to play live.

Haha. Oh yeah, it’s a pretty great sampler too!

3 Likes