If you hate arbitrary limits then hardware is probably not for you.
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Lol =)
Add a case of eurorack modular with plenty of patch cables. Use it just for effects if you like. Best possible visual distraction from the laptop.
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Sorry to say this, but ditching the laptop just because of optics, even if what you need feature-wise is unavailable without a computer, sounds plain silly to me. Surely the music is the most important factor?
I am of the mind that nobody cares what you use if the music is great. There are other ways to bring visual flair to a gig than just the choice of equipment. lights, visuals, stage coreography, dancers, millions of options really! If you have spent ten years refining your reaktor ensembles, imagine what you could accomplish if you spent ten years developing the “stage aesthetic”? Dont throw gear at a problem that can be solved in other ways…
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Yeah if the aesthetics are driving the decision then I’d agree that it’d be better to look at this differently.
Kulpatrick Audio just put this up on Kickstarter
Would certainly add some flare! I’m kind of joking wth that though. But as much as I love the Octatrack, it’s a bitch to learn and love. Go in wth your eyes open and make sure you’re at least 80% certain about it!
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I tried to emphasize that in a tongue-in-cheek reply somewhat earlier, and of course do totally agree. Sitting on a stage with a laptop is not a show, but very seriously, sitting on a stage with an Octatrack isn’t either. It’s takes much more than that to put a stageworthy show together, that’s months of work and inspiration, years of experience, and quite an investment, generally.
The most simple thing that comes to mind when it comes to reach the audience with a showworthy visual is video: real time with cameras to blow up what you’re doing when you’re pushing buttons plus some synced computer generated images, some video mapping, or prepared footage is already quite expensive and needs a lot of preparation, probably quite some team work, and a crew to set things up and operate on location.
And showing hands that push a button every 5 seconds is not that sexy compared to a more traditional musician that plays 10 notes/second.
So my advice is: think twice about the goals you are setting for yourself. It’s not the gear you use for making your music that matters if you’re thinking about designing a live performance. Having people drive to a venue, and pay a ticket to see you perform a 2h live set is really something else than getting them to watch a 5min youtube vid recorded on a gopro. That’s a hell of a lot of content to produce!
(Please don’t feel offended…I don’t mean to be rude at all, it’s just some food for thought in a “been there-done that” way…)
This being said, people are shelling out 1000ths of $ for quirky vintage monophonic synths from the 80ths so I don’t see what the issue is with at the OT being from 2011. There hasn’t been that much of a revolution since as far as electronic instruments go: it’s the content you produce that matters, not the tool you use as long as you can rely on that tool.
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There may be tech nerds, gear nerds etc. attending a show, but pretty sure the majority doesn’t give a fuck at all.
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…and without the manual. Should be something like touching first time the monolith 
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autechre do their set with laptops and just simply switch the light off 
no budget for fancy visuals needed 
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Yes, but they have been building their value since 1987…
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Yah no one is complaining about aphex behind his laptop/modular. Tim Hecker and Ben Frost play clips and work a mixer. Flying Lotus rocks the hell out of a laptop. David Guetta “pressed play”. It’s not about the equipment; its about your presence.
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Brilliant! 
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Greeaaaaat, made my day!
OT for president in 2020. Love my MK1 since it´s release 
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Just this collection of quotes makes me wonder, what can we expect from the market … an “unlimited” hardware device for less than 500 bucks?
If that’s a real problem, then the whole Elektron familiy might not be your cup of tea at all, but …
makes me wonder too. The Organelle has a very open concept, to be filled with user created instruments like in Reaktor. Why some Elektron-slang might cause headace and the Organelle not?
My advice would be, keep away from Elektron gear until you have defined, which kind of music you want to create and which kind of gear you need for this. You would only be disappointed or even frustrated, if it’s the wrong gear for you.
If the computer is not enough to make a show on stage, but exactly the musical gear, you need, then get some show-stuff to impress the audience … like a “laser-synth” 
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https://youtu.be/mRfwdJx0NDE?t=2803 People seem to be enojying themselves despite the presence of the laptop 
I owned a MK1 for about 10 months, it was a lot of fun, sold it for financial reasons. But it didn’t really revolutionize anything I was doing. I still couldn’t really finish a song with it, I work much faster in Ableton. And if you have a 10 year old reaktor project, I’m sure that does more of the stuff that you need than the octratrack. Maybe not the crossfaderstuff, which is really, really fun
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The more i see of the Organelle the more i see the future. Astounding what you can do with this.
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You can say that again
not offended in the least. Personally I wouldn’t mind using a laptop on stage at all, if it was the tool that would be the best fit for that context. This was, and still isnt about me at all. I was just chiming in with my thoughts is all.
I personally do not enjoy using laptops for music making these days. Computers are wonderful “prototyping devices” for developing new paradigms and workflows. But at the end of the day I would almost always prefer a standalone device with clearly defined functions and scope, due to several factors which for the sake of brevity I will not start listing… Heck, I’d even prefer a dedicated hardware device for DAW duties if one existed (UAD licenced processing, ergonomic UI, reasonable track count, i/o and storage). Its actually odd that one doesn’t exist already, as the paradigms of a contemporary DAW have been well established for over a decade already…
ahem, apologies for the rant 
carry on
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I mean you could just do a bit of theater and hide the laptop while you trigger stuff on an alien-looking midi controller adjacent to 5k worth of eurorack that doesn’t do anything other than blink and look cool.
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