Is the midi functionality identical with these two machines ?
you dont loose a sample track if you use a midi track on a octatrack mkii right?
and its four note polyphony per track etc. , possible to send mid cc with encoders and midi lfo and all that stuff ?
Im currently using a digitakt with an ipad as the only thing in my setup , and its so nice , the midi functionality of the digitakt is perfect for this kind of working .
my 2020 imac is collecting dust , ive been considering selling it and all my studio gear to go for a ipad pro 12.9 and a octatrack mkii…
i do miss some basic eq , and the reverb is kind of crappy on the digitakt , also i guess the octatrack has a million more ways to mangle a sample , which would be nice…
but if its lacking midi sequencer wise … and i guess the sound quality would be identical , for sample playback ?
awesome if somone who knows both machines well could chime in!
This might answer it (partially)
The digitakt is much better for midi than the octatrack. I don’t own either anymore but used an OT for years as the brain of my setup. The midi is clunky, I’ll try to remember the differences.
- The midi on both is a Sequencer, so it can trigger up to x notes that all start together and share the same velocity, so it isn’t like a piano roll.
- On the OT you can’t overlap note lengths, on the DN & DT you can so you could have a note that lasts 16 steps for example.
- there is no MSB/LSB on the Octatrack, just a bank, so if your gear requires both you can’t select banks. On the DN/DT they have both and can even be p-locked along with program change per step which is fantastic!
- I always found program changes on the OT to be unreliable when switching patterns, never understood why sometimes they wouldn’t trigger.
Personally, I still have a DN which I use for midi, I got a Rytm and sold the DT but did miss the midi side of it. Last year I swapped the OT for an MPC to shake things up a bit. If I ever get an OT again which I probably will at some point, unless they bring it inline with the newer machines I would never use it for midi. The DN/DT’s are a much better experience imo.
Are you sure about this? I think a saw a video recently where somebody did just that on the OT. Could have been updated with the latest firmware version.
Oh and no you don’t lose a sample track, it’s 8 midi tracks and 8 sample tracks just like the DT.
When I owned it, it didn’t work for me but I’m not in a position to test now and so I could definitely be wrong. After experiencing midi on the new boxes I just stopped using the midi side completely. There has been an update since I sold mine so perhaps it has been improved.
Perhaps someone else that still has one can clarify.
I’ve definitely done this on the octatrack
That’s good to know then, I’ll edit it out!
One thing that the OT offers over the DT MIDI is the arpeggiator which is a very powerful creative tool since its parameters are p-lockable. With a polysynth you can emulate the popular „Fugue Machine“ app by sending several instances of the arpeggiator to the same MIDI channel and then vary the note lenghts, speed, play modes etc. per MIDI track or even per step on one MIDI track. In combination it’s very versatile for generative type of things.
That is true, I never really used that often.
That’s not true since last year’s update to the OT.
List of changes from Octatrack DPS-1 OS 1.31A to 1.40
An additional SBNK parameter is added to the NOTE SETUP (SRC) page on the MIDI tracks to make it possible to send LSB Bank Select messages.
Also good to know, can you p-lock them?
This! It’s main reason to use OT over DT for midi sequencing if given the choice:
No.
Cool , thanks for the replies !
It seems the midi functionality of the octratrack might have been updated to more resemble what’s on the digitakt then… my workflow is loading synths and fx in audiobus on the iPad , and sequencing them with the midi tracks on DT , save a project in audiobus and bind to a midi program change , so when I change patterns on my DT the synths and fx I used for the midi tracks are automatically loaded … it’s just such an awesome way of working ! I have a rytm mk ii, a analog four mk ii , digitone and a digitakt, I’m pretty sure I’m going to sell them all and get a Octatrack mk ii and a iPad Pro …
Thanks for all the info people !
Brave move! Good luck 