Recording audio OT VS. DAW

Elektron Gear Octatrack
1

Hello everyone. I am just curious abut the audio recording quality of OT. So I am wondering how people who use it for sampling and recording audio into it and if there any HUGE differences.

For instance, I found an old record and it’s so easy to plug it into OT and press record, my old recording habits of course include launching Pro Tools recording this and that, then conversion, then transfer. SO I am wondering why bother? I can record more stuff, bring OT places if I wanted to sample a friend’s synth, e.t.c. The ONLY advantage of a DAW track I see is that I can get almost perfect 0 amplitude points. But really through months of owning an OT I have never used precise playback, I always end up adjusting length and AMP envelopes. So I am pretty convinced to never launch a DAW just to sample a few minutes of audio. Am I wrong?

2

You’re not wrong - it can definitely sound good enough to make tracks with!

For something like a drum break I might be more inclined to transfer via USB, because I’m suspicious of what the OT does to transients, but that might just be superstition.

But overall – yes it’s a sampler! Take it places and go record. Especially if you’re messing with the samples anyway

3

Why you say that? Did you get a hint it might be normalizing internally or compressing?

4

I’ve had the feeling that drums were less punchy when passed through the OT. It could totally have been a gain staging issue on my end, though

5

Very well could be, I am thinking of getting a small mic amp just to up the gain for recording. But I also want a portable recorder.