Sell Me On The Octatrack

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hey Everybody.

I have pretty much read every piece of material on the octatrack, including the manual, but in reality one can never fully understand it until you have it. So i wanted to reach out to you guys to convince me to buy the Octatrack.

So My choices for a new piece of gear comes down to the following:

MPC Live

MPC X

OP1 (not really an option due to waiting list)

OPZ (not really an option due to waiting list)

Digitakt

Machine MK3 (i own already)

Octatrack

So what do i want the new piece of gear to do?

PS i produce: deep house/tech house mainly, but also produce a bit of boombap and cinematic stuff.

Im looking for a daw in a box vibe, well at least 80% daw in a box, i dont mind finishing up tracks in the box.

I want a powerful sampler that i can take anywhere and have a 128gb card with a large library of samples.

From a Production point of view:

I want something that i can build songs and even albums on.

I want something where i can have a bank of c3 samples that i can sample across a chromatic keyboard.

I want something where i can build powerful drum kits.

I want something that can save all of the above to backup.

I want something that can do old school sample chopping boombap style.

I want something where i can build arrangements (complex ones)

I want something that i can build lets say an 8 track drum loops, then resample onto one track, then build a 4 track pad loop and resample onto one track etc.

From a Live point of view:

I want something that i can play stems on (traditional dj type set)

I want something that i can get in-depth with ie ( experimenting with song elements live)

I want something that is actually fun to play

I want something that is a total solution in a box for live gigs

User point of view:

I want something that takes me out the studio.

I want something that i can produce in bed with.

I want something to take me away from the computer.

So as you can see i am already gearing towards the octatrack, i just want the investment to be worth it

so any input any ideas any links to videos and reading material etc will be a massive help, thanks guys!!!

1 Like
#2

Not Octatrack.
MPC Live perhaps.

9 Likes
#3

MPC X or Live --> (Music Production Center)

and such a huge sample library (128GB) would be hard to flip through on an OT. Would be a killer of creativity IMO.

For creating a complete album I would prefer the X. More knobs to use with muscle memories and faster workflow :wink: Got a MPC 5k and love the facilities :smiley:

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#4

would be tough to put the mpc x on my lap in bed haha

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#5

Try it, not such a problem. I did it with my 5k and this old machine is heavier …

#6

Wants: DAW in box.

Solution: get a DAW in a box, MPC Live.

The OT slays if you want something to use for exploration, sample based sound design and complex rhythms in a performance package.

7 Likes
#7

The one problem i have with the mpc is that you cant stream straight from the hd, so even though you can put whatever harddrive in you are limited to the 2 gig onboard ram, which apparently the mpc os uses1,4 gig of it

#8

Check out the deluge too, not everything you need but it’s a bad ass box.

#9

you said it yourself … “streaming” … that means only a very small amount of the audio is goining to the RAM and after playing it, it’s deleted - or better - overwritten.

The OT does the same with it’s “static machines”. The audio data can be very huge, but the unit has only 85.6 MB sampling RAM … IIRC

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#10

So am i wrong in understanding that you can stream “a Song” on a static maschine, beat match it the project and use the effects etc?

#11

@TruthTrader
I might be wrong but I feel like the only point OT doesn’t fulfill is the 128 GB : it’s “limited” to 64 GB.
Apart from this, from my point of view it just crosses each requirement you listed.

Add a battery and you’re good to play anywhere.

1 Like
#12

In sum, your requirements describe a laptop but you don’t want a computer.

It sounds like you won’t find what you want without acceptance of some limitations.

Ever hear the following saying? Pick 2 of the following but you can never have all 3 at once: fast, good and cheap.

I’m afraid you’ll have to make a similar choice here.

1 Like
#13

I just said 128gb as an example, but 64gig is more then needed, when you say battery, are there options for this

#14

Also can you guys give me an idea on the multi sample capabilities of the octatrack, can i load like c-2 to c-4 samples and create a multi instrument?

c-2 to c-4 is just an example

#15

No … this is exactly what is possible. “Streaming” means “working directly from the Flash Card” and not from the RAM.

A static-machine can nearly do all those things the flex-machines do. Check the manual for differences.

  • flex-machine --> audio in RAM
  • static-machine --> all audio on Flash Drive and the needed amount in RAM

The audio for a static-machine can theoretically be as huge as the Flash Drive allows.

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#16

No multisamples on the OT.

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#17

So essentially you could stream song stems from the static machines to use as a pseudo dj box, then you could just load different stems whilst playing live?

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#18

Why is the Pioneer DJ Toraiz SP-16 Sampling Workstation not on your list. Id have thought it would have been.

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#19

You have 8 audio tracks and each can be used like you say. It would depend on your live playing workflow, whether it would work for you on the OT or not.

1 Like
#20

I just think that from a production point of view the toriaz is very limited