when clunky’s not happy NO ONE IS HAPPY haha…
seriously though I will agree there’s a steep fucking learning curve and i feel like you either roll with it until the “aha” moment hits or pretty quickly throw up your hands and decide that the machine is useless/ broken… like anything else, you get out what you put in.
on the bright side though, i’m definitely not the most technologically savvy dude out there and i was able to figure it out so i give you pretty even odds at cracking the code.
honestly, after using the OT for over a year now i do feel like a lot of what you can do with the OT can probably be done more efficiently with a program like ableton BUT for me working with hardware has always felt more engaging and inspiring than working with a computer and i can’t think a lot of other hardware that’ll get you where the OT goes.
i guess your mileage will depend on what workflow you feel most comfortable with… efficiency vs exploration.
one tip, track down the merlins thoughts on octatrack or whatever that PDF that floats around out there is called [someone around here can point you in the right direction] cos i feel like it helps clarify a lot of stuff that is hard to understand in the manual. read both, they are now your bible.
good luck and god speed.