hahaha
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Good to hear, the quality of the input stage and converter has been fairly well debunked with a few blind tests, at least as far as all the people who responded in the various, numerous threads about OT sound quality. The take away was those that were saying the OT sounded bad were not able to correctly pick it in any of the blind tests, nor were they able to provide an example of a sound that the OT had spoiled.
Yes it was a widely used dsp used by Access, Novation, Waldorf and many others. Here are the main chips:
Freescale Coldfire MCF54454:
32-bit 266MHz, up to 410 MIPS @ 266
Freescale DSPB56721AG:
24-bit 200MHz Audio DSP, 200 MIPS
Dual DSP56300 cores
Cirrus Logic CS42432-CMZ audio codec.
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Yeah bit depth relates to dynamic range rather than “sound quality” given that the OT has a snr of about 106db, the bottle neck is not the bit depth but the analog components of the input stage, so it could be argued that 24bit is not actually going to be of benefit for samples taken with the OT wrt noise floor anyway at least.
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I said nothing against compressing the signal that goes to PA, has been doing for ages and for good reasons. I meant something else but let’s leave it there and i wish you success with your product!
Hi @stimming, I’m curious more about the practice of a touring electronic musician than the device, though it relates.
Do you get to do proper sound checks in the majority of your gigs, or is it plug & pray? I assume that big festivals give the necessary conditions to properly check and tune. While in small clubs it might happen that you just get to plug your setup into a channel of the DJ booth mixer and that’s it. In the former case, wouldn’t the 2-band EQ be useful only for the coarse tuning, and the precise be done on the front-of-house (likely digital) mixer with its wealth of parametric and graphic EQs? Is the SIMC EQ more useful in the latter case where you don’t or hardly have the chance to soundcheck, and have this for coarse tuning as you go?
I think at the majority of my gigs i also installed and tuned the PA, so I could easily make my sound work 
I’d say the contrary. In festivals, you usually have far less time to sound check than in regular venues due to the quick turnover of artists.
Anyway, solutions to get sound check done faster are always welcome.
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Nice to see you in the thread and answering questions @stimming That takes balls and it takes balls just to make gear for the public these days, as you can’t please everyone all of the time. Great hearing your perspective behind the manufacturing and creation of the MC and I respect that it came from the place that you ran into a problem and you set out to design a fix for it.
I hope all the feedback, attention, critiques, praises, and sales are a learning process on the journey that perhaps strengthens the SIMC ahead and maybe leads to even better gear design and manufacturing in the future! 
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We’re discussing a device here that almost nobody in this forum will ever use. Most of us are just too broke to even think about getting one. 
That’s why the discussion will always have a negative undertone i think. I’d love to have one though. It’s definitely a device i could use at a gig or in my bedroom studio. So good luck to you Stimming!
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I really don’t think that’s the case at all.
The Octatrack review on youtube probaply plays a role in some way or another, though.
All the best from me, too btw! Hope Stimming will at least be able to cover costs. Really cool to bring your own idea to the market.
Maybe someday we’ll be discussing an Mk2 (Ehm kay too) with proper metering.
Would definitely prefer metering over smaller package.
Btw, why are the vents on top and bottom? Why not on the sides? Seems unnessecarily dust friendly.
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Yeah, that’s true. If you say something negative about the Octatrack over here, you’re in trouble.
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actually it was just a misunderstanding after all… maybe Elektron should think about deactivating timestretch by default after all that has happened 
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that’s exactly what happens on a big festival, yes. no time for soundcheck (but at least good monitors) and thirty minutes before the end of your set someone is standing at the side, looking severe and, which is worst, carrying a sheet of paper saying that the ende is near. I once had it that this guy came 4 times with a 30/20/10/5 minute sheet. that was a bit overambitious I’m afraid.
in a club its usually possible to do a soundcheck earlier that day as it opens at around midnight, so there’s plenty of time for doing a soundcheck. and from my experience, what is needed the most is to tame the high frequencies (or push 'em) and the same for the very low end - if the club has an aggressive limiter, lowering the bass helps not to trigger to early, for example.
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Alright, it’s time for the
- damage report -
(I will post it here and not in the sound quality thread)
the OT review:
as a reviewer it is my best practice to bring up issues that people need to know and maybe even put a bit of pressure on the company as I felt personally offended by Elektron releasing a major iteration without changing the outdated core of it. the sub-optimal part was that I knew about the emotional connection from many of you with your gear but nevertheless thought it would be a good idea to promote my device in this review in the way I did. It took me months and a discussion about my device on amazona.de to understand how this felt for some of you: it seems like I behaved like praising someone’s girlfriend for thirty minutes and at the end, I complained about her bad smell, oh, and I got a very expensive perfume against it.
no beating around the bush: that was dumb of me.
Of course it wasn’t my intention to piss off so many of you. I suppose, the mixture of pride about my device, my dangerous will to say something impolite because I’m arrogant enough to “fight for the truth” plus the actual truth in the development history of my device made me promote it on this occasion. This isn’t an excuse, just me trying to explain.
What hurts the most in the comments are people cheapening my music. My music and my family are the reasons why I get up every morning - fartening on this somewhat aims at the core of my existence which goes too far, given the fact that all of it started in talking about a machine. Everyone has the right to do so but should be aware that it doesn’t shine a good light on him.
the learning:
after releasing the IMC and seeing the different and quite controversial reactions mainly about the prize, I realized quite soon that Michael and I, we developed something even more special than we expected. It is not in the price-range for the average Elektron or other music-hardware home-user where something like the OT already is the most expensive mothership (while, of course, those people would need it the most). It’s unusual for the normal working producer’s gear as he expects it to be able to be put in his rack. The knobs are too fiddely for a professional mastering engineer (which I knew beforehand that’s why I’m fine with the “instant” in the name).
I still don’t have a bad sleep because I know about its audio quality and usefulness, so even when everything is more complicated than expected plus the worldwide circumstances, we are here to stay. Richie Hawtin, Frank Wiedemann, Acid Pauli, Rodhad, Hannes Bieger and Henrik Schwarz tested it and all of them liked what it does (and allowed me to talk about it, and some bought one).
I learned: marketing this device is boss-level difficulty and even when I promoted very many albums (I made six full length albums, and very many EPs and Remixes on top), going into the hardware business is another story. that’s where I need to talk about
my mistake:
while I was doing the OT review I behaved like the reviewer/entertainer/performer I usually am in those videos but technically, I already was a hardware producer/company. As such I shouldn’t have heightened my own device while lowering the product from someone else. This was bad style and I will not do this again. I guess I have a tiny mark in the (at least very) entertaining landside of marketing mistakes. I cannot undo what I did but I will take care not to redo it.
the price:
is 2350,-EUR plus the VAT/import taxes from your country. Shipping is on me, which, to the states for example, is around 75,- for the insured shipping plus 50,- export handling costs. German customs always have a date to see me and the device in my studio, in person, just as a fun fact. A company like Elektron would have the resources to bring a device like this down to the 1-1,5k range while still sounding good but as a two-man band we can only go into “best-quality-possible” which results in a prize like this. I needed to invest a serious five-digit amount of money - one day I will get it back plus changing live-sound on stage without a computer for the better (not only for my livesets) plus helping producers to faster reach the perfect drum-bus sound. I’m curious about what to criticize about that.
But yeah, best would be if one of the bigger producers catches up the idea and brings something like this to the middle price range - the topic itself seems to move on a lot of people because it simply isn’t solved except the oto boum, the RNC or my device (sorry, I’m not counting the heat in here). yes, the midrange is missing.
the sound:
thank you for showing me the 24bit switch, it really is like night and day! I will look for that option in every device I will review in the future. I promise.
peace.
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Kudos @stimming IMO it is perfectly justified to criticise the OT - or any gear, I think that as long as the criticism is accurate there is no reason for people to get upset. However in the case of OT sound quality it is not so simple, since the OT is a bit more complex wrt gain structure and setup, which are valid criticisms, the actual sampling sound quality, once set up correctly is not an issue.
So when a high profile and experienced user such as yourself says something which is not accurate it can create a lot of discussion/blowback both from the “told you so” crowd and from the “for fuck sake not this topic again” crowd.
Also the fact that you did at least a few live sets using the OT and even in your video described the OT as classic gear just probably muddied the waters further, and the mention of your product sort of made it look like there was an agenda there.
I think forum members get irritated by having to explain that the OT can sound great whilst also being called stupid terms such as “fanboy” etc. Also such a statement can be interpreted that people who use the OT must have bad ears or don’t care about sound quality, which of course is nonsense. Many pros use the OT as you are probably aware.
Even the most enthusiastic OT user will have a list of criticisms and irritations about the machine, some of which you did touch on in your review, but sampling sound quality - assuming decent level at the inputs is not one of them.
Any sampler sampling a too low input then normalised will not sound its best, it certainly does not help that the OT has less than adequate metering, and numerous ways to set levels, and of course timestretch being on by default is not helpful either 
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I wish you success with your business and I am very happy that you produce the device in Germany!
It seems to be an impressive Maschine, after all.
(Grüße aus Aachen)
On the topic of the actual device itself @stimming - despite the kit being clearly aimed at live acts, at least the way it’s framed, would you say it contributes in a studio environment as well? Or is that more a positive side effect rather than a potential primary use case?
@stimming keep saying how you feel dude.
Your gear reviews are going to attract a much wider range of audience so it stands to reason that you’ll have a higher % that aren’t into your sound than the ‘average joe’ who is just putting out music content and growing their listening base that way.
In the end the only people that matter are your loved ones and those that do appreciate your work… which I’m sure you have more than most.
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And as my good friend Jimmy pineapples used to say;
Case.
Fucking.
Closed.
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I’ve heard so many things about my music over the decades… that it was:
- elevator music
- music for gays (maybe, I don’t know… so what ?)
- music without soul
- video games music (that was from a time when you could actually tell the difference !)
- noise
- music for shampoo commercials
- untz untz
- shit
- not music
And so on… at some point you just build a thick skin. You can’t expect everyone to enjoy your works and have consideration for your commitment (and this commitment is weakly tied to the end result anyway).
Of course…
As such I shouldn’t have heightened my own device while lowering the product from someone else.
… does not help either as it tends to show you’re ok with criticism.
But lessons learned, like you said.
And not much to add now.
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@stimming you might want to edit ‘prize’ to ‘price’… pretty sure this is a translation or auto-correct mistake… but it could be interpreted as intentional.