Focus on the aspects of OT that will interest you and fit in to your workflow when starting out. Right now I’m using the midi sequencer for external gear, pattern master and fx on incoming audio. Quite basic really but that means it is the central box in my setup. Everything else hangs off it. It’s also clock master. As time goes on will use it to incorporate more sample management into the workflow
Just like to say thankyou for this post. I bought an OT mk2 a few weeks back and havent opened the box yet due to work commitments. But this knowledge is golden. Cheers:+1:
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Off topic: If you use the OT as MIDI sequencer and FX machine, take a look at Neighbor tracks to use more effects per input.
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I’ve recently bought one after much persuasion from a friend, and whilst it is daunting to start with, a lot of that was fueled by every single review I read prior to pulling the trigger starting with something along the lines of “it’s really difficult to use”.
I’ve still only really scratched the surface, but it’s really not as tough as is made out - and stating the obvious, the more you use it, the easier it gets. I love it already. More and more possibilities occur to you as you start digging. It’s definitely a gateway drug too - Really want a Digitone now. Inevitable.
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I know what you mean… I already bought a Digitone 
It’s is not as deep as the OT though. I find myself saying quite a lot “I wish the DN could do this like the OT”. For example: you can’t switch patterns and keep the same tweaked sound you had going (i.e. there are no kits or parts).
But it does sound marvellous! Lots of happy surprises when you start tweaking sounds…
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What do you mean by that ? Making every other machine change pattern at the right time ? This is a challenge for me, I’d be glad to read how others do it 
I’m consciously trying to wait to buy one, as I have to learn the Octatrack and build our bands live set within it before the beginning of May, and spare time is at a premium. I also bought a Deckards Dream recently, so have that to sink my teeth into too… but the pull is strong!
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All advice about learning the machine aside, you may have pointed out something odd / counterintuitive about the way parts are used in the demo project, and demo projects that come with some OT sample packs
I don’t remember much about the orig demo on my mki, but I think it was like the demo bank you used to get with the earlier sample packs - the parts allocation could be interpreted as a pretty unlikely scenario in actual use.
They’re not great demos for reverse-engineering and learning the machine as most of the samples are phrases rather than one-shots. What this means is that most of the sequencing is fx / mangling oriented. When you change parts you’re just putting another bunch of phrases through another mangler! it all just ‘works’ because the phrases are quantised and in time, but it’s a sort of wildcard setup - something you may get into with the OT with time, though you’re probably thinking in terms of building songs rn
those demos also switch out the effect types used in different parts, so you might even have scenes or locks acting on irrelevant or non-existent parameters with some parts.
Playing with the demos was also where I noticed that the part changes were happening at differing points per track. (Search here for part change bugs)
Parts are weirdly implemented, a bit buggy, but there’s no real ‘correct’ use of parts. just whatever you come up with.
Merlin’s ‘back to base’ (after going awol with effects) is probably a more common scenario
I use them mostly as parameter snapshots/backups, or to send program changes on the midi side.
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Yes, Just keeping all patterns in sync on all machines.
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I thing it has more sense to use the banks as songs and the parts as the checkpoint or “back to base”, as in the Digitone and Digitakt you can copy, paste, save pattern and reload pattern.
If the part is a song, there´s a problem if I´m in a pattern, I change its part and go to the next pattern, ´cause it will start with another associated part, so for me this way has no sense.
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It only makes more sense to a newcomer, who doesn’t know how powerful parts can be.
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Yes, that´s possible, but how do you avoid the problem of changing to a pattern and suddenly change to a non desired part?
I avoid part changes, boring and anoying behaviors. I prefer bank change to change song.
For Prog Changes I use a CC and midi processor mapping it to a PChange, I definitely wouldn’t use a part change only for a Prog Change change.
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I’ve been experimenting with a “recording” part. It contains several machines set up for sampling, slicing up samples, and resampling. I can switch to that part, chop some stuff up, and then switch back to the main part for the current pattern.
I’m still working out how useful this is, but it’s nice to have a free blank canvas that doesn’t affect the rest of the song — apart from the record buffers.
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Could you describe your recording setups settings. I had non effective or lasting changes of record setup with part changes.
I think parts seems broken, in some instances they can cause audio drop out if changed mid pattern, but then other times they work as expected, I didn’t do enough investigation into what combinations of settings causes the problem yet though.
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I switch to a new pattern (16 is good, as it’s easy to remember), then I switch to a new part.
The new part automatically gets 8 static machines, loaded with any samples that are in slots 1-8, so track 1 gets slot 1, and so on.
I add whatever machines I need for recording — usually some flexes to resample one or more tracks using the Cue sampling trick. And that’s it. The new part stays assigned to the new pattern (A16), so I can just switch to A16 when I want to use it.
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Another quick way is to make sure the current part is saved, then go crazy mixing things up and sampling/slicing, then reload the part to get back to where you were.
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It’s part of the plan 
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[no fear]
QUESTION: can the fader curves on the crossfader be changed. to is it just linear.
[I cant find anything on it. which makes me assume linear only]