Ah, I forgot to mention that you need an audio Interface to record into the free DAW. That would be extra cost.
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You’d need a soundcard, and H5 can be used as a soundcard, AFAIK.
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in all honesty, if you want to keep it simple and just track your jams / play-throughs, and if you don’t intend to use the DAW for processing & editing, then I would recommend just getting a Zoom recorder, the H4N Pro would do AND it doubles as an audio interface you can use with your computer + DAW if you change your mind later (the H5 does too, btw).
EDIT: Plus you can carry it around with you and hunt for sounds to feed into your octatrack/digitakt 
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Gotcha, I’m trying to avoid the extra cost of a recorder if I’m going with an OT. If I go DT I’ll get a zoom h5
Thanks, I see. Hmm, never had the feeling that the quality of my recordings is too bad. I’d have to compare
That’s what I was learning to originally when I was considering a DT and the zoom h5. I like the simplicity of recording that way and not needing my computer. But from what sezare56 has said I can achieve recording live performance on board the OT which is perfect
Edit: using the zoom as a sound hunting device sounds great, plus I could use it for videography with my camera
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I’m also interested in that one, but mostly to record things with mics, guitar, not to record OT out. I would use it for a longer live show eventually. Possible to record 4 tracks simultaneously from OT?
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Since your main interest seems to be making songs:
The DT has no songmode (sorry if it was already mentioned).
If you won’t use a DAW+Overbridge (which is not available yet anyway), a big issue on the DT (at least for me ) was the lack of an EQ or at least a second filter with high pass option like on the Digitone.
If I want to finish a track complete on the hardware I usually need at least the option for low cuts.
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I’m not real clear on what the song mode entails, could you help me out? I am looking fo one peice of hardware that will be able to give me a finished product, from what I’ve heard OT 1000%
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all the Zoom recorders are awesome and it’s worth having one for sure! between the H4N Pro and the H5 it’s a toss up, can’t go wrong either way. I use mine for sample hunting out in the world and sometimes to record my jams straight up when I don’t feel like getting the laptop out etc etc.
Also just to say, @sezare56 and @Unifono you guys are always so helpful on here, very nice.
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‘finished product’ is a tough one…it sort of depends on what you want to build.
the octatrack allows you to arrange your patterns into a fixed arrangement that you can save and play back without having to “intervene” with it…that’s song mode.
the bigger elektron boxes have it, the Digitakt doesn’t.
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Some great points made here! Though I like the Reverb a bit more on the DT. I LOVE. Having eq on the OT to make sure each track sits right in the mix. That’s huge.
While the DT doesn’t have song mode, per se, it does do pattern chaining and it’s really easy to do. It doesn’t save those chains, but jotting it down on paper or in a note on your phone is pretty basic and you can have a chain back up in seconds. Not a massive deterrent to me personally. Then again, I prefer memorizing patterns and changing em live quite often. Feels more like playing an instrument. I did one gig with just my DT and an 0 Coast and just jotted down some notes. At the time I wasn’t aware DT had pattern chaining…oops 
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me too. But the OT’s dark reverb is not too bad.
me too The lack of Eq or additional highpass filter is a much bigger problem for than the lack of a songmode.
I also hated that you couldn’t run audio through the DT effects, but on the DN you can. Strange decision.
And I prefer sampling on the OT. I even think it is faster.
That said, DT is a lot of fun and sounds great in general
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not quite - if your samples/loops (& track recorders or pickup machines) are in ram this figure reduces, it’s also only retained in ram at the end of capture until you save it to the card
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I prefer sampling on the OT as well! Faster and easier, not to mention all the crazy stuff you can do to a sample as you’re sampling it!
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Good to mention. 8m28s is the max without samples in RAM as I precised above, and it decrease if you use samples in RAM. I admit my RAM is usually not saturated with FLEX slots.
2 different sample slots :
FLEX, samples played in RAM
STATIC, samples played from CF card
Use FLEX for short samples, sample chains (slices), short loops you want to mangle a lot.
You need FLEX to play your recordings on the fly*. Once saved, you can use STATIC.
Use STATIC for longer samples / loops, without too fast mangling on slices, but all parameters are the same as FLEX.
*You can also use PICKUP machines for recordings, with overdub possibilities. It uses recorder buffers in RAM too, and it’s hard linked to the machine.
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How do I record that long? Anytime I try to sample externally it automatically stops recording after ~1 minute
Do you have dynamic memory allocation turned on? I believe that allows you to get longer sample lengths on a single track vs. equally dividing between recorders.
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I don’t! Thanks for the lead! I’ll investigate that when I get home.
Thanks again!
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Make sure to save what’s in your recording buffers before switching to dynamic allocation since that will clear the buffers when you do it.
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