I felt exactly the same as you described at first, almost sold it
But I honestly think you didn’t give it enough time. It seems convoluted maybe it is but it really gets easier. As for the slices you can get really fast at chopping them with a bit of practice…
Ableton does have transient detection but it’s not 100% accurate and I actually enjoy choosing the slices myself now
I can agree the timestrech doesn’t sound great, reckon it and the fx should have been updated on the mk2 but I slice samples to avoid the timestrech now. And I’ve worked out how to use external fx with the scenes
Still overall I reckon from an unbiased view it’s becoming my favourite even with its few flaws.
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Many time, I’m thinking to get an OT to replace my DT for the same reasons as you, specifically the slice part, but I’m afraid I will experience same feeling as you. It’s an old machine and starting now with it after the DT/DN workflow can be frustrating. So, I always turn my DT back and with some tricks I achieve what I want with it 
The problem is I am too spoiled by Abletons Simpler’s automatic slicing feature and too lazy to do it manually, so I would probably never get accustomed to OT’s slicing. Plus I dont want to do any compromises when dropping 1200 euro on a sampler.
I’m back in the OT club! I’ve got a couple of gigs coming up so I was able sell some stuff to grab a used mk1 for a great price…It’s going to be a key part of my live modular set. I’m not keen on bringing a laptop on stage, so I have to perform ‘dawless’, although not really through choice. I use ableton in my studio set up but I have an iMac. My laptop is a 2013 MacBook Air that somehow can run ableton…but it feels like it could just die at any moment.
Also just in on a personal level I’ve never been so gutted as when I had to sell my mk2 a few years ago…I was so attached to it. It’ll be joining my rytm mk2, and doing some mixing and midi controlling. I’ve been working with the ER 301 module and basically making my own set of live resampling, granular looping devices within my eurorack set up. I can use the OT to keep everything in time, while mangling the shit out of stuff and streaming larger “clips” that the poor old laptop can’t be trusted to do.
To Octatrack all the way
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This is one thing that I discovered early in my octatrack days. It’s surreal how projects can go in all kinds of directions. I just started a new project where I have one long (3-4 minutes) sample that I know I want to work with, but didn’t know exactly how. I’m basically letting the OT decide where we go, and so far, it’s working out great. I’m getting all kinds of ideas and inspiration for things to try out.
To Octatrack, there is no other answer (for me). For reference, I’ve had mine about a year, and I tried to work with it consistently over the past year. There were some gaps (new baby last May), but I stuck with it, and I am enjoying the journey. Granted, the MPC One is looking like the neighbor’s new sports car that I’m trying to resist. I don’t really need it.
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Awesome. I’m glad you persevered! I haven’t even investigated pickup machines. I know kinda lazy, and also too much on my plate… but using the cross fader trick, when I record wth the cross fader somewhere in the middle I can get some crazy overdubbing results very quickly… I’ve really been trying to get this workflow together so that I can live record and manipulate my friends machines when we are hooked up and jamming. But in the end I always end up making kinda crazy techno tracks. Good job AdamJay.
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Ha, I kind of keep looking at the MPC One too, but in my opinion it doesn’t come close to OT for performance, but for production it looks pretty capable.
I guess I’ll probably buy one and try it, but OT ain’t going anywhere, might get rid of some other samplers though, but still not convinced that the MPC One workflow will suit me.
These are exactly my thoughts. It looks very capable (I’m not much of a performer, but maybe one day?), but not sure about workflow (should probably devote that time to currently owned gear), and doesn’t make sense to add another sampler. So that tends to abate any GAS. It looks cool and sounds good. I’m with you though - OT isn’t going anywhere!
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I have made this very experience with the mpc live. I guess that‘s why one is called music production center and the other one performance sampler
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I’m genuinely curious what puts the MPC over the OT in terms of production?
from the top of my head (referring to mpc live):
many more tracks
long, linear sequences
many more effects and mixing tools
Sample layering
Multisamples
Polyphony
Arguably better fx
Onboard synth engines
USB midi, ableton link, wifi
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got it.
I was jealous of longer sequences until I started like recording in chains.
Don’t bother with the pickup machines if you’re good with flex machines and track recorders.
I just wanted to understand pickup machines after all these years.
Today I got a good workflow going with flex machine recorders, finally.
Using a thru machine to bring in my Model Samples, and a Flex machine with a one shot recorder trig.
With cross fader fading between those two tracks, I can record via track+yes arming, and also chop up the recorded loop via slices and remix the MS pattern on the fly. It is perhaps the most fun I’ve had on the OT!
I definitely prefer it over pickup machines, but it is a bit frustrating how the two processes of loop sampling are so different. Different to set up, and different to execute.
Hold track + Yes/Enter to (arm) record on Flex
Select (but don’t hold!) track + Rec1 to record on Pickup.
Why on earth can’t they be the same? We’ll never know
So, aside from putting the Flex machine on Part 1, and the pickup on Part 2 for future use, I made a 2 page setup document for my own reference.
It goes over all the recording setups and steps to get going, as I wasn’t very happy with existing documentation.
I’ll probably clean it up some time and post it here.
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I use flex machines only for live looping, but I don’t also use a thru machine. I think I get the same result as you but using up only 1 track. I use two patterns instead of crossfading.
When just “playing” an instrument I use a flex machine with a record trig on beat 1 and a play trig on beat 1. So this acts like a THRU machine but it’s recording and playing back the same buffer. When I’m happy with that part and want to loop a second synth part from the same synthesizer, I switch to the next pattern. On that second pattern, the track that previously had a record trig now has no record trig at all, but it still has a play trig. So it just keeps playing the loop from the record buffer.
Then I’ll do the same process again with a second track. Some songs I end up looping three separate x0xb0x loops on top of each other with separate patterns and separate effects, and then do things like re-slice the loops in the FILL.
My liveset is using the octatrack with Track 8 as Master. I often do a similar trick with always having a record trig on Track 8, so Track 8’s record buffer always contains the last bar of the full mix. Then I’ll have a track at 0 volume with a flex machine that plays back Track 8’s record buffer with FX, or stutter or re-sliced.
Then I’ll have a scene setup that mutes all the other tracks and brings that track up in volume, so I can transition from a live mix to a feedback situation where I’m retriggering and re-recording a stuttered version of the master mix. You obviously have to watch levels and EQ here.
On topic, I think the only real competitor to the octatrack for this type of use (live resampling with FX and sequencing) would be ableton live. I can see why Ableton is popular in this space - more tracks, more flexibility to like EQ and VST every track as necessary, and a lot more visibility into basic things like “which track is clipping” or “how loud is my mix right now”. But I find Ableton an absolute creativity killer compared to my x0xb0x/machinedrum/octatrack. I think it’s because I get quickly sucked into recording/analysis mode where I’m spending a ton of time trying to mix down parts before really getting the core song down.
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Nice! It’s amazing how many different ways folks can set up the OT.
So the main reason I use the THRU is I have my MIDI Fighter Twister set up to handle EQ and LEVELs on various tracks, including the THRU and FLEX tracks.
This allows me to mix between the live input and recorded loop beyond just using the cross fader, I can do more EQ/kill style tricks quickly with them. And since the Twister has a “press to return to default value” button option for each encoder, I’m always just a click away from reloading the parameter values that way.
I also use the THRU to add some more compression to the M:S via FX Slot 2.
Create Random Locks in the Slice menu is my jam at the moment!
For sure! my Model Samples multi-track recording setup is basically using Live like an OT/looper, and soloing MS tracks into Live clips, looping them, while I record the other solo’d parts.
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I don’t have a M:S, but do have a Monomachine. I stopped using thru machines for a while now because I just haven’t gotten into the different parts technic yet. But what I do love to do with my Monomachine is control the cheesy drum machine sample machine with the OT arp. Been setting up an Ableton drum rack, which definitely doesn’t sound as good as the drum machine samples in the monomachine… but it’s fun.
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yesterday I wanted to improve my breakbeat trickery and was just slicing some breaks. Few retriggers, conditional trigs, comb filter and lfo’s later my OT turned into a chilled ambient pseudo harpist that was playing some generative lullabies for me 
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Honestly save a few months and get both! I have both Digitakt and Octatrack and they go super well together. I use Octatrack as a mixer & multichannel recorder as well as for sample mangling and assembling a song. Digitakt in stereo, Korg MS20 and a drone synth to Thru tracks. I usually start with sampling stuff from the MS20 to the digitakt, then recording longer loops to Octatrack and then building on those with synths, mangling samples if needed. So I have 4 tracks in THRU, 1 track as a rec machine and 3 tracks as STATIC or FLEX machines. Usually I start recording layers to DAW pretty far into making a song, sometimes just a stereo track for minimal mixing but sometimes multiple layers if I want to fine tune the mix. Works like a charm and if I’d add a mixer, I could add more synths to my setup really easily and have almost the same workflow. I’ve been thinking of adding a DFAM that would go into the Digitakt, not Octatrack for percussion and if needed, I could sample it to the Octatrack through the Digitakt no problem.
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Yes Please !
I upgraded from a Digitakt to an Octatrack. Owned the Digitakt for about a year and used it extensively. Got a lot out of that box. It was my first Elektron device and my transition from solely ITB to a hybrid of software and hardware.
Things I liked:
- UI: I felt I regained my musician’s sense of playability and improvisation, which I had lost after years of working on a computer. The UI on the Digitakt is so streamlined that it was easy to learn and implement an effective workflow for composing.
- Overbridge: Overbridge was a non-issue for me and super convenient for when I wanted to quickly record all eight tracks and the fx track to Ableton. 48khz sample rate is also a plus.
- BPM per Pattern: Felt like every pattern could be a brand new idea, which helps you stay creative. You can create new ideas on the fly and not have to worry about remembering the original bpms for past work.
After about a year in which I created many new productions (mostly demos) that I was happy with, I felt like the limitations of the Digitakt were starting to slow me down. Below are the major ones for me which were improved with the Octatrack:
- Timestretching: May not be the best on the Octa, but it still is very helpful when working with loops in different BPMs. In fact, timestretching starts to sound pretty awful even in Ableton after going beyond -/+ 5-10 bpm, yet it’s nice to have the freedom to play around with tempo when working with loops.
- Slicing: The slicing, imo, is really great, especially once you create sample chains. So easy and fun to make a pattern and scroll through different one hits in a sample chain or play them manually in slice mode when live recording. Again, coming from Ableton this felt very much like Swap Mode. Zoom in/out on the Octatrack also made setting start/end/loop/slice points much more efficient than on the Digitakt.
- Inputs and Cue Outs: I can connect my Nord Rack 2 to inputs A and B, send cue outs to a Memory Man, and send the external fx back to the Octa through inputs C and D. I can then use a thru track in studio mode to send the external fx to any track. I can sample both the Nord and the Memory Man. I can add more fx to each. Once I played with this setup, it became hard to imagine life without it with the Digitakt.
- Stereo Sampling and Playback: A big one for me. I use the Octatrack as the center of my studio, and as my live performance sampler. I need to be able to record samples and play back samples in stereo because that is how they will live when they are finally mixed and mastered. Mono in the Digitakt meant I could never play back or sample tracks as they were intended.
A bit of a long post, but I hope this is helpful for anyone who has experienced similar shortcomings with the Digitakt. It’s an awesome sampler that can and should be used as more than just a “drum computer,” but once I did, I realized the Octatrack was a better fit for me. Anyways, no matter what you have, keep creating!
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