Uninspired by the Octatrack MkII

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#21

Sorta? I mean I would say meandering with it is good for learning how you like to use it but I wouldn’t try to sit down and say I’m going to Midi Sequence, and resample, and mix, and play stems all at the same time. the workflows are pretty different and it’s easy to just get lost in the sauce trying to do everything the machine can do at once. like turning every pedal on at once with a guitar rig. lol

More like, “today is only one shot samples loaded in, big digitakt mode” or today I’m just doing sequenced FX processing the audio from The A4 no internal music happening. get a feel for what you have fun doing and let it fit that role.

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#22

Agree with plan what you will do with it. The most simple use case for me is all flex machine and just make track like on DT but with more FX and slide and swing trigs.
You can skip the midi and sampling part and still have a very good device with sequencer and p-locks.

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#23

I think your at the point a lot of us reach with the OT. Do i go for it and really learn the machine and what its capable of, or drop it. Its make your mind up time.

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#24

Exactly my relationship with it. I’ve had (at least) two (MK1s) and had recently been hawking on classifieds to see if I could find a decent MKII. Until a learned friend of mine reminded me of why I sold the others.

It’s OK not to not like the Octatrack as much as it’s OK to like it. If you’re mad. :rofl:

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#25

yeah if you’re going to just use it for drum hits and you’ve been using DT and AR for that… it’s overkill. if you have other stuff to sample and mangle, do that. you’ll quickly see why it’s so beloved. like I love it most when I sample my modular gear into it and turn something already awesome but hard to manage into something even more awesome but manageable. or when I’m sick of every melody I write, I play one in and mangle it, then start a track from there.

I’ve seen it before on here and I still think it’s great advice that when you’re new to OT you should try writing a track with just the OT (even if you know it’s a shit track or not your normal style; you’re just using it to learn the thing). for one, you’re forced to learn it; data structures as well as any workarounds you need to get around track count, etc. for two, you’ll start to see how you may want to use it going forward, and why other people love it. if after that you’re still not feeling it, and have zero inspiration from that, maybe it’s not for you.

4 Likes
#26

Won’t say that the OT isn’t inspiring, but for me, it only acts as a MIDI modifier.

I planned on looping, sampling, adding fx to external instruments - but in the end, I think any instrument fed through it loses some dynamics; the important ‘fuzzy’ dynamics that I would have like to keep get cut out, or just dull out.

I haven’t added a sample into it yet, but that’s just because I know that I won’t be able to manipulate the sample the way I want to with lfos on FX tracks and such - one really needs two OT’s to mangle stuff the experimental way.

Now that I have it, I don’t use it as an fx box as planned. I am, however, always using the MIDI tracks - that’s it.

For me, it serves a purpose, and I don’t view it as I once did before buying (trading for) it. I see it as a useful midi tool.

“I’ve only had it for two months and I am barley scratching the surface!” I’ve only had it for about two months to be honest, but I see some things that may not be fixed with an update. That’s just how the OT was built.

:- )

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#27

it sort of sums it up for me i think :smile_cat:

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#28

The way I best use my Octatrack is not in a fun, inspiring way at all. For me it’s a utility performance tool. In that… I’m setting up all of the songs I’m going to play from it, configuring the scenes and patterns. Using the inputs as a mixer, and to apply FX. Is that tedious and boring and obtuse? Yes. Yes it is. But I don’t have a laptop, and I prefer to perform Dawless.

Once it’s setup with my projects. I have a reliable portable box all preconfigured with my set. You can be like Hector from the commercial and show up with just one box if you want.

Other use cases is simply using it to process inputs as a mixer. Or, sometimes I might have it midi synced to my other gear so I can record in something external and have it loop. Or have everything running through an input so I can use self-recording crossfader trick to DJ mix between patterns

Either way, I don’t find it to be any kind of inspirational improvisation box.

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#29

What I do is I kind of imagine music and then try to make it. Sample things as needed, same for MIDI sequencing etc. OT is so versatile that I don’t have a “standard” use for it. I would like to be able to make better stuff but it’s certainly not the gear that’s preventing me. You have a lot of options even with just the OT.

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#30

Just bear in mind… You’ll miss it when it’s gone! If you buy you may end up rebuying. I’ve just sold my second OT, not for any failings on the machine, but 'cos I needed the cash. And I can tell you I’m missing it already.

I sold my first OT 9 years ago. This one I sold because I hadn’t invested enough time into it and didn’t explore or connect with the majority of features. After this I surfed a ton of gear, in part trying to replace the extensive feature set with multiple items. As a result I spent a lot of money yet still missed the OT. Couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but that niggle persisted.

When I got the second OT I quickly found a groove but still never reached a zen like state with it, but this is down to me not the machine. I sold it two weeks ago and now miss it greatly, I don’t regret selling as I needed the cash but I would still rather have it than not, even if my intermediate use only scratched the surface.

So, think hard before buying you first OT as it likely won’t be your last.

1 Like
#31

maybe sell it and get a second A4?!

#32

Whenever my OT p!sses me off, which is rather frequently, I remind myself there’s nothing else, except for a laptop/DAW, that does it all in one neat package.

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#33

One point to build on what you wrote:

I tried the MPC/Maschine+ route after growing frustrated with the Octa. They are both very neat machines, but… It’s getting so close to a computer/DAW, but with massive limitations, that I felt quite removed from why I purchased hardware, in the first place.

Once I realized that, and started seeing the Octa as an instrument with its inherent limitations, I went ahead and purchased it – for the third time :’(

(It also helps that I’m very familiar with the workflow by now – felt like returning home. You really really can absolutely know it so well that the interface gets out of the way)

6 Likes
#34

I’ve been having some fun with it lately, though can’t say I’m totally hooked on it yet.

#35

The OT is a strange beast.
You need to know it and use it’s strengths rather than trying to make it do what it doesn’t.
Be aware that timestretch is on by default and alters the sound.

My favorite trick is using sample chains, it’s a very nice way to go further than 7 or 8 tracks.
You have to master live resampling, IMO, to understand one of its most interesting aspect.

It’s a tough instrument, yet not as much as a guitar :wink:

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#36

My 2c:

I’m guessing you start building with the AR, followed by the A4 and then you try and add sauce with the OT?

Try doing the reverse. Start with OT. Be pretty loose and magic will be born. Then start layering in the other stuff.

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#37

resampling just to free tracks looks overwhelming for your setup)
I can recommend to pair it with one of your synth, it would be more inspiring

Also, this article is very inspiring for me, try to recreate this patches and make it sound good

3 Likes
#38

I’m at a similar point with my OT, at the moment. The MIDI side isn’t “as good as” my old DAW way of working, and fiddly and annoying and limited. I have tried sampling some of the MIDI’d synths so I can play two or more Rev2 sounds at the same time, but each time I try that it takes me an inspiration-ruiningly long time to get a recording I’m happy with… This weekend I failed to learn how to get it to record my pitchwheel wiggling. It’s all just a ball-ache. I regularly ask myself if I should have got a DT instead.

I bought the OT to take on the roles of “sequencer” and “mixer”, which previously I used a DAW + interface for. I wanted to get away from the large screen and mouse. The roles I’m using it for aren’t very exciting, so it’s no surprise I don’t love the box yet.

I’ve barely touched parts, scenes, the FX, the crossfader (I have had some fun with them). Because I know that I’m underusing it, and consciously not using the “main” features, I don’t mind the lack of “joy”. When I’ve finished my current track, I’m going to work with the box a different way: try out live looping, play with scenes etc. I’ll know more about it in a few months.

#39

Sell it!

Then buy an OT with the cash!

17 Likes
#40

This sounds quite negative. I was trying to show some empathy with the original post before describing my route forward with the box, in case that’s helpful. I’ll add a couple of things I really like about it.

  • Having a mixer + fx in a little box means I don’t need a mixer and FX units. It’s not as comfortable as a mixer and pedals seem, but it’s workable for now and suggestive of bigger things in the future when I have budget
  • I sync my AR to it, the OT driving clock and pattern selection. This has been really fun and liberating in some ways (my first couple of attempts had me using two arrangers in parallel which was awful: slow, confusing)
  • I love playing delay times with the cross-fader!
  • even tho’ the patterns are sync’d they don’t have to be the same length/count. So my AR patterns are usually based on 16ths, but my OT ones are often 8ths. This is very handy! I’m sure you can go way more interesting and complex with this.
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