Good Lord, where do I even begin.
I had recently developed quite the “Elektron infatuation” just a couple months ago upon acquiring an OG Digitakt, my first Elektron box - but as of late, I’m unfortunately starting to develop more of a frustration - as much as I hate to say it.
Soooo - just this past week, I also bought a [Pre-Owned] Octatrack MkII on Reverb for myself as a late 29th B-Day Present since it was at the start this month, and it just got here Saturday afternoon after much anticipation. In an ongoing conversation thru Reverb with this previous owner, he told me that he completely wiped/formatted the included 65GB Compact Flash card, & that he also DiD Un-Register it on Elektron’s site. He told me the latter after I first messaged him back after it finally arrived, but however I was (& still AM) having trouble downloading the 5 GB of Factory Content via the link next to it after Registering it on the Elektron site, within these “My Account” pages.
Whenever I click the “Factory Content” link, it just loads up a blank white page with a single sentence saying: " You do not own this product or it is not registered. "
[ Additionally, given I ALSO had not Registered my Digitakt either yet, I tried to Register it also this past Saturday, via the Serial Number # on it, but of course, THiS ALSO gives me a different error that says:
" Node ID not valid for node POSTAL_ADDRESS " . And I am still currently getting this error when re-attempting as well. ]
So the first Elektron box I got is this Used OG Digitakt off of Facebook Marketplace just back a cuppa’ months ago in November; so really, BoTH of my elektrons are still NEW to Me, & I’ve had a ball using n learning the Digitakt thusfar. Such a ball, in fact, that I had to bite the bullet and drop a Phat Stack of Ca$h on an Octatrack; too impatient to wait long enough for any exceptionally cheap deal to pop up lol.
Of course after several troubleshooting attempts n whatnot, I finally messaged Elektron Support about it this past Saturday evening, and have yet to hear back.
Moderator Edit : Reference/Instructions on sourcing Licenced content removed - this is absolutely not condoned here
So, I eventually attempted dragging the 5 folders listed above into the “AUDIO” folder in the OCTATRACK’s Finder Directory that’s located inside the one singular top-level folder, apparently named “UserTest1.0” - as I had briefly named my this 1st initial Set as previously during my first experience powering on the Octatrack.
Throughout this process though in trying to pull up the OCTATRACK file directory on my Mac & set it in “USB DISK MODE” , I experienced a USB connection error a few times, even when trying on different USB ports on my Mac Mini as well my Dell Docking Station that’s connected or re-connecting using different USB-B cables I’ve got just laying around; but I even had it disconnect & error whilst plugged into a brand-new never-before-used USB-B cable, too…
So I began having these USB connection errors, and i must’ve found a “sweet spot” now as this current cable & port it’s connected to has not disconnected itself yet - but of course, I then began having OTHER issues.
For one, there were a couple times upon enabling USB DISK MODE where the Octatrack would appear again as an eject-able Drive in the Finder, as it should - but, upon clicking to see its File Directory, it was just blank, refusing to populate with any folders or files - AND/OR ALSO having that USB disconnection happen near-simultaneously.
There was one time I saw the USB disconnection happen (i immediately see a Finder pop-up banner notification in the corner of my Mac’s screen saying this Device was “Not Disconnected Properly”) and without thinking, reached up and flipped the power switch OFF - but upon looking up & confirming that it is iNDEED a RiSK to Power it OFF before first ejecting it on my Mac, i’ve since made sure to not do that again, knowing from here on out to FiRST click the “Eject” icon next to it in the Finder window on my Mac BEFORE flipping the Power switch OFF.
So these few issues I just spent an extraorinarily lengthy time detailing above ^^ are what I was just dealing with a bit ago; however, the last, most recent ADDiTiONAL NEW issue i’m having right at this moment is this:
Since I was having trouble and getting errors during the process of trying to drag the Factory Content folders/files onto the Octatrack in my Finder on my Mac, I THEN looked into others things I may need to try doing, one of which i figured would be trying to Format the CF card (again, since the previous owner has already formatted it before shipping it to me).
So as I read how to do that, going to PROJ button >> SYSTEM >> CARD TOOLS >> FORMAT CARD & clicked the “FORMAT CARD” selection from this menu, my Octatrack first did appear to be doing what it’s SUPPOSED to do (surprisingly enough!!), as I NOW see this rectangular pop-up window across the middle of the screen that says " FORMATTING… "
But while waiting for this to do its thang, I looked up how long it normally should take which is supposed to be only a few minutes - and VERY occasionally it can take up to 20 minutes - but as i type this NOVEL of a f**king first Elektronauts post here, my Octatrack screen STILL SHOWS THIS " FORMATTING … " window across the screen … so wild guess, it somehow got hung up trying to do this TOO. Ugh.
Now i don’t even know WTF to do, and I’m afraid to un-plug the USB to it or even Power it OFF , as OF COURSE the advice for THIS is ALSO obviously to NOT disconnect it during things like this, as it’s in the middle of lots of computing –
or even iS it though, because it’s been stuck “FORMATTING…” for at LEAST an hour or two now, for fuck’s sake.
Anywho I’m more than DONE typing up all of this shit, and spent WAY too long of time to do so - so i’ll be hoping n praying that SOME fellow Elektronaut & Good Samaritan out there is able to help and might have some answers or things to try here, given my abysmal situation.
Man it’s just a bummer; as I’ve been MORE than excited the past week with anticipation waiting for this baby to arrive, & I’m pretty sure this Octatrack - despite buying it used - might just be the most expensive thing I’ve ever bought for myself [that isn’t something like paying rent or other big dues, of course]. So given that, I sure as HELL hope I can soon get over all of these initial obstacles and be able to enjoy learning what all the Octa has to offer & not worrying about it getting disconnected & data corrupted or some shit like that in the meantime.
Welp, I now desperately await any advice at all in regards to my shit-uation.
For now, toodles.