My thoughts too. When stocks are used up theres not going to be another run for a while.
I know exactly what you mean about the MPC, I donāt find it particularly exciting, but it is really functional and does what the Elektrons canātā¦(mainly around seqs over 4 bars).
I started a thread about how I felt the Octatrack is frustrating and uninspiring, which is kind of where Iām at with it, but Iām keeping it because I know itās possibilities once I figure it out.
Donāt think you can pick an OT up with having A4 experience and use it quickly, thatās the mistake I madeā¦ itās far removed from the workflow of the A4.
The Rytm on the other hand, you CAN dive into that really quickly when you know the A4, theyāre as close as you can get to each otherā¦ and that makes them really intuitive and rewarding. And to think of the Rytm just as a drum synth is to completely underestimate itā¦ itās deep. The performance features are the best of any Elektron deviceā¦ I know the OT seems cool with the crossfader, but it doesnāt come close to the Rytm as a live performance unit.
learn your AR first
Octa is a timeless classic. Iād say go for it.
Who cares if itās old. The MPC is old but Iād rather get an older mpc than one of the new ones.
My Machinedrum is old, but I got it instead of a rytm.
If you want it, get it.
The OT is too old for you. Wait for the new shiny thing.
1 octatrack will always be 1 octatrack!
The OT was refreshed recently, so you can effectively consider it new again. It wasnāt a mkiii, but it did get a healthy update.
Often I see the OT operating in two ways for people - one, itās either absolutely essential, or two, itās more of a tool.
Depending on how deep you go with it will determine if it either becomes the centrepiece, or something to incorporate regularly to perform certain tasks.
What are you missing that your current setup canāt provide?
The thing is by waiting you might wait for 3+ years (or forever), and even if they do come out with a new box it might not be the same type of thing anyways. Lets say you buy this today, and next week they announce an MKIII with all the upgrades everyone wantedā¦ its going to sell out so fast I bet it would be 6 months before you could get one and all the attention would likely ignite the used market for MKIIās and MKIās.
Even with MKIIās out the MKIās still sell for a pretty penny online so unless they launch a new box that is incredible and replaces it entirely and there is more than enough supply for everyone to upgrade you should be fine.
Get a Digitone.
It has been covered ad nauseam.
What do you expect more from OT?
Imho all you can expect is slight updates to make OT closer to newer Elektron products, in order to make the line more coherent.
Iād wish bug corrections first.
Thereās an OTmkiii coming, but itās a VST/au, delivered from the cloud to the new Elektron Model:Code.
10 years is nothing. Its still in production, so the new ones areā¦ new.
You either want one or you dont. If you want constantly updated stuff, get ableton or bitwig or whatever DAW.
What kind of update are you hoping for?
Isnāt that exactly the answer to your question, whether itās worth to consider getting an OT or not?
IMO the MPC is, despite of its complexity of today, one of the most easy machines to learn. If you came up with the feeling that you donāt gel with it after six months, the MPC workflow seems just not to be your thing.
This said ā¦ get something different and decide, whether you should keep the MPC and give it a chance in the future, or let it go.
I see no reason to assume there will be a new Octatrack. In fact, elektronās history tells us there wonāt be.
Iām curious/interested.
Do you really consider the MPC live/one objectively intuitive? Personally, I never experienced a more cluttered interface on an instrument, since the dx7. Sure, the MPC has its upsides - being a true transportable DAW/studio - but easy to learn is not the first words, I would use to describe it.
I like to imagine an intuitive device as something where a tech savvy person, not really familiar with music production, can get something going within ~30 minutes, without a manual. My guess is, it could be done on the Deluge, OP-1, perhaps the mc-707, but MPC live or Octatrack for that matter, I donāt think so.
OT MKII black hardware is 6 month old.
Octatrack OS 1.40A ā Dec 17, 2020
So, if you buy a new OT MKII black, you have an average 6 month old device.
If it could i would buy an OT again right now !!!
Edit-and i would probs get a Live/One/X if it had more sampling synthesis abilities too.I agree on the cluttered interface/OS.
Trying to guess the scenario:
waiting for years to see there is not going to be a new device due to weaken electronics supply chain, and the price of the OT would be 40% higher due to apparent inflation and materials cost rise
Yes ā¦ but not scientifically to be clear
Because of this exactly.
Before I bought my first MPC, a 5K, a couple of years ago, I read quite a lot of articles and watched YT about it, and many said, you can just start from scratch and do many things without the manual.
TBH, I didnāt really believe this, but after my first MPC stood on my table, I tried exactly this ā¦ with my poor YT knowledge and no manual. It worked for me to have a simple beat going in that time-frame you mention. Nothing special and very basic, no particular sound or sampling work to be proud of, only using some of the kits available on the disk and messing around.
IMO a person knowing what the pads are for, how to load a pre-made kit, how to use the transport keys, and having a basic understanding what a sequence, a program, recording, playing, and muting of tracks etc. in MPC land is, should have an easy going as well.
MPCs of today are very complex software in a nice hardware unit, but itās not required to know every in and out of any function from the beginning.