I have also come to this conclusion but found the templates as a useful guide to deconstruct the parts I like etc to add to my own
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There’s a lot of creative scenarios when combining them, also using OT on its own. Recording buffers in real time, slicing, neighbor tracks, pickup machines, MIDI sequencing… you can invest time in these features, one at a time, and see what sticks.
I give personalized online lessons for both OT and DT, and think that this kind of tutoring sometimes helps to discover creative uses that you might be unaware of, either because you don’t know they were possible or because the learning process itself make new questions and pathways arise.
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What helped me the most in understanding the potential of the Octatrack, is to really get a grasp of its structure and how everything is connected to each other. It sounds very boring to read and watch basic tutorials to fully understand how this thing was designed but I think it is quite essential to do some homework first before expecting some results.
I sat down every day and just tried out one simple feature of the OT and moved on to the next when I was ready. When you really know how to get from A to B inside the OT in the most efficient way, it starts to open up to you. After that this thing is just a total creativity playground and every project can mutate into something simple and functional or something totally crazy. For me it became a total centerpiece of my studio and a perfect alternative to a laptop screen.
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Also, look at all these other people being helpful.
I mean, I get the whole RTFM thing, but it’s an internet forum where people ask questions, not necessarily because they’re lazy, but because they like to have small talk about the gear they’re struggling with.
And I wasn’t responding to you. The guy I responded to made a comment about fanboys and posited the idea that you were trying to make an “informed decision.” And I pointed out that the OP was figuratively asking difference between a chocolate sundae and a nuclear reactor. I wasn’t responding to you, so you don’t need to responded to me. “Goose vs. gander” etc.
You should do what ever you want with it.
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Grumpy goat lol
If you want some real advice, chuck out those templates you downloaded and start writing a song on the OT. Just the OT. It literally takes years to learn all the functions. I spent a year using it before i tried using MIDI functionality. It took me two years to really get Parts integrated into my workflow and just in the last year, I finally started doing Rec Trigs and live looping. That’s years of ownership. And I got a lot of help from the forum by asking pointed questions that came from my own use and bumping up against my own limitations. It’s hard to help somebody who asks the gear-equivalent of “what do I do with my life?” because the possibilities are endless.
Obviously there are dozens of videos on YouTube by thoughtful people like Cuckoo who explain the differences between the DTk and OT. I recommend them.
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I agree to a certain extent but, for me, you can tell alot about the intent of a post by the tone in which they frame it. To me, the post wasn’t in a demanding or entitled tone. It was friendly and conversational. Also, it’s really not that hard to help someone, evidenced by all the other helpful posts. If it is that hard, probs best to just not respond at all. That’s what my mama always says anyway.
As simple as this sounds, I think it’s the right answer. Now, the deeper question is: “what do you want to do with it?” 
I don’t always know what I want to do. Often I think I want to do something with the Octatrack and I end up discovering something else – sometimes it sucks, but sometimes its amazing.
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Hi
My advice like the previous one is to start using the OT on your own, and to familiarize yourself with the settings of the machine. it takes time with the ot, personally I have been using the ot for 3 years and I am just starting to stop looking for the settings when I create a song.
good luck to you for the future, the ot is incredible
peace
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Absolutely.
Fortunately it can be approached in so many ways, always learning more about it.
Like all of the Elektron boxes, it often times rewards weird and questionable patching decisions IMO.
how do you play frim card in a track?
Recently got my fourth or fifth Octatrack (I know!) and first thing I did (despite knowing a lot of the functionality from previous meetings) was to load a few samples and get reacquainted with throwing some wild Scenes on the crossfader. This is the most fun and it’s important to remind ourselves of the simple pleasures. Once that’s nailed and you want to explore more, take it a feature at a time.
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I see a lot of people speaking about EZBOT templates. As fun this might be, it is definitely not a good introduction to the OT. You would understand nothing about the OT and would destroy the template in a second.
Also these templates are using the OT as an FX mixer which is quite a strong choice considering what this machine can do. To benefit from these templates, you’ll need at least 2 other machines and you don’t have many tracks left (if none) to resample, load samples since it is using neighbor tracks to maximize the number of FX.
It can be fun if you want to remix or go full on FX but the most job will happen on the other boxes you’ll connect to the OT and you will never discover the depth (and the joy!) of the OT.
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For me the question became “what do Octatrack want you to do with it?”
Flex machines play samples loaded in RAM
Static machines from card
Congrats x4 or 5 !
Enjoying your Hydrasynth E daily. 
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Fun creative chaos with the Octatrack: Swap from a Scene that uses sliced and sequenced loops to one that uses the same sound files but not sliced. Suddenly, your pattern sounds completely different. Happy accidents waiting to happen
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Since my last post I watched some of EZBOT’s videos about the templates and tbh I’m confused about when he talks about “competing with DJ’s” when playing live.
In a lot of clubs you’re not gonna be competing with DJ’s at all because the logistics of a live performance with multiple boxes during a club night is not attractive for the bookers. Thus you will likely not get booked unless you are very friendly with the booker or have built up a good musical reputation in the scene.
So if it’s your intention to play live during club nights it would be wise to skip the templates that use thru machines, work 100% with just Octatrack to make a very minimal setup that takes less than a minute to get on and off stage.
Like I said earlier, EZBOT is a great teacher with good ideas. Massive respect to him and for what he’s been able to build on his channel.
I got one! Let’s make random preset sample chains!?!? Need an OT and something else plugged into it.
Set a midi track to channel 11 the auto channel.
The auto channel lets you preview presets of what ever channel you have selected when you play notes. So put a trig down on the first step maybe the 9th too and put the bpm to like 60. Now go to your other synth (I’m using a vintage black Digitone) turn the the knob that selects the presets in between each note. Whoa cool, it plays a different sound every time it goes through the sequence! Let’s record that and slice it! Flex, recording buffer, 64 steps, Plen … idk …. It’s complicated. Now you have a 4 bar quantized loop. Slice it and use a new pattern & part to play back the slices of your random presets in some creative way. Add a beat. Now go back and record over that buffer and see what happens next 
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Record anything, change the tempo, record anything, change the tempo, …
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