Will there be Octatrack MK3 anytime soon?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#186

…a developers nightmare?
…it’s even a nice way to put it…u could also call it an ongoing braintumor…seriously.

half year in, realisation spreaded… “oh my goodness…what a neverending, almost impossible promise did we made here…”

this all for free piece of software costs a fortune in developer resources…
and worx with an outsourced main detail that caused lot’s of the trouble in first place and lot’s of money for ongoing exclusive license agreements on top of it all…
if they don’t make any drastic change here soonish, it can break their legs…
so, one more product that talks ob, fix a final state for all their ob devices, for all actual computer os and daw combos it has to run with and then move on…next chapter…keeping the good things, learning from mistakes, creating a better solution to reach out for the same nice options. but in an easier, way less complex fashion…

and there are many good reasons why ot was out of option for ob right from the start…
the os of the ot is a totally weird piece of code that has not much in common with the actual ones…so yes…no hope…this thing needs to be done from scratch again, if they wanna create a family of machines that share most possible common ground for future ease to keep it all uptodate…

#187

Overbridge was a huge selling point to me buying elektron gear, it gives it the edge over other groove box and drum machines imo… it took a while but it’s here now so the hard work is done isnt it?

#188

…yes, indeed…and they kept the promise…but also learned a lot…
they won’t kill the selling point arguments and huuge advantages from the basic idea…
no worries…

1 Like
#189

A lot of the hard work is done, but… even keeping up with Apple’s OS updates is a big commitment of resource, one that drags on for years. Personally I would be happy with streaming audio rather than the full OB suite of features, but hey, I don’t know how many people bought units on the strength of OB, maybe it was a lot.

5 Likes
#190

Same for me: I used OB only for multi track recording.
I then mix ITB.
If I could only get parallel audio over USB, that would be fine to me. And respect the “hardware first” ethic of Elektron, IMO.
Adapting software development for third party DAWs and OS is a bottomless pit, and needs to be maintained forever. Complete different work than creating hardware machines.
I do hope the investment was really worth it, but I would have preferred such resources be put in an OT mk3, no doubt.

3 Likes
#191

Is there any way to send the current settings of a track (for example, of the DN) to the arranger view in Ableton? I´m losing a lot of time setting the automations and I don´t know if I´m not using OB the right way…

#192

Actually no. With each new upgrade of the supported platforms the “sweating” starts over again. Is every still working or got something broken? If it is broken: can it be - hopefully - fixed easily? What may look like a minor change in the device driver model (what is a driver allowed to do) can become an incredible hard to solve issue within your driver.

Doing this for one device and one OS is already costly, because there is never a point when it is really “done”. But doing this for multiple OSes and multiple devices is really horrible.

Have you ever thought about why the model:xxxx devices are not OB-enabled? If they could have thrown OB in at almost no costs (just design the additional GUIs once), why haven’t they? IMHO it’s that ongoing cost factor for OB maintenance which gets worse with each device requiring support.

As already said by others: for multichannel streaming there are better ways than implementing it by your own from the ground up. For the visual controls MIDI would also be sufficient, at least when a few additional functionalities gets implemented (for example some kind of bulk parameters request).

6 Likes
#193

It’s definitely refreshing to see so many OT threads bump like this.

OT’s not dead!! :metal:

15 Likes
#194

Yes multiple streams of audio would be sufficient I think and with more effects per track you could have EQ and comp after the present 2 effects so mixing ITB would be easier.
It’s such a shame if Elektron has to spend a lot of resources on OB. I’m not using it - I prefer getting everything right in the boxes and then doing some work in postproduction/mastering.

1 Like
#195

In addition to the ideas above for send FX for a reverb and delay, I’d like more of the FX to be baked into each track, leaving the two FX slots for more creative or optional FX. So the signal path for each track will be more standardised like on DT, with each one having the basics like EQ, BRR, distortion/overdrive, filter and compressor, then the FX slots are there for things like chorus, comb filter, amp sim, and so on.

2 Likes
#196

Assignable envelopes with loop mode, modulation matrix, proper eq / filter combination to mix better, more developed effects system (like track effects and send effects, a way to group a few tracks for a “drum bus”, etc… ), POLYPHONY with automatic voice allocation (at least 16 voices ). No matter, DT2 or OT3 or else - this has to be done!

1 Like
#197

I use total recall to save everything in ableton projects
which is an awesome feature without the plugins this might not be possible though…

#198

Legends never die!

5 Likes
#199

Absolutly
shared by all tracks (like DT)

  • reverb
  • delay

dedicated for each track

  • BRR,
  • distortion/overdrive,
  • filter and compressor
  • 1 fx with extra reverbe, delay, chorus etc (for more effect you have 4 mono aux)
1 Like
#200

Part Vs Kit,

for me Part must see as a RealTime traitement.
i would like to trig it instantaneously like a Till.
juste add to Part the ability to add and mute trig on the current parttern. ( 4 super Till with track params, effect assignement, machine assignement :D)

[Part Herit from Pattern and implement Till]

Kit is more project based and need to be charged. Is not a realtime porpose. it’s clear that’s help a lot to manage sound specialy apréciate for OT :slight_smile:

#201

Replace the Cue by the 4 mono aux allow this :slight_smile:
and if is not needed you can change it as CV gate

#202

Hey!
So I’ve been saving up some money to upgrade my Digitakt and buy an Octatrack.
I finally have the chance to buy one, but something tells me I should wait… Do you think this is a bad time to buy one? Is Elektron going to release a mk3 ‘soon’? I know I won’t get ‘right’ answers but I just want your opinion, what would you do?
Also, if I buy an Octatrack, is there any ‘easy’ way of transferring every project and Samples on my Digitakt to the Octatrack?

Thank you very much,
Cheers

#203

Octatracks are incredible, if you want an amazing sampler/sequencer/FX box, GET ONE

6 Likes
#204

I just bought one. I don’t think they are going to iterate in the OT anymore, given that there haven’t been updates for it in a pretty long time. Next big sampler will be something new. OT is a classic, so definitely still worth getting.

8 Likes
#205

Dude people are still buying 303s…
If you want an OT just get one. So what if a newer version comes out? The mk1 OT still rules, and always will.

9 Likes