If I was going to think up a dream OT I’d probably give it individual waveform displays for each track, for better realtime visual feedback and cool factor. I like the track faders idea too, I actually really like the compact little ones on the Faderfox UC4 and would be quite happy if they were integrated into a larger device.
not sure if their hold was intentional but they are certainly reading the market for sure.
its also interesting that the OT and Push having distinct backgrounds they are/will somehow meeting in the middle ground — both becoming hybrid machines that work standalone or synced to a computer.
The mkII is great but is a redesign/refresh of the DSP-1 made almost 13 years ago, so the MK3 or a new sampler machine MK1 should be a new landmark.
I actually tried to figure out a way to divide the size of this design.
but this is going out of control 
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I demo’d one and it was bad. Things like DT, Maschine+, Blackbox sound crystal clear. OT was a muddy mess… sorry it’s true.
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user error.
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100%
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It’s been shown on this forum that the OT gives you back pretty much exactly what you put in. Also that the DT boosts certain frequencies to make it sound more exciting.
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Most of the sound issues I’ve heard are either time stretching being enabled or bad gain staging. Neither of those have decent defaults, so I’m not surprised the sound quality myth keeps living
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Nope. Had I it a week, tried everything to make sure it wasn’t something silly.
It just sounds muffled and muddy no matter what. The same samples sound normal everywhere else.
As I said all my other samplers and software sound as you would expect. Crisp and high quality. OT is embarrassing sound quality even if you go to lengths to fenagle it.
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a week?
user error.
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I forgot a big one: the filter is also enabled on each audio track by default. The filter doesn’t open 100%, so if you want something to be purely unfiltered you have to remove it. Some other effects are not fully transparent even at 0% mix, like for example the lo-fi effect even when not in use will greatly effect the sound.
Add that to gain staging, time stretch, and the default of 16bit depth… Personally I like 16bit, but if you want more dynamic range it does support 24bit.
So yeah, maybe it requires knowing these details and working slightly harder to gain-stage to make it sound great.
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I can only salute you agree with me on the new ban-rule )
study the forum buddy. people put time in it, pay respect. it’s objectively 1:1 input sound when you got your OT basics right.
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Invalid function number and the file is protected or in use by another application
or it cannot be renamed because a file with that name already exists.
Network device no longer exists
That’s what she said
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I really don’t think people should get upset if someone says the octatrack doesn’t sound as good as their other samplers. Everyone has a different listening environment (room, background noise, whether they are using headphones or monitors and what those headphones or monitors are and how they are calibrated, acoustic treatment, etc.). And everyone has different ears. Just because one person doesn’t hear it doesn’t mean it is not there or that it is user error.
It reminds me of the time my friend said that a certain cup made his whiskey taste way better. I laughed my ass off, but agreed to try it to humor him. Well f*ck me the whiskey tasted entirely different in this cup. I could taste all kinds of things I couldn’t in my regular tumbler.
I just think everyone should have a little grace here. The people that think the octatrack sounds great should be happy and the people who think it sounds crappy (and there are quite of them, including professional musicians) should be able to discuss it and try to find what they can do to make it better (or wait for the mkIII ;-P).
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yes
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The good thing about it being “user error” is there’s a chance for the user to fix the issues they’re hearing and get what they want out of the device. “User error” is actually the optimistic perspective, whereas “OT sounds bad” seems unnecessarily defeatist.
This comes up with a lot of other gear and it’s not controversial. If you record into Morphagene at too low a volume, it sounds terrible. If you’re not mindful of your gain staging within Hydrasynth, the sound clips internally. On Rytm, if your track levels are high and you crank up the distortion, you’ll run into the ceiling of the compressor. Etc. etc.
It’s not unique to OT that you need to be careful with what you’re doing to get the best sound out of it. But for some reason when it comes up with OT, there’s a crowd that’s always committed to the idea that it just sounds bad. Oh well. Mk3 will probably sound like Digitakt and everyone will be happy.
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I just want an OT MK3.
Please elektron i summon you, i hereby materialize this reality where you announce the OT MK3 Now!!
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I think the biggest problem with the Octatrack is how much it messes with your ego.
It’s always difficult to admit that it’s user error, and with the OT it’s always user error.
That’s the thing that’s really unique about the OT, the idiosyncratic nature of the beast (a natural byproduct of such a flexible tool).
If there is ever to be a MK3, a refinement of those idiosyncrasies into something that massages our ego instead of pummelling it into the ground would be nice.
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