Octatrack First Impression // Uh oh- What have I gotten myself into

You still using it, Liam?

Thanks for making this video on the Octatrack, @LiamKillen. I'll have to say, based on what you've shared about the time investment required to appreciate the octatrack, this instrument feels like a big waste of time.

How would you compare the OT to the DT after the recent firmware update?

Mono sampling...what year is it? Absolutely deal breaker, even for just drums.

How’s the OT workflow going?

Ive owned 3 octatracks over the years, I now use an MPC live as my main sampler :P

Woww I'm watching ❤❤❤. Miss u dude

I bought one too. I have some real questions about whether the time investment will be worth it. Have definitely spent full days on the weekend just reading manuals and troubleshooting. Quickly hit an error, reached out to support, and just set it aside to come back to another time. There's no question in my mind that there could be something like the Octatrack that wasn't so hard to use, so it's frustrating to have to accept its limitations and complexity. Also questionable time investment for a hobbyist like me who is also simultaneously trying to learn several other pieces of gear. I bought an MPC One soon after this partly because I opened up to the idea that something else might be a better fit.

The ultimate problem with the Octatrack is that (as I've read, at least) the developer that was primarily responsible for it left the company and they haven't been able to do any real updates or overhauls to it. Lack of Overbridge compatibility seems like a big weakness here.

I own the OT mk1, 12 years old this year and still going strong. Best sampler ever made.

Great video man! Waiting for my Octatrack and ready to train my brain 😂 Curious to use this on resampling accoustic instrument loops instead of the typical drumbeats.

Did you find more info on PC12 + Octatrack MIDI CC linking? I have same setup and would love to hear about it. Keep up the great work 👌

Update on Octatrack? Still learning / using it?

Bad timing since the new one is coming out.

That intro is givin me i don't even know what to say

the octatrack is official

Ah right you said you are getting one. Uh - oh... well, good luck, ask if you want to know anything via Elektronauts, i will be posting some videos on machines and sampling soon too. And also, you are right. I got mk 2 Octa and was really pissed off - Digitakt was much more fluid, and had that updated effects, you could choose starting point for each lock without slicing etc... Elektron should 've updated MK 2 to something newer to streamline the product. However, it is not at all that intimidating as most people tend to scream, its just so many features and you need to master those that work for you daily without messing up those you don't but are integral part of the machine.

I told myself if I learned Drambo, I’d give the Octatrak a go….still no go laughing out loud

I learned it and played some shows using it several years back but eventually gave it up. It's a great performance sampler, effects processor, techo sequencing powerhouse, mixer.. but you sort-of have to pick one. Ultimately I found it best at mono techno and not good for anything involving chords which didn't fit all of the music I wanted to make.

Great video and welcome to the OT ! A few tips :
As you mentioned there are a billion ways to do the same thing on the OT, eg. instead of the fill you can set the condition to 1st or make the trig a one shot trig (func+trig if I remember well) and eventually re arm the trig with Yes-Yes (activated by default I believe) to make it a one finger operation.
It looks like you haven't dug into parts too much yet. They make no sense at first but they turn out to be really handy for what you were doing by changing the sample on the trig in one of the patterns.
Usually it's easier to use banks as an overall full song and patterns for different bits of the song (like you showed), then parts to change samples or effect settings and even track machines if you want. It allows for better transitions so you don't have to manually input different samples on each one of your trigs but can change the track sample all at once and even come back to the original in the same pattern. Copy paste (and save !!) your Part 1 to Part 2 and just tweak what you want to change on the pattern (it will remember the Part for that pattern). Eventually you can copy the last part of a first bank to the first part of a second bank to create transitions between songs for a live set. Finally if you have saved your part, you can tweak all your settings when performing with the Faderfox and then reload the part (similar to pattern reload on the Digitakt).
Track 8 as master track is super handy for resampling and effects.
The fader fox is a good idea but I think the crossfader will allow you to change more settings at once with one hand, even without using the crossfader you can change the active scene directly and make abrupt changes.
Finally in Mix mode, holding Func while pressing the track allows to unmute/mute multiple tracks at once (maybe it's the same on Digitakt) and you can solo by doing Cue + Track (this one took me forever to find out).
I'm sure you will have fun with the OT. Looking forward to seeing what you will come up with !

Be prepared to tame the beast ;)

Instead of using fill mode, which is a bit less simple than on the DT, you can use one shot trigs on the OT and arm / disarm the trigs with FUNC+YES/NO. That's more convenient in most cases :-)

Welcome to a world of pain. I love my OT.

All I learned watching this is I have no idea what I am doing because I understand almost nothing about what you were doing. 😕

Congratulations on getting an Octatrack! It's a very deep and mysterious machine, as you've already found out, but I have a feeling you'll end up loving it once you learn it. The internal effects are great, but as far as I know there's no way to prevent reverb or delay tails from cutting off when you switch patterns. The only "solution" I've found is to use effects pedals for reverb and delay. It's actually not that hard to do with the cue outputs, and an advantage of that technique is that it frees up your Octatrack's very limited effects slots for other effects. Another advantage is that it's not hard to find reverb and delay pedals that sound a lot better than the Octatrack's internal effects. Anyway, enjoy your journey! It will likely be as frustrating as it is rewarding. 🙂

I’m finally diving in to learn everything I can about this machine, after almost a year of barely touching my MK2 … It’s taken a while but I’m becoming less intimidated by it and realizing how its capabilities can benefit my music/creativity.

For one, I’m a big fan of sequenced effects plugins (Effectrix, Turnado, Looperator) and recently discovered how well Octatrack can do the same things, but far more instant and hands on/performative .. The selection of demo tracks OT comes with was perfect for realizing this potential — as all the tracks & parts do a great job showing off the power of scene based effects. It really started clicking for me when I started instant triggering those demo scenes, then resampling interesting iterations of the output - slice, then remix.

Every OT fan probably has a eureka moment like that, where something just clicks and you realize what an endless universe of potential is in this box and how much it could benefit your creativity.

I think you need to work with this device every day, if you leave it a month, you forgot it all. Very complex it seems.

Awesome video, bro.......

I've wanted to buy a Octatrack but so far it hasn't fit into my budget.

I really enjoy reading manuals...I read them all, the one for the oven, the coffe maker ...my Makie mixer manual is almost hilarious....but man, the OT manual is a torture...Tarzanic...try to understand trig modes...trick, trigger, trigless, triggy, track....I always end asking myself; what i’ve just read??

Check out Kenny Zhao's channel to see how he uses a midi controller to work with the OT. He has a great workflow and makes great music.

Always a pleasure tuning into your vids .. where i am certain to find a full measure of helpful content .. thanks again for your thorough recaps .. cheers !

Have you ever tried the Push 2? Curious to know your opinion! I would say the flow isn’t as good as a digitakt and it can take a lot longer to change some parameters. But it “feels” dawless and has none of the limitations of dawless. You really only have to reach over to ableton for really specific stuff.

Powerful machine, but definitely a commitment. I had mine for two years before I finally sold it. I was tired of having to relearn button shortcuts, workflows etc. if I wasn't using it every day. Two weeks away from it and man, it was frustrating to have to pull out the manual to get back up to speed on it. My smooth brain just couldn't handle retaining all the functionality. Complicated beast. Good luck!

Always enjoy your videos! Really looking forward to revisiting my Octatrack and following your explorations. Be great to see how you use it - I do find resampling a head scratch and have never found a good simple way to do this that works for me! Need to put some hours in I think….

Can you tell us your impressions about the difference in sound quality between OT and DT? A lot of people out there say that OT sounds worse, kind of dull, less clear.

One word - templates.

🤭

I’ve owned the OT for a little over 10 years and still discover new things/ways to get the same/more done. It’s certainly the headiest piece of gear I’ve ever owned but soooooo rewarding

Great alternative is akai midimix. $109 brand new! Buy two of these and be like less than one third of the overprice fadefox pc12! Fadefox seems like it's just insanely overpriced. Octatrack? There's no justification to the workflow! It's way to complex for the results IMHO. And, honestly used pricing is not justified. It's hyped gear, like teenage engineering! hipster gear. Which, that's just fine if it is your thing!

Cool piece of gear for sure. I probably wouldn’t be able to wrap my head around it for I am a simple man 😂

Octa is like classy woman, give her time and commitment and she will open up to you in ways you never imagined. Just stick with it and soon you wont look back.

yo! your affiliate link for the pc12 is not the right link!

I have beenr eally, relaly digging my digitakt, finally (taken like 2 years tbh) and am wondering which way im leaning next. its either gonna be a daw or the octotrack. appreciate the honesty as I trudge forward toward my own fork in the road

It really took me about a year to get the machine. Now I can't part ways with it, especially for live sets.

The fact that track mutes are not saved with the pattern make this pretty unusable for me. I just don't get why. Who wants that?

I had Octa for ~6 months (it wasn't mine, friend gave it to me to explore), and I wanted to learn resampling/remixing on the fly functions, but I ended up using it as regular sampler instead.
I even played couple of shows with it. Learning Octa is like learning new DAW, but with small screen and limited capabilities.
I understood that this workflow is not for me.
Now I'm thinking about getting Akai Force instead. Since I want a box to perform tracks that were produced in Ableton, this seems like more clever choice to me.

Really appreciate your first impression. I'm getting really close to going in myself. Will definitely do lessons, but would love to learn from your experience, the basics and build from there. Many thanks for the videos and I'm excited about what's in store.