Any Octatrack users?

[GovernorSilver]

actually my friend and i are from australia, not the uk. it is australian colloquialism to use the term "master" in the same way we use "tame" or "had a good understanding of". im guessing you're not familiar with australian colloquialism.

anyway, im not really into arguing with people online regarding the definitions of words. and for the record i wasn't trying to stop the guy from buying an octatrack. i love hardware and have a considerable arsenal- but, let the buyer beware- you will be required to do a lot of reading.

cheers

You're right, I'm not familiar with your colloquialism. The main issue with your posts I have been responding to is the 6-month claim, which initially sounded suspicious to me.

Most new users of the Octatrack end up learning by doing, watching instructional videos, and asking questions on forums - rather than just reading, because of the manual's various faults. It leaves out or buries critical information for some functions.

Anyway, as stiiive said, some hardware and software clicks with some people, and not with others. If your friend was unable to learn Octatrack's basic functionality in less than 6 months, it could be that the Octatrack is just not a fit for the way he likes to work. I played my first gig with the Octatrack 2 months after I started using it, and I learned how to do what I wanted to with it well before that, and I'm not even a power user with years of sampling experience.

[Dapifer]

No regrets with the Octatrack, not had a lot of free time to put into it yet but it's a lot of fun and the basics aren't too difficult to pick up at all. Months/years of depth to explore is an exciting aspect to me but it doesn't mean it takes months/years to get good use of.

[GovernorSilver]

Months/years of depth to explore is an exciting aspect to me but it doesn't mean it takes months/years to get good use of.

Yes, that was what I was trying to communicate, but you stated it better than I did.

Just tried sequencing slices in odd-meter time myself, this past weekend. Next is to learn how to sequence with independent time signatures per track.

[thealien666]

No I'm not an Octatrack sampler user. This is the Moog Music Forum, where analog synthesizers and stuff are discussed.

If you're a fan of Elektron's sampler stuff, may I suggest going here instead:

http://www.elektron-users.com/index.php ... &Itemid=28

You don't see any Kurzweil or Akai users discussing their machine here, do you ?

I'm sorry, I really, really hate samplers. Maybe it shows.
The only "sampler" I can tolerate, is an original Mellotron...

Even Bob Moog, who worked for Kurzweil for a while, returned to his roots because he realized the limitations of sampling, versus the freedom and randomness of analog subtractive synthesis.

[Sir Nose]

The Elektron Users forum is locked and closed, but will remain up for reference. The new Elektron board is at:
http://www.elektronauts.com

Plenty of talk about Moog synths on the Elektron boards. With the lack of sub forums here, General Topics, seems to me to be the appropriate place to discuss Elektron gear here. If sampler discussion offends you so , may I suggest, you do not open threads with "Octatrack" in the title. Besides, the OP was asking about the Octatrack in reference to using it with his Moog slim phatty.

[stiiiiiiive]

Come on Alain, don't be the grumpy one

I can undestand your point of view about samplers vs. liverty of creation. that being said, the Octatrack (as well as the MDUW) is not a sampler in the Kurzweil or Akai sense.

Elektron instruments are as performance oriented than can be a knobbed out synth. I had great times improvising on my Machine Drum UW, making weird beats and sampling other musicians: sax, objects on piezzo'ed bassdrum, vocals, guitars, synths...

[thealien666]

Yeah, I'm sorry. I should never write comments on a day that I got off on the wrong side of the bed in the morning.

Enjoy your Octatracks.

[stiiiiiiive]

No problem

[GovernorSilver]

One of my Octatrack goals is to use it to sequence my Moog Voyager.

I have no intention of using it in the way Mssr. Alien thinks about samplers, the idea of playing samples of flutes, violins, etc. in the way somebody uses a ROMpler. I like to use it to mangle the bleep out of a recorded sample, or sample incoming audio from Voyager, guitar, violin, whatever, and then mangle the living bleep out of it. Very different mentality than the ROMpler player's.

[LivePsy]

Sometimes you want a sound to be identical each and every time. A kick drum just lacks impact if the attack varies. There's the myth that analog is great because of subtle random changes. I say its great because its fluid and can be made more expressive because there so much to alter in real time. Random variation is not itself musical. Sampling is not itself evil. Sure, put a hihat sample on every 1/16 note and its horrible. That's not sampling at fault, its you

Sampling and Moogs work together like any complimentary technologies

B

[thealien666]

Mind you, I am using a digital (there's that dreaded word again ) drum machine with high quality samples of vintage analog/hybrid Roland stuff. Mostly because I can't afford a TR-808 and TR-707 and TR-909 and CR-78 and... well you get the point.

But if I could, I'd get the real things in a heartbeat over my Boss DR-880 (luckily it has COSM technology that brings a little life to otherwise dull and repetitive samples).

So you see, I'm not against everything digital. Heck, I've even MIDIfied my Minimoog D and not regretting it.

And, finally, before I unfairly dismissed the Octatrack as being a simple rompler, on that awful morning when everything that could go wrong went wrong, I should have investigated the device a little more to realize that it offers a lot more than that. And just keep my mouth, or was it my fingers, shut.

Again, my apologies to all Octatrack owners.

[GovernorSilver]

I accept your apology, thealien666.

Bon week-end!

[Sir Nose]

Woot woot! It's a party again.

[Dapifer]

Yea, I'm using the Octatrack to sequence and sample my Slim Phatty, MFB Dominion X Sed, and at the risk of becoming an Elektron fanboy, my fingers close to the button on the new 'Analog Keys'.

[lancefox]

I am having the most maddening problem and hoping someone can help -- basically, I'm trying to connect my little phatty to the octatrack, but I can't seem to get it to work with the cc messages

basically, I've got the midi in of moog to midi out of octatrack, and out to in. I followed the instructions in the manual, and set up the moog to receive midi on channel 1, output on channel 16. local control is off. after realizing there was a midi feedback loop, I stopped the midi merge. I've got my cc direct connect enable on the octa.

so now, I can place trigs on the octatrack and they'll send the data right. but if I go to auto assign the cc value by function+pressing the knob, without even a hesitation it just detects a seemingly random cc number and assigns it. even if I select the 'right' cc manually, it appears to have no effect on the moog.

weirdly, if I switch to 'audio mode' on the octatrack (as opposed to midi), the controls on my moog stop working altogether -- ie, I can't even turn my filter knob to effect the filter

anyone have any hints?