octatrack and hardware controlerism
what do you think of the elektron octatrack ? we don’t know much about it now but it could be an interesting tool for the ableton live dj.
basicly it’s a creative sampler that do real time timestrech like ableton but seems to provide lots more creative function to twist samples
I think you would find you would get alot more replys if you posted a picture or even better a video of the controller so those people who havent seen it don’t have to go google it for theirselves in order to contribute to the thread.
my bad
http://www.elektron.se/products/octatrack
it’s a hardware sampler that can read directly from a CP card (up to 64 gb) or load sample in the ram for extended sonic manipulation
there is not much info now but you can manipulate pitch, loop stard/end, trigger slicer and there is a" scene" function that is bit like dummy clip but that you can trigger in real time
movie was totally “cool story bro”
Looks really good, had a look at a few reveiws and stuff - then i saw the price.
£1k. Meh.
nice movie, I liked it 
i have received mine and i’m working on a short mix to show the possibilities… it’s so powerfull.
basicly it’s a sampler that have around 7:30 min of ram and unlimited streaming directly from a compact flash (up to 32 gb)
It’s automaticly timestretch thing like ableton.
You have 8 tracks that could be ram player or CF player
the biggest difference between ram player and cf player is that on the cf player you can only tweek pitch but on the ram player you can rearrange on the fly as you want with 64 slice the loop. you can also with the ram machine play sample in reverse
Each action is locked to trig in the sequencer so you could decide to put on trig 1 to put the sample in reverse at the 3th slice and so on…
the sky is the limit
You have also 2 effect by channel and there is a 3 band dj eq with kill fonction.
You have a crossfader that can switch between two scene. A scene is totally set up of all your parameter. for djing you could tweek volume and dj eq bass on 2 machines for example.
Basicly it’s just a more powerfull version of ableton. you don’t have the dummy clips but you have scene and a sequencer to mangle loops with is far more powerfull
THIS FUCKING KICKS ASS
Keh Keh… Its over 9000!
Must be good
Nice, overpriced, and doesn’t deliver what it should for the price tag in my opinion.
You consider it more powerful than Ableton Live? I’m not saying you’re wrong (you own the thing)…frankly, I think that the people who say it doesn’t deliver for the money or aren’t impressed with it just have never seen a hardware sequencer or groove box and don’t have a clue what it is…I’m just a bit surprised. I was really impressed with what I’ve seen of the thing, but…I wouldn’t have thought it was more powerful (with obvious allowances, of course).
have you read the manual before saying that ?
I’ve had nearly all the roland mc groovebox, korg emx/esx lots of gear. i produce dnb for now something like 8 years so i guess i’m not totally a newbie. doing live pa and djing with ableton for 2 years
The biggest strenght of the octatrack is the combi of a sequencer and a sampler. with ableton live if you put audio you can’t do much with it: only trigger different part of the song and put some effects. with the octatrack you could rearrange totaly the loop, you could change the rate , playing backward at the step you want.the automation system is so cool you press a trig ( name of a step) you turn and the param you want and voila it’s automated at this step.
But anyway i’ll sell my apc40 as i don’t need it anymore
Interesting. I think all of what you mentioned is possible in Ableton, but I’ll admit that it would be daunting–at least–to try and do it in a live setting…it’d take a lot of prep work.
I was just curious what someone with obvious experience of the thing that’s been called “Ableton Live in a box” thought of it. Tarekith–for example–hasn’t really said anything specific about it other than being excited to the point that he mentioned not using a computer for some gigs.
I’d love one to play around with, but I’d be so totally lost in that thing–having no experience with hardware samplers–that I certainly can’t justify the price right now, even if I could afford it. I could definitely see picking one up eventually, but I feel like I’d have to be at a point where a $1300 toy was fine with me, or I’d have to be at the point where I’m comfortable enough with sampling that it won’t become just another thing for me to lose money on when I give up and sell it.
No I haven’t, but it doesn’t seem like anything a few plugins could do… I’ll read the manual now though. O.o
except that it doesn’t need a computer…that’s kinda cool.
to me it looks like a more expensive version of ableton live with the stutter edit plugin and max for live or max msp or whatever.
By more expensive, you mean less expensive, right?
Live ~ 400
Stutter Edit ~ 150
Max4Live ~ 300
4in/4out sound card ~300
Laptop ~1000
= 2150
Octatrack is like 1300.
True, but I own a laptop, own Komplete, and have a 2d for a soundcard already (more than a 4-in/4-out). Most everyone into music production should already have about half that list.
I’m not saying it’s crummy equipment, it just cost more than a macbook and doesn’t have mass appeal.
$1500? :eek:
Well I think there is a misunderstanding in general… Some people say OMG 1500.. Other people think, great!! this is the one…
As mostapha says, Ive been playing with analogue hardware and grooveboxes for 12 years now… last groove box I bought was a MC909 and an EMU command station XL7… The last couple of groove boxes made you think how they were obsolete or no one knew how to proceed… Then Laptop computers started to be more and more common and it seems for a while that was the answer… funcy shiny apple onstage with tiny controllers and Ableton LIVE.
For me octatrack means Hope!..
Personally I hate things to be easy, everyone can makes music and nowadays you see very good performances with that gear, and fake live sets for example… all the time… Im now making more “psytrance” music than anything else, and I can tell u in this scene, 99% of the live sets are not such a thing… Ableton and computers gave the chance to certain people to make music and play it on stage… With one track after the other, everything already mixed, and arranged… That sucks. Not even making half the job a DJ does… and what happens is that some people is aware of that, so whenever u see someone with a shinny mac on stage 50% of the mainfloor thinks, another bunch of lies.
So for me finding a solution in not having a laptop on stage was my main goal. Something robust, allowing you to play ur music in new ways and using your hands to create things… random and new things… that’s what makes an artist a proper one… the Live situation…
So for those trying to make everything cheap and easy and not having respect to the hardware, this mahcine would be an Ableton in a box for a ot of money… please dont buy it.
For those using hardware or not happy with their laptop setup, wanting a robust and stable device, looking for new ways of playing their music, trying to carry less cables and DC adaptors when they fly abroad… this is a dream…
All the best!!
I didn’t know about it before reading the thread, so I checked the website.
They do have at least an original way of promoting their product (even if I think there’s a bit of bad taste), very interesting:
http://www.elektron.se/products/octatrack?section=sounds