Seeing as this is an official Elektron forum , I just wondered if anyone from the company could give a simple yes or no on the issue of an os update, there was a time when it felt like we might get somewhere, the thread at the time was picking up pace and the most requested and implimentable requests where becoming clear…now it has been months with no real clues.
I love some elements of my octatrack but to be honest I would rather know if I should keep batting projects away from it until a time where things like pickup machines feel more finished and the patterns can be copied into the next pattern in realtime for further work are impli melted via an os update, or if I should just accept that we have got all we are going to get and no further work is going to happen in the unit,
I sometimes get the feeling the Octatrack was the unwanted bastard child, or maybe that it took more effort to get it to where it is now than was warranted. It also seemed to be released during a transitional period for Elektron. It does seem a bit like the odd child in between the new and old machines and maybe not getting all the love it deserves as a result. I really do hope Elketron sees the Octatrack as a machine worth further investment into, it really does have a lot of awesome potential and has become a very essential part of my setup. My only gripes are the project management, a few minor functionality issues/bugs and I would like to see some evolution of the sample manipulation functions, ie: timestretch, vinyl style pitch with tempo, grain sampling, more extreme rate control etc… Bread and butter stuff really…
Here’s hoping that when this wave of new machines has plateaued, the OT gets some much need love…
Elektron doesn’t give any information about future updates and upcoming features!
I’m getting slowly but very strong disappointed from elektron politics and especially the octatrack.
Quality-come on! The gear is really poor quality when you compare to DSI or other professional manifactures. Did you ever take a look inside?? It suposed to be made with love right? And the cluttering interface, buttons permanent brocken encoders because of missing dust protection?!.. this is not made with love…
Stability- I’ve allready get a ton of crashes. How can it be a live performanse instrument?!?
Feedback. I’ve wrote elektron emails with suggestions and bug descriptions - NO FEEDBACK except - “thank you very much…”
and the promise of continue update politic sucks! I have a octatrack since 9 months and thare was only one! minor update(1.25B) with some really nevermind features! And i’ve bought this instrument because of this promise. in the meanwhile elektron developed THREE new instruments!!! and the Octatrack (my new Octatrack) seems to be forgotten and old… wtf!!!
These people run a business. I’m sure they would like to work on adding new features to the OT firmware, but right now they are probably more interested in their Analog gear since it likely sells a hell of a lot better.
i’d bet the OT sells very well, let the dust settle on the RYTM release and then see what comes along, but to expect too much now is only likely to disappoint !
I have been checking out the OT for several months now and it seems to be just the hardware for me (coming from Ableton Live and playing live with guitars, basses and some synths + videoprojections). It’s always a bit exciting to fire up a PC-laptop on a gig, so OT has been always on the back of my head. Also all Elektron gear seems just so right.
My guess is that the octatrack is the hardest Elektron product to upgrade in terms of satisfying the customer base.
There are so many different needs and everybody seems to have their own must-have feature requests. If they do a upgrade, a large group of users will be let down and even more discussions and feature requests will follow. It’s a catch-22.
I have been advocating to focus on workarounds and work with what you have in general, yet I have feature requests for the octatrack’s future OS myself. I however notice that it is not even worth mentioning what I’d like to see different, because I am not a customer, but a user and already perfectly capable to make music with the products I bought from Elektron.
Their only reason for making a decision on upgrades or features is and should be made commercially. It’s hard to keep your head up as an independent company these days, let alone grow. I applaud their success and if the octatrack never ever sees an upgrade again, I personally do not regret buying it. I have worked with worse operating systems and dodgy gear and I luv it…
It definitely is an instrument to go in with your eyes well open. Do your research and def go second hand. I don’t think any of the Elektron options are worth RRP (that’s just me though) but when you get the 50% RRP mark they become great options. Be patient, you can find bargain OT’s like I did.
Anyway, I don’t use the OT anywhere near its potential. Part of that is struggles with UI and following on from that is partially not having much time to really learn it in full but when you get something going it is a lot of fun.
I personally feel build quiality is good, mine hasn’t crashed on me ever and its limitations are selling point to me when coming from somethign like Live.
I do feel the OT has been put to the side in terms of development and while I can understand that Elektron are a business it still grates a bit. File management within the OT is atrocious and it is a little embarassing that forum members are being forced to develop things. I don’t doubt that the analogue gear is taking priority right now but I can’t shake the gut feeling that we will end up seeing some OT MkII before we see any useful OS updates and I wouldn’t be happy with that. I suspect Overbridge, while a huge undertaking, is dipping the toes in the water for a potential OT MkII with USB I/O interface but Im getting ahead of myself greatly.
Bottom line is that the OT is perfectly functional as it stands. There are a few niggles and file management is a pain in the tits (for me at least) but, again, do your research and don’t be afraid to take the plunge. If you buy 2nd hand you wouldnt lose much if at all if the OT didn’t suit and you decided to sell. Just give it a chance!
Search for “dave smith encoder problems” . In fairness i need to say that DSI changed to pots on alot of their synths, but in pre 2009 models it was a nightmare for some users.
Interesting that people will buy a product knowing the full specification, then get upset that it’s not another product that they made up in their mind and complain… I see this everyday and it still surprises me…
The comparison with DSI is funny. The state of most DSI products is far behind of any elektron unit imho. The tempest has had a long frustrating history of horrible bugs, the interfaces are not very hands-on on the smaller machines (mopho, tetra, evolver desktop), most products are plagued with bugs on launch.
The A4 for instance, was bug-free a few weeks after launch. One guy opened up an A4 and said it looks absolutlely stunning on the inside, made with stare of the art components.
Compare that to the tempest with its limited memory and a processor that can barely handle the tasks (the programmer is constantly fighting timing issues because of lacking processing / memory power). It’s a wonder it is finally in a usable state now, but it took them 3 years!
I’m sorry to hear you have such troubles with your OT, but that;s not my experience. I use it alot and didn’t have any crashes ever. Also the helpdesk always have been very friendly, fixing things in the next update and keeping me up to date.
Regarding buttons, encoders with issues (hardware/software). No future feature update will likely fix any hardware issues, an malfunctional component should be fixed not getting a software workaround for its issue.
Issues with these can either be the mechanism (iow, tangible) or the readout from it (iow, the visual response). Or both. Issues that are intermittent, are the worst kind since its harder to determine where the fault is (in hardware and/or software).
In any case, all of this above should of course be dealt with Elektron Support.
Regarding cluttering interface, well of course, things MAY or MAY NOT be able to be improved in the LCD. IF, WHEN and HOW… that remains to be seen.
All/any suggestions/bug reports sent are of high value of course (keep´em coming!). And we are very thankful for all your help. But it´s hard to give any precise and satisfying answers to each and every question in advance, until each in fact have been analysed.
Some suggestions may be feasible as well as reasonable to implement, others may not.
Again: IF, WHICH, WHEN and HOW… that remains to be seen.
Once again: in regard to any hardware issues, Elektron Support should be contacted.
Not meaning to be pessimistic or downplay anyones concerns, however if we think they will continue to work on the OS, we’re probably being naive.
Hopefully I am wrong, but the reality is they have released new products recently, which is clearly their focus. The Analog rytm is the successor to both Octatrack and Machinedrum - imo - why would they continue to develop a procuct thats been superseeded?
I buy a lot of boutique equipment (Can elektron be considered boutique?) and from my experience, buying with the promise of future enhancements will leave you feeling burnt - which I have experienced a number of times from other boutique manufacturers
That said - I bought the Octatrack used, I knew what I was getting into, and do enjoy using it, regardless of the fact the OS does not feel completely finished.
I understand that Elektron has a history of releasing “beta” products, personally I would never buy a new elekron product during its initial release period…
I will say however, that I think its bad form for the company to not communicate to their customer base with respect to plans for continued OS development - obviously there is demand for such information - but thats their perogative !
(minor edit, clarifying that I felt burtn from other companies not Elektron)
I use my Octatrack everyday, and I really love it. Nothing else does what this does.
However, I also cannot help but notice that the Octatrack is treated a bit like a “second class” instrument by Elektron.
The build definitely feels off. Especially next to other gear. The knobs are wobbly and while I haven’t had any issues with them, it is unsettling.
This isn’t about being fickle. It’s about knowing that your instrument is going to hold up to a decade or so of daily use, with the least amount of repair and upkeep.
When they were announcing the Rytm they said it was a new machine that wasn’t replacing any of their current machines.
There is lots of stuff the OT does that the Rytm doesn’t do (and vice versa).
WNY: “When they were announcing the Rytm they said it was a new machine that wasn’t replacing any of their current machines.
There is lots of stuff the OT does that the Rytm doesn’t do (and vice versa).”
Just because they said that, doesnt make it true, it is marketing after all, they still want to sell their older products and not alienate those who have just bought one brand new.
Is it a sampler? Yes, Is it a drum machine? Yes. obviously they have differences and I am sure they will continue to manufacture the old products because they hit upon a niche market, however if you have limited resources are you going to focus those resources on old product or your new product which you have likely spent a mint on R&D?
Pretty obvious answer from my perspective, but again this is just my opinion and I don’t know the inner workings of Elektron - maybe they have endless resources or a dedicated Octatrack team that needs to stay relevant within the company - hopefully thats the case
