It’s interesting how nobody talks about the energy that is constantly needed to view a non-printed manual. 
Just that it’s not printed does not mean it’s better in an environmental sense. Things are complex. The world will not die because of printed or non-printed manuals but because of politic systems not being able to make the decisions that are necessary.
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I feel slightly guilty getting back on topic here, but if you do like printed manuals, a great discovery I made recently is that you can buy pre-punched paper and stick it in a three ring binder. I try to group related things in a single binder and divide them with tabs. I don’t do it for everything, but it can be really helpful for some gear or frequently used software if the manuals aren’t Ableton sized.
What gram paper thickness did you choose?
I recently printed the M8 manual, did so in 9 stapled bundles that I then glued together and with a cover to form a spine, at an attempt to avoid spirals.
Printed that at work, didn’t cost a thing and it was a fun process!
Love not having to look at yet another screen.
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I ended up printing manuals for DT, DN, OT, A4 and Torso T-1.
80g double sided B&W with front and back plastic covers (front transparent, back in black).
Apart from T-1 in color, the rest did not cost much (7€ for OT).
I like being able to have a copy opened on my Mac while going through the learning process and be able to open the hard copy when a reference is made to another section.
As a technology for non-linear information consumption, I argue that printed content remains superior to digital content. Holding a page, thumbing forward and backward, quickly zooming in with your eyes on diagrammatic content…all of that is faster and more intuitive than paging through a PDF.
The only really problem printing out Elektron manuals is that firmware updates happen often enough to change things.
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My pre-punched paper is 75g. I think the 80g would be a better choice if you are having things printed and bound for you at the copy shop though.
Another fun thing about printing your own manuals is that you can add some color to the diagrams to help you understand things. I am working with a piece of gear right now where I’ve printed out a patch sheet and am labeling it up with the different functions and color coding stuff.
Kinda failed attempt to bind this at home. Used a sewing machine but botched the alignment. At least I enjoyed the process.
Now it needs to be cut too.
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it’s inconvenient to need a device, to use a device.
paper manuals are the way of learning. I refuse to believe youtube
is the only coherent way to learn anything which doesn’t require pinch and scroll.
edit - don’t get me wrong, I like trees. but I also like paper manuals so I’ll live with the guilt of using paper in the modern era.
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There nothing worse than reference type manuals as PDF documents especially when moving between sections, referencing other parts of the manual such as diagrams etc. Sometimes you want to compare two pages at the same time. I can take a printed manual anywhere and don’t need an iPad, desktop pc or any other device.
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Have we any suggestions on online printing options that are affordable and accessible? I’d love to print a good 5 to 10 of my manuals but I don’t want it to cost more than the gear itself.
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if you go anywhere it’s expensive, your best bet is a less than good print using self print off a usb stick from like a copy shop. toner prints are arguably superior to ink jet and the cost per print is less than the cost per page when calculated at the cost of ink as it relates to pages printed per ink cartridge.
if anyone knows of a good online option that binds them for you I’m also all ears.
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Most of the places where I tried to get the Octatrack manual printed refused to, because technically it’s copyrighted material. (I’m in the US)
There was some other thread here on the forum where someone suggested this place:
I got the OT manual printed there with a spiral binding and it wasn’t expensive. They did a good job. I like keeping the manual around to not need a phone/computer to look something up.
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I’m in the US and use Staples. Depending on the manual they’ve averaged $25 (b&w, plastic comb binding, clear plastic front/back covers).
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Does anyone have experience with the ~$50 comb binding machines?
At $25 each, just binding these two manuals would break even compared to FedEx.
Compression report covers work well for smaller / thinner manuals:
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what’s your opinion about this $20 one? for $20 I’m almost willing to risk buying a paperweight…
Buy Pfeiffer uBind 2.0 Manual Plastic Comb Binding Machine Starter Kit at $19.99 (PFMB12019) (mybinding.com)
- Punches up to 8 sheets at a time and binds up to 150 sheets.
Seems marginal to me. I ordered this one that has 3k reviews and claims to be able to punch 10-12 sheets at a time (but comments suggest 5-6 at a time is safer) and can bind up to 450 sheets at a time. I also went with the side lever vs the bar style lever because it seems like the bar style would interfere with the binding process.
My order should arrive tomorrow, so hopefully I can share the results of binding the OT and AK manuals in a day or so.
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the one you posted looks significantly better than the one I posted. I don’t know if I have anything 450 pages long to bind, but the overall quality of the machine looks much better for an extra 30 bucks… I’ll be interested to hear the results with punching the suggested 5 or 6 sheets at a time.
it appears the one I posted is electric and this one is manual, so I’m not sure what the trade off is between the two, but I assume that part of the binding limitation comes from using it’s own force and not the exertion of force by the user, but I’m just guessing here.
anything manual tends to also last a bit longer, in my experience.
although now that I look at the pfieffer model, I’m not sure which part of it is electric, you still have to push the lever bar.
Interesting. Staples was one of the shops that refused to print the Octatrack manual. They left me a voicemail saying they were cancelling the order, saying it’s copyrighted and wouldn’t do it. Maybe it depends on the person working that day!
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