this is what my current set up is. The volcas i dont always use their more for fun randomly, i like the microbrute but its limited. Im about to buy another Elektron box but i cant decide what is smarter an Octatrack or a machinedrum, i have a maschine which is really easy to sample on but the OT seems great for live performance and glitching.
Can the octatrack be used comfortably as a drum machine?
Also i am considering if i go the route of buying a drum machine is the machine drum the best option?
how do acid lab miami, mfb tanzabar, dsi tempest compare to machinedrum?
Also in sliming my gear down im considering selling the microbrute and the volcas and with the money getting a subphatty or a pulse 2, ive seen the subphatty enough but has anyone tried the pulse 2? can it be sequenced by octatrack?
im interested in making minimal house, tech house, and maybe some faster break type stuff.
thanks for any and all suggestions its intimidating to drop this much cash on something at once with out thinking it over a good bit
I was skeptical about getting it. I couldn’t decide between that a MD, A4 or a SubPhatty. What swinged it for me in the end was the midi sequencing capabilities of the OT (I don’t play keyboard), That and I didn’t currently have a sampler in my setup. 2 problems, 1 awesome machine.
My OT is my midi master and drum machine. It’s also my GoTo machine for most things. This usually results in me creating a riff on one of my synths, using the OT sequencer. Then sample and screw with it.
OT works great as a drum machine. Either load drum hits in to the tracks and sequence away. It’s worth pointing out here that you are not limited to 8 drum sounds / samples, using sample locking you can play several different sounds on each track. The only condition is that you can not have more than one sample playing on a single track at any time.
As the OT is a fully featured sampler you can also slice up breaks and re-arrange them to make your beat. I do this a lot, my music taste is stuck in the 90’s
I’m still learning the device, it’s not an easy device to instantly click with especially if you are new to sampling. The OT is not limited to any particular genre of music, it’s very versatile it all depends on the samples you load. Once you’ve read the manual and got the basics down the device becomes very creative very quickly as you start to realise that it can do almost anything you can conjure in your head.
OT for sure
Then I’d sell the Korgs and get a Blofeld desktop
OT A4 Brute and Blofeld, that’s a solid, deep, yet minimal setup of great sounding components. IMHO
nice im deffinetly getting an octatrack after reading these comments, i was just hesitant because i didnt know if i could use it as a good drum machine. Im using the volca beats alot as a drum machine if im not using maschine, which was the reason i started to look at the analog drum machines that are out now.
offtopic but what is your icon Ataraxis: it looks really gross
I’d get the OT. Sell the Volcas and get a BSII. It’s ace for percussion sounds which will be nice for feeding the OT. I’m not a huge fan of *brutes, so I’d say go ahead and pitch it. One does not need an A4 plus two other monosynths IMHO. You could use some digital up in there. Blofeld is nice.
why? I have the trio and for the money, nothing can beat them IMO, the sound I’ve pulled out of them into the OT is actually quite amazing for as cheap as they are
I’m saving for an A4 because I want much more depth but we’re talking $149 vs $1299…not even a comparison
volcas are a blast i love them but ive outgrown them i think i want something more serious and full, the keys is ok, the bass is sick as hell and i like the filter, the beats are also fun in their own right they can sound great . I may keep them just for how fun they are to jam out on, its so easy to make them sounds good they are just a bit limited tho with only 8 memory spots. I wish the delay on keys was louder but other than that they are great, i fear im gonna have the same feeling i got from selling my monotribe if i sell these little guys which was not good, im still looking for one on craigslist cause i refuse to pay 200 for it again.
even if you just get the bass its a nice bassline synth, obviously not a 303 but the resonance on the volca bass can get quite nice. and with 3 tracks u can makes some pretty nice patterns and screw with them on the fly with active step.
Agreed on the volcas, I actually got them for my kids to mess around on. The sequencer on the bass and keys is terrible(lacking) in my opinion, not sure how people record anything meaningful. However, the sound is nice, I’ve been sequencing them with the OT and midi. I won’t be getting rid of them. It’s a lot of synth for $149
That being said, if you already have a bunch of really nice synths you probably don’t need them.
I’m coming from a computer only setup, so until I save enough for an a4 (purchased OT recently), they are producing some nice sound.
The Octatrack is just beautiful. It will revolutionize the way you create music. Really. It’s just a genius of a machine. Can’t recommend it enough!
I seem to be saying this often, but just had a friend over, who after our session with the Octatrack went - “woooow, I need to get one of those.” We sketched out some ideas for a track together on the Blofeld and in Ableton Live - exported some stems to the Octa for it to really space it out. And it just does its magic, and you have some class A audio on your hands. It’s a dream machine, man, incredibly fun to use.
the OT will get you thinking in terms of…what can I sample into this puppy…
for my personal needs, I really think I can get away with an OT and an A4, maybe adding a drum machine down the line (though I actually enjoy sampling drums from really old songs)
I have some really nice software based drum software so I could probably just sample those as well.
Don’t sell the brute. It’s got a more aggressive sound than the A4 they compliment each other nicely. Matter of fact don’t sell any of your gear. I’ve had sellers remorse and in the long run it’s not worth it.
Get the OT
I’ve had a machinedrum for a couple of years, but found it a little limited. It has a certain sound you can’t escape of unless you use samples. I ended up using only samples on the MDUW. This is a big hassle on the MD and the OT is much more suitable for that. Plus it does much more!
I also have the tempest and pulse 2. The tempest is really fun for synth sounds with its 4 oscs per voice. The single cycle waveforms add timbres you can’t get out of other analogs, the pads are fun to play. Downside is the tempest needs FX, so you’ll find yourself buying a mixer and some FX units to make it really shine.
I also have the pulse 2. It’s a very versatile unit. Not completely finished though, there are some bugs in it (especially in the envelopes). The sub phatty has more character and more knobs so the fun factor is a little higher, but it’s less portable.
yea i cant sell any of my stuff i had a sweet offer for my volcas and couldn’t let go of them still. and i just had a nice jam session with minibrute sequenced through cv, wish they put 1/4 inch cv inputs on it though. Grabbing the Octatrack on Friday from B and H photo in NYC and couldn’t be more excited after reading how fun and versatile it is. And after playing with the volcas with some friends i realized that the value of them is in the expressiveness they have, for example with the bass doing 4 step patterns that you sweep the filter on slowly and use as like a segway to add another part in or a drop. 16 step limit is what really kills them they should have just added a page function and they would be 4x better even if you have to pay extra it would have take them out of the realm of toys and into serious production machines. Either way I’m stoked to sequence them with the Octatrack.
And btw anyone know how much those alluminum folding rack kits are? I’m pretty crafty and have access to laser cutters and cnc equipment and have been considering making my own portable rack system for my elektron setup.
Can’t recommend it enough!