I just bought an Octatrack

Other Gear
#1

What do I need to know? What’s a good max-size CF card I can stick in there so I never have to take it out again?


I spent quite a chunk of my wages on it but they seem to hold their resale value so it probably won’t be too much of a loss if I hate it and have to sell it. I had a dream about owning one last night and that sealed the deal.

With my OP-1, AVRI '62 Jazzmaster, Vox AC4, and now Octatrack, I should be good music-wise for the next few years.
#2

Awesome. I’m hoping to get one soon.

#3

welcome to the family.


your sweetest dream just came true.
#4

Just get the fastest/biggest memory card you can afford.

OT is a beast! Be sure to read ‘merlin’s guide’ and the Elektron manual. Especially if it’s your first Elektron machine. They do things slightly differently over there, mostly in a good way to that allows for as many options as possible. Incredible machine. If I lost all my gear it’s the first thing id re-buy. Enjoy!

Sign up at elektronauts.com if you haven’t already. Good chance you’ll need some help with something at some point and normally a pretty helpful crowd there :slight_smile:

#5

I think 64 is the biggest it’ll support.

Had a 32, didn’t manage to fill it up half way in a few years :slight_smile:

#6

Nice one, I keep putting off getting one. Fear of techy manuals and little time to learn ATM. Be good to hear how you find it! Hope you enjoy it.

#7

I’m probably getting another to fill in the gap left by the one I sold. facepalm.

It’s just too versatile to be without.

#8

32 is better IMO : hard to fill, yet if you arrive to this size it will force you to look for unused stuff, which is a good thing.

If you fill a 64 GB card it may also take time to load your project, I don’t know if there is a scan of the card at startup but maybe.

Be very cautious when inserting the card. If you do this often, you may damage the pins :frowning:
I always use USB to load/delete samples.

Check Elektronauts’ forum for this matter, I guess it’s more relevant :slight_smile:
Search results for 'compact flash' - Elektronauts

You might want to buy Rusty’s Octaedit in 6 months.
It’s a very welcome layer to organize your projects and all.

#9

Thanks for the advice, everybody.


@LyingDalai I intend to never take the card out ever once I put a bigger one in there, because of the pin issue. Is there a list of cards that work with the Octatrack lying around somewhere? How fast should the card be?

I’m not that worried about workflow, since I don’t really know ANY workflow other than the OP-1, and even then it’s not burned into my brain. I’m looking forward to diving into the Octatrack every day to learn a little more.
#10

@jellygeist

I don’t know much about Compact Flash, but there are many people talking about this on Elektronauts :
Compact Flash - Latest and Greatest - #16 by Elektronot - Octatrack - Elektronauts

Elektronauts is a good community, not as cool as here but still, people are helping each other and the tone is getting better over time I feel.
“Which Compact Flash ?” is just the first of many questions you’ll ask yourself about the OT : consider creating an account on Elektronauts and do some research, it would be weird the question hasn’t already been answered there :slight_smile:

Apart from the manual, that is a mandatory readings, two other documents come in my mind when it comes to practicing with the OT :
Merlin’s Thoughts on OT and Olaf’s Guide for the Elektron Galaxy.

#11
@jellygeist
I don't know much about Compact Flash, but there are many people talking about this on Elektronauts :
https://www.elektronauts.com/t/compact-flash-latest-and-greatest/12347/16

Elektronauts is a good community, not as cool as here but still, people are helping each other and the tone is getting better over time I feel.
"Which Compact Flash ?" is just the first of many questions you'll ask yourself about the OT : consider creating an account on Elektronauts and do some research, it would be weird the question hasn't already been answered there :)

Apart from the manual, that is a mandatory readings, two other documents come in my mind when it comes to practicing with the OT :
Merlin's Thoughts on OT and Olaf's Guide for the Elektron Galaxy.

Excellent resources, thank you @LyingDalai


What size card does the OT come with these days? Is it still just 4GB?
#12

16 GB high speed compact flash card included
Souce : https://www.elektron.se/products/octatrack/

:smiley:

#13
16 GB high speed compact flash card included Souce : https://www.elektron.se/products/octatrack/

:smiley:

Nice! I will never need to buy a bigger one, that’s for sure.


Now, how does one get the Loopmasters samples off of there. I’m sure they’ll be good for learning with but, you know, gotta free up space

#14

Nothing to it @Jellygeist. Once in USB mode you can pretty much drag/drop/delete the folder with your samples in it. Pretty easy. There probably is a way to do it from the hardware but it’d likely take forever and be on a line by line basis so stick to using a computer!

#15

Right, from the Elektron OT is the only one that has direct USB access from the computer, and it makes it sooooo easier to deal with your samples !!

:smiley:

#16

@LyingDalai hell yeah, just like the OP-1.


Does that 80MB of internal RAM end up mattering that much? I don’t intend to use big loop samples, just snippets and shards of sound I find and make with my other equipment.

The Octatrack seems pretty diverse, which is great because I want to make a little bit of everything with it.

What is it NOT good at? Nothing can do everything except maybe a fully pimped-out DAW which I don’t care about.
#17

My only gripe is the lack of outputs. Even my Jurrasic Roland S550 has 8. Not to bothered about it though :wink:

I’ve almost finished my first track using the OT. I’ll post it up soon :slight_smile:

#18
@LyingDalai hell yeah, just like the OP-1.

Does that 80MB of internal RAM end up mattering that much? I don't intend to use big loop samples, just snippets and shards of sound I find and make with my other equipment.

The Octatrack seems pretty diverse, which is great because I want to make a little bit of everything with it.

What is it NOT good at? Nothing can do everything except maybe a fully pimped-out DAW which I don't care about.

Flaws: output number. Parts system. Keeping track of wtf is going on. No midi slide trigs or xfader. Midi cc priority bug. Can’t have delay + reverb on one track. Save doesn’t save everything. Gainstaging is weird. No mono in mixer.

Still the most fun I’ve had on hardware though. OT + OP1 is heaven.

#19
My only gripe is the lack of outputs. Even my Jurrasic Roland S550 has 8. Not to bothered about it though ;)

I’ve almost finished my first track using the OT. I’ll post it up soon :slight_smile:

Yeah, I don’t have a lot of synths or other gear to output the Octatrack to other than my audio interface. Maybe if I start using it live that will become more of a problem but I don’t care a whole lot.


I’m looking forward to hearing it! I have a plan for the first thing I’ll make with it

#20
@LyingDalai hell yeah, just like the OP-1.

Does that 80MB of internal RAM end up mattering that much? I don't intend to use big loop samples, just snippets and shards of sound I find and make with my other equipment.

The Octatrack seems pretty diverse, which is great because I want to make a little bit of everything with it.

What is it NOT good at? Nothing can do everything except maybe a fully pimped-out DAW which I don't care about.

Flaws: output number. Parts system. Keeping track of wtf is going on. No midi slide trigs or xfader. Midi cc priority bug. Can’t have delay + reverb on one track. Save doesn’t save everything. Gainstaging is weird. No mono in mixer.

Still the most fun I’ve had on hardware though. OT + OP1 is heaven.

None of those seem that bad, and from what I’ve read the parts system seems fairly useful. And I imagine that not allowing reverb and delay on the same track is to keep the CPU from frying like an egg.


What doesn’t saving save?