Introducing Octatrack MKII

News
#776

The new OLED bezel design did it for me… the “bunker slit” style framing of the display, like on the rytm, was too much for me to bear… I have to confess I’ve always disliked the original OT display bezel… I know, I’m a terrible person

I’m only half joking, sad to say… But the improved inputs weighed heavily in the decision as well, I’ve never been happy with how other boxes (like my xoxbox) sound through the OT… So if there’s going to be any improvement there, it will widen my usecases with the OT considerably

Besides, one of my mates got an analog four yesterday… Who knows, if he falls over to the “dark side” I can sell my og OT to him lol

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#777

potential buyers should be aware the operating system is coldly visionary and uncompromisingly iconoclastic.

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#778

since the OS will probably see some workover, but it reportedly is maxed out, my suggestion is to make a fork. me for example i never use pick up machines. i never do live looping. but instead something like a granular machine or a poly machine would be very welcome as an alternative option. or a version that has one great sounding reverb send instead of 8 rather mediocre reverbs per track.

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#779

I’ll take the live looping PU version please, haha! I don’t know if the mk1 being maxed out rumor is actually based on anything?:thinking: I’m hoping that the mk2 os updates work on mk1 as well, instead of mk2 just being able to load mk1 projects… Hoping for pickup fixes or improvements and that they work on mk1… :slight_smile:

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#780

A few things come to mind with this product refresh.

  1. I am very happy to see that Elektron have committed to ongoing support of this fantastic platform.
  2. The physical updates, from my perspective at least, are probably meaningful for those that spend time doing live performance. Visibility is a real issue in clubs so the backlit trigs are a good idea. Now if only some manufacturer would please indulge me and use paint that glows in the dark. It fluoresces wonderfully under black light. Just saying. :ecstatic:
  3. It is patently clear to me that some on this forum have never done product design and have no clue as to the difficulties in trying to launch a product with software and hardware components. Also, to the complainers, do you have a sense for the profit margins for electronic instrument manufacturers? The margin on an audio cable or a guitar pick positively dwarfs that of a synth.
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#781

A post was merged into an existing topic: Roland SE-02

#782

It would be nice with some more information on this. Will there be any kind of upgrade path for mk1 owners to add screen, shortcut buttons or input upgrades?

#783

After changing the faceplate, the UI board, the main board for the new inputs and the psu board for the new 12v power supply there’s literally nothing left except the empty bottom shell.

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#784

It’s not a rumour as I recall it, it’s a pretty heavy hint that this is in fact a device filled to the gills … I daresay there will be things that could be safely tweaked, but it’s bewildering enough at times using the front end of it, imagine what it’s like inside, there could be huge complications resulting from tinkering here and there … I do think we owe it to ourselves to thrash out the glitches, gremlins and bugs though by getting stuck in and finding them … at least we know now there’s a high chance of bug fixes, for a while it could have been a discontinued product announcement we were staring at … at least this way anything we uncover or suggest will be applicable to a current (albeit matured) product

e.g. I wish there was a way to clear a buffer much quicker than at present … there’s some reason to imagine this may be an explanation for some of the additional labeling on the MKii … I think angling for a MKi tweak along those lines is fair game … I also wish there was a midi way to replicate Track+Stop to complement the one for Track+Play, little tiny things i’d all but given up hope for … there’s life in this yet, whether there is any chance or when is another matter

I’ll link you to a discussion i’d like you to bookmark, we need to put our collective heads together to really flesh out what’s what with the commonly repeated notion that pickups need fixing

I know that minor graphics glitches are known about … I may have a few tiny ones on the pm midi implementation side … but some frustrating aspects may well just be legitimate constraints

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#785

I could understand if Elektron offered no upgrade path. That’s usually the way things are done.

On the other hand when Ableton released the Push 2, they offered a pretty significant discount (more than i could get on the craigslist market), for registered owners of the Push 1 to exchange units, and then they donated the Push 1s to schools. I was happy.

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#786

Sweet, I just turned on my OT for the first time in months after working too much and finally getting around to cleaning the cabin and dusting off the lab! I’m so ready to dive back in and would love to finally contribute to some Pickup investigations, I’ve got one or two replicated issues with :3lektron: support as well…

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#787

Yes, but the 3 changes i mentioned seem minor to implement (ofc i have no deep knowledge of the innards) at least the input upgrades and button additions seems doable.

#788

I noticed the power use going up from ~18 watts to ~24 watts. You reckon this is due to the new display and input frontend? Or just elektron dropping the old 3A wallwarts in general?

#789

Backlit buttons

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#790

You are right, indeed, that the controls listed are in the main window…and can be controlled by knob or fader.
However, there is not full overlap between the PlayBack page controls and the remote MIDI commands.

The point I meant to make earlier, which I still stand by, is that one cannot fully control the PU machines from direct remote/MIDI/control.

The MIDI spec (Appendix C) specifies that there are MIDI note-messages dedicated for PU machine (on active track), including

  • combo Rec (doubling Rec1 button) input-specific record triggers, which become Overub and Replace depending on context.
  • Play-stop (like Rec2) depending on context.
  • the Multiply simply doubles the loop to be longer, but there is no way to divide/shorten the loop.
  • controls for hands-free tack selection, Mute, Cue, and toggling Sync.

The remaining Playback controls of a PU are only MIDI’able by CC #16-21 to address the PlayBack page controls (Pitch, Direction, etc), to specific values. This makes things complicated, as some MIDI controllers can only button-switch between 0 and some value, where it would be better to have (more) dedicated macros or toggles between simpler controls.

Loopers come from a heritage of people with at least one hand full, and it’s really frustrating to have to set obtuse button-combinations or indirect MIDI mapping to do things that have classically been controlled directly by one-touch actions.

If they were able to add reception for PU-specific MIDI-note command like “Pickup Play/Stop” and “Multiply”, I don’t see why they could not (eventually) add dedicated one-touch MIDI actions for

  • divide (cut loop in half)
  • Replace (regardless of context, so it can have seperate action than OverDub)
  • change direction (Forward/Reverse)

I used to own a Gibson EDP+, and the (more abundant) buttons were context dependent, but it was intuitive.
It is for the same reason that I’m presently doing most looping with a Boss RC202.

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#791

Amen, brothers.
I’m right with you on the need to flesh out the PU machines.

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#792

In addition to improved pickup behaviour, I’d really love it if MMC became supported for the mk II boxes. A way to engage/disengage realtime record via MMC commands for all the elektrons would be awesome, and might not require a lot of coding to the firmware.

The more I think about it, the more it would make sense to have MMC working with the octa, as it can be used for controlling multitrack recording (among other things).

#793

Back to OT experiments ? :content:

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#794

I get what you’re saying with all the other stuff. PMs are my main method of sampling on the OT, so I’d love to see much more attention paid to them.
Just in case you haven’t discovered this: you can record a PM loop of any step length (up to 64) and actively shorten/lengthen it in step increments by manipulation of the loop length parameter in the record setup menu (menu A, encoder C). This is way more powerful than just divide, but probably not midi controllable.

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#795

Mine :elot:onomoulsy experiments on me. :ballot_box_with_check:

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