Give the Octatrack a chance, this is an annoying bug but for now, you can work around it by doing things a bit more slowly and stopping playback while auditioning samples. Also there is a setting that makes auditioned samples be heard with all the track settings applied, you can try using that and audition each sample rather than load it to the playing track each time.
I use VST’s on a computer too and even an advanced sampler like Kontakt sometimes produces a crackle when changing samples while its being sequenced.
Lets hope this gets fixed soon ;)[/quote]
If it’s temporary until a fix with an update then I can live with doing things slowly. But elektron need to give some indication of when this will be…
it takes forever to find the best sound if you can’t audition samples in context while the song is playing. Not sure I’m down for having to do that on a brand new £1000 machine. I’ll see how things go over next few days…
I get your comparison to kontakt loading etc but for the kind of crackle you mention I’d have to be loading a big 1gb sample library or something (though that usually isn’t a problem) , the OT is struggling with a tiny single cycle waveform… So no comparison really…
Thanks for trying to cheer me up but I worry your optimism is possibly misplaced considering how long it’s been since the previous update and how many users have been complaining about this problem… Guess we’ll see, hope you’re right!
This is not a common behaviour of the Octatrack. Contact support and they will help you identify the issue.
There are a lot of people reporting the same problems. Apparently elektron have acknowledged it’s a bug related to current firmware. A fix is supposedly in the pipeline. Not sure I have the patience for such a buggy machine tho. The idea behind my getting an OT was convenience. Crashing/losing work in my first proper session with the machine has left me feeling like it’s not reliable enough for live use and wondering if I’d be better off getting a small Macbook/ableton/controller for sofa/bed jamming. I have NEVER crashed ableton on my daw laptop… Sucks though cos I actually really like the OT so far, when it works…
You do get the impression that accessing the CF card while doing other stuff is the Octatrack’s Achilles heel (with the vague ‘static v. flex’ advice in the manual.).
When I first got this freeze I thought I would just avoid loading new samples from CF while running, but it is so much more intuitive if you have a load of one-shots in a folder on the card, to just press FUNCTION and RIGHT to keep loading up the next one and hearing it in context.
So now each time I think “risk it or no?”
I can’t remember if this only started happening with 1.25E but if it IS just a bug on the latest update then really, I have no complaint. It will be great to have it fixed.
From what I have read, a lot of great features have been added to the OT over time, which new users like me now benefit from. And if Elektron are also fixing bugs then I consider the support to be pretty good. However, when something like this comes up, a statement from Elektron would be appreciated.
I understand the expense/disappointment thing but I think you’ve been unlucky to run into something like this early on. By the time I got my first freeze the OT had had time to prove itself worth the expense, so I was ready to forgive!
Yeah, just a solid statement from elektron addressing the issue and giving a time frame for a fix would make me feel 100% better. Hoping I’ll receive something like this when they reply to the email I sent last night. Until then I’m going to find it difficult to feel like I haven’t over spent on a unit that isn’t able to do the things it is advertised to. Realtime auditioning/selection of alternate samples is a very important feature to me and one that I made sure the OT provided before I purchased… I agree that early support/development on the OT seems like it was great (still haven’t forgotten the way that korg totally ignored the microsampler after release which really could have benefited from a couple of tiny work flow tweaks…) and that adding new features sometimes can also introduce complications. It’s just sods law that I buy the machine in a spell where elektron seem to have left it behind a little bit, regardless of big problems. But as I said, could just be me feeling hard done by/ripped off as it’s so new to me and hitting crashes almost instantly. If elektron can provide reassurance and get a fix out then fair enough.
Been doing some further research. See link below. Seems like people having this problem even before the most recent update. So I don’t know what to think now 
guessing it would have been fixed already if it could be? But then again, users are saying that elektron recently acknowledged the issue and have promised a fix…
Can’t advertise a piece of hardware as being able to realtime preview samples if in fact it’s buggy as hell and causes total system freeze up… Really hope I’m proved wrong but this all reeks of general instability with simple functions hopefully I’ll hear back from elektron soon…
Static samples are the problem here, you can do what you are trying to do with flex samples only right? So try just using flex slots and see if it works.
It was actually crashing when previewing flex track sample slots, not static. I mean for example I have a sample in flex slot 1, I select it, then access audio pool, then preview new samples. Crash.
I’ll set up a test project and see if static also does the same thing. But either way it doesn’t really help?
I can also confirm that it happens with flex samples too. Switching to flex was the first thing I tried.
Just gave it another go. Froze on like the 10th flex switchout
FWIW, I’m still on 1.25B (I think…it was the last update for a long time, until the last couple of minor bug squashes…factory installed from late May/June 2014) and do not have this issue. Maybe somebody can get you that version to install for troubleshooting?
Just uploaded OSv1.25B to the Files section.
Edit Link in Accents post below.
Just uploaded OSv1.25B to the Files section. Direct Link
[/quote]
Good looking out, Rusty! Although you might want to check that link, as it just sent me down the spiral.
For the lazy:
http://www.elektronauts.com/files/download/171
Just uploaded OSv1.25B to the Files section. Direct Link
[/quote]
Good looking out, Rusty! Although you might want to check that link, as it just sent me down the spiral.
For the lazy:
http://www.elektronauts.com/files/download/171[/quote]
Thats so you can see just how deep the rabbit hole goes 
Thanks guys for the upload/link. When I get some time I’ll try the older os.
I’m getting really confused now tho, are a lot of users running this version of os to avoid the problem?
One minute I’m reading that elektron have fully acknowledged the issue and are working on a fix, the next I’m being told that this isn’t normal behaviour for octatrack. Elektron have replied (though no info received yet, just advised to grab a support ticket), hopefully get it sorted or replaced/returned.
for those switching to 1.25b for testing, be aware of these bugs:
List of changes from Octatrack DPS-1 OS 1.25D to 1.25E
Changes
Bug fixes
On some units the MIDI values sent out from the cross fader were reversed. Fixed.
Timestretch did not work properly on 24 bit mono samples. Fixed.
List of changes from Octatrack DPS-1 OS 1.25C to 1.25D
Changes
Cue audio output is never available from the master track. This was not clearly indicated by the interface. The cue level indicators are now greyed out while on the master track, to make this more visible.
Bug fixes
The quantized recording setting wasn’t always respected when recording from SRC3 in ONE2 mode. Fixed.
When stopping a track followed by a neighbor track the effects were immediately cut off. Regression in 1.25C. Fixed.
A second or third neighbor track added to an already playing track wouldn’t automatically get triggered by the first track unless all tracks had first been stopped. Fixed.
List of changes from Octatrack DPS-1 OS 1.25B to 1.25C
Bug fixes
Fixed error in SPP calculation that would make it skip one position at 343.1.1.
Fixed undesired click sound that sometimes occured at the playback direction change in ping pong loop mode.
Fixed the problem in DELAY CONTROL mode where the settings would get stuck if leaving the mode without releasing the [GRID] keys first.
Fixed the problem that tempo could not be set with the [FUNCTION] key pressed when the tempo window was open on top of the scale setup window.
Using offset in the Arranger could lead to incorrect looping of tracks. Fixed.
Thru Machines would not go silent properly when changing to a pattern with START SILENT set. Fixed.
between the crashing and your observations about the quality of the effects, i say sell now. as you’ve said, the ability to audition samples quicly and the availability of quality effects are important to your workflow, so why compromise? especially at the price you paid. elektron released the lateset OS in march, i think it was, so who knows how long it’ll be to get your needs sorted. if i were you, i’d sell and get the macbook setup you know you’ll be happy with now, not in some indeterminate future.
OT is phenomenal for me. it does sooooo many things so well. but if it hampered a central part of my workflow and i couldn’t comfortably work around it, all those incredible capabilities might not. be worth it.
btw, too right about the microsampler. just a couple of small workflow tweaks (and an attack phase on the envelope) would have put that baby over the top.
but unlike the OT, it was never a big seller, i’m guessing, and those changes wouldn’t have changed that. i still love it. it’s hooked up to the OT and mc909 right now as a matter of fact. typing this makes me want to go jam and experiment. bye!
Just out of interest, how are you using your single cycle samples? I tried to make my Octatrack crash last night by auditioning and loading a heap of single cycle samples in a row, it didn’t crash for me though. The reason I ask is that if you are using your samples as a kind of synth, auditioning them is useless, they only last a split second, you would have to load to the track each time to hear how it sounds in the context of your music. Is this what you are doing? because that is slightly different from freezing while auditioning samples. I have sometimes had the freeze issue while deleting or replacing the tracks default sample repeatedly, again it is usually down to doing things too fast.
Also, where did you source your samples from? Single cycle samples can have odd properties sometimes when they have been made to load into wavetable synths.
I was using single cycle samples in chromatic mode. With ‘loop’ turned on. After I had sequenced a melody I then was auditioning different single cycles with the sequencer playing. What you say kind of makes sense, perhaps I was loading them to the track each time rather than traditional ‘auditioning’ (think I was scrolling down and ‘right’ on each sample to listen…and doing this pretty quickly first crash.). Can’t remember which single cycle sample set it was that I was scanning through, I think the one that most people have, I forget what it’s called right now but can check tonight.
between the crashing and your observations about the quality of the effects, i say sell now. as you’ve said, the ability to audition samples quicly and the availability of quality effects are important to your workflow, so why compromise? especially at the price you paid. elektron released the lateset OS in march, i think it was, so who knows how long it’ll be to get your needs sorted. if i were you, i’d sell and get the macbook setup you know you’ll be happy with now, not in some indeterminate future.
OT is phenomenal for me. it does sooooo many things so well. but if it hampered a central part of my workflow and i couldn’t comfortably work around it, all those incredible capabilities might not. be worth it.
btw, too right about the microsampler. just a couple of small workflow tweaks (and an attack phase on the envelope) would have put that baby over the top.
but unlike the OT, it was never a big seller, i’m guessing, and those changes wouldn’t have changed that. i still love it. it’s hooked up to the OT and mc909 right now as a matter of fact. typing this makes me want to go jam and experiment. bye![/quote]
Haha. Yeah korg missed a trick with microsampler. I love it anyway but it could have been insanely good. Frustrating! Haven’t hooked mine up to OT yet but excited to get on that asap. Been looking at some mc909 videos lately, seems like a fun box.
Re selling/returning OT and getting small Macbook, it’s a possibility but only if all else fails with getting in to a solid work flow on OT. Buying a Macbook would be pretty depressing, it wouldn’t be as powerful as my purpose built daw windows laptop or purpose built desktop windows daw, and would just be ANOTHER computer around the house. Albeit smaller and probably more resilient to my kids’ curious/clumsy hands… I like the new stuff/feel that the OT offers to my gear arsenal, would be kinda boring buying another computer and running the same old software… Though obvs that’s my normal work flow so at least I’d know it would be all good in that respect. But just gotta get these OT problems I’m having fixed up and hopefully I’ll keep it…
Thanks for the heads up