Looking for a performance mixer with effects, a quantized looper, and the ability to have AUX sends. Looking at the market right now I think the octatrack keeps being the best option (maybe Torso S-4 will get there but it’s not there yet).
So main question here is: Are the octatrack FXs that bad? I’m not really looking for sound design FXs but rather more performance FXs (EZbot ones are really cool). And to be honest for the videos I’ve seen on youtube the FXs don’t sound that bad, but youtube can be deceiving.
And are there other options in the market that does what the octatrack does as a performance mixer?
No.
28 Likes
Better than the ones in Torso S-4 tbh.
2 Likes
I think so but it could be user error.
3 Likes
The FX are possibly the best sounding aspect of it. Sample playback sound is fine but shines w fx
2 Likes
That’s interesting. I would love to have a comparison or at least a way to compare it
I quite like the fx and the fact that they’re insert fx. Add scenes and LFO’s and it’s pretty dang impressive
4 Likes
They are great/interesting once hooked up to LFO’s, scenes etc and generally being ‘misused’, but on their own without modulation they’re serviceable at best, and really nothing to get excited about. The compressor is good. The fact that they are insert is of course great, the fact that you only get two per track (unless you want to start eating into neighbour tracks), and the fact that that includes taking up a slot for EQ/filter, is less great. Also, iirc you can’t have a delay and a reverb on the same track, or something like that, without a workaround.
Depends on your use-case of course
7 Likes
You have a toolkit PER track.
Something all the newer elektrons lack.
3 Likes
i loved the OT FX and found them to be amazing. comb filter is the business. it can be a really lush sounding instrument. modulation of things w/those LFOs is amazing.
7 Likes
The effects are fine. And if by performance, you are looking to play live (and not perform for social media) then their quality will matter less.
But they are fine.
2 Likes
6 Likes
ot effects are ok. but if you looking for state of the art hyper dsp maximum effects, well no.but there’s inputs send and return to add the effects you want
2 Likes
Roland MC707 is another option, plus it actually looks like a mixer.
3 Likes
I personally really like the FX on my OTmk2. They’re not hifi / super-algos that will blow away Valhalla or FabFilter plugins, but they do have their own sound which I quite like. And the OT is such a lovely machine, you can’t really think of its parts in isolation, the different parts combine into something that is so much more than the sum of its parts. The 2 FX per track combined with p-locking, resampling, the option to run FX on neighbour tracks, accurate resampling, competent slicing, pitching and timestretching (more or less lol) — and all of that elevated by scenes and the crossfader…there’s nothing like the OT out there in my opinion.
3 Likes
NO!
Some of them are even better then the digis IMHO.
The delay for instance. You can actually dial back the direct giving a “wet/dry effect” and it has a tape emulator that produces some fun artifacts.
The reverb is…fine. It’s a reverb. I honestly do not understand why people think it sounds like shit. But unlike the Digis you can again get a 100 percent wet effect.
Also…you can modulation them with LFOs! Something you cannot do on the digis without loop back or outside modulations.
Anyways, everything is subjective but I personally think they sound great and they are a lot more flexible.
6 Likes
(There’s three reverbs btw)
I quite like the spring one for some weirdness.
3 Likes
I’m a huge Octatrack junkie, so take this with a grain of salt. Plus, this topic is crazy subjective… “bad vs. good” will always depend on who you ask.
I think some of the effects are great and some are not. The flexibility of the effects is great though, because your can modulate all their parameters with p-locks, LFOs, scenes, and slide trigs – this is what’s so badass about OT effects IMO.
Effects I really like are: filter, chorus, delay, comb filter, compressor. I think these are legit good effects.
The reverbs are somewhat weak compared to many reverbs out there. The dark reverb is probably the best of the three reverbs, but it’s easily overloaded and always sounds dark (as the name indicates, duh). I hate the spring reverb, but I like to abuse the gate on the plate reverb – I don’t really use it as a typical plate though, because I really don’t think it sounds that great. I often use the cue as an aux send and use external reverbs that sound better.
The EQs are alright. They fuck with the phase a lot, but I dig that. The parametric EQ can do a pretty deep notch and I use that for some weird stuff. The DJ EQ is dirty as fuck and can also be used creatively.
I haven’t mentioned the flanger, but it’s alright. It sounds like a flanger. Not much to report there.
I don’t know any other samplers that allow modulating so many effect parameters. Maybe there is one out there that can and has more modern effects… If so, I really want to check it out, because the OT effects are a bit dated
11 Likes
I’ve only had mine for a week but I think the effects are good. I personally like classic vintage effects like spring reverb and tape delay and I was pleasantly surprised by the spring. I play guitar and have tried lots of pedals that are supposed to sound like a spring and most are garbage but the OT spring is nice and drippy and trashy sounding. The delay is good and with the built in filter in the feedback path you can make it sound tapey. You can build any kind of trem you can dream up by using an lfo on the amp.
The filters sound really good imo and its nice that distortion is included. With just the filter and delay that’s pretty much all I need on most tracks for tonal shaping, some grit, and some spatial fx. You can easily make things sound bad and muddy with filter resonance, delay feedback, and gain staging issues and not having enough fx slots to always have an eq on a track is a limitation so it can be a little touchy finding the sweet spot.
What are your needs in terms of a mixer? It only has 4 ins so if you’re planning on using the cue as a send, you’re going to eat up at least one or two inputs for your fx return.
The key of course is that everything can be sequenced and the issue there is that between lfos, p-locks, and scenes, it’s tempting to overdo everything and it can quickly get really wacky. I’ve realized that it’s going to take some time to learn how to use it subtly and play it like an instrument.
As far as alternatives, you can buy a digital mixer with fx like a x32 and have a proper mixer and more fx options but that’s an entirely different form factor and there’s no sequencer. You could buy something like the biggest Line 6 Helix and get 4 fx paths with 4 ins and outs, but there’s no sequencer. There’s something like the Poly Beebo with 4 ins and outs and I believe some kind of built-in step sequencing, but still not really the same thing.
I’ve been looking for multi channels of automated fx for live use for a long time and was using a laptop with ableton but recently realized the OT was possibly the best option out there.
I think you get the best of both worlds if you pair it with another multifx pedal and keep the OT focused just on the effects that you want sequenced or automated and really how many of those do you need on a track? I’m using mine with an HX stomp on the input for additional effects on the way in and I can use the OT to send program changes and do some cc automation if I want.
5 Likes
I think the only place where the effects are noticeably lacking (IMO) is the reverb. The reverb just doesn’t sound good to my ears compared to modern pedals and plugins. Also I find it hard to balance wet and dry levels, often the fully wet reverb signal feels much quieter than the dry, especially with the plate reverb. But all the other effects sound pretty good to my ears, and you can do really interesting things with them that few other standalone devices else can do, like make delay feedback loops using the cue output, allowing you to insert effects into the delay feedback loop. Putting a phaser in there is one of my favorites. But like others have said, I don’t think the effects are going to wow right out of the box, but once you add modulation with LFOs and controlling them with scenes, there is very little else that can do what it can.