I love my OT. The single best piece of electronic instrument / fx/ sampler / groovebox I’ve purchased.
I bought it to use as a live, MIDI controlled looper and am now getting into producing everything with it as I am learning that it does so many more things.
I ordered mine back in April, and was delivered in June. During that time I must’ve read the manual a half dozen times, watched Cuckoo, Cenk, Darenager, and videos and got interested, inspired, and taught.
Now, I’m to the point of dreaming and wondering “how can I make it do that?” or previously learned information meets other learned information and I’m blown away that it can do things I hadn’t even conceived were possible.
It has replaced a laptop, interface, Ableton Push, and a delay pedal in my setup. Setup time for my rig is now less than it was with all the other gear.
So, yeah, I’m a fanboy. Didn’t even see it coming, as I thought I was just buying a looping sampler. Then I find out it’s a synth with the SCW’s, and then looping midi back to itself, and let’s not forget sampling to a Pickup Machine buffer but having that buffer presliced on another track so you can manipulate what you just played, or forget Serato, I can DJ with it, or just make it a super FX box, or combinations of ALL OF THAT in the same set because of Parts, and switch on the fly at the most random thought because it’s all right there, 1-3 key combo’s / button pushes away… all the while happily driving my other midi gear to their respective limits, and taking commands from me.
Because of it, I bought Analog Heat and will be getting Analog Rytm… I’m grateful for these Swedish folks for making these strong black boxes that help me set my music free, supporting what I want to do, while leaving things open ended.
Also - AskVideo.com is selling the Thavius Beck Octatrack course ( almost two hours long! ) for less than $8 US. If you’re having trouble, or even if you’re not, go get it.
I’m halfway through, and though conceptually, I can do everything he’s shown at this point, I’ve learned at least 5 new things about OT.
As a music teacher, it sounds like you’re asking if you should pick a different instrument.
My answer is no, you should not. Your mind told you to pick it up because you know it will do what you want it to easily.
This part, this frustration, is because you’re not comfortable with the instrument yet.
Pick one function and do it over and over again until it’s muscle memory, then pick another and repeat until you can perform your set the way you’re used to doing; then learn some more of what it’s capable of and grow.