OT - sound quality

[vvilms]

Oh, idk. I just felt a need to remark on that truly obscene amount of bokeh.

[chiasticon]

thanks for the example! very fun video. seems like a super fun way to spend your work day too. so if this is the sort of thing you generally do for your day job, I’m jealous!

but I just don’t understand the world you’re working/living in, I guess. there’s a MILLION small decisions in that video that totally color the sound (what if he’d hit the piano cable with something metallic instead of wooden…? or hit the water bottle with a mallet or wooden spoon instead of his knuckle…? what if he’d put oil inside of the balloons!?! etc…). why focus so much on one of the post-processing options? it seems like in this world you need options; and want to choose them based upon how they color your sound. if a sound isn’t working with one of them, choose another. the OT would be one option, MPC, S2400, Live, Logic, etc are others.

I guess I’m just failing to see how if all of those sounds had been fed into the OT, or MPC, or Live, or combinations of all of them… that you would then not get the job/get the sound purchased/whatever. I mean, do you have these same discussions on Ableton boards? because it’s been beaten to death for a decade or more that Live’s sound engine is allegedly inferior to other DAWs…

[dan271]

same mistake was in Ricky Tinez video about octa and DT

[sezare56]

@dan271

same mistake

16 bit vs 24 bit mostly change noise floor / dynamic. More noticeable with a too low recording level, but with correct levels, not sure everybody would make a difference on a single recording.

IIRC @DaveMech pointed this out here, I tried to compare on OT, read a bit more about it.

Imho for tests like this, leaving filter fx on is worse.

[Geneoart]

@Analogue5

Hmm… I have no gripes about the OT’s sound quality. 24bit is good. The filter being on by default effecting the sound is something I’ve heard of but I’ve never cared to take it off really.

The filter dulls the sound ever so slightly but that’s to be expected. It’s a filter after all. Using track 8 as the master track is where you’ll run into sound color issues. Doesn’t really bother me at all and I actually think it helps to dull the sound a little especially playing through massive sound systems.

[sezare56]

I think we need a specific topic with different blind tests (including already made ones) with different audio materials and neutral OT settings (chart). Apparently nobody prooved with audio recordings OT wasn’t transparent with neutral settings (for normal ears). It was apparently difficult to know what was through OT with blind tests.

I’m not saying OT is perfect or totally transparent, I had dubitative moments, I’m not sure myself. I’d like to do other tests, to make it clearer.

[Ulysses]

I don’t see how anyone will accept any result from any methodology as being factual and non biased.
Just like the Lock Ness Monster, the OT will loose its mythical aura if proven to be neutral. It’s best to let this 8 legged beast swim freely.

Just my $2.50.

[sezare56]

@Ulysses

the OT will loose its mythical aura if proven to be neutral

Nice one!
Just waiting proving bad sound…

[mokomo]

It is an interesting challenge: under the following list of conditions the OT sound colouration is most neutral -

• No Use of Track 8 as master
• No FX
• [gain rules]
  Etc

And here’s ‘how neutral’ that is, described scientifically

…

[0mega]

OMG has inflation raised the cost of people’s thoughts by $2.48?

[Ulysses]

What audio interface should be used as the benchmark all of us will agree on? 24/44.1 recording or higher? How gold platted the balanced cables coming out of the OT need to be? Rabbit hole la la…

[Ulysses]

No, went down by about $1

[thoughtstarZ]

I seem to remember when I first got my OT, I moved from the DT and wondered why the sampling seemed less loud. This was before I learned the gainstaging needed, and also the way that the DT automatically normalizes what’re you sample (the OT gives the option… I feel this is the reason for the high mid color the DT gives when sampling)
Anyhoo, I remember searching this forum about people doing DIY converter swaps. It seemed like a load of work, and if I remember correctly the thread I read… The person who actually did replace the converters with better ones couldn’t hear a difference. Maybe I’m remembering wrong tho.

[sjvl]

Reportedly, the OT’s power handle’s gonna have surround sound built in so that should get us the rest of the way……

[soulfood]

I’m gonna put fruit pastilles in mine.

[brucegill]

Can someone point me in the right direction for a definitive gainstaging tutorial or post or what ever. It comes up so often and searching for it is a little overwhelming. I’m sure I’ve seen one somewhere…

Edit. Think I found it in my bookmarks (great feature to have on a forum. If I remember to look at them haha)

Gain aGain

This is a follow up post which perhaps questions a few of the assumptions made in a thread from a few years back … some of the statements have been taken to be a statement of fact (not least because of what is stated in the manual and in terms of how evaluations were thought through originally) I’ve revisited this afresh in a new thread in light of the general frustration with managing levels throughout the OT, particularly for capturing Live (and especially now we know the inputs are easily pu…

[Schnork]

Yes, also these threads:

Internal gain stage recommendations

Just wondering what kind of settings others are using on Octatrack, from track volume, through level and then through “main”. I have a comprehensive set of Electron boxes and want to put them through my mixer ideally with the same gain settings. So, I’m trying to get Octatrack to match Rytm and A4.

Gain Pain

Tell me this is wrong … Please ! [Edit, yes, it probably is] The Octatrack takes your decent ‘hot’ signal It drops the level at the inputs by ~12dB It then adds 12dB of gain to the recording to get you back to the original level i’m not sure that sounds like a good plan, can anyone convince me it is ! ? It’s helping me understand why my levels are all over the place with pickup machines, but i can now see it’s the same with flex and tellingly with Thru When you put a decent signal throug…

OT Master Level

Hi all, I was just wondering what level people set there master level at. I always have mine at 0. Should i bring it down to leave some headroom? Sometimes my tracks sound a bit distorted could this be the reason? Many thanks.

[brucegill]

Thank you!

[sezare56]

See also
Signal flow/gain staging diagram for Octatrack MKII
(Unity settings)

Imho most important is input signal, mixer gain.

Edit : leaving it at 0 and adjust your input signal? I’d do that but I’m not sure if it’s the best. If anyone can shime in about that…

Red is a warning (-12db imho), it doesn’t mean clipping. It can be full red without clipping with a sine wave for instance.

[darenager]

Kind of funny this is still being talked about, really easy to get the final verdict, just post an example of a sound the OT failed to capture adequately, along with the original and the OT version of the sound, it is that easy.