New Sampler Day.

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A final purchase before our departure.
I have a two month period in a serviced apartment whilst the studio is being shipped over and won't have al my usual things.

I've bought my first hardware sampler in 20 years- the last one I had was a Roland S770.

This is an Elektron Octatrack II- basically an 8 track performance sampler and general sound mangler.
I won't even get a chance to use it, except for plugging it in to check it works, before we go  but it is an extremely cool and capable instrument.



Check out this lunatic:


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Comments

  • WazmeisterWazmeister Frets: 9443
    Congrats mate !

    Ive bought a Digitakt and Digitone this year... just need to learn em now !!
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  • horsehorse Frets: 1561
    Nice - I think I might covet your gear more than anyone elses on here.

    Out of interest, what will your main use be for this that a laptop wouldn't cover - will you be using it for those specific performance features?
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    edited June 2018
    horse said:

    Out of interest, what will your main use be for this that a laptop wouldn't cover - will you be using it for those specific performance features?
    It is an interface thing.
    Having fewer options forces a workflow that seems to be more creative- and faster.

    I've been getting back into hardware after years just doing plugins and software.
    Although plugins now pretty much nail the sound of the hardware they don't have the same workflow.
    Like when I reach across my desk and touch a real Distressor it yields a different result to twiddling a knob on a screen of a plugin emulation.

    So I could probably setup an environment with a laptop and a controller that does something similar to the Octatrack, but it would need fettling each time, and controller knobs are always a bit laggy compared to a real knob on a real box.

    Plus, it looks cool.
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  • horsehorse Frets: 1561
    So something more to inspire creativity differently rather than a tool to deliver pre-concieved ideas?
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    horse said:
    So something more to inspire creativity differently rather than a tool to deliver pre-concieved ideas?
    Yeah I guess so- there is a certain amount of chance/randomness that comes with using hardware that I don't tend to enjoy if using a computer.
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  • goldtopgoldtop Frets: 6101
    Weird coincidence - I'm sort of doing the same, but I've decided on an MPC Live. Mainly for the battery power as I'll be living abroad for 3 months and want something I can take with a little USB keyboard.

    The Elektron interface frustrates the hell out of me. Add Cuckoo's um ... engagingly idiosyncratic style, and I'm beyond confuddled!

    Enjoy!


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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14320
    octatonic said:
    Roland S770.
    Do you still have that and/or the SCSI accessories?
    Be seeing you.
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  • UnclePsychosisUnclePsychosis Frets: 12879
    Nice. I really want a Volca Sample but this thing is about a million times cooler. 
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    octatonic said:
    Roland S770.
    Do you still have that and/or the SCSI accessories?
    Long gone.
    I sold that in 2002.
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725

    goldtop said:
    Weird coincidence - I'm sort of doing the same, but I've decided on an MPC Live. Mainly for the battery power as I'll be living abroad for 3 months and want something I can take with a little USB keyboard.

    The Elektron interface frustrates the hell out of me. Add Cuckoo's um ... engagingly idiosyncratic style, and I'm beyond confuddled!

    Enjoy!


    The interface is clunky but I kinda like it for what it does.
    Reminds me of the 90’s Roland stuff.
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14320
    octatonic said:
    The interface is clunky but I kinda like it for what it does. Reminds me of the 90’s Roland stuff.
    That is useful to know. Most of my sampling knowledge was gleaned on the S-550 and S-760 with the occasional go on an AKAI S950. 
    Be seeing you.
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    edited June 2018
    Check this out though:



    This was done (not by me) using just one sample, the internal metronome blip.
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  • ChuckManualChuckManual Frets: 692
    octatonic said:
    Check this out though:



    This was done (not by me) using just one sample, the internal metronome blip.
    Sublime.
    Not much of the gear, even less idea.
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  • earwighoneyearwighoney Frets: 3487
    octatonic said:
    Check this out though:



    This was done (not by me) using just one sample, the internal metronome blip.
    That's incredible and it must have required some insane black belt knowledge of the sampler. 
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14320
    must have required some insane black belt knowledge of the sampler. 
    Just as likely, some insane black belt knowledge of how to construct drum and percussion sounds from absolute first principles. 

    If the metronome bleep is a sine wave and the sampler editing allows high- and low-pass filtering and the introduction of white/pink/red/brown noise, a good many common sounds can be created the hard way.
    Be seeing you.
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  • UnclePsychosisUnclePsychosis Frets: 12879

    as a follow on comment to my desire above to get a Volca Sample...

    I really want a hardware sampler (I am coming to the conclusion that I am not a DAW guy). I really want:

    • A sequencer
    • The ability to record my own samples via audio in
    • the ability to mangle / mess with the samples

    Sadly it seems like this particular combination isn't available without spending serious bucks. The Volca would probably be absolutely ideal except it fails miserably on the ease of getting samples into it.

    The Octatrack looks great but is way above my likely budget. Any other ideas?

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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    A used one?
    It is a pretty unique product.

    Otherwise an old school Akai/E-Mu/Roland sampler but the workflow is vastly different.
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  • WazmeisterWazmeister Frets: 9443

    as a follow on comment to my desire above to get a Volca Sample...

    I really want a hardware sampler (I am coming to the conclusion that I am not a DAW guy). I really want:

    • A sequencer
    • The ability to record my own samples via audio in
    • the ability to mangle / mess with the samples

    Sadly it seems like this particular combination isn't available without spending serious bucks. The Volca would probably be absolutely ideal except it fails miserably on the ease of getting samples into it.

    The Octatrack looks great but is way above my likely budget. Any other ideas?

    Digitakt/ Digitone
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  • UnclePsychosisUnclePsychosis Frets: 12879
    The Digitakt looks like its worth investigating.

    The price point of these things is really frustrating. If korg could add audio in to the volca it would be ideal - even if they doubled the price it would still be a fraction of the price of these other units. 
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  • goldtopgoldtop Frets: 6101

    as a follow on comment to my desire above to get a Volca Sample...

    I really want a hardware sampler (I am coming to the conclusion that I am not a DAW guy). I really want:

    • A sequencer
    • The ability to record my own samples via audio in
    • the ability to mangle / mess with the samples

    Sadly it seems like this particular combination isn't available without spending serious bucks. The Volca would probably be absolutely ideal except it fails miserably on the ease of getting samples into it.

    The Octatrack looks great but is way above my likely budget. Any other ideas?


    Download Vosyr - the developer calls it a "sample manager" but it's way more than that - it's a complete Volca Sample emulator for your Mac/PC, You don't even need to have a Volca to use it. But when you do, you can use it to drag/drop and transfer samples and sequences.

    Best of all, the cleverer bits of the Volca Sample that are tricky to do on the unit itself (some require three fingers at the same time for tweaking) are super easy. So you can more easily create melodic sequences, too.

    It's bloody free, too! So everyone on this thread should download it and have some fun. :)
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