Elektron-Users

I'm thinking of selling my OT. Do you think I'll regret it? Has anyone else ever sold one, did you regret it?

I loved the OT when I first got it, in fact I still like it a lot for what it can do. But since getting a machinedrum and shifting my workflow to ableton live I find I'm using the OT very sparsely.

I want to love it and use it for its full potential but for some reason I don't. I guess I'm not really a sampling type of person. I used the OT mainly as a sequencer for hardware synths and as a drum machine (before the MD came along). Now that I sequence with Live and use the MD for drums the OT is not really being used.

I should note that I don't perform live, this is only a studio tool for me. And I don't make glitchy/electro music, but more ambient/harmonically rich/softer music. Based on that, do you think the OT is lost on me?

Is there anything else I should consider before selling it? Is there a part of the OT that I may not have tapped into yet? I've tried using it as a synth with single-cycle waves but TBH I already have so many mono synths that this wasn't really that appealing to me.

Is there maybe anything in the OS update pipeline that might make it worth keeping? I'm a little curious to see how the looper will work, but I don't know if this alone is worth holding onto..

I don't know.. I'm a little torn. Can someone else make this decision for me?

Thanks!

hm, did you try to sequence ableton live with the OT? and sampling that back to the OT? do you have any use for the OT as a massively progammable FX unit for both MD and ableton live?
have you ever got fed up with live's inability to record CC automation data into session view clips?

i used to hang out at a small music store and once in a while in the evenings some old dudes showed up, saw some old guitar or roland synth or tape delay or rhodes and started whining about selling said guitar/synth/effect like 20 years ago and i thought to myself...wow, i don't want to miss an instrument i once sold for 20 years. (which in my case resulted in a "never sell" attitude )

well, right now the OT isn't a totally rare instrument and probably, hopefully won't be for the next 20 years, so...if you sell it and really miss it, you could get another one in a few years, when the OS has matured and all is well documented and stuff.

chances are that the OT will keep good value, so if you're not in need for the money, why not keep it around for a little longer?

i wouldn't keep it for the looper to come alone, though, since live's looper is great fun and flexible and easy!

Dude, don't sell it. I've seen so many of your videos where you use it and they're so good! Use it as a sampler... If you're really into melodic/ambient stuff, just put the right sounds into it, and sequence, mangle, PLAY, to your heart's content...

Dude, don't sell it. I've seen so many of your videos where you use it and they're so good! Use it as a sampler... If you're really into melodic/ambient stuff, just put the right sounds into it, and sequence, mangle, PLAY, to your heart's content...

Dude, don't sell it. I've seen so many of your videos where you use it and they're so good! Use it as a sampler... If you're really into melodic/ambient stuff, just put the right sounds into it, and sequence, mangle, PLAY, to your heart's content...

I too keep going through phases of wanting to sell it. So far I've resisted. In a sense the OT does too much for me but, apart from simple loop manipulation, each thing it does is a bit annoying, which has meant I constantly totally change the way I use it. I've been back to square one more than with any other single piece of gear.

But every now and again I stumble across some weird, warped thing it does and realise nothing else could do the same job. So although I don't use it anywhere near as much as I hoped, I keep it. With luck one day its looping will be as simple and powerful as my Repeater. At the moment I have to sample to the computer and chop up into long static loops because Octatrack can only do piddly short recordings. And unlike the Repeater I can only transpose a single octave. I think as a sampler it's way too limited. The Repeater's timestretch also sounds fantastic, not realistic but just great if that makes sense.

Generally, I can only jam with it when I prepare loads of scene stuff in advance - it just takes too long to set things up before I can be spontaneous. The trouble is I can't remember what each scene does in each part and you can't name them. So you either always do the same stuff, yawn, or you are constantly surprised. Then I need to always remember to backup before I start jamming because everything is saved as you go along. This again for me is a drag. I know I should probably set up all my parts in advance with a load of suitable samples, set up all the LFOs so that as soon as you touch them they do something interesting, set up the effects to a suitable starting point too. Then copy that part to every other part in every other bank. But as I keep changing my mind what any track should do, well, you get the picture. I think parts are a level of complication too many for my needs. I'd prefer less patterns in the whole machine if it meant I could confidently tweak one without screwing another, something I've done way too many times...

I won't say don't sell it but you have to ask yourself whether it makes your music life easier/better and if so what does it do that you like so much? The answer will probably be different for everyone. Then maybe you just concentrate on the good stuff and don't try to do everything. If there's not enough good stuff, ask what product comes close to satisfying your needs? For me, if Korg announced an ESX-1 electribe with 512Mb of flash RAM instead of its current 24Mb then I'd sell and buy that in a shot. I like Korg's simple UI but that's just me, old and simple.... YMMV, as they say.

smokyfrog wrote:
I too keep going through phases of wanting to sell it. So far I've resisted. In a sense the OT does too much for me but, apart from simple loop manipulation, each thing it does is a bit annoying, which has meant I constantly totally change the way I use it. I've been back to square one more than with any other single piece of gear.

But every now and again I stumble across some weird, warped thing it does and realise nothing else could do the same job. So although I don't use it anywhere near as much as I hoped, I keep it. With luck one day its looping will be as simple and powerful as my Repeater. At the moment I have to sample to the computer and chop up into long static loops because Octatrack can only do piddly short recordings. And unlike the Repeater I can only transpose a single octave. I think as a sampler it's way too limited. The Repeater's timestretch also sounds fantastic, not realistic but just great if that makes sense.

Generally, I can only jam with it when I prepare loads of scene stuff in advance - it just takes too long to set things up before I can be spontaneous. The trouble is I can't remember what each scene does in each part and you can't name them. So you either always do the same stuff, yawn, or you are constantly surprised. Then I need to always remember to backup before I start jamming because everything is saved as you go along. This again for me is a drag. I know I should probably set up all my parts in advance with a load of suitable samples, set up all the LFOs so that as soon as you touch them they do something interesting, set up the effects to a suitable starting point too. Then copy that part to every other part in every other bank. But as I keep changing my mind what any track should do, well, you get the picture. I think parts are a level of complication too many for my needs. I'd prefer less patterns in the whole machine if it meant I could confidently tweak one without screwing another, something I've done way too many times...

I won't say don't sell it but you have to ask yourself whether it makes your music life easier/better and if so what does it do that you like so much? The answer will probably be different for everyone. Then maybe you just concentrate on the good stuff and don't try to do everything. If there's not enough good stuff, ask what product comes close to satisfying your needs? For me, if Korg announced an ESX-1 electribe with 512Mb of flash RAM instead of its current 24Mb then I'd sell and buy that in a shot. I like Korg's simple UI but that's just me, old and simple.... YMMV, as they say.

I'm so much in line with you here!
I can do terrific stuff with OT but I can't just get organised with it.
I'm not selling it though.

My hope and dreams rests on the next OS. I can't organise it either and I really need sampling sorted to suit my needs. I'm selling mine if I just can't make it happen.

So sell it.

Me too I'm in the same boat. I hate to sell my gear though as it means something to me and that's included the Ot 'awakardness'. It's the most unfriendly gear I've ever owned. Still fascinating me though.I personally will wait a little . Maybe end 2012 and see if the Elektron team can bring the unit to the next level. So for now I wouldn't sell it .Just wait and see what happens