This is the second time I've purchased an Octatrack MKII and I'm not letting it go this time! I was originally pretty intimidated by this machine since it really lives up to its reputation of being an incredibly deep instrument. You've likely already read about it and it's all true - the Octatrack can do almost everything and be just about anything you want it to be: a sampler, a mixer, a looper, etc.

This time around, a few years after selling my first MKII, I decided to go all in and place it at the center of my setup and use it as a live looper and performance mixer, and I don't think I'll ever let it go again! Just using it as a mixer with effects, scenes, and the slider make it worth the cost, but then throw in the sampling and live looping and you have a really powerful brain for moving through live sets and just really fun noodling and jamming.

The learning curve is certainly there but there are so many great resources all over YouTube and honestly once you figure out how to integrate it into your setup and start using it, figuring out how to make it do what you want it to do becomes either super quick to figure out or super quick to look up.

And for additional context I mostly product house and techno style music, which I think most of the Elektron boxes really excel at.

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I've gigged with it everywhere for years now and it's outstanding. You may hear it has limitations such as having only 2 FX per track, only 2 stereo ins, only 8 tracks total but in reality all these issues can be surmounted with a little bit of creativity. It's incredibly capable. It's isn't original but unique. I send my trumpet, synths and bass synth into it and it sounds glorious. Just be aware that some may find the learning curve very very steep but once you understand it, it all makes perfect sense and is logical. It's the sheer flexibility and capability that can be heavy to digest at first. You will need to sit down with it for a while before it becomes an extension of yourself. But once you crack the code, you feel like the world is yours with this device. It is my absolute favorite piece of gear after my actual instrument (the trumpet). Just remember the learning curve can be challenging for some, especially if you didn't acquire a little bit of experience first with other samplers or similar devices/grooveboxes.

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A little complicated but not impossible by any means. I'm glad I finally decided to get it. John Tonello is always helpful and responsive. Thanks!

I've had this piece of gear for almost two years it has dramatically improved my production chops. I make hip hop I sample everything nothing samples like this thing does. Sure you can do the pad chop thing on the MPC much faster than you can chop anything on the octatrack but if speed is what you are worried about y r u making music???? I found the Mpc to work like a DAW linked to an MPC controller with a touch screen that feels like an old lg Dare. The octatrack is a music making machine made by music makers. If you're in the market for a sampler and have the dough to drop on this one do yourself a favor and forget about the rest of them. I have absolutely zero complaints with this device hence the 5 stars. God bless elektron for making me love making music again. 10/10 everyday and when this one breaks I'm going to buy another one. Seriously I love this thing. Can you tell?

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So… I am really enjoying this thing, but I strongly recommend trying it in person before you commit. If you want to slice and dice and do experimental mayhem, this is totally for you. If you want to play a chord, have two samples on the same track hit together, or transpose a note more than two octaves, you may want to look at a more traditional sampler. I fall somewhere in the middle — so while I'm still happy with this, it's not 100% what I expected, in spite of watching many videos about it beforehand, and some of the limitations feel arbitrary. I can almost get on board with one voice per track (limits = creativity, after all), but the very limited transposition is weird and seemingly runs counter to the general ethos of this box. Some will say "it's not for traditional sampling, get an MPC!", and maybe the limitations are to prevent cannibalization across their product line, but it feels like they sort of shot themselves in the foot with some of it. Anyway, definitely check it out if you can — it's a weird and fun (if occasionally confounding!) instrument. My favorite thing is that it (usually) challenges you to rethink your approach in a helpful way. And once you learn the workflow, you can work very quickly.

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I use it with one shots drum samples only. So disregard this if you want to do more. It's amazing for that purpose, makes a "complicated" box very easy to use. I don't even really think it's that complicated but that's a rabbit hole that I won't get into. Great machine.

Did I mention I'm drinking OJ and eating pancakes right now? Good... Good.... Got some maple syrup from Ralphs that's decent but the "real" stuff that isn't just corn syrup is like 25 bucks a bottle. Kinda a rip off. I guess they have to extract it from actual trees though so maybe it's justified. I can definitely taste the difference. And don't get me started on pancake mix.

I've been looking for a way to go DAWless since the pandemic had me sitting at my computer all day every day, the joy of making music was kinda dying out on me. I got the Octatrack to make production fun again and this thing does that and more! For the first time in my life, when listening to artists I'm inspired by, I actually feel like I know how they made their sounds, and I've been making music for five years now. I completely understand why the best electronic artists are hardware evangelists. The Octatrack makes sampling FUN and EASY! I'm making sounds that I didn't know I was capable of yet have always wanted to be able to make. There is so much potential here. There's no way I'm going back, I love my Octatrack.

The live recording mode is fantastic. You can trigger samples by slices, chromatic, by triggering them manually...So fun and easy to throw something down plus the quantization is superb. Micro-timing edits are also handy here.

All that being said, this machine is not without its flaws. The learning curve is steep, the manual tells you that you CAN do things but not HOW to do them, you can only trigger a loaded sample once per step, all samples have to be WAV 44.1, etc. But so far I have not encountered any deal-breakers or huge regrets, rather once you get over each drawback and accept the Octatrack for what it is, you move on and continue loving it. The pros far outweigh the cons here.

I wouldn't recommend this to anyone that doesn't have a few years of experience with music production, as the learning curve is steep. I would be struggling far more with this without having used FL Studio for some time. I've only had this for about a month and after I got over the initial shock of not knowing how to use it, many of the functions I want to use start to feel very intuitive and natural. Not all of them though - whenever I'm stumped I just do a google search and inevitably someone on the Elektron forums has asked the same question and gotten an answer from the supportive community there.

So yeah, if you're looking to take your music to the next level, get yourself an Octatrack. Techno, house, breakbeat, the possibilities are endless...

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