Baseck Plays: Elektron Octatrack MKII - Now in Black 

Velocity sensitive pads on the MKII???

@@auraglasswerks4900 nope.

Reminds me of the opening tack on Orbital’s The Altogether album....”tension”.

It’s like we’re in Wayne’s basement, only…. This isn’t Wayne’s basement….

I guess that’s true of every musical instrument out there, synth, sampler or acoustic. Some people just like to make noise , like the pretty lights and sounds or just don’t have the motivation to sink time into practicing/learning. I’m glad these types exist, as they help contribute to the industry more than true artists, which helps fund innovation and creation of more instruments :)

The drawback is when companies start to focus more on the needs of mainstream consumers rather than technically proficient artists who helped propel their initial growth. Which is predictable, but a bit discouraging. Octatrack level depth is probably a thing of the past for Elektron, but hopefully others will come along and fill the void.

Definitely an odd phenomenon, practice makes progress!

Might I ask - what makes you say that?

@@monomakes it's not every day a promotional jam breaks into a drum n bass/breakcore jam like 4:37, to follow it up with this little piece 7:42 cemented my love for this vid! Also I'm biased as fuck (see my vids haha)

@@JohnLozo You’re right that promotional videos don’t often include deep use of the product they are made to promote, but this one is very genre specific - the music is fucking awful for the most part in my opinion (but I understand that others like it, fair enough), but if you know what can be done with the OT, this is just like all the other promos. Jam videos are best done without all the quick edits and flashing lights so that the true musicianship can be seen and not be distracted from. It would be interesting to see exactly what this bloke is doing from one, overhead camera angle. I’d hold that Dataline, Cenk Sayilini (so), who now works for Elektron in Berlin, has skills that would blow this clown out of the water on the OT - do check him out if you haven’t already.

@@monomakes there are different types of promo. This shows some of the breadth of what you can do with the product. It's inspirational and aspirational. You don't have to like the music to appreciate that Octatrack can be used alone to create a complete, interactive and hands on set. Btw, just because you don't enjoy his music doesn't make him a 'clown.'

I wouldn't say there were only two kinds, but I know what you mean. And yes, perhaps I was harsh in my judgement, I apologize - but as a promotional video meant to show the capability of the machine, it fails. The name Octatrack in the title is hardly needed as with all the quick edits and distracting effects, it's often difficult to see exactly how he is playing/ using the OT - I know, I've had one. But if that's what the kids like, which it's clear that they do by the large amount of praise for the artist (as opposed to the machine) that one can see in the comments, then cool. 😒😉

you should listen to more breakcore... have fun

@@swarm69 Go back to the old skool rave, the origins.

If felt the same way after finding EL-P and RTJ. Totally different sounds, similar whoa moment.

Get after it!

@@Nachtdwaler what do you think I've been doing the last couple of weeks! Using it to superimpose midi arps on top of chords, love it

Yes they have. No it doesn't. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--9SYHCHo5SY.html for example, but look around mate.

@@monomakes that's not nearly as impressive. Cenk is great but even this wasn't that impressive by his standards, and certainly not to what Baseck came up with here. but ok different strokes I guess

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lpwGzBULDEg.html

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-93dqms-UdJs.html Inspiring performances

there is no "gray" octatrack mkII.

@@sunnyschramm9650 Um

@@sunnyschramm9650 ...

Has been for years

It's a fresh ass Octatrack which is why the sound is CRISP! XD

the thing about the OT is that the gain staging is highly flexible, which also means that it's quite hard to get right and consistent. there's headroom everywhere, and the compressors and other effects can dramatically affect the levels and tone, so managing it all for a set with multiple songs, parts & scenes like this takes a lot of effort. You kind of have to accept that there's a bunch of stuff you need to consider that you wouldn't usually worry about, and the trade-off is that there's a bunch of flexibility and possibility that you would otherwise never have thought of.

@@wraggal well put!

I found it to have a rather limited frequency response in comparison with something like the MPC One (I've owned both BTW). The same samples played through MPC sound far fuller, brighter and deeper. This video is for promotional purposes and has professional visual, and doubtless audio, editing.

Disabling the default filter in effect slot 1 on all tracks and master will improve the sound as well as starting each track’s volume at 127 and working from there. The OT sounds “flat” to me which is a good thing. You can add “sparkle” to it which another piece of gear if you want.

Under John Major they did actually in fact try to make this sort of stuff illegal. Like you, I'm glad they didn't.

@UCCQvi7wzIhoG7eoxbR1lSHA This is true, diabolus in musica is the term, if I can remember correctly. It's do with the concept of certain mathematical ratios being "pure" in terms not just of music or harmony , but also relationship to Mediaeval concepts of the Cosmos, where the idea of the harmony of spheres was in vogue. So, to the average Mediaeval theorist, the tritone was not only percieved as an unpleasant interval but also as being contrary to their notions of a cosmological foundation and order to the Universe On a more pedestrian note though, my original reply was just a callback to various attempts to make raves and rave music illegal, in the early to mid 90's, that happened in several countries including the US and quite notably under the UK Prime Minsister, John Major. This mostly happened because of various moral panics at the time over recreational drug use that was associated with this type of music, in particual ecstasy. It was mostly abandoned because of the difficulty of making specific legislation to ban a musical genre and the scene associated with it.

Have a look at Ricky Tinez and Cuckoo on here, they have loads of films about the OT, live looping etc. Really useful. I agree with you though, I thought there maybe a few more lessons from Elektron. Reading the manual is one thing but seeing a film about it being applied can be totally different.

Despite being overly strict, the Elektronauts forum is a wealth of knowledge and people are helpful.

you should find our for yourself ;)

It's Baseckily awesome

I have one of him when he's sleeping if you want.

Is this also true for the Rytm and A4 versions?

@@Nachtdwaler Im not sure i dont think so its only a recent move.

@@petersambrini6693 Im talking about the Black versions of those! Didnt they come out around the same time?

@@Nachtdwaler No. The OTMk2 black came out about 5 months later

@@petersambrini6693 Ah I didn't know! Cheers!