Depending on your musical tastes and tolerance for UI complexity, you may be better served by other Elektron devices as your first purchase. The Octatrack is very powerful but pretty complex to wrap your head around.
Personally I’d go for the Analog Rytm mk2, especially if you like drum-based electronic music... it sounds fantastic, is a great analog drum machine but each track can also be used as a synth or sampler track, which makes it much more than just a drum machine, you can really quickly make great sounding full tracks on it. It also has a really fun interface with far fewer button combos to remember etc. than the Octatrack.
Of course, it doesn’t matter too much because once you buy one you’ll eventually end up buying them all ;) I agree that Elektron are making some of the most fun and exciting music gear out there, I love all their stuff. Quite a strong tracker influence to their sequencer which I like too!
I think the complexity of the Octatrack is a bit overstated and probably scares people more than necessary. Only confusing part is the whole track/machine/part/pattern/banks thing, but other Elektron machines have similar complexity. Or maybe it's the sequencer people are scared of? But it's a easy one with just a lot of depth.
But I'd agree with you, as a owner of both a Rytm and Octatrack, to go for the Rytm before the Octatrack as it's simply a nicer standalone machine, the Octatrack really needs companions to be fully useful.
> I agree that Elektron are making some of the most fun and exciting music gear out there, I love all their stuff
Yeah it is probably overstated, but it is definitely a slightly confusing machine compared to other modern Elektrons (I have the Machinedrum, which you can clearly see how it inspired the Octatrack).
I don't use my OT that often and whenever I pull it out it takes me a while to reorient myself with how I load a sample, why is that track muted, etc. etc. Of course out of this architecture comes great flexibility too, unmatched by anything else hardware based really, and when I listen to the patterns I've made, they do sound unlike anything I make with other gear (in a cool way). I am going to try to integrate it as a live looper for "live" performances (to an audience of one, myself, in the bedroom, but everyone has to start somewhere!).
And yeah, I'm hooked too. Got most of the boxes now, just missing Monomachine (never really grabbed me and definitely not at the second hand prices!) and Analog Heat (which I bet I'd love but it feels expensive for "just an effect"). Don't regret it all though, I love how each one is a self-contained groovebox that I can make a full track on on the sofa, but also they integrate really well for a more advanced setup. And they're just super fun!
Funny that you mention the Heat as I just got that one a few days ago as a complement to my Rytm and Octatrack. It is so much more than "just an effect" and currently sitting on my master output, making everything sound just better. Thinking of getting a second one to put between the Octatrack and my other instruments too, but have to let the GAS build up a bit first I think.
Depending on your musical tastes and tolerance for UI complexity, you may be better served by other Elektron devices as your first purchase. The Octatrack is very powerful but pretty complex to wrap your head around.
Personally I’d go for the Analog Rytm mk2, especially if you like drum-based electronic music... it sounds fantastic, is a great analog drum machine but each track can also be used as a synth or sampler track, which makes it much more than just a drum machine, you can really quickly make great sounding full tracks on it. It also has a really fun interface with far fewer button combos to remember etc. than the Octatrack.
Of course, it doesn’t matter too much because once you buy one you’ll eventually end up buying them all ;) I agree that Elektron are making some of the most fun and exciting music gear out there, I love all their stuff. Quite a strong tracker influence to their sequencer which I like too!