The easiest Electron Octatrack tutorial on the whole inter-web! (This one is for YOU dummy)

Ok,

No BS, No theory, No slick proprietary terminology (Trig? Machines? Not here, Stunt-hose!) No architecture flowcharts. If you are looking to fine tune your Octatrack workflow I suggest you coil up the Ol' "John Holmes" and super slinky your way out of this tutorial.

This is for the desperate, the forgotten.....the dummies.

For the people who have come into possession of an Octatrack, (perhaps...prematurely?) in their musical careers, who have been living out a  "2001 quest for fire" type scenario ever since they first turned it on, and have either stopped just short of flinging poo and beating their naked chests or have just completed the previous troubleshooting technique and still find it impossible to make a single sound with this infamous destroyer of souls, this is for YOU!

I have ONE goal in writing this, I want to get YOU to where you can at the very least, make a SOUND with this thing, and maybe even program a SEQUENCE with this sonic equivalent of a "cold locker room in the 8th grade and you got out of the pool late".

Maybe, just maybe we can put a couple of inches back on that thing and warm it up before you drop the trunks for peer inspection, if you follow CAREFULLY! I repeat, the purpose of this document is to lay out the steps that will grant you access to the most basic and core features of the Octatrack so you can perhaps get a Taco-fart of wind beneath those wings and pull out of your nosedive before you (Or more likely the Octatrack it's self) crash and burn. I am not going to tell you WHY to do things nor will I impart any CONCEPTS on you, hopefully, the basic action of operating the Octo will fire some rusty piston in that bong toasted  Doritos-disposal system you call a brain and with this running start and some of the many other tutorials out there you just get to a place where your octatrack usage no longer  brings shame upon you and your family.

Ok, saddle up horse-dong,

It's time to ride that bad boy....

1. Turn on the Octatrack, you will see some wussy-looking graphics followed by either:

       A. The main screen: Big number in top left corner, six knobs (7 counting you) on the right. or,

       B. A prompt asking you to create a project. If you get this, locate the start enter button and click                 through the prompts until you see the main screen.

2. Hold down the white button labeled FUNCTION and tap the gray button directly to the north-east of it labeled MIXER/ PROJECT, you will see a split screen with a list on either side. On top of the left list, you will see a tab called PROJECT. Using the UP DOWN RIGHT LEFT keys, settle the cursor on it. Now, press the RIGHT button, the cursor will be on CHANGE, Press ENTER. It will tell you to choose a project and show you a list. Using the UP button, go to the top and settle your cursor on CREATE NEW PROJECT, Hit the ENTER button. You will now be told to name the project. Hit the LEFT button once. The cursor will settle on the right-most number of the suggested title. Press the DOWN button a few times to change the number to anything other than what it was. Press ENTER. You will now have you ADD tested by having to wait a second or two by a progress bar. If you are still here when it is done, you will be back to the main screen of a BRAND NEW PROJECT! Give yourself a banana!

3. Tap the Mixer button. You will see a screen with a pair of headphones on the left and six boxes wth number to the right, the boxes correspond to the 6 gray knobs called A-B-C_D to the right. Ignore the 7th knob hanging over the tempo button. Crank knobs B and E, until they are at least 80. (you will see number in the boxes change as you turn them) Now raise C and F until they are 20, same for A and D. Hit MIXER again and the window goes away.

4. Go find something that makes SOUND and has an OUTPUT jack on it, it could be your phone or a synth, I don't care. Now that you have it connect it to your sound maker with a cord that has whatever attaches to your sound maker on one side and has a 1/4 inch male connector on the other, this could be a standard guitar cord as long as it fits your sound source, if you are using your phone it will need to be 1/8 " on one side and 1/4 on the other, because......

5. Conect the other end to the Octatrack as follows: On the back of the unit locate inputs A and B, then C and D. Pug your sound source into one or both AB or CD if you have a stereo, two-pronged cable, Now! I said AB OR CD!! NOT A-C or D-B DO IT!. If you have the stereo cable, throw on the dunce cap and go sit in the corner for a sec, if you have only a single male input, plug it into one of the four inputs. Now, Press FUNCTION and the red RECORD AB button, it does not matter if you plugged into CD, just do it! You will see a screen with a tape reel on the right, and 4 boxes with letters in them to the left. Go back to the 6 gray knobs, recall which input you are plugged into. Lets say you plugged into input A. Grab the knob label A, and turn it until you see only A in the upper right box, not A-B not B Just A!! If you plugged into C or D do the same thing with the B knob until you see only the letter name of your input. Now exit this boring-ass screen by hitting the NO button.

6. Hit the T1 button, it should turn red, then locate and  double tap the PLAYBACK button below the screen. on the new screen you will see on the left side a list, second from the top you will see the word FLEX put your cursor on it and hit yes, press NO  to exit. Follow this procedure again after starting with the T2 button.

7. Do something to make a sound with your sound device (If this is an electric guitar you may have to use a DI box, but then again you might not) You should now hear your sound source, if you can't, try a different source, if that doesn't solve the problem, go back to step 3 and repeat until it works. Look at the lights above the REC AB-CD buttons, you should be seeing green orange or red-shaded lights, green may be too low, red too much, adjust the volume of your source till it is neither too much or too little.

8. Being ready to make sound, Hold the T1 button down and hit the record AB or CD button depending on which input you are plugged into. Now MAKE SOUND you should be hearing it and the tiny black squares on the outside edge of the screen should have changed to a cross, you have about 16 seconds. Stop playing and hit STOP, Now, hit the T2 button and make a different sound. Follow the exact same instruction. Now hit NO till you are back to the main screen, Hit the T1 button until it's light is red, then hold down the T1 button and hit PLAY.....

Do you hear it?? DO YOU HEAR IT???!! That's you buddy! but wait before you take that Instagram shot with you in a wife-beater and gold chains, crouching and pointing to your octatrack, while throwing up a gang sign with the other hand, let's do this shitzz O.G style....

9. on the row of round buttons on the bottom of the Octa hit button 9, once again the glory is all yours but just a few more things....hit the REC button it's light will turn red. Hit numbered buttons 1-5-9-13 each should have it's light glow red when you hit it. Press play.....Victory!!

10. I will leave you with these options, repeat steps 8-through 9 using track/button T2 instead of T1, you now have two sampler tracks you can sequence! Also, try it again but this time do not hit the record button so it turns red to enter your steps. using the 9 or whatever button triggers the sample, follow these steps: instead of pushing the record button till its read and programming in you steps. leave the rec button un-lit, hold down REC while hitting play, now play your samples in live! hit stop when you are done.

OK, if you followed my instruction you are no longer an octatrack failure, you are now just an average dummy,

Congrats Jacko! Now go throw some poop to celebrate!

How to fix sticky broken buttons and keys on the Elektron Octatrack

I recently purchased an octatrack, I decided to get it instead of a Roland JDXA I had been G.A.S'ing badly for, so deep in the gear lust was I that I absolutely ignored the sonic reality of the JDXA: it doesn't sound all that great.

Luckily the gear gods showed mercy on me and cut me a break, how can it be anything but providence it's self when you show up to buy a JDXA ad find a MOPHO x 4 that you just happen to own one of, set up next to it in the store.

I tried to resist the urge to A-B this new synth I was to own, with the other synth that I already do. Some part of me knew what I would find, and I didn't have to look far.

The MOPHO X4 smoked the JDXA in every category you can think of and made me admit to myself that the JDXA is the worst price to quality ratio item I have ever seen in the world of Audio.

The JDXA idea has been shelved, unless I can find one for $750 or less I just can't justify the MASSIVE price tag.

But wait!!!

You didn't think I was going home empty handed did you?

Hell no!

I immediately switched my focus to the OTHER overpriced underperforming (Depending on who you ask) thing I absolutely did not need, something that was guaranteed to waste months of my time ad send a wrecking ball through my bank account, something that I had always known I would get, but the timing (and price) was just never right.

It was time for the goddamn OCTATRACK!

No sooner did I have the idea when a rouge wave of reason tried to break the levies of my G.A.S.S'ed up insanity, I had to act quickly before reason wrestled control away from my impulsive immature but oh so fun to hang out with "Let's blow the rent on golden bathrobes' animal instincts.

Like some toy-store running back I grabbed the octa off of a counter where another customer had requested it be taken out so he could examine it.

I watched his face turn from that of a smug "Tire-kicker" to a man who had taken the very thing he lived for torn from his well earned grasp, as I sprinted by him and grabbed it,  while simultaneously motioning for the clerk to meet me at the counter,

"Sold!" I yelled for all to hear, it wouldn't matter what the other guy complained about now, my intentions thus declared the clerks would let ME keep it, just so long as I was buying!

And buy I did......oh god did I buy....I bought the F%$k out of that goddamn Octatrack,

My journey with (Kidnapped by?) Octatrack will be documented in other blogs, the purpose of this one is too ofer a proven solution to a common problem:

After owning it for two days, a key on my Octa was sticking badly! I didn't not recall having spilled anything close to it so that was confusing enough, but when I goggled the problem and discovered that MANY Octatrack users have similar issues I was now adding afraid to my self description.

I read through page after page of forums where people detailed subterranean spelunking expeditions into the guts of their Octa voiding their warrantee and usually breaking the device in the process, others were sending their Octa's to Elektron in Sweden and getting it back 3 months later with the button (It was usually just one) fixed.

No way Svendele! Not me! when the buttons get sticking the tough start dicking! (around)

And so I did I stumble upon an easy fix for this all to common defect.

For those of you who skipped all the BS YOU SHOULD START READING HERE!

HOW I FIXED THE STICKY KEYS ON MY OCTATRACK

1. Get Isopropyl alcohol (Rubbing alcohol) and Q-tips

2. Notice their is usually quite a bit of space between the buttons and the edge of the chassi

3. After disconnecting the Octatrack from everything (Especially POWER Dummy!) Dip a Q-tip in alcohol, soak liberally,

4. Run the Q-tip around the circumference of the button in question, apply enough pressure that the Alcohol is squeezed from the Q-tip and runs down into the chassi to the bottom of the button.

5. Vigorously and repeatedly press the button, until you can feel it come loose from whatever was sticking it,

you may have to repeat steps 3-5 a few times (I did) in order for the button to unlock, but unlock it did and I have not had a problem with this button since.

Do this at your own risk! I assume no responsibility for broken or damaged Octatracks, all I know is that this WORKED for me and was a hell of a lot quicker than shipping it to Sweaden.

Happy life-wasting Octa-buddies!