OCTATRACK // uses / tips / tricks //

[ezbot]

I have a bunch of these short tutorials on my channel

[Prnts]

Might depend on the device/s you’re trying to send clock out to? Are they set to receive clock?

[varispeeder]

these are great!! This thing can be so daunting, but I’m finding that bite-sized tutorials like yours, focused on one specific thing, can help demystify it.

[ezbot]

This is one of my favorites and it really took some focused time getting to know my OT intimately to make it sound decent.

[Blit]

Used to own one. I used mostly in live performances for its midi capabilites. The arpeggiator is very deep and you can jam, improvise and record it on the fly.

Its a shame that the digitakt doesnt have the same midi capabilities.

[MaxMyriad]

Anyone else use the OT primarily as a mixer/fx box for external instruments instead of a sampler? The OT’s been on the shelf for a bit as i focus more on modular, but i’ve been considering bringing it out again, this time as spice to the modular instead of a main focus. The idea would be somewhat analogous to a mega DJ mixer, with two stereo outs from the modular going into AB and CD, with each “deck” having a thru, two neighbors, and maybe one resampling/looping track.

Also, OT compressors to process modular signals - considering the crazy dynamic range the modular is capable of it would be nice to tame any unexpected peaks/feedback, as well as level and thicken the overall sound, but i also don’t want to micromanage the compressor settings in a live scenario. Anybody found a set and forget sweet spot that seems to work for them in most cases?

Finally does anyone manually swap between flex resampling/looping channels and live inputs/thrus without using scenes? I think most people set up scenes for this purpose, but that precludes the use of scenes for other purposes (fx “presets” etc). Not a huge deal but i do find it a bit of an improv killer if you are enjoying the quality of scene “A” for instance but then have to move away from that sound to enable scene “B” whose only job is the transition from live input to loop playback. Swapping manually allows you to stay on scene A but fading out a thru track and fading in a loop of that thru in a natural way is quite difficult. Of course there’s always pickups, but i really like resequencing captured audio which isn’t possible in pickups.

[kin.sventa]

these are probably really obvious but here are a couple arranger mode tips that really helped me. both are really basic and took me an embarrassingly long time to discover.

first, you can write notes in the arranger by adding a row and scrolling the bank select column all the way to the left. instead of a bank number it will say “rem”. you can then write a short note in the column to the right. i write my song titles in here so that i know what is what instead of it saying “L01” or “h02” or whatever. this is awesome live as i can change the song order on the fly and play more to the room as opposed to having the set list planned out prior. it’s a subtle artistic freedom but it can be a liberating and powerful way to connect with the room. also whats cool about this is that if you trigger the row with the text, it automatically triggers the row directly below it.

second, the arranger is the only way to launch a pattern / bank with a bpm automatically set. again, for live sets this is great as you can just focus on launching the song and not have to remember what bpm the song is supposed to be at. this is helpful for me a i typically play at least 11 songs in a live set and they range from 74 to 114 bpm

I am having a hell of a time figuring out how to get it to send midi clock out

i’ve also had trouble with this. been trying to clock my marbles module. i was hoping to be able to use this cable

but i haven’t got it to work. i turned on the clock out in the midi menu. i know my midi cable works too, i can send midi out but when i use this cable marbles doesn’t respond. i’ve been using ansible to send clock from octatrack to marbles but i sure wish i could circumvent using a module as i am using a palette case live and the 6hp for only clock feels wasteful in such a small setup.

anyone have any ideas for a good way to get clock from my octatrack in to marbles? preferably a cable ?

[dansimco]

Someone may correct me here but I think it’s bad news re getting sync from the octatrack with that midi adapter. Pam’s is expecting a dinsync signal instead of a midi clock (which I found out the hard way are different things). Octatrack puts out midi clock but not din. I think the only Elektron box that does DIN out is the Rytm. You could most likely send a sample of a pulse out every 16th note from one of the cue outs though.

Oops misread the marbles bit. Marbles would expect even less of a clock so the pulse sample output would do the trick

[Quru]

Yes, while the connectors fit the data moving in the cable doesn’t. Din sync is pulses, midi is digital information that would need to be translated to voltages for modular to understand. As you said square wave or similar sample from Octatrack to clock input could work, even more surely with envelope follower added. I haven’t tried it myself with OT or anything really, but I know people sync Ableton to modular that way. ALM also offers midi breakout module for Pam’s, but thay takes rackspace too, 4hp I believe. Or you could use cv.ocd or similar bot outside the modular for midi interfacing, but even for the very affordable price in it’s class it could be quite an overkill if you need nothing more than a clock.

[kin.sventa]

okay thank you for this information. just barely now learning about this sync / midi clock stuff. @dansimco i have indeed been able to clock marbles by sending a pulse out of the octatrack cue out. this is not an option for me however as i use the cue out extensively to send audio out of the octatrack in to the eurorack ( clouds / morphagene / three sisters / and soon either optomix or lxd ) now i’m considering getting this. it should work with the midi cable the palette case come with right ?

another option would be to get a volca sample ! it takes midi clock and sends a pulse. and i would get a fun drum machine to play live. but i dont know. i really like the idea of having as little as possible.

[scrag]

@kin.sventa I have one of these:

MIDI to Clock V2

It’s great. It accepts MIDI or Din Sync, has an onboard clock divider / multiplier, it follows MIDI transport commands, and as a bonus it can send out MIDI clock, so if need be, you can have your Euorack gear be the master, and your Octatrack will sync to the Eurorack.

(Note that it ONLY handles clock though - i.e. it’s not a MIDI interface that you can use to play your Eurorack from a MIDI controller.)

[hermbot]

Does anyone have thoughts on the Sound Packs sold by Elektron? Today is the last day of their sale. I figure $20 is a relatively cheap buy in to see if they offer more usefulness than a regular sample pack.

Edit: This seemed like sound advice over at Elektronauts.

My two cents as someone who has bought most of the Elektron sound packs. If you are interested in seeing some examples of patterns and scenes, the packs are completely worth it. They contain lessons you won’t read on a forum.
If you just want new sounds, buy packs from Loopmasters. I picked up the Goldbaby sound pack about four months ago and was surprised to see Elektron release the same pack.

(Double edit: I bought the Chillwave set.)

[varispeeder]

shoot!! I didn’t realize it was the last day, I wanted to pick up the Goldbaby Yard Sale pack. Ah well, I have a ton of those kinds of samples already but I can never get enough!

[PacificNorthWes]

I’ve been using mine as a hybrid of the two, depending on what gear I’m using and what I’m playing. It’s flexible that way. I played a techno show back in October where I had all my drums coming out of the Octa mostly with one-shot drums sequenced on the OT, but then used the stereo line out of my modular case into two of the inputs on the OT. Then I used the filter and compression on the OT on the modular stuff, but also had it set up to capture 4-bar loops from my modular. I’d basically jam out on the modular for a while, and then when it felt like time for something new I’d record in a loop transition over to it (yes, using scenes), and then cue up something new on my headphones. It worked a treat.

[dansimco]

another option would be to get a volca sample ! it takes midi clock and sends a pulse. and i would get a fun drum machine to play live. but i dont know. i really like the idea of having as little as possible.

Also an arturia keystep come to think of it, then you can get your melodic midi sequences programmed into the octatrack using the keyboard, while you’re at it.

[ezbot]

[ezbot]

DEEP DIVE

[P1505]

Have asked this on the Elektronauts forum also but asking here too as we have some excellent brains here.

Hi all.

I’m in a predicament. A good friend of mine has asked me to put on a 45 minute live set, after I’ve sold everything! Something stopped me from selling the OT, maybe this was why. I’m very new to the OT, basically can turn it on. I’d say no, but my friend has been through and is still going through a lot, and this may be the last opportunity we get to jam together (he’s ill).

So I have to make this work.

I can get access to a Maschine Mk.3 set up if needs be. And also a Novation Circuit. But the less to learn the better.

I have 4 weeks to prep this, but luckily can “work from home” because of our lovely friend Mr. Virus. So that gives me a solid amount of time.

He’s after an old school sample based hip hop set, think Endtroducing. Yeah I know, in a month with new gear I don’t know how to use! What could go wrong! I do own Ableton, find it dull as dishwater but can use it. I’m looking for advice on how to create a sample based hip hop set, not in terms of music etc but how to set up the gear.

I was thinking I could have a song/section over 8 patterns quite easy as long as I can trigger one shots to spice it up. That’s where Maschine could maybe come in, or a Novation something? If it’s cheap I’ll buy it then sell it afterwards.

Or can you use scenes to blend between banks? So could I have n songs, each on a bank, and I’m riffing with one set of patterns on the OT and throwing in other samples via another thing. Then as I want to move over to the next section I can have some patterns per bank which are designed to make the transition simpler, then slide over, and on the other scene trigger up the next bank. So the slider is left on bank one, slide to bank to on the right, load up bank 3 on the left scene, keep going.

Also, sometimes I hear things from the right scene with the slider all the way left. Is that normal?

Any advice hugely appreciated. For the next few days I’m hunting down the songs I want to steal from or remix. I have all the Marco Polo Pad Thai packs, plus all the Samples From Mars sets. I have plenty of sample, so all I need is the songs and films I’ll steal parts form.

Can all advice be aimed at somebody who knows how to spell Octatrack but that’s about it.

Thanks all, and stay safe.

[HateNames]

I’d learn the arranger on the OT. It’s pretty confusing at first but it means that you can do all the stressful stuff before hand in the comfort of time and home. I say this because you can set all your scenes, scene changes, mutes, transitions, tempo changes etc etc before you press play and then you can mess with the fader and maybe trigger some single shots, change mute states etc without worrying about too many things at once. I’ve had productive times just playing the scenes, fader and mutes (maybe concentrate on those?). Remember that you can ‘play’ the scenes with the trigger buttons (not just with the fader) for immediate changes (loads of fun). Cuckoo YouTube tutorials on the arranger are great. Maybe also remind yourself not to try and make it do all its tricks at once (I have to do this regularly). I’m sure if you spend some time with it you’ll find a way to have a great time with your friend. Good luck, have fun.

[Martebar]

What kind of material do you have at your disposal? Are you starting totally from scratch or do you have tracks or stems already prepared somewhere else?