My finger has been hovering over the "buy" button on a few used MPC 1000's, in recent weeks. That, and the new MPC Studio Black. I have to restrain myself, because A) Pioneer's Toraiz is due to drop in a week, B) a friend tells me his DITC buddy who beta tests for Akai is hinting at the possibility of a new standalone MPC, later this year, and C) Akai's 2.0 software is due soon, and I don't want to pay for the upgrade. If I sit tight, I may get it w/ a Studio Black purchase (if options A & B don't flesh out).
Hadn’t seen that MPC studio black. Design/UI wise it looks pretty nice. Maybe akai are ready now to drop a serious new standalone soon like you say… I f*#king hope so… Something like that studio black + 16 step sequencer buttons and JJOS depth could be killer.
I’m also keeping eye on the Toraiz. Have a feeling it’s gonna be a little underwhelming under the hood. The idea of having something kind of simple/limited is appealing in some ways but after using Octatrack I think I’ll feel kind of short changed on the Toraiz. Guess we’ll see after reviews roll in…
My finger has been hovering over the "buy" button on a few used MPC 1000's, in recent weeks. That, and the new MPC Studio Black. I have to restrain myself, because A) Pioneer's Toraiz is due to drop in a week, B) a friend tells me his DITC buddy who beta tests for Akai is hinting at the possibility of a new standalone MPC, later this year, and C) Akai's 2.0 software is due soon, and I don't want to pay for the upgrade. If I sit tight, I may get it w/ a Studio Black purchase (if options A & B don't flesh out).
Hadn’t seen that MPC studio black. Design/UI wise it looks pretty nice. Maybe akai are ready now to drop a serious new standalone soon like you say… I f*#king hope so… Something like that studio black + 16 step sequencer buttons and JJOS depth could be killer.
I’m also keeping eye on the Toraiz. Have a feeling it’s gonna be a little underwhelming under the hood. The idea of having something kind of simple/limited is appealing in some ways but after using Octatrack I think I’ll feel kind of short changed on the Toraiz. Guess we’ll see after reviews roll in…
Only thing that keeps me away from the Octa is the lack of serious pads. As a drummer, I have a deep respect for the physicality of hammering out my beats.
I guess you posted at a moment when I was feeling fragile I’m missing my Octatrack – I’ve been wondering how I could strip down my gear to a bare minimum, and am starting to wonder whether going mostly ITB, with Octatrack working as a “live show” box (that is, if I were ever to score a live gig) would be the best thing.
I played live shows for almost 3 years with the Octatrack, using it primarily to loop my viola/electric violin, then mangle the audio captured in the loop recorders. Unfortunately, it suddenly stopped working a couple of weeks ago - power was still on, LCD display and lights were working, but it wouldn’t loop or sample anymore.
I’m still keeping it - just have to set up a support ticket with Elektron and send it in. I did have to replace some of its functions with other gear - Headrush E2 for looping, OP-1 for audio file playback, Eventide H9 for reverbs and other FX - for last night’s gig and the gig at Psycho Las Vegas next week, as there’s no time to wait for the OT to be repaired.
And it’s a bit unfortunate I got rid of mine shortly before starting a small modular. I mean, there’s no patch saving with a modular, so you obviously want to sample/record a lot.
The Octatrack “preset” scheme is a little strange in that you have to organize everything into projects, and 4 Parts/Project, where each Part is some variation of FX and other track settings. The band leader was leaning towards setting up a different Octatrack “preset” to introduce each of the 7 songs in the band’s set. I could have created the illusion of 4 “patches” (Parts) that I could switch between quickly within the same project, but then I would have had to change Projects to access another 4 “patches”, and Project loading is not particularly fast on this device.
If I come up with noises on the MS-20 Mini, Minibrute, etc. for later reuse, I’ll have to use the OP-1 for now, for audio playback. Fortunately, the band’s music doesn’t require I play samples longer than a few seconds at a time - no epic 5 min. audio or anything like that. I’ve already started using a noise patch I created on the OP-1 itself - I tweaked on of the wind-like presets in Cluster and recorded that to Tape for a vaguely menacing hurricane-about-to-intensify sound.
I recently read that the current model Electribe sampler was just updated - looking into that as a possible candidate for more straightforward sample playback - not quite the firepower, I suppose, of an MPC-1000 but probably useful enough for what I do.
Meaning, you have four parts per 16 patterns. Considering there’s banks up to the letter P (16), that’s 4 banks times 16 = 64 parts.
That would probably save you a lot of project loading. If I understood you right.
Edit: Yep, definitely. Manual:
BANKS
Each project hosts 16 banks and each bank hosts 16 patterns and 4 parts. This makes a
bank suited for hosting a complete composition as the available patterns and parts allow a
large number of song variations. Switching between banks is seamless, meaning playback
won’t be halted or audio cut off. More information about banks is found on page 59.
I'm been on the brink of buying a Make Noise Ø Coast cause of all the west coast bleep bloops and whatnot. I've got the Mother 32 and think they would make a great duo. However, i played around with some intersting CV modulation from my A4 and found the sounds I was after. Currently a happy camper..
Same! I have 2x Mother 32s and have been fighting the 0-Coast urge constantly. I think I just filled the void by getting the phenomenal MoogerFooger MX-108M Cluster Flux and CV-ing it up to the Mothers. Couldn’t be happier. Didn’t really save any money, but at least I’ve stopped watching 0-Coast videos for a bit now.
I’m trying really hard not to pay too much attention to the Pittsburgh Lifeforms now though…
Meaning, you have four parts per 16 patterns. Considering there's banks up to the letter P (16), that's 4 banks times 16 = 64 parts.
That would probably save you a lot of project loading. If I understood you right.
Edit: Yep, definitely. Manual:
BANKS
Each project hosts 16 banks and each bank hosts 16 patterns and 4 parts. This makes a
bank suited for hosting a complete composition as the available patterns and parts allow a
large number of song variations. Switching between banks is seamless, meaning playback
won’t be halted or audio cut off. More information about banks is found on page 59.
I might look into using banks within a project for more organized usage of the OT after I get it serviced.
It’s still not as straightforward as dialing up presets on the H9 or on most synths.
A lot of the same stuff about the OT that made it so great for improvising has turned out to be a liability with this band anyway - too much to remember, too many ways to screw up in this more structured rock music, where I’m expected to reproduce certain sonic environments on cue, in much more predictable fashion.
I will definitely use the OT again, but not in this band. I continue to be surprised how much better a fit the OP-1 is for this band’s music.
Between JU-06, Circuit, coming-soon Behringer DM12, OP-Z, and maybe at some point a new Elektron...
Hey there pal! I see you’re toying with the idea of the boutiques and after scratching around and keeping my ear to the floor for prices/deals I came across this on reverb. I think the price point is unbeatable. It’s a shame that they’ve taped the boxes together even though the seller has written about the significance and limited numbers of these boxes. https://reverb.com/jp/item/2658934-roland-boutique-pack-w-free-k-25m-controller-free-shipping
Anyhoo, for that price it says that they are chucking in the k25m mini controller but they are chucking in way more. It looks to me like it’s the mini controller and a slashed unit price for that! Get stuck in!
@GovernorSilver - it would be cool to hear a bit about how you implement the OP-1 in a band setting. I recall you being a pretty heavy user of the Octa, and if you achieve similar stuff with your OP, I’m really interested
@GovernorSilver - it would be cool to hear a bit about how you implement the OP-1 in a band setting. I recall you being a pretty heavy user of the Octa, and if you achieve similar stuff with your OP, I'm really interested :)
I can emulate the OT's LFO modulation of sample start by using the OP-1 tape tricks, but I suspect most of the replication of my OT techniques will involve a lot of recording to Tape, then re-sampling/re-recording using techniques that I picked up from the "musique concrete" thread from this past winter.
The band leader really liked the OT's Filter and Dark Reverb (FX slots 1 and 2 of course) with the Filter cutoff and resonance set to kind of boost the bass and add a bit of dirt. She seems satisfied though with a replacement preset I use on the H9 - it's one of the Black Hole reverbs with the bass boost turned up. The OP-1 can sound huge through the H9 too.
I played live shows for almost 3 years with the Octatrack, using it primarily to loop my viola/electric violin, then mangle the audio captured in the loop recorders. Unfortunately, it suddenly stopped working a couple of weeks ago - power was still on, LCD display and lights were working, but it wouldn't loop or sample anymore.
I'm still keeping it - just have to set up a support ticket with Elektron and send it in. I did have to replace some of its functions with other gear - Headrush E2 for looping, OP-1 for audio file playback, Eventide H9 for reverbs and other FX - for last night's gig and the gig at Psycho Las Vegas next week, as there's no time to wait for the OT to be repaired.
Have you tried creating a new Project, or perhaps even a new Set? I have had my OT since 2011 and often times when I’m working in a project certain tracks will stop sampling, or sometimes stop playing. Sometimes a reboot will fix it, but when the problem persists I have created a new project and everything seems to work again. Not always though… I was working on a song a couple months ago where I sampled something, saved it to a Static slot, and despite getting the prompt saying it was saved to whatever slot #, the sample was not there. Tried it on multiple recording tracks with same results. New project had the same issue. I created a new Set and everything is working well again (mostly, I still get a random tracks failing to record or playback on occasion, but now rebooting usually fixes it). My only guess was the previous Set I was using perhaps had too many files in its audio pool folders (I have a 64gb card that’s about half full).
I have a long list of other issues I am compiling (plus some upcoming gigs) before I create a ticket and send the unit in to Elektron (headphone out issue, crossfader issues, button issues, midi tracks randomly losing note data, etc.). Despite these issues, the Octatrack is still my most valued piece of equipment.
Anyway, I have considered the Roland JU-06 since its release, since I thought I always wanted a Juno due to its use in a lot of the indie music I enjoy, and the recent addition of CC# receive/transmit got me considering it again, but every time I listen to demos I just don’t hear it fitting into my music. I guess I’m still content using samples of my analog mono synths into the OP-1 for analog-ish poly stuff.
I also didn’t buy a Zvex Instant Lo-Fi Junky, not today at least…
That instant lo-fi junky is nice. I think I’m going to have to finally try some external-and-back-in routing on my Monomachine and/or Machinedrum. That thought’s been tickling the back of my head for a few days now.
so far today, i have not bought a Sidstation. i’m not sure if i can hold out though.
got a nice big trip coming up in just a couple of weeks. trying to keep my eye on that prize.
