My only gripe is the lack of outputs. Even my Jurrasic Roland S550 has 8. Not to bothered about it though ;)
I’ve almost finished my first track using the OT. I’ll post it up soon
Yeah, I don’t have a lot of synths or other gear to output the Octatrack to other than my audio interface. Maybe if I start using it live that will become more of a problem but I don’t care a whole lot.
I’m looking forward to hearing it! I have a plan for the first thing I’ll make with it
I see!
Well, here it is. https://soundcloud.com/hismostdarxxxellent/darxxxecrets
Finished it today. The parameter locks are the best things ever!!!
Slight bit of mixing and mastering in the box but ther than that everything was done OTB! I’m so happy about that!
Be aware your plans may vary from the final product… anyway, if it does, that equals nothing but FUN (in 20ft high neon lights)!!!
None of those seem that bad, and from what I've read the parts system seems fairly useful. And I imagine that not allowing reverb and delay on the same track is to keep the CPU from frying like an egg.
What doesn't saving save?
Saving doesn’t save parts, they need to be saved separately. Also doesn’t save recording buffers, which need to be manually saved and assigned to machines. Parts are mildly annoying because you only get 4 of them per bank. The usual method for banks is to have 4 patterns per part, each being 1 variation. This x 4 is a track, then you have 16 tracks (banks) to play with at one time without stopping the audio.
Oh, another annoyance: tempo isn’t saved anywhere except the project and the arranger. So any tempo changes in a set must be done live or preprogrammed in the (fiddly) arranger.
Can’t play samples polyphonically; limited octave span of chromatic samples; MIDI sequencer can’t do overlapping notes (unless you use more than one MIDI channel)
One thing about the Octatrack that I’m going to like is having something to DO after work, something to learn and explore.
Also looking forward to finding sounds to put into the darn thing. Not just from the OP-1 or Pocket Operators, but Freesounds or nature or records or my guitar or whatever. An empire of sound.
@jellygeist one thing that I really like, is “sculpting” the loop with the p-locks :
- first copy the pattern to be able to recall it (Fn+copy while red LED above red button is not lit). Always a good thing to be able to paste it back if things get too crazy. To be really sure to not erase a pattern I like, I sometimes paste it on another empty pattern
- then set the OT on Live Rec mode (hold rec, hit play, red led is blinking)
- get crazy on the knobs : e.g. retrig + retrig time, play with the hold time, attack, filter, anything… Your loop morphs with something totally different
- you may hold a particular trig to adjust one (or more ) parameter
- when you do this, all the default settings of your tracks are kept untouched !
- you can hold and copy a trig you like to paste it on another place…
@jellygeist one thing that I really like, is "sculpting" the loop with the p-locks :
- first copy the pattern to be able to recall it (Fn+copy while red LED above red button is not lit). Always a good thing to be able to paste it back if things get too crazy. To be really sure to not erase a pattern I like, I sometimes paste it on another empty pattern
- then set the OT on Live Rec mode (hold rec, hit play, red led is blinking)
- get crazy on the knobs : e.g. retrig + retrig time, play with the hold time, attack, filter, anything... Your loop morphs with something totally different
- you may hold a particular trig to adjust one (or more ) parameter
- when you do this, all the default settings of your tracks are kept untouched !
- you can hold and copy a trig you like to paste it on another place...
This Then resample the pattern, slice it and go again! OT is insane for this kind of stuff. A lot of fun and always spews out random new ideas. Enjoy!
When you master the above, another very nice thing is playing with sample chains.
Two ways :
- 1 sample chain e.g. for kick (64 kicks regularly placed for instance) and you set an LFO more or less random to have variation throughout your kicks
- 1 sample chain with many percussions : here you will want to hit your trigs in slice mode in a MPC fashion, much fun.
If you use only one-shot samples in your sample pool, notice that you can also just hit your trigs in Slot mode, you then create Sound locks out of your STATIC or FLEX pool (depending of the type of machine you're using for the current track). Can be pretty powerful as well :)
I was going to ask for some tips on a good workflow with the octatrack, particularly alongside the op1.
Delighted to see you guys offering up tips, thanks!
Okay, it came in the mail today. It’s kind of overwhelming but I’ll get it eventually.
Made a weird thing just with the stuff that came on the card. Going sample hunting when I have some time and also gonna make some of my own sounds, too.
My bandmate and I will give it a good go on Saturday night.
Okay, it came in the mail today. It's kind of overwhelming but I'll get it eventually.
Made a weird thing just with the stuff that came on the card. Going sample hunting when I have some time and also gonna make some of my own sounds, too.
My bandmate and I will give it a good go on Saturday night.
The presets are initially impressive, but also really great to come back to once you know your way around because they contain lots of good ideas for crossfader mappings. So don’t delete that preset project or the samples!
I got quite bored when I used mine with lots of downloaded sample chains etc. Most fun is to be had sampling gear you already own. But the magic is that you can use it whichever way you like. Enjoy!
Slow but steady progress over the evening. Ran into an issue where the track I had my kick on stopped responding to parameter locks and developed a retrigger that I couldn’t get rid of and also wouldn’t recognize when I’d held down the Scene button so it just changed things overall and not for a scene.
Might set a goal a day for the next little while once I can get some free time, such as “Today I will try out parts” or “today I will record the OP into it”, stuff like that. Last steps will probably be Arranger and MIDI, though MIDI is a low priority right now because I have little that I can connect with.
Scenes seem to be pretty intuitive. Nobody told me it came with a really great USB cable. So far having a lot of fun digging through Freesounds for samples.
Might set a goal a day for the next little while once I can get some free time, such as "Today I will try out parts" or "today I will record the OP into it", stuff like that. Last steps will probably be Arranger and MIDI, though MIDI is a low priority right now because I have little that I can connect with.
Hey @jellygeist :)
Going one step at a time is the perfect way to learn OT's inside out.
I would go for MIDI before Arranger : even if your external gear is just a Volca (or even OP-1) injecting plocks in any external synth is a way to rediscover your own gear :D
4 bars + 10CC + 3 LFO can bring a lot.
Then you will want to add FX so you'll go back to the audio side and mess with the filter drive and delay retrigs, etc.
Then you'll want to sample what you got and go further by mangling the sample...
Driving external gear just made this machine a whole new level :D
Might set a goal a day for the next little while once I can get some free time, such as "Today I will try out parts" or "today I will record the OP into it", stuff like that. Last steps will probably be Arranger and MIDI, though MIDI is a low priority right now because I have little that I can connect with.
Hey @jellygeist :)
Going one step at a time is the perfect way to learn OT's inside out.
I would go for MIDI before Arranger : even if your external gear is just a Volca (or even OP-1) injecting plocks in any external synth is a way to rediscover your own gear :D
4 bars + 10CC + 3 LFO can bring a lot.
Then you will want to add FX so you'll go back to the audio side and mess with the filter drive and delay retrigs, etc.
Then you'll want to sample what you got and go further by mangling the sample...
Driving external gear just made this machine a whole new level :D
Agree with the dalai on this. A lot of fun to be had with external gear. It’s almost like each of your pieces of hardware all of a sudden inherited a great step sequencer (and some new fx with modulation if you route the audio back in to OT via thru tracks ;).
I’ve had my OT a year or so and haven’t even got round to really looking at arranger or pickup machines, and still have never really come close to maxing it out in all areas of general functions. It’s incredible value for money in that sense. Almost endless possibilities.
I’d kill for Elektron to make a new one with Polyphonic sample tracks, broader range of fx (tape sim, amp sim, tonal recall style dirty delay etc), the ability to save/load ‘patches’ (like a polyphonic sample sound with parameters and fx settings for example) and ‘kits’, separate outs/overbridge. <<<<dream machine.
But even as is it’s a mind blowing piece of gear. First thing id replace if I lost all my stuff.
