Help me understand slide trig

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hi,
I’m one of those people that bought an Octatrack when it was released, sold it, and now bought a new one. Tried out various drum machines etc, but nothing I’ve found touches the Octatrack.

But I’m also one of those people who doesn’t find the Octatrack particularly intuitive (We’re hardwired different, I guess). But I’ve been trying to be systematic about learning it this time around, and have gotten light years further than with my first unit.

One thing I can’t figure out is how to make the slide trig function work, and I simply don’t understand what the manual is saying.

This is what I’m wanting to do: A filter sweep between the start and the end of a pattern. Say I have a tom-sample being triggered on steps 3,5,7,9,11,13,15. I want a classic filter sweep from low to high EQ starting at step 3 and ending on step 15.

Now, I can do this manually, by putting parameter locks on each and every played step. But I would prefer just setting the parameter for “low” and the parameter for “high” on 3 and 15.
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What I can’t figure out is how slide trig and triggerless trigs (?) work together. I can set a triggerless trig, I can set slide trigs in the Track Trig Edit window, but it has no effect on the sound.

If anyone has the patience to explain how to do this, or point me to somewhere that explains it, I would be grateful.

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#2

My understanding is that a slide can only occur between two trigs, not across a number of trigs.

“To make the parameter value slide, place a slide trig on the same sequencer step as trig you want to slide from. The speed of the slide is relative to the current tempo and the slide is completed
when the next trig is reached.”

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#3

I’m afraid Stickhit is right.

Maybe the LFO designer or a the ramp-waveform might be a good workaround.

#4

How about using a Neighbor machine?

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#5

How about sweeping the filter while in live record mode? I’m pretty sure that’s worked for me in the past.

#6

…on my analog keys! Oops.

#7

Live Rec will work on OT too, ofc

#8

Ok, that makes sense. That’s why it wasn’t working. :joy:
Thanks for helping! Seems like live rec is the simplest way of doing what I want.

#9

LFO would be most accurate if you have an LFO to spare.

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#10

So the way I use slide trigs on monomachine which I’m pretty sure is the same on octatrack is this: Select the first tom trig and parameter lock the eq freq where u want it. Leave all the in between tom hits alone and go to the last tom hit and parametr lock the eq freq where you need it to be at that point. Place a slide trig on the first and the last tom hit and there you have it. A smooth sweeping eq. BTW on the mnm you can sweep (slide) multiple parameters between those two hits provided that you parameter lock their start and end values for the first and last hit, which should be possible in ot too.

#11

This doesn’t seem to work with OT, A4, nor MD.
It would be surprising that only MnM has this behavior. Edit : it is surprising. :slight_smile:

OT

12.4.6 SLIDE TRIGS Slide trigs can make the parameter values of a sample trig slide to the parameter values of the subsequent sample trig.

MnM

Only parameters locked on the steps selected in the slide track, and on a later step, will slide. Parameters that are unlocked, or only locked at one step will not slide.
• If there are trigs in between the two locked parameter where the parameter is not locked, the parameter will slide between the two locked positions and is not interrupted by the unlocked trigs in the middle.

Screenshot_2018-09-20-05-27-53
Screenshot_2018-09-20-05-27-53.png1280×720 17.8 KB

5 Likes
Driving slices from slide or lfo
Can Elektron please start selling MachineDrums again?
#12

That’s a shame, cause it actually provides the mnm with an extra lfo/multistage envelope with multiparameter assingment capabilities…

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#13

Yeah I find MnM behavior much better…

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#14

it’s quick and convenient but a bit restricted

I really don’t like how you can’t choose to exclude pitch from the slide

so if you have a melody sequenced using pitch locks (eg. when you live record in chromatic mode) and then you want to slide some other parameter(s), you get totally portamento’d !

3 Likes
#15

So, first off, sorry for reviving this long dead thread (is it a bother? im not sure i understand the prompt when posting on a dormant thread… does this shake some someone from their eternal slumber or should i just make a fresh new post asking the same old questions? ( cough tell me to buy the octatrack!* cough* ))
Double paranthesis not withstanding… Right…
Is Master track the way to go for sweeping slide trig parameters such as volume or filter sweeps? I mean, if its on a per-trig basis, the seemingly obvious way to go would be T8, right?
I want to automate a volume decrescendo on everything to end a song. To my mind, that would be the move… thoughts?
I am sorry that i make posts where i seem to work out my own questions through writing, but id love any input that could be given.
Thank you in advance…

#16

The slide isn’t the way to go for this, because the parameter value will reset each time you encounter the first trig.

What you need IMO is a scene to which you crossfade. Vol parameter on T8 being not accessible, you will most likely modulate T8 Level parameter.

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#17

fair enough. thank you for your reply. i know scenes are powerful stuff…
Im just in the process of trying to get a decent recording of a song i made, and wondering if i should have done more programming and left less up to live performance.
either way, im sure i dont want to hear this song again for quite some time…
its been a slippery little bastard to pin down.
but yes, i think youre right.
scenes can do that , no problem.
thank you!

#19

In case you really wanna tweak it in advance, instead of using a scene, you could of course try a conditional/1st trig on T8? I don’t know about decrescendos and slide trigs though, never use them. Or give it a couple of tries in live recording until you’re happy with the result.

#20

I do thing scenes are the way to go. a conditional trig on step 1 doing what exactly? Decrescendo may be the wrong term to describe what i want to happen, but a crossfader fade will do right nicely.
im on about take 25 or so. its getting a little maddening.
muscle memory. being proficient at these machines is akin to typing accurately, it takes a lot of practice.

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#21

If the cross fader works that stick with that:)

What I meant with conditional trigs is the kind of trig that only happens number 1/x (for example 8/8 or whenever you want it to hit. I imagined maybe if you’d have two of those you could let OT slide between them only at the moment that you want it to. I don’t know how slide trigs work though so I don’t know if this will work for those. Did you try to record the fade-out in live recording? Wish you luck!