Is the Octatrack right for me?

Thanks a lot for your effort.
Unfortunatly i really wanna use the tracks from the CD becuase i want exactly that sound.
Guess my best guess is using a DAW

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the Octatrack does best at fulfilling the wishes you didn’t know you had :star_struck:

for example, if I wanted to work with the type of material you describe, I probably wouldn’t bother to time-stretch it at all - I’d mostly be creatively slicing it up and re-sequencing it, and use re-pitching/rate p-locking to shift the rhythms in the slices around in funky ways and get different textures, and then I’d start adding modulations, and FX, and then I’d re-sample it, and. . .

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That sounds really interesting.
I guess i could actually go with that workflow.
I would import my samples and set the slices manually on the downbeats and program them in the sequencer so it is in sync with RYTM.
Hopefully setting slices isnt too much of a pain

You could always post the sample and I’m sure one of the kind gents here would time stretch it for you to the BPM you want so you can hear what we’re talking about, maybe do some crossfader/playback rate stuff. I’d do it for you but I’m out at the minute

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Thanks a lot for the offer!
Well im actually looking for a general solution to do it many times with any (or many) samples.
I havent decided of that ONE loop but would rather have a set of 30ish loops to choose live and combine with the rytm.
These beats should then be on time (downbeats on equal distance) and adjustable in bpm (110-140bpm)
If it was only one or two loops i would actually do it in the DAW but i was hoping for an easy DAWless solution

How about the MPC Live? :no_mouth:

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Good Idea, i have considered it. However i feel an MPC seems a bit overkill for that job, also price wise.
The octatrack is not cheap either but im already used to the workflow of elektron and could use a lot of the functions.

You could also just chop up the loops into hits in the rytm n sample lock em per step.
Bringing in an Octatrack for that will complicate your setup and creative process in a few ways. it has its pluses but if you can do what you want with just the rytm id go with that, unless as was mentioned you would like to use the OT for manipulation and exploration. then its more than justified.

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Setting up slices on the OT is very quick and easy, once you get into the groove :slight_smile: It’s somehow satisfying too…

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This is a 100% doable thing.

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The OT is a bit more complex than the rest of the devices. I thought the MPC and the OT are about the same price wise. But yes, the MPC is an overkill.

… with the caveat that that method works best if you have a series of one-shots in a sample file. If you have a rrhhyytthhmm loop, you might prefer to tell the OT the beginning and end of the loop, and how many bars that is, and let it timestretch for you.

(I’m writing this just in case you are imagining the slices similar to warp markers in Live, which they’re not.)

Ha! you beat me to it… :joy:

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They are in fact loops.
Well actually right now they are full on songs but im planning to cut out some instrumental section for looping.
Those sections however will slightly very in tempo within themselves since they are played by a band without metronome.

Honestly if you don’t mind looking at a DAW for a few minutes, the Digitakt has served as a great sampler for me. It gives me all of the basic functions I need (plus some other nifty tools), fast workflow, and cheaper than the Octatrack. Any time stretching and oddity flavoring I need from the sample(s) I set it up in Ableton, which honestly is easy and takes up very little of my time.

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Everybody needs an Octatrack !
And nothing else. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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If you edit the loops in a DAW you can load them right into Rytm, as long as you keep the Rytm at the same bpm as your edited sample.

If you want you can experiment with AR pseudo timestretch techniques:
-Timestretch

An OT would probably work for you and most likely provide all sorts of new ideas to utilize in your music, but I already sense resistance in your posts; wanting it to be easy, painless, fufill all of your wishes, etc… The OT won’t like this attitude, it requires you to work a bit when learning it, but will reward you with much more than you expected if you put in the effort… It’s not as difficult as people make it seem but still it’s much better to go into it with an attitude of “OK, I’ve got a new complex machine to learn and after I do it’s going to be creative and fun for my music” than “OK, this machine will make my music creation easier”…
With practice it’s easy, in the beginning it’s not…

I second @jb 's idea of uploading a loop and see if someone will timestretch it to a desired tempo so you can see how it sounds. Even though you want to use many loops you could still get a good idea of the algorithm by hearing one as an example. I’d do it but I’m not with my OT. There are two settings for the timestretch, Normal and Beat, and there is a transient detection knob. It’s quite possible playing with those settings could get you better results, but hearing some kind of example would get you an idea of the sound…

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That was my suggestion … but have you considered, what you could do with the OT?

Since the timing and the timbre would fit best to your needs after DAW processing you can

  • upload the sample to the OT,
  • have huge data amount with the “static-machine”, which is streaming directly from the Flash-Drive
  • you don’t need to replay the sample as is all the time, you can slice, mangle, and more …

and have lot’s of creative ideas and much fun :smiley:

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you should put a burn warning on that hot fire!

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DAW sounds like the best solution… I feel most of the ‘Should I get X to do Y’ questions can be answered with just use a DAW.

IF you’re interested in the device as WHOLE, to be added to your creative process… then get it. If you’re trying to achieve this one thing cuz you have a CD, then I don’t feel its justifiable.

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