Minimalist set up

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

I’ve sold my Analog Four and ordered an Octatrack for hopes of a difference in workflow. I loved the A4 don’t get me wrong but felt it was doing anything to get me out of my rut, more like I was browsing presets on a nicer VST

I’m a PhD student living in a prison cell of a room in London and don’t have the luxury of space and wouldn’t be able to add loads of gear to sample.

My question is can I sample audio directly form my laptop or phone somehow? I’ve also got a really old mono caseatte player, can I sample from that and centre pan the samples? What kind of connections and cables would I need?

Thanks guys, sorry if similar things have been asked before but I’ve got a deadline and don’t have my usual available time to look into it. I’d also be willing to consider an iPad if someone can give me a bit more detail on it working with the OT

Peace

#2

Hi. Connections are unbalanced 6.35 jacks on the Ot. A lot of adaptators avaible.
You have to feed Ot. A4 is great for that. You can practice Ot and then buy A4 again !
Magic combo.

1 Like
#3

Ot + laptop, phone, iPad, old school cassette, field recorder, white noise, what.ev.ver = boundless creativity. Enjoy.

6 Likes
#4

Yep. You can even record noise with nothing plugged :
Gain max, rec AB, normalize = white noise.
There should be a White Noise Contest with Ot !

5 Likes
#5

would a standard AUX cable with a 6.35 adapter on one side let me sample from spotify on my phone?

#6

Yep. I used to do that regularly.

1 Like
#7

That would be ace. Ive always thought that would make for a righteous marketing push for the OT.

#8

This is better, and stereo (your solution is not) :

3 Likes
#9

This?

OT Lab #2

5 Likes
#10

:joy:. Figures it’d be done by the OG OTers.

1 Like
#11

would this not then use 2 out of the 8 available tracks?

#12

awesome stuff damn

#13

No. Each audio track on the OT is stereo.

2 Likes
#14

You mention you want to get out of your rut… Your rut being what exactly? And speaking of samples, the digitakt is also a sampler and even smaller than an OT. Not sure I can recommend anything at this point without knowing more tbh

1 Like
#15

OT = you have to study it. :sketchy:
DT = more time for studies. :content:

3 Likes
#16

Trying to make the arrangement/mixing process more engaging. Improving sequences and trying to add more depth to my tracks past what my laptop can handle (8GB ram, i3 processer).

I want to start remixing too and I’ve heard good things about the OT in that department. The OT will hopefully open up possibilities of eventually putting a live set together

#17

If you get one just be patient with it. Work your way through the video tutorials, keep it simple and after some time things will click.

There’s like dozens of ways to use an Octatrack. That’s it’s blessing and curse so figure out your own path with it.

It’s a great machine. Has plenty of quirks and leaves you scratching head a few times but seriously, when you dig it, you’ll never be able to replicate the shit you can do elsewhere.

2 Likes
#18

If you remix stereo tracks > OT. :wink:

1 Like
#19

It’s gonna be fun being best friends with an Elektron manual

3 Likes
#20

If you go with the OT, the first piece of documentation you want to read is the merlins guide for ot

2 Likes