MPC to Octatrack... Thoughts?

There’s a mode on the OT that you can access that will allow you to play back samples on the fly. 128 sample loops or chops. 8 banks of 16 and you don’t even have to turn on the sequencer. It’s called slot mode. You could do an entire hour set like this. I’ve worked like this plenty of times and it’s super easy once you set everything up.

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#SoundCloud

Love your videos.

you too pal. <3

epic!

EDIT: any tips on how you’re working?

EDIT EDIT: aside from what you mentioned above

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12 posts were merged into an existing topic: Midi controller for OT

I’m leaning towards having both and MPC and the Octatrack. The growing pains I will have with the OT will be eased knowing that I have MPC around to stay productive. I now see the value of having both. The possibilities make my head spin! :scream:

For now I’m just going to put the money into refurbishing my MPC. The Octatrack will be purchased before the year ends. I’m sold! It’s an amazing device and I’m looking forward to learning it.

Thanks for sharing this!

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And yes people… PLEASE keep sharing your experiences with the Octatrack related to making Boom-Bap sample based hip-hop. I’d love to see how everyone is using this machine. It helps a lot!

Thank you all for your replies!

I’ve tossed some rough boom bapy stuff online made with the OT

And this one which gets rough but gives you an idea of some weird stuff you can do attaching the playback speed to the crossfader.

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Not boomboombap-y but I recorded this live where every track is from a singular recording of hitting a wine glass with a knife which a shitload of p-locks and different settings. Just the sonic capabilities of the machine. Very fun and set up to be more explorative with sounds. You’re gonna have a lot of fun with it!

https://soundcloud.com/ryanpiersoninc/this-is-a-wine-glass

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This guy does some great straight Boom bap Octatrack Beats :ok_hand:
Love this stuff.

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This is EXACTLY what I’m talking about. SUPER DOPE! :fire:

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I saw that you posted on here after a while. I hoped it was a confirmation of you ordering the OT…

My favorite piece of gear. I want my joy to be yours(but, you know, with your own OT and not mine)

:joy: I will definitely be ordering an Octatrack very soon. I’m refurbishing my MPC first, and then purchasing a unit VERY VERY shortly after. It’s an amazing machine I see. I’m looking forward to going thru the growing pains with it! I will definitely post a pic when that happens.

My best guess would by the end of October. :+1:

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That is exciting! I’m happy for you! Learning the OT was the most fun I’ve ever had learning. I’m still not a master at it, but that with the MPC and you’ve got an endless array of what sounds you can squeeze out of a sample. And both pieces of hardware harbor a very intimate relationship with the sound. I can’t wait to hear what you come up with!

(Also, I tend to take my samples on a more experimental course, so if you come up with any tricks on how to make sample magic while remaining on Earth, I’d greatly appreciate it!)

overtimechris, I’ll reiterate that combining the MPC and the Octatrack would be killer. I’ve had my MV-8000 for 11 years at this point and I’m looking forward to performing live with the 2 boxes together. The work flow and theories behind the designs of the two couldn’t possibly be different but I think they compliment each other.

Be prepared to invest time in learning the Octatrack. Luckily the current manual is better than any before it IMHO and you’ll get a lot of mileage out of sitting down with it in front of your Octatrack.

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What about the sound? I’ve not used and mpc (had an SP for while) but interested for the sound and timing. How do they compare against an Octa, which I think has slightly mushy smooth kind of sound. I often run it through an analogue filter to give it a boost.

I have an OT now and had an MPC before. I can’t tell no difference but also I am not an expert on the subtle differences between different dac chips and I don’t have no 10k monitoring system to detect them nor do I care much. But if a sample on the OT sounds the way you describe make sure you have time stretch turned off. It is on by default and it makes samples sound like you say.
Also for recording I usually bounce tracks and export them instead of using the Main Out.

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If you are intereseted in both octatrack and MPC, on the software side I recommed to check Fxpansion Geist 2.

Geist 2 combines the sequencng abilities of the octatrack + the sampling and playing immediacy capabilities of the MPC.
It also features outstanding FX engines.
It’s sequencer is not polyphonic, though you can quickly trigger multiples pads at the same time via PUSH and geist pad mode set in “64 tunings” mode (similar to 16 tunings mode in the MPC).
you can also use the brand new PUSH 64 pad mode to sequence the 64 pads of Geist within push!

Besides i’m pretty sure I saw Push user mappings for this software, but i don’t know how deep these mappings are.
For sure, defining a custom mapping for Geist using ableton or max for live would be diificult, but not as difficult as reading and understanding the octatrack manual :wink:

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As far as sound is concerned … you should try to listen to one. The models are different and the sound is different on an MPC 60 (12 bit @ 40 kHz) and an MPC 5000 (16bit @ 44.1 kHz) . There is a huge difference between 12 and 16 bit resolution … it’s 4096 vs 65536.

The timing of an MPC is not that tight that it fits as a midi master clock for any setup. It’s not bad but it’s not excellent also. There are better clocks around … from what I have heard, the OT would serve better as a master clock.