I don’t understand what’s the problem.
Could you explain it differently?
I don’t know why you’d have to change scale setup.
You can have several times the same pattern…
This can help too.
START SILENT controls whether the track of a previous pattern linked to a different part should keep on sounding or not when the currently active pattern starts playing. Three settings exist. Select between them using the LEVEL knob.
• AUTO will make the chosen track act according to the SILENCE TRACKS setting made in the PROJECT menu. Read more about this setting in section “8.6.3 SEQUENCER” on page 36.
• NO will make the track from a previous pattern linked to a different part continue to sound when the currently active pattern starts playing. The track of the previous pattern will however stop sounding once a trig on the track of the active pattern is activated by the sequencer. If for example track 1 is the chosen track, then track 1 of the previous pattern will continue to sound until a trig occurs on track 1 of the currently active pattern. This setting overrides the SILENCE TRACKS setting.
• YES will make the track of a previous pattern linked to a different part stop making sound once the currently active pattern starts playing. If for example track 1 is the chosen track, then the sample of track 1 of the previous pattern will enter its release phase, set in the AMP menu, once the currently active pattern starts playing. This setting overrides the SILENCE TRACKS setting.
Hi - thank you. I’m jumping into a session now, but will get you some details on the problem.
The short version is this, say in the Arranger, I’m sequencing 9 Patterns (A01-A09) which are containing samples of 9 full-length songs.
Pattern 1 plays in the Arranger and I want Pattern 2 to start at bar 158 so they stay in time and crossfade a little. Since the length in the Arranger can only go to 512, (and I’d need 2528 steps at 1x Scale to get there) and since Repeats have a limit of 64, how do you get things to work out in this case where the target (where you want the next track to start) isn’t easily divisible by 16?
That’s why I started looking into the Pattern Scaling, and it does seem to work up until Pattern A04 starts, and then everything keeps running but the tracks go silent for some reason. Again, I can manually trigger the rows and they’ll play fine, but something happens when I start from the beginning of the Arrangement.
I’ve only been at this for about a week, so could be missing some very obvious things. Thank you again for all the help - invaluable.
EDIT:
My Track Setup is like this, if it’s relevant info:
TRACK 1 = STATIC
For Songs & Patterns 1,3,5,7,9
TRACK 2 = NEIGHBOR
For more FX for Track 1
TRACK 3 = STATIC
For Songs & Patterns 2,4,6,8
TRACK 4 = NEIGHBOR
For more FX for Track 3
TRACK 5 = FLEX
4/4 Kick drum + Percussion.
TRACK 6 = FLEX
I was going to sample-lock various samples per pattern, so one song might have SFX (Spaceport Ambience) one might have a snatch of vocal.
TRACK 7 = THRU
Mixing in an External Synth.
TRACK 8 = MASTER
EQ & Compressor then out to house mixer, PA and radio livestream.
With more patterns ?
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Are you definitely rearming those one shots? They deactivate when just one has played
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Hi Clancy. Per sezare56’s instruction, I’m using normal trigs with 1st trig conditions instead of one-shots now.
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Yes, was thinking to use dummy patterns, or repeats + a remainder pattern, whichever is easier math. Is this the best way to get there?
The weird thing I still don’t understand is, using per-track scaling in the patterns, keeping the pattern’s master scale at x1/8 and then using different scaling settings for different tracks… why does this only work for the first three pattern rows in the Arrangement, and then everything goes silent after Pattern 3 plays?
If I keep everything “normal” at x1/8, then everything seems to work, but I lose sequencer resolution. It seems an odd issue. I’m looking for my own errors but not finding any, and again, they all fire off fine in the arranger on their own, but cease to make sound at a certain point when starting from the top. Have you seen this behavior or have any idea why this might be happening?
Can’t tell without testing…
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You should be able to use different patterns… Probably don’t need per track scaling if just using long samples…
Make sure the global silence tracks option is not on and then check pattern settings of the pattern that cuts off and make sure it’s not overriden for any tracks with a start silent=yes, set to no or use auto to follow global setting…
The behavior for per track len in arranger is in the manual:
But again you probably don’t need per track, I admit I haven’t tried to wrap my head around your entire situation, but with silence tracks and start silent off samples will play to the end through any pattern changes as long as there’s no trigs on the same number track they are playing on, check that too…
Should be able to work something out…
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Okay I had a look at this where I stripped out everything to narrow it down (no neighbours, no tracks apart from the two to trigger backing samples, no arranger even)
Edit: oh and short samples, so this isn’t even about the logistics of long backing tracks
This is what I found:
Conditional “1st” trigs do NOT trig as expected IF the scale mode is ‘per track’ and the master multiplier is 1/2 or less
The trig on the first pattern you play works okay, but not any pattern switched to after that
Looks like a bug, unless there’s some logic to it that i can’t see
(It also doesn’t matter what step the trig is on, or if there are several)
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And - it’s the master multiplier on the pattern you switch FROM that causes the problem, not the settings on the ‘silent’ pattern
And - normal trigs work okay, as do conditional % trigs. Haven’t tried other types
Haven’t tried individual track multipliers, just masters
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Wow. I am so grateful for all the help. You can imagine stress as this show looms. I’m jumping into a session now (mastering) but will double-back tonight and read closely the new posts and sort this out!
In some small token of gratitude, I also run a small electronic music label, and if anybody who’s helped here would like some download codes, just PM me for which album or albums you’d like and I’ll make it happen. I’m aware and appreciative of the time put in here.
I’ll report back findings after I can read some of this and put it into action. Thank you.
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I wish you good luck but honestly I’m usually a little shocked by “just got an OT and need help for show soon” posts… They do ocassionally happen… The OT takes a moment to wrap your head around, I definitely suggest trying to make it as simple as possible and maybe not do everything you think you want to do unless your absolutely shure you’ve got it down… If you have other gear you usually play shows on it might not be a bad idea to just use that and hold off with OT until your absolutely sure you won’t get surprised by it mid set, hit the wrong button, don’t know why this did this, etc…
If you do o go for it though I wish you all the best and it certainly can be possible!
May the flex be with you… 
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Sounds like a bug as conditionals are a new thing, might need some attention from the mothership…
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Just wanted to check back in and say everything seems to be working now with keeping the Pattern Scale to Normal and x1, using the 1st Conditional Trigs in the patterns, and using Repeats and a remainder slot to get the timing I want in the Arranger.
It appears that Per-Track Scaling and the Arranger is a bug of some sort, or maybe there’s another reason it doesn’t work, but, yeah, it doesn’t work.
Thanks again to all with the brilliant help, workarounds, solutions and bug-sleuthing. Amazing!
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Completely unrelated question;
Does anybody know what Unity Gain is for Main Track Level?
It appears that the default parameter value is 108, but that seems about 3dB low, and if I route everything through track 8 as Master Track, it feels like I’m losing about 6dB.
Manual does not state the answer, at least that I could find. So, does anybody know if 108 is unity gain or maybe if 127 is Unity Gain and 108 is ~-3dB?
Master track has to be set a 127.
I thought it was - 12db. I have to check.
Search for gain stagging, gain pain…#Octatrack
Hi - I’ve skimmed that thread, and another one similar. Still reading them - good stuff in there. Even with Neighbor tracks, having the level at the defaulted seems to be losing about 3dB.
The reason I bring this up is because when I turned on Neighbor tracks and the Master Track, I noticed things starting to get quieter, by ~3dB for the Neighbor Track (level 108) and then another ~3dB for when the Master Track in engaged at level 108, so really just wondering what Unity is on that Master Track Level, or what the best practice is for that setting.
For input to equal output I put track level at 127, master track 127, mixer dir 127, and master/cue output volumes at +19…
For sampling with PU’s and recorders anyway… Thru tracks need an extra boost on amp vol as well…
Going to adjust it around mixer dir 100, because you can directly cue the inputs and it’s an equivalent volume of dir 100… Haven’t done it yet…
Your probably not talking about sampling so I don’t know if this helps…
I just use a meter in Logic X and check source and then through OT…
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To follow up on this, the gig went down great. And in fact I’ve got another one, this time @ the Def Con conference in Las Vegas. Thanks again to everybody who helped here. Great community!
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