Hi,
I’m planning to get these 3 machines and I would like to ask what is the best way to play live with these specific ones?
Should I run FOUR and RYTM through the OCTATRACKS inputs or just sync them together with plain MIDI? It would be great to know how should I do this. Hope you have some tips for this!
Thanks!
Hi
I don’t have the AR but I am using the OT as a mixer for my A4.
This will give you a lot of options with the scenes and the OT has also great effects. You can also use the midi to change to the next pattern on all machines at the same time.
Another advantage is if you plan to play live in a club you can quickly set up your gear.
Did you use any electron gear before?
It took me awhile to understand everything especially the OT is complex.
Everything depends on what you plan to do.
Welcome, Drkcty!
If your set-up will only involve the three Elektron machines and no other gear (which is fine) then you will have a good set-up with the three machines synchronized by MIDI and by sending the main audio outputs of the AF and AR to the audio inputs of the Octatrack. If you read the section ‘Octatrack as a performance hub’ on pages 119 to 121 of the Octatrack manual, you will get a thorough guide to setting up your gear in this way.
You can also route the A4 through the inputs of the Rytm or use a simple mixer.
Note that the OT is a very complex machine. If you want to use its full capability together with A4 and AR it might kill your work-flow.
Using only 2 elektron machines is much easier. Not like 33% less easy as there is some synergy of complexity involved when using a third machine.
thats exactly how i have set up my three elektrons. and i route my microkorg thru the inputs of the A4… works very well
using the rytm inputs to route an instrument has the problem that you cannot control the input level and it seemed a little low to me
Hi,
Thanks alot guys! Good tips. I think I’ll try different techniques and find what is best for me. Im pretty familiar with AR and A4 but I haven’t played live with them yet. Im getting Octatrack today so let’s see how it fits.
One more question. Can I play my own loops with OT as well if i use thru machines to control AR and A4?
Thru machines listen to the OT’s audio inputs so that you can add effects to the signals and mix them in with the sound produced by the OT itself.
At the same time you can use Flex or Static machines on the other OT audio tracks to play your own samples (including loops).
At the same time, you also have 8 MIDI tracks available for sequencing other MIDI gear.
The OT is nothing if not versatile.
Use the OT as your master device. Midi out to AR/A4 midi thru to AR/A4. Stereo in both machines to OT. You might want to change this if you have a mixer with Sends and want to sample other sources.
Master the AR and A4 first. Take your time learning the OT.
Learn how to set up OT to be Midi master. Learn the OT Thru machines getting the AR/A4 input levels how you want.
Then learn how to use the sample recorders.
But most of all take your time learning the OT.
Thanks! Already getting some really cool results! This machine isn’t that hard to learn actually.
Found this interesting thread and I have a question.
I have all three machines and am thinking about to midi connect all of them.
Today I only sync the tempo and transport with connection OT (midout) to AR (midi in)+ midi through to A4.
How do I set up the midi settings/channels on all three machines to be able to control the AR on midi track 1 and A4 on midi track 2 without the midi channels colliding or making conflict?
It is explained in the manual how to set up through machines, but not how to connect multiple midi slaves to the Octatrack.
Somewhere in that serial connected midichain between the three machines the OT has to recognize which midi channels are from which machine? How is that done?
As far as I know there are 16 midi channels on each machine, the AR and the A4, so if something is sent to midi channel 1 from the OT, how does the OT know that it is to channel 1 on the AR for example?
Maybe I know too little about midi to understand how that works…?
Alright, I’m guess I’m the one who is going to go and be that guy.
I don’t know what your background is regarding producing, composing, synthesis, sound design, etc etc whatever, but you are giving me the impression that buying all this expensive gear is an unwise decision for you.
Asking such a vague question like “what is the best way to play live?” is leaving me puzzled. If you want to buy all this equipment, you should have already researched these products enough to answer such a basic question like routing.
Do you want to be able to record most of your tracks separately into an interface? Do you want to use the Octatrack and its crossfader to manipulate audio from the A4 and Rytm? Do you want to run all your audio through the A4’s effects, or perhaps the Rytm’s compression? There is no answer for your question other than “it’s up to you”. If you’re looking for suggestions, most people are probably going to tell you to route audio from the A4 and Rytm into the Octatrack.
How well do you understand MIDI? I barely do, but you should know that whether or not you connect your machines via MIDI (you should) has nothing to do with audio. You should at the very least hook up all the machines to sync the clock, and to have only one play and stop button for all machines.
I guess you who are that guy answered tio the original threadstarter question.
My question above still stands unanswered.
So if anyone have expirience in connecting and controlling several machines from OT via Midi so please share your thoughts.
It’s always good to learn more about MIDI…
Here is a thread in which I tried to describe, in response to another user, why and how to connect three Elektron units via MIDI.
That user’s setup was a little more complicated than yours, and you have a good start because you already have tempo and transport set up correctly.
Give it a try. If you have a specific question it might be better to start a new thread rather than tag on to an existing thread with a slightly different focus.
In the project menu (Function+Mixer). Choose Midi, then Channels. You can set up the trig channels there.