Add OT to DN+DT combo?

Anyone here is using the OT with the DN and DT ? I’m on the verge of getting one but the steep price still keeps me away from the order button. I love the combo but after looking at the features of the OT, I’m seriously thinking of the ridiculous possibilities it could bring in my setup (no DAW).

What do you think ? The mixing, stereo sampling, song mode and cross fader (for live craziness) are the features that interest me the most.

The downside I see here is if I feed the OT with both, I lose the Overbridge functionality for recording but it’s not that of a big deal to me.

I have these. It’s awesome. You can either run DT to DN to OT AB in and then use CD and Cue out for aux effects or other stuff. Or do DT to OT AB and use CD and Cue for DN and then you can cue samples to the killer DN effects for resampling or whatever. If I were only using the 3 I’d probably do the latter method.

Yeah, the recording thing is always a bummer for isolation. When using a computer I tend to track everything via overbridge and then use the OT as more of an external effect/stereo sampler. Definitely two different workflows/styles come about. Wish they would just make an OT level device with OB already.

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I do this. DT + DN each get a thru track and a neighbor track. I use the DT’s compressor and than OT’s filter, lo-fi, dark reverb, and delay for glitching. On the DN i use a compressor from the OT, filter, sometimes DJ eq, and again a delay for glitching. The rest of the OT’s tracks are 1 re-sample track (flex), one sample play back track (static machine or flex), one pick up machine I use for live looping vocals which is coming in through the DT or DN. With the last track i debate if I need a master or another flex.

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I tried that combo and it´s great, I´d like to have a Rytm but I think I´ll get a DT to match my DN+OT.

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Thanks guys, that’s really helpful !

Do you sequence each one on their own, no midi sequencing ? And I was thinking of having the DT as the master ‘cause of its bpm per pattern feature.

I had those 3 for a while, but I found that there was too much overlap between the OT and what I used the DT for. So I sold the DT and got an analog heat instead. Also 3 elektron sequencers running at the same time were one too many for me. 2 feels better.

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Thanks! Do you lose somehow audio quality passing the DT and DT audio through the OT (A/D conversion) ?

Do you miss the bpm per pattern feature of the DT ? (Not sure if it’s there on the DN)

The DN also has bpm per pattern, but I use the OT as master. It’s a bit more work to set up, but I use OTs song mode to get changes in bpm, if I want. The biggest advantage are all the additional LFOs you get to control the DNs parameters (especially modwheel, aftertouch and breath control, as they can be routed to multiple destinations) with the OTs midi tracks.

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I feel the sound of the DN affected by the OT, but many people don´t complain about that so maybe I´m not setting the right input level or something.

I like to sequence the DN from the OT to keep the parameter consistency of the DN when changing OT´s patterns. I like to spend some time getting crazy things using OT´s arp with DN´s arp.

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Thanks ! Did you ever use the LFO designer to customize your own LFO ? Is it really helpful ?

The LFOs on the OT are in a way more restricted in comparison to the DT/DN as you can only p-lock or scene-lock their rate and depth. But you have 3 of them and the LFO designer allows you to be really specific. I have a templete project with some LFO shapes I designed which are useful for specific panning tricks or non-linear fade-ins etc.
Examples:


16 slots available in total, but you can’t use shapes stored in the audio tracks for the midi tracks and vice versa. But it is easy to copy paste them from an audio slot to a midi track for example, or invert a shape etc.

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Yep, this is my preferred combo. And the Midi arp of the OT is extremely powerful for feeding the DN. My routing is DN for synths to A/B to keep its lovely stereo effects; DT left out for drums into C (I can add OT stereo effects if needed); and guitar into D. But that’s only because I use guitar, you could use C/D for the DT in stereo. Midi wise, it’s OT out > DN in > DN thru > DT in. The record trigs on the OT are another blessing over the DT. You’ll enjoy it a lot

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That’s a nice way to setup them ! Although I’m thinking about sending the DT through the DN for its nice sounding effects. You mentioned record trigs but I’m not sure I understand well what it is. The manual says they offer automated sampling ?

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Yes, that would work beautifully too. Might end up doing that if I add more gear. The record trigs are exactly that, automatic recording that is started by a record trig (separate from play trig) so you can even have more than one record trig in a pattern to sample little sections. Also, one shot record trigs will only record once and not record over itself when the pattern cycles.

I see, that sounds pretty useful for live sampling ! I have one more question if it’s not a bother: do you find it easy to set the audio levels on this setup ? Any tips for that ?

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I go by the OT’s sampling levels shown by the LEDs on the Rec 1 / 2 buttons. Not sure if the same thing exists on OT Mki (I’m on Mkii). I set the volumes on the DT and DN as I’m sampling and get the OT recording signal to just tip over from green to yellow. Any red shown on the LEDs is too hot. You can run the DT and DN at full volume mostly to get this, but occasionally rolling it back slightly if a sound has lots of overdrive on it, for example.

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A tiny bit when it’s recorded but mostly it just takes on the Octatrack eq. OT has more lows and less highs than the DT or at least an emphasis on lows

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