Assigning Flex Machine Record Buffers to Different Tracks

Klipspringer · 2014-07-13T08:33:51.000Z

Hi everyone,

I just got the Octatrack a few days ago and just dove in. It’s great and I’m beginning to understand the machine.

One thing I’m struggling with is assigning different recording buffers to different tracks. The default T1,R1, T2,R2 buffers I understand.

But what if I want T7 to record on the Flex R1 buffer?

Highlighting R1 in T1’s Flex Machine Slot list doesn’t do it. All the audio goes to the R7 buffer.

I thought I read in the manual that you can do this, but i can’t find any instructions.

Any tips?

sicijk · 2014-07-13T08:53:15.000Z

i don not understand properly, but first of all keep in mind this:

every track has a Recorder and its Buffer (read: Recording - Playing back)

Every track can playback the Buffer of whichever Recorder.

So if you want T1 to playback what has been recorded by Recorder 7 (Recorder menu under T7), then you have to assign to T1’s Flex > Recording7.
So goes for every combinations

Klipspringer · 2014-07-13T09:15:19.000Z

Thanks for the quick response. Yes I understand playback, but according to the manual on page 133 you can also assign recoding buffers:

Any recorder buffer can be assigned to any track. To make it easier to remember the recorder buffer track assignments, it is recommended to assign the recorder buffer to the track whose track recorder will be used when sampling. For example, if the track recorder 1 should be used, assign recorder buffer 1 to track 1.

So I just don’t see how to this!

twardowski · 2014-07-13T10:08:59.000Z

""Klipspringer"":

So I just don’t see how to this!

let’s clarify.
each one of the 8 tracks has it’s own recording track, which is fixed to it. So, track 1 records to recording buffer 1, track 2 to recording 2 and so on.

HOWEVER,
there is much flexibility in terms of playback: every track can play back whichever buffer. So for example you can assign track 1 to play back recording 3, track 4 to play back recording 5 etc.
to do so, double click the track button, press left to get to machine selection, choose flex, then scroll up. the recording buffers are above the flex sample list.

(you might want to take that with a grain of salt, because i’m not in front of my OT at the moment )

on a side note - that’s what makes the OT actually shine: the fact that you can instantly play back and resequence the recordings and the playback is totally independent from the recording. So for example you can feed the OT with a looped phrase from an external synth, resequence and mangle it in the OT and at the same time keep recording new instances of the synth loop with new tweaks on the synth.
what’s more, you can assign one recording buffer to multiple machines, sequence and process multiple instances of the same recording differently and layer them on top of eachother.
basically endless possibilities

Klipspringer · 2014-07-13T18:07:32.000Z

OK, I think I got it. Playback is flexible, recording assignments are fixed.

Thanks!

Background to my question:

I was trying to bounce an arrangement down to a single track and needed to free up some more RAM memory.

When I went to setup/memory page to allocate more RAM to Track 7’s recording buffer I saw that I was restricted to maxing out the RAM on only Recording Buffer 1 (or so it seemed).

So that’s when I wanted to assign Recording Buffer 1 to Track 7 because Track 1 had a static machine assigned.

From all of this it appears that Recoding Buffer 1 is fixed to Track 1, so I can’t bounce down to Track 7 using Recording Buffer 1.

No problem, I’ll just move the static machine off of Track 1, put a flex machine on Track 1 and bounce down to Track 1.

Make any sense?

Edit: OK I think I understand. I needed to set DYNAMIC RECORDERS to YES. Now any Recorder Buffer will max out.

twardowski · 2014-07-14T09:59:03.000Z

""Klipspringer"":

Edit: OK I think I understand. I needed to set DYNAMIC RECORDERS to YES. Now any Recorder Buffer will max out.

you might also want to minimize ‘reserve length’

So that’s when I wanted to assign Recording Buffer 1 to Track 7 because Track 1 had a static machine assigned.

doesn’t go this way. for one thing recording in the OT is always to RAM, so the FLEX engine is used.
secondly, recording is independent of playback, so - logacally - it won’t work this way

so I can’t bounce down to Track 7 using Recording Buffer 1

no problem here, just different logic. all you have to do is enter the recording made on Buffer 1, save it as a sample, assign it to static sample list and play it back from Track 7, then clear the Recording Buffer to free it up.
if by bouncing mean recording multiple tracks into a single wave, that’s also doable, by using SRC3 in recorder settings: assign the tracks you want to bounce to CUE output, set SRC to CUE and record away.

PS. correct me if I’m wrong, but as far as I remember, you can also save samples to FLEX slots normally occupied by recording buffers? (i think it happens when you use the ‘save and assign sample’ command in the recorder)

Klipspringer · 2014-07-16T17:48:44.000Z

Thanks guys!

I see how my initial question was confusing as I didn’t understand the concept behind record buffers, but now I see how flexible they are.

I only got this last week but I’ve been recording my material and remixing other material and it’s great… The fact that you can do playback AND record triggers in a sequence is too cool. I mean it’s like 1950’s tape music.

Just wow.

I’ve figured out how to bounce down to a single track and then use the resulting wav file in another project for final “mastering” using neighbor machines for an FX chain.

So it’s all good.

Goal for today I think will be slide triggers and wrap my brain around some of the FX.

sicijk · 2014-07-18T12:22:47.000Z

peteyk · 2017-03-16T04:39:51.781Z

Explain again how to bounce everything to a single track? Like explain it like your talking to a child cuz that’s my level at the moment.

Thanks!
P

PlumWrinkles · 2017-03-16T23:22:27.704Z

You could resample.

Say you have tracks 1-6 playing different parts and want them all on one track instead.

Set track 7 up to resample. Set the source in the record menu to master and put your recording trig on track 7. Or set the source to cue and then cue which tracks you want to resample that way.

peteyk · 2017-03-17T02:24:52.404Z

OK will try that. Thanks for the input. Bit of a learning curve on this thing but i like it

peteyk · 2017-03-18T06:04:13.372Z

nevermind, think I go it now thank you. aargh.