Biggest common workflow mistakes?

[_truck]

Hey all,

I recently picked up an Octatrack after years of consideration, and while I’m loving it, I do also see why it gets a bad reputation on the complexity front.

By the end of day 2, I had put together the start of something I was getting excited about (using samples I created for some Flex machines). I saved the record buffers, and later I saved the project, and shut down for the night.

I came back the next morning, and the track sounded terrible! I’m still not entirely sure what I did, but I suspect I recorded a new guitar part into the buffer and forgot to save the edits, maybe, so I now had the slices assigned to a discarded take that got saved initially?

It got me wondering if folks have any hidden pitfalls like that that might be helpful to anyone just getting started (like me) and perhaps use this thread to compile a list? If something like this already exists on the forum, I didn’t find it in my search, so perhaps linking to it here could help surface that more easily?

Anyway, thanks in advance for any contributions/tips!

[Microtribe]

I searched ‘octatrack beginners’ revealing…

OCTATRACK beginner's tips

Alright, i’ve got an octatrack just curious what is the best way to progress in learning this beast. Start going through the entire tutorial book ? then move onto the youtube videos etc? Just not quite sure what is the best place to start…if there is a best place. thanks

Avoiding beginner's mistakes

So, as I’ve said a few times, I’m getting an OT in 2 weeks (unless they announce OT mk2 tomorrow that is, or I face an unexpected monetary disaster). So, the question is: What are some beginner’s mistakes that are easy to make but hard to correct? I’m especially interested in 2 things, the internal file structure (ie. I don’t want to make 20 tracks with it and only then notice I can’t easily play them live because I can’t make smooth transitions between them of something) and the correct/good…

Beginner dumdum questions

I’m going from Model:Samples to Octatrack and am having some confusion. This is a really simple matter, but I can’t seem to find it in the manual, the merlin guide or videos… In Model Samples if I want to shorten the length of a sample on one specific trig, I just hold the trig and then go through the regular process of shortening the sample length. On Octatrack, if I do this (by going into the trim menu) it just changes the length of the sample on the whole track… what am I doing wrong? I s…

There are many more.

[_truck]

Apologies, I was perhaps searching the wrong phrasing. I’ll retract my question and make better use of the search next time. Feels a little unnecessarily condescending, fyi. I did try to find some stuff before posting that, but I was not finding any compiled lists. Thanks for the links.

[Jblanco]

The manual has so much to learn especially if is your very first elektron device. Dont fall in love with anything for the first few weeks, just explore and read the manual. The recorder buffers are some of the biggest learning curves imo. I skipped recording all together at first and just loaded up some pre recorded drums one shots, samples and single cycle waveforms, was a good way to just deep dive the sound engine and sequencer.

[_truck]

Thanks! Yeah, luckily it’s not my first Elektron device, or I think I might be struggling a bit. (I’ve got the Rytm and decided to round out everything with the A4 and OT at the same time, but focusing on OT mostly right now). I’m finding so far that no one information source is enough, which is why I wanted to start this thread because (maybe I’m bad at searches, but) I couldn’t find any cheat sheet, or quick reference style posts on the subject. Like when I tried to find anyone having a similar problem to what I described above, I didn’t find any posts at all.

So far, the record buffers do indeed seem to be the trickiest part of the workflow, but there’s so much, I’m thinking I’ll maybe compile my notes into a quick reference and post to github? Has anyone done anything similar?

I do find it almost hilarious that the QuickStart guide for a “Performance Sampler” doesn’t actually even take the user through the process of sampling. I think that alone maybe says it all.

[JSZ]

Just memorise this handy flowchart

and you’ll be a master of OT sampling in no time.

[Dayflight]

I have the OT and now OT MK2 since years and still love it. I think it’s the best stand alone music machine so far but it has a real long learning curve. But I think you get more from it by time.

The most trouble I had was to understand the pattern/part/project philosophy and the pick up machine. Also how to record more than one track and mix it live. There are youtube videos which explain it, but it takes a longer time later to remember all steps to do to do it right,

By the end I recommend to create templates for the preferred situations like:
Live Sampling & Looping
Standard Setup with 7+1 Master Track
7+1 Tracks with Scene settings
One Pattern Song with Resampling, mixing, scenes,……

Use youtube videos for that to create and store it. Make your notes about each template how to operate.

[_truck]

@JSZ Oh man, thanks! I’ve sort-of been overlooking that a bit in the manual. I’ll study it more deeply. For some reason, while normally I love flowcharts as explanations, this one had my eyes crossing a little, but I see what it’s depicting more clearly in the context of this conversation.

@Dayflight That’s a great idea! I was actually realizing due to how flexible everything is that I could potentially set up a part that is built to actually chop and reorder incoming audio, like a glitch effect with prebuilt patterns (or probably even randomized ones) which I hadn’t realized was something that would be possible in my original research. (despite my stats on here since I joined for this post, I’ve actually been reading this forum for a while now).

[LyingDalai]

@_truck

been overlooking that a bit in the manual.

It’s a joke. Unless you need to use pickup machines

[JSZ]

I think he got it

Seriously though there’s many ways to sample and I guess everyone finds what suits them after trying out all the different options.

[_truck]

@LyingDalai @JSZ - Actually, I’m pretty gullible and I totally didn’t get that as a joke, so thanks for clarifying! Partly because one of the things I took a little time to get used to was the different trigger modes and how they affected the buffers.

I didn’t notice that that graphic is specifically for the pickup machines, which explains why I didn’t get more familiar with it, because I haven’t used them yet. Was trying to make sure I was accustomed to standard sampling first.

The more I’m looking around and searching, the more I’m thinking there might be a use for a compiled document with some quick reference material and various tips from across the forum. I keep finding bits and pieces, but nothing that collects it all. The manual is great, but it’s dense, and I think the way the information is presented contributes to the learning curve. I’m going to start working on something for myself, and hopefully it’s useful to other folks as well.

[JSZ]

I think Merlin’s OT guide was meant to be that kind of reference material, def check it out if you haven’t already.

[_truck]

Absolutely. It’s a great reference. I’m not done reading it yet. I guess there’s just so much good information out there (and also his guide was written a while ago) that I feel like an updated reference might be in order.

[darenager]

Most common mistake is not understanding that record buffers:
Are not saved unless you save them manually
Are always available to record, even accidentally if you are not careful
Are best not assigned to tracks, save to new flex/static instead.

Most common mistake regarding slots:
There are 8 track assignments per part, not per pattern.
Slots are not the same as samples.
Read up on parts and banks, it will save you a lot of WTF moments.

Also:
Octatrack is always caching to card any changes, this cache is what is loaded each time you start up, so manually saving whenever you are happy with a project is highly recommended as you can overwrite the cache with the save file in the event you mess up, also use incremental names to save eg mysong1, mysong2 etc, then you can always go back in time. Use project “save to new” for this.

[_truck]

@darenager That’s a super helpful list! I think the last point you note on the buffers would have saved me the headache on that project that got messed up.

Thanks for sharing that.

[LyingDalai]

@Thermo polished @Merlin’s guide a few years ago:

A polished version of Merlin's OT guide here

As you should all be aware, a few years back @Merlin wrote an excellent guide on how to approach the complexity of the Octatrack. It certainly helped me get to grips with the relationship between patterns and parts, which I think trip up a lot of new users. Consider it essential reading alongside the user manual. After reading it again recently, I thought it could be tidied up to enhance readability. I’ve left the meat of the content alone and simply corrected typos and altered the style somewh…

I guess the very last firmware additions haven’t been taken into account though.

[ViolentMeals]

@darenager

Slots are not the same as samples.

This is a big one, and its kind of understated in the sentence. But as Daren points out, there is a vast difference between the two. All that slicing and dicing you are doing? That is saved in the SLOT, youre not altering the sample… switch the samples out in the slot and youre still all sliced and diced but with a new sample in place. Before i wrapped my mind around this i was all kinds of confused as to why my sample sounded all weird, or why the sample in the buffer sounded all normal once saved to a new slot in the list (because all the weirdness was saved in the REC buffer slot).

[_truck]

@ViolentMeals

All that slicing and dicing you are doing? That is saved in the SLOT, youre not altering the sample… switch the samples out in the slot and youre still all sliced and diced but with a new sample in place

Yeah, I figured that one out by accident, actually, by having the buffer assigned to a flex machine and accidentally recording over the active buffer, which was what gave me the (as of yet unrealized) idea of setting up a type of glitch processor that can apply those defined slices (can they be randomized in any sort of programmatic way?) to the incoming audio for some crazy (but potentially rhythmic) reworking of live input.

I haven’t actually tried to realize that idea yet, and I don’t think I had fully put together yet where exactly that slice information was being stored, I just knew it wasn’t associated to the sample (and the manual makes a pretty strong point of this as well). Thanks for highlighting that one! It’s pretty darn important!

[LyingDalai]

• When you have e.g. sliced your samples, don’t forget to save the sample settings: this creates a .ot file on your flash card (right besides the sample) that stores all the slice parameters you messed with in the Audio editor (AED).

• To put what @ViolentMeals said in another way, what you are manipulating on FLEX/STATIC tracks, is not really the sample (the one on your flash card) but what is in the slot, as in “the sample that is selected at the row X of your (FLEX or STATIC) sample list”.

[carvingcode]

@LyingDalai

When you have e.g. sliced your samples, don’t forget to save the sample settings: this creates a .ot file on your flash card (right besides the sample) that stores all the slice parameters you messed with in the Audio editor (AED).

Does this (creating an .ot file) also get done with the ‘save sample and assign to free slot’ command?