Hi guys, I’ve been considering getting an octatrack to complement my other elektron boxes, primarily to use it as an FX bus and dj style mixer. However I was wondering to what capacity it can record smooth automation from midi cc sent by others synths, I realize the step sequencer would record the automation in quantized steps, so I’m wondering if there is any way to record incoming midi cc into the LFO designer on a midi track to capture a performance and then send the same cc back to the synth?
If not, can the the knob tweaking performance be played on the octatrack itself (to send cc to the synth) but then be made to record smooth automation into the LFOs (instead of the step sequencer)
Edit: alternatively if parameter slides can be applied on midi tracks that might also work assuming I can chain record cc input into consecutive patterns to get more than 64 steps, is either of those things possible?
Thanks for the clarification. I guess I could still use the LFO designer to send CC data, is that available on midi tracks?
Also, I know there are 3 LFO per track, can all 3 be custom drawn shapes? And are there 3 LFO per midi track or less?
And final question, if used as an effects box, can I have separate effects chains on each of the 4 inputs (as in can I have the inputs be used as 4 separate mono inputs with separate effects on each).
How are the effects sound wise compared to something like analog heat? Is it worth buying it as an an FX processor and dj style mixer (with some sampling on the side)? Ideally I’d want to use it for that, as well as to sample/finalize and arrange tracks.
I would but it’s way too big, even if I were to buy a bigger table I’d have nowhere to put it with my other gear . The octatrack seems far more appealing to me.
Also I keep reading the octatrack thru effects color the sound and dull the high frequencies? Is that actually a thing? I found a rather long thread about it but after some quick scrolling opinions seem very polarized on the subject
Yeah, the size of the force would not be very compact.
You know, people love to complain. I think they’d find things to complain about even if there was nothing wrong at all.
Hard to say if what’s true to one person will be true to another. I think it’s safe to say that I would not expect the hifi sound which the digi devices create, but that it’s probably not as bad as the biggest complainers would have you believe.
The hardware itself is physically different than those newer devices and has remained mostly unchanged since 2011. Think about a smartphone from 2011 vs one made now, it’s just not comparable.
It would seriously be better for you to look for somewhere that you can try one out before you buy it just because the financial investment is not insignificant, but I don’t think you’ll be like “oh my god this sucks!”, I just think that it’s better to judge with your own ears.
Many people are still very happy with the octatrack, I don’t own one though because I’m not very patient
Hapax does this, and handles it so well its ridiculous.
Simply hit record, move a control on your synth. The Hapax takes you to the recording lane, shows the name of the control automated.
You can change the PPQN to thin the data or force it to be stepped. Turn interpolation on or off. You can select any part or all of the data, raise the min, max, move the centroid up or down. Add automation points by drawing them in etc.
Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll check it out. Do you find you ever hit a limit for the amount of recorded automation you can do on that thing (like some other sequencers do)?
There’s a limit of 64 lanes of CCs of automated data per-track, but your Instrument Definition file can contain far more than that, so you can add them as you need them.
I do a fair bit of automation and I haven’t hit a limit yet. The MIDI spec itself can be more of the problem (down DIN anyway), but you can thin the data to avoid this too.
The only thing that compares is a DAW. Don’t think there’s any hardware that does it that well. Even newer stuff like Reliq has an 8 CC limit.
Ofc it’s apples and oranges to an Octatrack (which does so many other things). But personally I wouldn’t want to sequence MIDI on an Octatrack… far too fiddly, and too many compromises!
Yep, 3 midi lfos, 8 midi lfo designers and each track can use any of the 8 custom shapes.
Yes, you can and yes each input can be used mono or work as a stereo pair. Each input can be routed to its own track with effects or you can even have them all four going into one track or any combination you like.
Input pairs can be stereo or summed to mono, whatever you like.
The OT is ten years old and digital, so comparing it to the Analog Heat is a bit pointless.
Imho the filter is one of the best sounding digital filters that I know, the delay is pretty boring, the dark reverb is awesome and the rest can sound pretty good, especially when modulated. But that’s my taste…
Thanks for explaining :). Finding more and more reasons to but one now. So let’s say I make 8 different LFO shapes, can those 8 shapes only be applied to 8 targets? Or can I apply one particular shape to multiple targets such that the LFO designer curves can be applied to more than 8 parameters (or midi cc sending knobs)?
Each of the 8 midi lfo shape is available for all 3 lfos on all midi 8 tracks and each of the 8 audio track lfos are available for all of the 3 lfos on all 8 audio tracks.
It’s basically like you have 8 additional lfo shapes for your midi tracks and 8 additional lfos for you audio tracks. They are no different than the regular shapes in how you can use them.
Btw, you can do amazing stuff with them like drawing pitch locked modulation or restrict the range for very precise modulation etc.
Holy crap, that’s awesome . And I assume LFO speed can be set independently for each of those 3 LFO on each of the 8 tracks even if they use the custom shape?
I’m about to impulsively take my wallet out and order one
I feel like well beyond the thread and gear discussions 2025 is like
A: “what if?”
B: “No”
A: “Nah but what if?”
on a loop with the inevitable person who doesn’t understand the question compulsively posting 5 paragraphs of ChatGPT which also doesn’t understand the question.
Edit, OT lfos don’t go very fast (I think it’s barely audio rate, something in that range), but guess what? You can use the lfo designer to get a much faster triangle wave.
You basically just draw alternating 0 and 127 on each of the 16 steps and enable glide for a smooth shape and then your lfo is 16 times faster (or idk if that math works out lol) as a normal triangle.
One of the best things I’ve found is simple - just the way it records and plays back pitch-bend data. It’s exactly how you play it, so precise. Gives so much more life to the music to bend stuff slightly in and out of tune!
. The octatrack seems far more appealing to me.
. And I assume LFO speed can be set independently for each of those 3 LFO on each of the 8 tracks even if they use the custom shape?