I whipped up a quick tutorial about parts and patterns. I know when I first got my Octa I was terribly confused about how or why I should use Parts. I think I made it as simple as possible to understand. Hope it helps somebody.
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Many thanks - I will check this out tonight, I still don’t use parts because I don’t know the difference to patterns…
Well, basically all the settings attached to machines such as playback, lfo, and effects are stored in the part. Triggers, p-locks and what part to use are saved in the pattern. All the patterns can use the same part which is default, but if you want to change some of the machine parameters as you change patterns you can do that with another part.
For example. let’s say you want pattern 1 to have reverb on your sample but when you switch to pattern 2 you want comb filter. Pattern 1 is set to part 1. Copy Part 1 to part 2 so they are the same. Copy Pattern 1 to Pattern 2 so they are the same. Now switch to pattern 2 and set the part to 2. Now when you switch between Pattern 1 and 2 you will also switch between Part 1 and 2, respectively. While in Pattern 2, which is now connected to Part 2, you can change the effect to comb filter. When you switch back to Pattern 1, the settings will switch back to reverb too because Pattern 1 is set to Part 1. Switch to Pattern 2 and you get the comb filter again because you have set Pattern 2 to Part 2 which has a comb filter set on your effects.
You can set any setting to the machine you want and it will change back when you switch to Pattern 1(part 1). So you can change your sample, effect, machine type or any other machine settings and it will instantly switch back when you change patterns. I know it sounds complicated but I think watching me do it in the video will really help it sink in. Patterns and Parts are not really that complicated once you wrap your head around it. It just takes having that “eureka” moment and then it clicks.
I was confused by this and recently figured it out on my own, but this video would have saved me a lot of grief. Thanks for filling a needed hole in the online tutorials!
the thing is, you can can still apply/change parts on patterns
ppl use parts in different ways, there isn’t just one set way to use them
one key thing to keep in mind is that the part/pattern relationship is “sticky”…meaning the pattern will stick to the last part it used
My only advice about Parts (which confused the crap out of me in the beginning) is to remember to go in and save your Part as soon as you have something you like.
Too many times (even now), I’ll have a particular combination of Pitch, Timestretch, start, length, etc working on a flex machine and then I’ll make an adjustment (either by accident or on purpose trying to get something better) only to find it difficult to get back to where I was.
Pretty much anything you do on the OT other than triggers and p-locks affect the Part.
If you save the Part, then you can copy it to another as a backup or simply work off the base and then reload the saved version (if you don’t like where it ended up) or save again as the new base.
Also note that saving the Project does not force a Part save – it simply keeps whatever state you had.
(edit)
There are ways to extend the use of the same part – you all probably know that you can p-lock samples at different steps so you don’t need to mess up what is assigned to the track orignally, but I often want to have a different type of LFO on one pattern versus another. You don’t need 2 parts if you are only using a single LFO on a track – program 2 LFOs the way you want, save the part, then use p-locks on the depth for each LFO so one pattern has LFO 1 depth > 0 and LFO = 0 and the other has LFO 2 > 0 and LFO 1 = 0. Same technique if you are only using 1 effect since most effects exist in both slots.
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Thanks so much for this. I had my OT/ a couple months but don’t get much time to practice/learn due to work and kids etc. I have so much to learn, but Parts have had me totally bamboozled. This video really helps.
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