Also would it be possible to have it set up as a sampler that is sending audio into my mixer and also have the mixer out going into the OT so I can use the OT crossfader for buildups and transitions?
What is your mixer ?
Ideally you’d need a stereo bus for recordings.
Right. I have a Jellymix. I send the out through a compressor and then into my interface and record the stereo track into logic. So in this case I’d plug octa track inputs C/D into the outs of the Jellymix. Then out from octatrack goes into compressor and that goes into the interface for recording.
So I think this can be done, but will the OT feedback on itself since I am sending the mixer samples from it and then sending the mixer back into it? If I can pull this off, it would enable me to make a ton of unique transitions, and really maximize the machine.
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It is practical to have a bus send; apparently the best choice would be to use Jellymix aux A/B, not sure if you can have stereo if using 1 track. Are aux A/B mono ?
Are tracks stereo ?
OT feedback on itself since I am sending the mixer samples from it and then sending the mixer back into it?
No feedback if you don’t send OT signal back to OT with aux A/B.
Maybe you can use EXT IN A/B for OT ?
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Yes I could do that if I needed to. But I can get the sounds I want to sample into the octatrack easily without needing to do that. I can use the outs of my interface.
So what I want to do is 2 things - 1. sample in when needed and then trigger sounds to play out and into the mixer - which is easy to set up. But then 2. I want to be able to use the crosssfader on the entire mix out coming from the Jellymix and going into the octatrack as well. So it would be triggering sounds into the mixer and then a performance effect on the entire mix coming out of the mixer. If that makes sense.
I don’t mind sampling into the OT cue ins if that’s the way to set it up.
The more I think about it, the more I think this can definitely be done. I just don’t have the machine yet so I’m theorizing here and trying to think of anything I’m missing.
Of course. Better to wait you have it and make tests…
There are cue outs, no ins.
Yep my bad. I meant I’ll sample into AB and send the mixer out into CD.
Cue outs into mixer. Main outs into master compressor/interface.
You can send the cue outs to the mixer if you want, then return that signal back to the OT inputs for sampling.
I do this.
Pretty sure you cant assign cross fader to cue level though.
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Ok that could work. And then the cross fader will work on the entire mix. I believe with the cue outs I give up the 8th track as a master send, but I can live with that easily.
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No you can’t indeed.
But you can invert MAIN and CUE roles, invert audio outputs, assign crossfader to XLEV as cue send. (No Master track)
If tracks are sent to CUE only, you can assign crossfader to AMP VOL.
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I’m thinking for my use case - triggered sounds and samples would go to cue out and Into mixer. Mixer sends will provide reverb and delay. Mixer main out back into OT and into a thru (?) track . Master out of OT into interface. This way I should be able to use crossfader mayhem on the entire mix.
Eventually using DIR AB/CD, saves a track, possible crossfader control.
Forgot about DIR. this is why you are the OT king. I appreciate you all helping me out with this.
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OT is here. It’s coming back to me. I have sampling working. It comes into A/B for Track 1. I pressed Cue plus track 1 and have that routed to the Cue out and into my mixer. I setup the OT to be in 24 bit mode for Flex and recorder format. Quick record was already selected.
So that part is done. Tomorrow I will try the trickier part of routing the Mixer outs back into C/D on the OT and then mapping crossfade scenes to it and making transitions across the entire mix.
My question is if I need to go mixer out to OT C/D In to thru track into a flex track to do this or is that only If I want to tempo changes and pitch downs? If I do go thru track into flex track, what is the setup so the OT is constantly recording and I can mess with this stuff on the fly? I am going to record the output of the OT as my main mix.
It may make sense to just use a thru track and FX for now and try the more advanced stuff with the live Flex tracks later.
Currently on the OT mixer I have everything at 0, no gain, DIR or boost or cut to the Main and Cue. Is that the proper setup when I run the hardware mixer outs back into the OT? I’ll probably just have to experiment there and not blow my ears out with feedback or something.
I missed this thing a lot. I think if I can get this setup how I want, I will have a very powerful live tweaking sampler/mixer combo going.
Thats when ill have to do a refresh on making looped textures and sound beds, which is fun as hell, I just don’t remember all the little tricks to it.
You dont need a flex machine to record anything. Everytrack has its own recorder. (And they have there own sequencer lanes for recorder trigs, and thus constant recording)
Flex machines are for playing back samples. That is all. Either from samples loaded to the flex slots, or from recorder buffers.
Thru tracks just pass audio thru, and have 2 fx slots. That is all.
So from the sound of it, you’ll need both.
One track with thru machine for your incoming audio (unless you send inputs CD straight to DIR.
And one track with flex machine to play back your recordings.
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OT is unreplaceable, unique and is a wonderful machine.
HOWEVER, I suspect the reason that it’s so often bought, sold and then bought again (rinse and repeat) is that the promise it makes doesn’t live up to the reality. It’s a box that offers something very special but trips over itself in delivery.
I remain mystified why Elektron haven’t released a new iteration. If they fixed the oddities whilst keeping it basically the same it would be an absolute icon. It’s not lightning in a bottle stuff, it has features and functionality and workflow aspects that are easy to identify and repeat.
I’d say the same for the Machinedrum. I’d love to be a fly on the wall in the Elektron meeting rooms to understand why they don’t wow the market with an update to their own innovation. Instead we get Tonverk.
Sidenote: I consider buying one again every few weeks or so, always talk myself out of it. Obviously there are people that can’t live without it, and they are happy with it just as it is - but even those people I suspect would kill their own mother for some QOL changes and general improvements.
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Right but for crossfader movements like pitch downs and tempo changes I’d imagine you have to send to a flex buffer in order to mess with the mix in real time.
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Not to be semantic, but I think the reason it trips over itself is that it offers many very special things. It has so much flexibility that it is (necessarily?) complex. Kind of like a modular synth with wires running everywhere. Complex, but capable.
I do have gripes with some UI decisions, but overall I think the architecture is pretty well thought out for what all it can do.
I do like having all the eclectic capabilities in one box, but would understand if Elektron split it up into a bunch of products. An 8-channel performance mixer, an 8-channel delay buffer, an 8-channel sample player, an 8-channel MIDI sequencer, …
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I think that’s a fair point.
In the UX world we often talk about ‘configuration over convention’.
Giving users lots of options and routes gives them more power, but often at the expense of usability or intuition.
Sometimes making decisions as a product designer on behalf of the user takes some control away from them but enables them to ‘get on with it’.
The whole assignable recording buffers, flex Vs static machines, ram magement etc does allow for some interesting stuff (and maybe that’s the better thing), but for most people they just want to sample without thinking about all that juju.
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That’s one of the appeals of the OT to me. It can fit a lot of setups. For example o was thinking to buy it again because I wanted a sampler with a lot of modulation and at least 4 outs. Then I remembered that it could also be a dj style performance mixer as well, which is a huge help for live jamming.
On top of that I can have it standalone, looping drums while I play bass and guitar into it and loop those.
Or I can just sample records into it and twist them into something totally different.
There are just so many things it can do, and some you don’t realize until you need a certain functionality and realize that the Ot can do it. It’s a true studio tool because it can play so many roles. That’s what keeps me coming back to it.
I typically sold it in the past because I’d be in a daw majority of the time but over the past couple years I’ve developed serious software fatigue after 15+ years of itb or hybrid production.
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