Djing with Octatrack compared to "normal" djing :P

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#24

Hi guys

Had my Octa MkII for a month and have been driving myself insane trying to use it as a DJ device. I have tried pretty much everything on this forum, but having major trouble getting two tracks to remotely sync.

My approach:

  • warped all tracks in Ableton, even to the extent of making them all the same length - they sync up v nicely on there
  • added the BPM (all 120) to the file names
  • exported tracks as 16 bit AIF @ 44.1
  • been through all tracks on Octatrack and ‘told it’ the BPM as its BPM detection seems lousy
  • still no success

I am playing the tracks by holding the track button then hitting play, seems to work fine.

I suspect it’s either to do with:

  • the Static machine settings - what are the correct ones?
  • the individual sample settings in the AED page (is there a way to batch these btw, or do they all need to be put in individually?)
  • some fundamental project-wide macro setting I haven’t discovered yet

Everything is working as I want it (using an external DB4 mixer) except for the beatmatching.

I think there would be real value in a DJ-oriented guide to the Octa - in fact I would pay for it.

Would really value some new suggestions please - thanks!

1 Like
#25

There is no “beatmatching”.
You can set to quantized trig in audio editor but two songs will drift with time. Then you can use nudge like two turntables.

#26

If someone would make an in-depth video series or a PDF about Octatrack DJing, I would gladly pay for it too. Always interested about this, and always all the info seems to be scattered across many, many threads… My own experiences have been disappointing and I’m dying to know all the possible ways to approach this.

#27

As far as I can tell, its just like old school two turntables djing. Unless you know any tricks I’ve missed ?

#28

Unless you use patterns and slices, but that sounds like alot of work for each song.

#29

That is sadly not the case as I feel I can spin OK with turntables, CDJs and controllers (given some warmup time to adjust to various formats) whereas I don’t think I’ve made a single decent transition so far with an OT (transition meaning, mixing from one song to another smoothly without trainwrecks).

I’m quite used to beatmatching… matching an elektron sequencer with a vinyl is quite easy either way IMO… but I’ve yet to learn how to do this with just one ot, as there doesn’t seem to be any trad UI for beatmatching…

Usually, the least amt of ctrls one needs are the ctrls offered on recent elektron seq tempo views, namely offsetting tempo (left/right cursors) and finetuning it (up/down cursors) after the broad tempo value has been determined (I like to do that by tap tempo on the elektrons, works quite well)… But these controls are only available on the OT as global seq controls… there’s no ”finetune BPM” control for all tracks, only offsets per track… which will allow you to twist a wrong tempo temporarily, but no way to finetune it further… you need to be nudging all the time, nowhere ideal…

1 Like
#30

Ahh yes ok.

#31

Thanks - will try this tonight…

#32

you need to know the bpm, or have the track be in length of bars which is a multiple of 2, so 1, 2, 4, …
(only then the OT guesses the bpm correctly). have the bpm be in whole numbers. load it into a static slot, put a trigger or have the track have a quantized start (in the sample edit menu, attr page, all the way down). set the correct bpm on the same page. it is in increments of 0.25 bpm, this is why you need the tempo to be in whole numbers. turn timestrech on (same menu).
do this with another track in another slot.
with the sequencer running, put a trig on static machine with the track 1, or trigger it manually if set the quantized trigger. do the same with the static machine with track 2. they should be in perfect sync.

hth

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#33

Fn + right/left arrow = +/- 0.04 increments
Fn + up/down arrow = x/divide by 2

4 Likes
#34

Thanx, thats an awesome tip.
But it really needs to be at least .01 resolution, or .001 would be perfect. If you have the sequencer running, at only ±.04 bpm adjustment the song will eventualy drift. You could monitor a click track to keep in sync I spose.

Edit ±0.04 is fine.

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#35

I found it testing after someone asked.
I can’t say rtfm, it doesn’t seem to be in the manual…:content:

1 Like
#36

Got it working - the issue was I was exporting my tracks out of Ableton using drag and drop, which doesn’t render them in warped form. So they didn’t match. Doh!

Now working like a dream, loving it.

Thanks all!

3 Likes
#37

Do all of the tracks have to have the same bpm as each other? How would one deal with the project bpm of the OT if you have tracks varying in bpm?

#38

I did a little bit of experimenting and the way I do it for the moment is to have my tracks set to the closest BPM that is a multiple of 5 and then have folders for each the bpm I’m using.

1 Like
#39

I’m not quite sure I understand.

#40

Yeah, it wasn’t super clear :slight_smile:
So I warp my tracks in Ableton before importing them in the OT. And when I do that, I change the BPM of the exported track to the closest multiple of 5. So if the track is 122, then I move it to 120, if it’s 124, I move it to 125. And those are also the only BPM I use in the OT so I don’t have to rely on its timestretching because it sucks when you apply it to whole tracks.

Edit: After playing with this system for a while during this week end, I think I’m going to instead write the BPM in the track’s file name, and use folders for genres.

1 Like
#41

Coming back to this old thread, if anyone is interested in using one Octatrack for a more “traditional” mixing approach, with beat-matching. But NO (or very little) sample pre-prep. Slicing optional. No time-stretching, but re-pitching like you would with analog decks.

Not sure if this technique has been brought up before, I haven’t read up on all related threads tbh.
But for nudging the tracks, yes you can absolutely use the LFOs rather nicely.

What I did is edit two custom LFOs (i.e. T1 and T5), one of them a flatline -1, the other +1.
Assign T1 LFO to both tracks’ as LFO1, to SRC Pitch.
T5 LFO to both LFO2, to SRC Pitch.

When cueing a new track, you’ll first have to ballpark it with the SRC pitch control. Then use varying amounts of one LFO at a time, as required, to carefully nudge it in place.

It takes a little practise, but the fine control you get is pretty pretty good. You’ll need decent beat-matching ears, but if you’re used to mixing with vinyl or similar gear, no big deal.

A small MIDI controller would probably go a long way, for Volume / FX and to avoid switching between SRC and LFO pages much.

Bonus: Connecting main and cue to a mixer if available, like others have suggested. Because the OT’s linear crossfader curve can blow for this.

When loading a new track (change static slot), remember to reset both LFO amount and SRC pitch to 0.

Hope this info can be useful.

Edit: Possibly combine this method with using Scenes, i need to try that out.

Edit 2: Also try -2 and +2 for values in the LFO Designer, for slightly less fine-control. (And a word)

Edit 3: A few details, I probably should have mentioned also:
a. This is not using the sequencer at all. Tracks are triggered manually.
b. For this to work, RATE in SRC Setup has to be PTCH.
TSTR OFF. LFOs have to be free-running (TRIG: FREE).

7 Likes
Octatrack MK2 bpm resolution
#42

VERY interesting, will have to try this as soon as possible!

2 Likes
#43

Have you thought about using the Octatrack in a send/return with a Pioneer DJ mixer setup? I’ve done that, but with gear instead of turntables, it worked pretty slick…