Do you recommend the Octatrack as a drum machine?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hello!

I´m studying all the Elektron gears to find which one will best fit to my needs - a drum machine which creative and powerful step sequencer. I´ve already created a topic about the possibilities of using the Analog 4 as a drum machine.

However, to be strictly on topic, I will also ask on the appropriate section: do you recommend using the Octatrack as a drum machine? As I´m really into sampling, it appears to be a interesting choice - but I want to use really make the drum sections on the OT, drum hit by drum hit, and not necessarily sampling/loading breaks/drum loops made on other gear/DAW.

What do you think?

Thanks a lot!

#2

Currently, my main use for the OT is as a drum machine. Loaded it with some 909 and 808 samples, plus a bunch of old dusty breakbeats. Works pretty well for that, though I’m an going to get a proper drum machine at some point.

#3

ABSOLUTELY! if you have the samples =)

#4

YES…

and if you add later a Jomox Airbase which is played via the MIDI tracks — yummi

You even can route Airbase into OT to add effects etc.

#5

I would. I did.

I think it’s a great drum machine especialy when using the slices.
But you can get so… so much more out of it. Resampling, processing, sequencing…

Been doing that for a while, but I must admit, I started feeling like I was hogging the octatrack track by using it purely as a drum machine. I felt I was not using it to its full potential (taking 5 tracks for drum sounds left me with two thru track for processing and a master track)

So I just got a MD non UW as to free up the OT for more sampling and melodic elements.

If I were to go back in time, my first elektron machine would still be the OT.
:slight_smile:

P.S.
(To free up tracks on the OT, you can setup another bank as a drum machine, do your thing then bounce it to a stereo track, go back to your original pattern and put your beat loop on a sliced track) This way you can go back and forth and creat new beats and variations and still have 7 free tracks.

#6

Cool OT drum machine trick.
One shot trigs.

One shots are usefull for hidding drum fills in a pattern. They will only play momentarily if you hold the function+yes buttons.
Great for drum fills.

1 Like
#7

i think it helps to look at if you will use the features and the stuff the octatrack is good at for your drums. i use the octatrack for percussion, but pretty differently than i would use a drum machine or mpc.

imo:

scenes

using synthesis and effects to make drums out of anything

cutting up and shuffling loops so they aren’t loops. with the octatrack i think of them more as grooves or feels or tone palettes. i start with single hits often enough, but when i have some thing i like i resample and take it from there.

making percussion out of live input

poly rhythms/multiple time scales per track, track resizing live.

“dynamic performace” lol changing things up on the fly with scenes and parts, one shot trigs.

otoh, if you want to do something like load 100 single hit samples and sit down and meticulously sequence and lock them, imo you could do it, but i don’t particularly like the octatrack for it, i don’t find the feature set super useful for working like this it feels like fighting the machine. to me, the point of the octatrack is more that i get to skip working like this if i don’t feel like it and do something more quickly or interactive. the flip side to that is i’ll spend more time practicing playing live.

i used to run my drum machines though a few other machines and effects to accomplish the same thing i do now, so i like it a lot.

i do find the MIDI side of it works pretty well for sequencing percussion in a somewhat more traditional drum machine style, but i’ll still leave most of the detail and variations for when i run that into the audio side of the octatrack.

1 Like
#8

Personally as a drum machine i found it a bit of a compromise. Or maybe more accurately a bit of a waste of its capabilities. If I wanted a drum machine (mainly) I would get something else. As a sampler it’s unsurpassed, as a drum machine it’s not. I would suggest that possibly even an MPC would act as a better sample based drum machine. If what you really want is a sample based drum machine, the Rytm would seem the more obvious choice ?

#9

Thanks a lot folks! You ALL gave me good insights of the Octatrack, I´m really grateful. The 8T appears to be a interesting possibility for a drum machine.

Although I was primary searching for a gear that could that be used as a drum machine with less “organization work” and considering that I can only get one hardware and as I live in Brazil (but I´m going to London for some days in a couple of weeks) and sending it back is not an option, the OT appears to be a more interesting option to immerse myself inside the Elektron step sequencing workflow.

@Regis, special thanks for the tricks! They´re great and helped me to understand the logic of the 8T.

@bambrose I have a MPC 500 and can borrow easily a 1000. However, I´m not really into finger drumming and don´t like at all the MPC step sequencer. I´m searching a step sequencer oriented drum machine and the Elektron gear appears to be the best one. I´m still considering the Analog Rytm as I really like the idea of crafting my beats without so much preparation, but the massive creative horizon of the Octatrack is temptating me, and giving me strenght to adventure myself on it´s (apparent) hard learning curve.

One final question: can I do hi-hat triplets/rolls with the Octatrack?

#10

yeah definitely.
the way i do it (although as with many things on the OT, this is only one of many options) is to p-lock a trig where i want the triplet/roll to begin, then use the sample retrig / retiime parameters to get the desired affect
pretty easy to do actually

#11

Using the OT as a drum machine? It depends on what type of music you intend to play. Il you like 4/4 minimal and linear techno/house, no problem. If you like complex compositions, cut-up, breaks and fills, and rhythm randomization, I would say: buy a real drum-station with a real and powerful sequencer.

#12

I was thinking the exact opposite of you :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
OT is something unique when creating weird/broken/glitchy beats with complex stuff added to the sequence.
MD does glitchy stuff too, but OT is faster IMO

#13

Clearly the OT can be used as pure drum machine in various ways described above.
I use as a mainly Drum Machines a LXR-Drumsynth because it sounds different and has a lot of sound shaping and sequencing possibilities (micro steps, flam/roll, morphing, modulations…). And this on an actual OS version 0.38. And it costs as a built unit less than 400 Euros.

The LXR is in sync with the OT clock and the audio goes into C/D input.
In A/B goes the A4.

Here is a > 1 hour LXR-Compilation session:

https://archive.org/details/LXRCompilationLiveAndDirect

#14

Of course you can create weird/brocken/glitchy beats with the OT, but this is not what I call “complexity”. In order to compose complex (aka: progressive) songs, I use an external sequencer that can do what the OT can’t do:

  • easier recording
  • easier modification of recorded patterns
  • live play with other gears (complete MIDI implementation needed: CC, PC, etc.)
  • jump from one sequence to another without waiting the end of current sequence (with all the other gear following with precision)
  • randomize rhythms on the fly with a lot of different algorythms

For me, now, the OT is just a sampler with PLocks and great filters. A great sampler, but a very limited sequencer, that I will never use for a live gig without an external hardware sequencer.

#15

I din´t know about the LXR-Drumsynth. Really interesting! The sound palette is really impressive and the sequencing appears to be a breeze.
And the price is also very good and appropriate for my budget. As I´m not very good with soldering and you told about the built in: do you recommend me to buy the LXR directly from someone? Sonic Potion recommend TubeOhm (http://www.tubeohm.com/TubeOhm/LXR.html) but they´re asking €500 for the built.

#16

Thanks a lot, @drone. I´m not really into 4/4 house of techno. Indeed, I´m producing hip hop/downtempo stuff, which is 4/4 but I appreciate some fills and breaks.

And I´m surprised by the fact that I cannot change the length of the sequence in the Octatrack. So I´m always stuck to 16 steps? How about the polyrhytms qualities of the machine?

And what do you think about the OT swing?

#17

You can change the number of steps. One time just for fun I had 17 steps on one track, and 13 on another for polyrhythms.

See “Scale Setup” on Page 93 of the manual (for OS 1.25) for more info.

Swing seems to work for me. But I have not played with the arpeggiator features (arp has no swing, by various accounts i have read).

#18

Allerian competed in a hip-hop beatdown using just an Octatrack. A couple of his beatdown tracks.

#19

De gustibus…
Anyway, you’re suggesting to the OPener to buy a good HW sequencer (which one?) and a whatever drum machine?
Also, i don’t find the sequencer so difficult to edit and you can jump directly from one sequence (pattern) to another without waiting the end of the programmed length…it is under Pattern Menu and the fastest switching is settable to 2/16.

@aeoner:

check Matrix Chains in action for breaks working like a razor!

http://www.elektronauts.com/t/octatrack-64-breakbeat-x-16-slices-megabreak-of-doom/337/29895

#20

The OT is perfect as a drum machine. Grab some decent samples load them up and go nuts. The slice mode is literally perfect for beats. This is the Beauty of the OT - because it’s a sampler - and in this case a plocking , linear pattern sequencer - it’s a blank canvas, silence until you fill it in with whatever you wish
I got my OT for $900 so that’s a pretty cheap drum machine - if I JUST used it for that. Which I don’t