Basic OT Architecture Questions

But this can happen with the Octa implementation of parts as well, if you have widely difffering settings from one part to the next.

I was talking about this happening in the OT.
‘as well’ is throwing me off.

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Ah, sorry I misunderstood.

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so…im not getting the inputs.

whatever I stick THRU A B or A+B…it sounds like its coming thru mono.

any ideas? poking around, reading…I dont find much. [assuming its user error for sure]
I switch the inputs while its playing from A to B to A B to A+B and hear no difference. :confused:

Check cables.

A B = left and right channels
A+B = left right channles summed.
A = mono channel
B = mono channel

Also. If youre switching this configuration with parts while the sequencer is running, you might need to retrig the thru machine for the result to occur, if your amp env is set to infinite.

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cables are solid. BUT…I did NOT retrig. checking :+1:t6:

I started with A+B

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I don’t own an Octatrack, and I’ve just read the whole of Merlin’s guide. I understood it (parts are basically kits but you’ve only 4 per bank, scenes are collections of param settings) but I did not expect it to end with a question “Oh, and did I mention scenes?”, quite inconclusive :joy:

I’d love to hear someone expand on that question and go into the creative possibilities of using scenes with that final nasty recording/flex technique, it sounds amazing.

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Scenes AKA ‘patch morphing’.

You can use the cross fader to blend between one state and another, seamlessly.
Any parameter on any page on any track can be modified, and you get 16 scenes per Part.

(In addition to all the LFOs, slide trigs, P,locks etc)

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The parts have been a bit of a mystery to me. I’m a simple dude and the parts have always been v daunting to me. Been trying to learn those the whole evening after quite a while.

They seem v useful but exhausting (to me at least) at the same time.

yeah i understand this, i was referring to the final section “9.5.3 Abusing a track for live input”, and since he ends the entire doc with such an open question, I was just curious to hear ideas on how scenes could enhance that specific technique where a “track recorder is writing to the buffer while the flex machine is reading from it at the same time”.

Pre-slice record buffer. Use scenes to go through those slices in near real time. Or to change depths of lfos modulating slice number, retrig, rate etc. Add to that the fx, neighbor tracks and so on. :wink:

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Simply put, think of parts as kits. They contain all the audio track’s machine choices, if relevant the chosen sample a lot, parameter settings of all audio and midi tracks, and 16 scenes. There are 4 parts per bank and you can assign parts to any of the 16 patterns within a bank. You can save and reload parts as well, almost as a sort of “revert to saved state” trick found on the analogs and digital boxes :). You can also assign any of the 4 parts to another pattern on the fly, which can be a source for happy accidents.

The name “part” is what’s most confusing really because it sounds more abstract than it actually is imho.

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Thank you. Yeah it’s a confusing name but also it adds such a huge layer of complexity to the whole approach on the already deep device.

Besides the example you already mentioned it would be helpful to hear other noob level ways to use the parts. Stuff that doesn’t derail the whole situation into oblivion immediately.

I know these are probably things that everyone is supposed to figure out on their own but still. :slight_smile:

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Easiest way to approach it would be to start creating 4 grooves per bank. Each groove has its own part. So assign part 1 to patterns 1-4, part 2 to patterns 5-8 and so on.

You select your machines on each track and samples that you want to use for the first groove and then create 4 patterns with that.

When you change a parameter on a track, this will apply to all 4 patterns that use that part.

Hope this helps a bit as well :slight_smile:

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When I’m using the OT, I often have another device like the A4 or Syntakt hooked up, so I’ll use different Parts on the OT to represent the different jobs of recording samples of ideas on the A4 vs. making use of those samples in new sequences on the OT.

Like, I might use Bank A as my recording space, and create a part there with a Thru on Track 1, Neighbors on Tracks 2-4 with additional effects, and Flex machines on Tracks 5-7 for sampling/resampling. Then I end up with a new loop that I save in my Static machine list.

When I want to switch over to a new bank to make use of the new samples I’ve created, I’ll use a totally different Part template — might be all Static machines as a starting point. This way I have an easy space to start creating on the OT, and if I want to sample something new on the A4, I just flip back to Bank A where my recorder Part is ready to go.

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That sounds like a good and relatively simple way to start exploring this, will try that right away.
Again, thanks man!! :pray:

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That is an interesting approach you’ve come up with, thank you for sharing that. While I feel like I have my head wrapped around Parts just fine, I honestly hadn’t thought to utilize them in that way. Thanks!

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Topic Merge : Redundant Post

Seems like the last dozen messages being in another thread, they’re nothing to do with Merlin’s guide

Like maybe Parts per Banks confusion
Or Basic OT Architecture Questions which has lots of replies about banks.

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Topic Merge : Redundant Post

You can flag post as off topic :+1: they might be moved

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Topic Merge : Redundant Post

Yup, I flagged my own post for mod attention.

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