First challenges for Octatrack...recreate your first thing?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

I can’t be the only person who has done this:

  1. get an octatrack, watch a video tutorial to make a 1st thing
  2. start to read the manual, read about demo mode, it says “Make sure no Compact Flash card is inserted.”
  3. go “oh cool” remove the CF card and play with the demo
  4. reinsert card…where the **** is the the thing I made yesterday?
  5. read the manual some more…oh, I need to sync the card before removing it

Valuable lesson learned, I guess. Thankfully all I’d made was a single track drone thing.

I rechecked the manual and actually the syncing thing is mentioned in section 4, before the demo mode thing, so I can’t even blame Elektron!

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#2

…yup…that manual is no good read…
but still a must…not too smart in structure…and way too smart in content…with lots of funny hints at the end of the day…

so u’ve seen the demos…nothing too fancy on second sight…no worries…
the real deal starts once u work ur own shit…

buy a decent card…a pro one…
kik out the demo one…
put that pro one in…do it gently and with patience…!!!
format it…
thats creating one overall new set by default…the top level domain for ALL ur data structure soon to grow…
connect to the computer…there u see now, in that set folder, an audiopool, created also by default with every next new set…but u will only need that one first set forever…trust me on this…
create some folders on ur desktop…like…kiks…or loops…or whatever u wanna organize ur sonic bits and pieces and snippets…
just drag and drop them from ur destop INTO that audio pool folder on ur card…
atart early on to think in sample CHAINS…where u deal with lined up single sounds of various audio snippets in ONE longer audio file…that’s where the endlessness starts, beyond ur next coming up question…128 slots for samples…that’s not much…
yes it is, once u start to think in sample chains…where every single slice in an audio file can be adressed individually and on the fly…

take ur time…take a deep dive…enjoy ur sonic safari…ur journey has just begun…
so have fun…

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#3

Thanks! I already ordered a card, on its way.

WRT chains…just so I understand the concept, say I have 50 high-hat samples I like on my computer, I put them all in a single audio file, one after the other, and that is a “chain”? Then I can load that to a slot, now I have 50 high-hats in one slot, and I use start/end to pick the actual sample in the “chain” that I want? Is that it?

#4

Almost!
You can then ‘slice’ that chain, into the 50 different hi hats. This means you just select a slice, rather than messing with start and end point. Pretty cool.

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#5

That’s great, thanks.

This (What Is Your Most Productive Set Up/Workflow? - #37 by AdamJay) makes more sense to me now too.

Exciting times!

#6

When you make the chains, use an editor that lets you line the samples up in strict time (e.g. on beats or bars) so that the auto-slice on the OT finds the right points. Or use one of the chain-builder apps, like Octachainer, or (I think) Elk Herd. Search the forum (I’ve not used the apps yet so I don’t have the links to hand).

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#7

…easiest set of rules of thumb for creating sample chains…

take any daw…that can bounce 44k/16 or 24 bit…

120 bpm…line up ur favourite sonic snippets…

now u can get things sorted, perfectly suited for slice grids, easily recognized by the ot’s audio editor…

drop those snippets for prebouncing on ur daw grid in proper grid fashion…
every bar AND every subdivision of a bar can become an automated/detected slice point…
without later adjustments…if it’s only dropped ON GRID…

always think in 4’s…up to 64 single events…
triolic subdevisions are also possible…12/24/48…but go for straights…4/8/16/32/64…
no need for bigger headscratching then…

so 8 or 16 or 32 bars on ur daws grid loop with single events all lined up on bars and subdevisions will always translate perfectly into chainbounces the ot can slice up and adress individually again within two klaks…

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