Flex machine effects

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hey all

Was hoping someone could help me. I’m currently using a thru machine to apply effects to an incoming synth, and then i’m sampling the resulting sound with a flex machine on the next track assigned to sample the thru machine track.

This isn’t ideal for me for two reasons

  1. Using two tracks per riff takes up precious tracks
  2. When i attempt to overwrite a sound stored in a flex machine with a new sound coming through the thru machine, the flex machine does not immediately cut out when the new sound is being recorded, instead both sounds play a full sequence length before the old sound is replaced by the new.

Ideally what i want to be able to do is have effects on a flex machine, with the incoming audio going through that track only. I.e using the octatrack as an external effects unit for my synth and sampling bits and pieces as i choose, without the sound changing the moment i hit record.

When a flex machine is recording audio it applies its effects to the audio, but i cannot find a way for these effects to be applied while not recording, unless using an additional thru or neighbour track.

I’d really appreciate any feedback anyone has on if this is at all possible or any work arounds some of you may have come up with.

Apologies if this is a long winded way of asking a simple question, still getting to grips with the elektron lingo…

#2

I’m not quite sure what you were asking but would it help to assign the track’s recorder buffer for playback while recording? This way the track will behave like a Thru track for as long as you keep sampling, then when you remove the rec trig, it will loop.

Hope this helps…

#3

Thanks for the quick reply.

Yeah it sounds like this could be exactly what i’ve been overlooking.

Essentially i want a flex machine to apply its effects to an incoming sound whether looping or not.

Will try it out - cheers!

#4

For the record vs playback, sometimes the playback of the buffer will often be ahead of the record portion. You could try to use micro timing of your record/playback triggers. It is possible to record and playback in near real time. Watch the record page and pay attention to the triangles on the bottom line. One is play, the other record.

Try recording using Cue. I sacrifice Thru, but I use my external mixer to send to a thru machine. Then make the recorder record from cue. You could then switch to different inputs on the same Thru machine. You can turn thru’s volume all the way down so you don’t hear the thru input but the recorders will still work using Cue.

I’ve noticed that the record vs playback can be inconsistent but you can influence the timing between record and playback using some micro-timing. Sometimes the record can jump ahead and behind of playback while recording. But using micro timing you can ensure playback of new recordings to be behind the record marker on that record page, as I mentioned.

I hope this helps. These things require some experimentation on your part, it’s an Octatrack. :wink:

Edit: also try one shot record trigs. Press function and trig on the record page. It should show a yellow trig. Then press Track + Yes to arm that trig when you want it to activate all yellow trigs in the sequence. Once the first activated trig is reached by the sequence it will start to record and all one shots will no longer trig recording.

You can also try recording cue on the flex track that you already recorded on itself. That might help.

#5

Very helpful thank you - i’ll do some tinkering!

#6

udenjoe hitted the spot speaking about microtimed shift on rec/playback trigs.

Keep in mind that you won’t be able to upshift the pitch for obvious reasons…

But effects…as much as you want…!

#7

I don’t have my octatrack in front of me so this isn’t going to all make sense until i do…

but i do like adjusting the pitch when i’ve got something looping - do you mean this wouldn’t be possible or just not possible before the incoming audio is sampled?

#8

the technique of using a flex machine to record incoming audio and then immediately play it back is exactly a technique i have been using. you can use it to immediately process, pitch shift, or slow down the audio. however, you have to be a little careful, as the playback can’t get ahead of the recording, otherwise you run into issues. this was mention by someone above as well. it’s nice too, because you can create some background from the incoming audio as well, that nicely evolves if you creatively use playback trigs.

i hate to spam this post, but i describe in pretty good detail my setup and include an example result of this technique here: The Octatrack can be quite granular-esque [example inside]