Help me in the sound war : octatrack vs Logic Pro X's EXS24 sampler, Ultrabeat)

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hi guys,

I am currently recording my album which will contain >90% of drum beats made with electronic sounds samples (kick, snares, hh,…).
My demos were written with my Octatrack (drums also midi parts for other instruments) and it sounded quite well. Now at the production stage, using Logic pro to integrate all other instruments, and mix everything down, I need to make some edition work to the patterns, write breaks, automation etc. So I decided to use Logic Pro X sampling tools, namely EXS24 and Ultrabeat. Ultrabeat is really crap, so I focused on EXS24.

But wtf : drums patterns sound really different even if I used the same drum samples. I cannot find the cool warm sound I had with my ocratrack. Of course, there were some FX ln the octatrack but no real big deal (mainly little comp), so in theory, things should sound similar.
Please note that I use good plug ins in my DAW (universal audio comp, EQ, …)
Did someone here experience the same issue with patterns re written in his/her DAW ? What am I doing wrong ?(and please don’t tell me that I should produce my album only with the Octatrack :wink:

#2

You can export some tracks resampling in Ot and mix them in your DAW…

#3

thanks for the answer
I’d rather use the midi edition possibilities of my DAW…

#4

EXS24 is a very “clean” sampler. I suspect the combination of how the OT processes sound, its internal effects, routing, and D/A conversion is colouring the sound somewhat (which is not unusual for hardware samplers, see the MPC Live’s inclusion of emulations of old MPCs in that regard). You could try adding a Drive plugin (the Logic one) to warm it up a bit.

Unless you’re talking about the timing sounding different? Difference in swing settings/groove templates?

#5

Another thought, if you’re trying to get a bit more character into the sound within the DAW, you could try using something like TAL-Sampler:

https://tal-software.com/products/tal-sampler

I’m a big fan of that plugin.

1 Like
#6

thanks for your reply !

I did not noticed time/trigger issues : you place anything you want on the grid, anywhere - that’s it.

As regards tone, I placed preamp plugins on each output channel, but did not pushed them that much nor added drive plugin to get warmth. I’ll give a try and get back to you !

And I’ll test the TAL plugin as well !

thx again

#7

Also make sure that in the OT mixer you have been monitoring correctly. If you have been using headphones then by default you don’t get to hear 100% of the mains output and this effects the tone you hear.