After reading their manuals again I have a rough idea about their workflow. I want to improvise music with my two x0xb0x, and actually I’m doing it with an old ESX1 which is almost dead. I like to do short 30min jams aswell with some preprogrammed patterns. I’m interested in the OT because the sampling, real time mangling, 2 inputs, MIDI Out and effects.
I’m intersted in A4 because it still can use samples, and it seems pretty straighfoward like my old ESX1, and I would have more tracks (only 5 in the OT, 2 for each input, 1 for master), which is bad if I want to mute/unmute tracks.
I tested an old beta OT in the past, 0.98b I think, but it was a mess to just do some noise taking advantage of its features. How did its workflow evolved? Are any of you having experience with this?
Difficult to say - can you give more information about what you’re trying to do with them?
I have both units, and they’re pretty much all I use in my own setup. If you’re looking to sample on the fly or do any kind of advanced chopping and processing, the OT is the obvious choice. If you need percussion, the AR makes more sense.
That said, I’m currently making a record with the AR alone, using it to play non-percussive samples. The workflow of editing the sample on my laptop then transferring it to the AR isn’t ideal, but once it’s on there, I’m really liking it. Feels like using an old school sampler. I love the performance features too. While crossfader scenes on the OT are great, having multiple pads at once on the AR (e.g., one for filter cutoff, one to shorten drum envelopes, one to do delay/reverb washes) is ultimately more useful to me.
Well, what I’m trying to do is something like this:
And I have two x0xb0x, two distortions, a kaosspad and a bad state electribe. I know the advantages of the OT: cheaper, realtime sampling and mangling, 2 inputs etc. But what I dislike a lot is its 0.98b workflow. I’m really lazy when I have to to tons of tweaking and menu digging. Also I dislike that I would have only 5 track for drums.
I know you can have different samples in each track, like open and close hat. But you cannot mute all close hats from a pattern, right?
With AR I would need an external mixer, then I would have 12(8) drums tracks, a bit of mangling, it can do basslines and it seems pretty straighfoward. However It’s more expensive than OT. No MIDI Out (just sync), no realtime sampling.
So, for features OT would fit my needs better than AR, except for the tracks number.
The question is: tell me about its workflow evolved since 0.98b, can you live improvise with OT without doing 30 key strokes / second and digging in seven different menus? How much preparation do you need with the OT before you can start building/improvising a track?
I had in the past a MachineDrum (not UW), and I loved how inmediate it was. I think AR is almost the same. However I had a bad experience with my (sold) OT.
Yeah, I think the workflow has evolved, but I can’t remember which changes came when. I don’t find the OT such a pain to build a track, but it’s a sampler…it’s definitely not improvising in the same way that I could with a guitar. Once you get samples chopped, then you can play around. It’s hard to really describe - I’d suggest you watch some videos to see the current workflow. If you didn’t like it in the past, it might not have changed enough. AR is definitely more immediate
I look at it this way: the Octatrack is an instrument. You really have to think about that and let it set in. This thing is not an immediate gratification box.
You didn’t like it before; I highly doubt you’ll like it any better now without truly investing some deep practice. Like an instrument. Practice. Then, yes, it does feel immediate & rewarding. Nothing like the out-of-the-box immediacy of the Machinedrum, nothing.
All that said, the OT indeed rewards practice - very much so.
There are some creative workarounds to achieve this.
If you are using parameter locks to use two samples on one track, you can use parameter locks again to set the volume of one of the two samples down all the way to -63 on one side of the crossfader. You can also use parts, and switch to a different part with changed volume parameter locks on a certain sound you want muted.
A third option would be to use the internal recorders to create sampled loops from your tracks, so you can for instance, go from having a pattern made from 4 tracks, to having all those sounds now as a sampled loop playing on just one track.
I’m not sure if any of that is easy to follow at all…