How do you memorize settings beetween machines?

My approach is a little unorthodox I guess. Things were getting too messy with multiple songs in one OT project so now I have one song per OT project. I use at most 2 banks per project. On the A4 I use patterns in groups of 4 with the kit or kits matching the name of the OT project. I don’t know how you all get around the one bpm per project limitation on the OT! Maybe most are sticking with one BPM for whatever genre they have mastered??
In any case I don’t perform live so this setup works well for me.

This is how I do it and it sometimes takes a bit of time to follow through, but it works. [/quote]
Sending program changes this way from OT to MD & Monomachine, they cue straight away but don’t actually change pattern until the next time the OT loops to start of pattern. Not ideal. There are 2 workarounds to this…

  1. Switching on the program change in the OT/MD/MM settings menu’s and matching the program channel on all devices, meaning that pattern A1 will play on all machines, then A2,A2,A2 or whatever. Instant change but u loose half your OT banks/patterns and it sux if u want to have say 4 different machinedrum patterns to progress one OT pattern.

  2. Assign notes to patterns on MD/MM & set OT midi ch to correct channel then use trigs to pattern change. Works instantly and is flexible in ways the other methods aren’t.

& Multiman, I wish my Nord Modular G1 was bug free with patch changes from OT… using one part on first bank ok, but not 3-4 at same time… bank changes were extremely buggy. Tried using CC0 trig locks for bank change also but no cigar.

By the way, i never used program change. How do you do that ?[/quote]
I do use program change for combining A4->AR.
Use “direct pattern change” function for the AR to switch quickly.

Hi Ozone, I see what you mean… I´m lucky to own a Micro Modular then, working with just one patch and one bank at a time seems to work perfectly fine.

A few years ago when I sequence everything from a MC-909, I used to do this… Create a Pattern on each track which is like a “Mix Pattern” once the Sequencer goes in to this section there are “Ghost notes” (Velocity 0) with a Program Change assigned to those notes, changing presets in external devices, I would include the PR Change at the very end of the pattern, then when you change to next Bank/Song, you include again a PR Change on the first note, making sure the change its done and syncronized.

If you have more than one device you can try sending the PR Change at slightly different times, instead of simultaneous.

I found out that adding that Pr Change just before the change was done kind of confirmed the change and no issues sound wise appeared.

Maybe it helps to change your various Patches on the Modular!
Hope it helps.

Hi Ozone, I see what you mean… I´m lucky to own a Micro Modular then, working with just one patch and one bank at a time seems to work perfectly fine.

A few years ago …[/quote]
Thanks for the tips Multiman. The 909 method would be great to apply on te OT if it was only possible. My basic workaround is to move favorite NMG1 patches into the first bank.

Its a pity that the OT program change command is in the non-parameter lockable page unlike the MD/MM, as dummy trigs would be possible then. Being locked to one program change per part kinda sucks but it is what it is. Would have prefered only having 8cc’s and the 9th/10th dedicated to Bank/prog change. The other things that blows with the OT is that the Bank/prog change info is only sent when changing parts, not when the pattern starts. Anyway its kinda off the topic…

I built a notes sheet more for production than live at one point, & it was useful for what it was, but I prefer the ableton live template I set up that actually records all OT mute/x-fader parameters, along with all MD mutes & edits, which can then be played back into the hardware.


This is a great system! By doing this, all you need is to remember which octatrack pattern is what song.
Nowadays, i keep the song structure entirely in the scenes:
From left to right, i always start on scene 1. If the next scene is laying directly next to the scene, it means it is fade. If there is gap between the scenes (led lit off), it is a ruff cut.

I always use the last scene (16) for smooth muting. by holding the scene button that has scene16 selected, i can pick a track and switch the volume off in a breeze while having the effects giving the track a nice and smooth tail.

A little bit off-topic perhaps… Maybe someone can find this usefull!

@Ozone: Awsome cheat sheet! thanks for sharing!!