Hi!
I’m wondering how to create long pad or drones that I could tweak to make them slowly evolve in time. Not the type of sound you can ear in Klaus Shulze records 
rather than those ill & dark sounds you can ear in Scorn, for instance… or in some Biosphere records (more “dreamy”: I don’t know if it is the right word in English because I’m a bloody French)
I used to do this quite easily with my RS7000, but with the OT, I haven’t found the right trick yet.
Thanx in advance for your help.
Well, it really depends on your source sound. If you sample something in the ballpark (the output of a synth or maybe a field recording of some droning mechanical equipment or something), that makes it a lot easier. I find that very low values on the rate parameter for a fairly animated sound will naturally do that slow evolving thing. The filter will be able to tame the harmonics and the dark reverb can put the sound back into a dark corner. Droan.
Another option is very short RTIM values with INF retriggering and modulating the start point. Again, the filter and dark reverb will round out the sound.
Sounds like you need reverb and scenes!
Sample something close, even a small snippet of a song with that pad. Then change parameters reverb delay and filter and amp (use neighbors! ) with the scenes. Evolve it yourself over time. Really play it.
A great way to use longer samples in the OT is to trigger them with one shot triggers. I often use those to run longer loops under my normal 4 bar loops in my live set. Let’s me get a tweaky with the shorter stuff, but still have these long and evolving textures in the background. Easy enough to tweak them with effects or what have you, just like any other sample.
Thanks for your answers. I’ve already tried to use one shot trigs (it’s a good solution), and neighbour tracks with chains of effects. Maybe if I don’t feel really happy with all these solutions is because I always got in memory the things I could do with the RS 7000 (with the FM synthesis + samples you could make evolve harmonics and strange drones during long minutes). I should better understand now witch specific things the OT can do.
For instance, I’m wondering how to obtain larsen like effect and harmonics on a pad. In this track posted on this forum by Neil (https://soundcloud.com/neilbaldwin/sets/elektron-users-octatrack-lab-2, the sound that comes at 2’08 is close to what I would like to be able to produce. I tried to use a short white noise sample and to retrigger & tweak it with effects, like he suggested, but I think I missed something.
Part of the answer is here :
Followed the link, surprised to see one of my videos. The OT can make wonderful drones from any source sound. In that demo I am not using the sequencer at all but as you can see, that drone could last for hours with endless variation - both programmed and interactive. Just one of many possible paths. Thanks for watching!
Thanks to you! I’m now using voice sample (philosophical or political speeches) to altern between nonsense and drones: funny! And yes it works without the sequencer with endless variations.
I would say that the keys to nice, evolving drones are :
you can even load a single cycle waveform for an infinitely sustaining sound, and go from there 
Cheers !
Yess !
I do exactly that.
And also:
With a single loop of radio frequencies, it creates nice and deep harmonics.
My Eureka for today…
Great vid! I love tweaking RTRG, RTIM, and RATE to make bassy drones out of anything too.
Allerian that video was the main reason i started to think about OT as a piece of my equipment…i should say thanks…in loop =)
Thanks DuDe!!!
Thanks man, I appreciate you watching. It’s great to share something unique. I’m more in love with the OT than ever.
question:
I was following the tutorial for the video posted.
But I couldn’t figure out how to play the sample that I’ve loaded in it’s full length?
After putting a trigger, I tried infinite release & maximum length (128).
Thanks.
In the video, the sequencer isn’t being used. I’m triggering the track manually by pressing the track trigger key.
Quite often, the term “neighbor tracks” has been used here in terms of the use in ambient/drone soundscapes.
Can anybody please elaborate a bit more on the functionality of the neighbor track in this context?
I use Octatrack for ambient/drone stuff too and I have understanding of many of the tricks mentioned here, though I can’t seem to get the neighbor tracks method.
Thanks a lot.
Quite often, the term “neighbor tracks” has been used here in terms of the use in ambient/drone soundscapes.
Can anybody please elaborate a bit more on the functionality of the neighbor track in this context?
I use Octatrack for ambient/drone stuff too and I have understanding of many of the tricks mentioned here, though I can’t seem to get the neighbor tracks method.
Thanks a lot.[/quote]
Haven’t used them yet myself, but I think the point is to get more FX on a single sound. Particularly, you could use both reverb and delay at the same time.
Hi all. What about triggering a pad to play over midi? Not possible?