I have an idea of using OT in a performance where it is used to play loops which I place in the static slots of my project. So I have four tracks set to loop mode, quantized playback and so on, and I plan to use the slots mode so that I can use trig keys to launch loops on different tracks. There is going to be a fairly big amount of loops, they are going to occupy most slots, so I am going to have some system about which slot which loops occupy.
It would help enourmously, to keep track of where I am in my set, to know which slot is playing on a given track at any given moment, but I donāt seem to find a way to do it.
Is there any?
I could alternatively just put one-shot trigs in the sequencer and change their sample slot and re-arm every time I need to change a loop, this way I could always check what slot is playing by holding the trig, but this requires so many more keypresses.
I think you misunderstood the question. I was asking about how to find out which slot is currently playing on a given track, not which trig button to press to launch a particular loop (which is frankly a very silly thing to ask; also, I do not need to be sold any ezbot merchandize, thank you very much.)
So that I do not have to remember at all times what loop I have launched on what track.
I mean, push comes to shove, I will have to train to remember it, but it would be nice to avoid a possible source of confusion
go to track, hit FUNC+DOWN, menu opens, repeat down until you find SLOTS, hit YES, watch whats happening in the display. The small playhead view below should move when a sample is playing, If you canāt see which slot the playhead moves along: hit SCALE SETUP to switch to the next 64 slots, at least the first 64 should be visible as tiny rectangles, the one playing is larger when a trig is passed or you hit one of the slot buttons (green).
Apart from that no other indicator anywhere (in realtime without external MIDI) because it safes a lot of CPU to simply not show it. Might not be what you expected as answer, but thats how it is.
I think Iām in same boat, while a slot is playing to dint know which one especially if you bash away at a few, which Iām no stranger too. An X in the slot view playing sample would be good. Ultimately I decided not to care too much about.
indeed, the square illuminates only when a trigger in a sequencer is activated or when a trig button is pressed. so if you launch something in slot mode the square will appear when you press the trig button. (frankly, it would cost elektron nothing to just keep the square illuminated as long as the sample is playing, but what is done is done; if the firmware were open source, one could make a patch in an eveningā¦)
I am talking about a scenario where I have loops launched on all the four tracks using the slots mode, and I want to quickly check what loop is playing on say track 3
An alternative is of course to cue a track to headphones and recognize from the sound of the loop which slot it belongs to, or otherwise just keep a better track of what you launch on which track, but well, I was hoping that I am maybe missing something that might help me navigate the set better
one of the reasons I was asking is that quite often I need to swap a loop from one track to another (because the other track has different effects available), so I need to trigger exactly the same slot on a different track.
I guess I can organize so that I always know the ballpark of the slot and just try on a free cued track so that I have a right to make a mistake without showing it to the audienceā¦
there are reasons why my set up is the way it is. I need to be able to play a lot of loops (100 or so) across four tracks with quantization on the launch being two bars, so this sets certain requirements on how fast and easy the loops can be launched (so e.g. launching with sequencer is a bit too cumbersome). Launching with slot mode allows me to quickly move in a set, and also rather freely mix and match the loops. You can do it only to a limited extent with parts, since you have just four loops (each in its own part) per track per bank. You are also confined to always run a particular loop on a particular track, so transitions between āscenesā would be tricky. With my set up I can for example launch a new bass loop on a different track then crossfade into it, or layer in anything from a different āsceneā if I have a spare track, or alternate between two bars from two different scenes.
it makes more sense to seek a solution rather than seeking who is responsible the machine is not like you personally need it to be. I bet you agree on that.
Letās think forward what could be done.
in example i run midi monitor just to see if i can see anything on the stream that might indicate the action of selecting another slotā¦ ā¦without success (yet).
i can trigger slots via midi notes starting with C-2 going upward when SLOT VIEW is turned on and SETTINGS > MIDI > CONTROL > AUDIO NOTE IN = FOLLOW TM.
If i trigger this way i have the slot number basically as midi note-on stored in pitch.
As this works also without note-offs right after, you could in theory have a midi controller capable of permanent button states and maybe even LED indicator showing on/off send as notes-pitches and know whats playingā¦ My faderfox PC12 can do that in example and many other controllers as well. Its not ideal but a turned on LED sending note-on with slot-number as pitch is at least a starting point.
Now how far you can go depends on your live-rig environmentā¦
further, in this AUDIO NOTE IN = FOLLOW TM with SLOT VIEW on, i can also use the midi channels that have been assigned to the track numbers in setup. That allows a little logic (from mac to midi interface) to assign single notes and their pitches to specific midi channels and make sure the slot is not possible on other midi channels once i opened themā¦ well any logic here as you like becomes possibleā¦ also all tracks with the same slot numberā¦
If you do that with Ableton (in case you have) you could use a max patch doing the needed logic.
interesting, I will remember it if and when I get a faderfox. thanks for the heads up!
how does it bode with quantized launch? oh well, should just try myself
an over the top solution would be to make clips with a single note in ableton and make 4 copies of each on four tracks, and put a hw device on each track sending to a respective midi channel, then use something like novation launchpad or ableton push to trigger the clips
you can then even have different colours for different groups of loops
though I personally hate the idea of introducing a laptop and another controller into the set up just for that
I have a push, might try this outā¦
(I have bitwig but it works similarly; I wonder if I can make it to not send the note off event it does have something called note latch device)
in ableton there is CHAIN mappable onto a macro of an instrument rack, and given you place the chains only on one chain number you can practically route signals with the macro knob and in each of the chains you can have external instrument, mute its audio and just use midi-out with channel setting. And voilĆ” only one Midi Channel would play the note (slot) Which makes it a matrix
the timing of the note arriving in the Octatrack is the time it starts playing the triggered slot on the channel (track) it was received. But as everything in OT is reliant on clock anyway, who caresā¦ you just want to have them in sync playing to the clock (midi 0xf8 real time signal grid). Can even be used with a quantisation tool from within abletonā¦
some hints: ableton is unable to route multiple midi channels in one device. (well MPE can but the octatrack is incompatible with MPE). But multiple midi channels in one instrument rack can do that as shown in the pic. Ableton does not allow to receive clock signals of the DAW in a max patch unless you feed the clock externally into it. Further max patches can filter out MIDI NOTE-OFF or NOTE-ON easilyā¦ so you dont need to have a very long midi patch with a strange long note.
another hint: sssssh! The octatrack can play slots even if the machine is not running the sequencer (transport).
it can be doneā¦ checked Slot trigger and quantisation for two OT channels (T4 & T5).
First track is triggered directly via a special Chord Arpeggiator i develop the moment (but only first voice so single note).
Second track is triggered basically the same but using the first Arpeggiator to apply faster arp on each note the first arp producesā¦ result is a nice mess but the sound must stay in quantisation which can be heard because the beat behind is triggered from the Octatrack to an external machine in grid. So yes you can play quantised SLOTās. Possible because each time you trigger a slot you indeed trigger again depending on clock syncā¦ (in my case the clock came from the DAW)
beware, sounds strange for testing: rhythmic mess on purpose of course as this triggers my slot list (lol).
The clue is that you can either choose to trigger Slots (via notes pitch) and Slices (via CC17 as is norm) or just Slices (via notes pitch) depending on the view mode, as long āFollow TMā is turned onā¦
ps: my MIDI Setup in OT is T1ā¦T8 midi1ā¦8 and Autochannel 9.
