Hi!
Just wanted to see how people use their octatracks when producing for later release etc.
As the unit just has 2 stereo pairs but 8 audio tracks there I ask myself on how to use the properly.
A couple of days ago I did a multitrack recordign into live and while everything was great one of the hihats coming from the octatrack was too loud. Now as there wasn’T just the hihat playing I am left with either changin the hihats volume and record again, use a dynamic eq to try getting it less loud or record my arrangement and after this every of the 8 audio tracks to cue out for later cutting and arranging.
Not so cool.
How do you do this?
I either commit to making a ‘live’ recording that has limited tweakability, or track individually the tracks I want separated from the rest.
Hard panning things L/R would obviously effectively give you 4 mono outs, just be mindful of possible stereo FX (don’t actually know if they are an issue with hard panned things on the OT).
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I like to tweak and mix stuff on the computer so I end up bouncing tracks from the OT to Ableton pretty much as I go. This also allows me to bypass messing with slightly confusing architecture of the OT during the composition phase when I need to keep momentum up. Save that part for arranging a live set.
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Once im happy with what i’ve got I use studio mode to ‘send’ each track to my DAW individually through out C+D - while I listen to the rest of the tracks from out A+B.
Its not as nice as multitrack recording but hey can’t have it all, no different to recording a bass then a guitar then drums … 
like a real band
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I see.
Is there a dedicated studio mode to enter or do you just route the different signals manually to the outputs?
One after the other would be great. Still working on a good timing regarding recording into live.
Thanks for your answers
You should just route your tracks to the main and cue outputs, and pan hard left and right if you prefer 4 mono outputs to 2 stereo outputs.
The OT has a “studio mode” for its cue configuration, but that’s for using the OT like a mixer rather than what you want.
I read on here that some guy would resample all his parts inside the OT and then send the files to his computer via usb. Seemed like an interesting notion
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Hmm, not sure what to thik of that.
Probably not as bad as I think. Guess I have to try. The prblem is that I when I kind of jam and mute unmute parts I would have to redo that in live and the whole point of using hardware is meaningless.
Alternatively 4 mono outs I suppose.
I also thought so
Now I like to play and capture parts, sometimes 1 sound I play with… In Ableton
This allows me to play with the ot and create its playful sounds, which i capture in Ableton audio and pit together to a fulltime song…
The studio process uses the idea of multitracking again…
And next to this it has huis own editing and automation benefits.
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I managed to pipe MIDI from the OT to Ableton and back. It records pattern changes, scene fader and scene changes and mutes which is all i need for performance. The recorded MIDI is editable and plays back the performance just fine. Then I can either record track by track into my interface or I can render track by track inside the OT and export them (as long as the track is under 8 minutes).
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That’s a fantastic idea!
Nice, this is the way to go if you want to record a midi performance in your daw. you will be able to record individual audio tracks afterwards as your performance datas will be safely recorded in your daw.
You still have the limitation that you can’t process the audio signal of all your individual tracks within your daw during the creative process.
Plus if your perf involves master track manipulation, you will obviously have to record the master track audio, loosing the ability to further tweak the individual tracks in your daw…
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Good suggestions in this thread.
I have nothing to add, still using my OT as a sequencer & esoteric delay device, not using it for actually playing back samples at all. If I were, I’d prolly go with the “record-midi-then-send-track-by-track-to-cue” approach, sounds quite workable.
The fx are so flexible that I’m pretty sure you could just stem-mix the 8 into two stereo pairs in a pinch as well. Some parametric subtractive eq & compression goes a long way (assuming your levels are in good balance)
Lastly, I’d check your recording to see if using a multiband eq or compressor / de-esser could fix the hihat issue. Sometimes “too loud hats” can be tamed by killing/attenuating the most offending freqs with narrow q equalisation, worth a try.
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I have a pretty sweet setup going these days.
I use an RME UFX and ‘Total Mix’ (hardware mixing and FX on the rack unit). I basically rout everything through this. All synths/drums go the the UFX as do all OPs of the OT. I mix and apply compression, slight reverb and mix EQ here too. It doesn’t add character but that’s fine by me!
When I plug this unit into a computer via USB, I get access to all of these IO so I can record everything right to the DAW and mix everything later as separate tracks.
The really awesome part I never realised until I actually read the UFX manual is that you can record directly to a decent jump drive - all tracks in and out - right on the UFX. So if you don’t have the computer or DAW handy. Or often I ‘forgot’ to turn it on and everything which kind of kills the vibe if you’re working live. I just press the record button on the UFX and it starts recording all of the tracks I have armed to the jump drive. I transfer them to the computer later if it’s not a complete trainwreck
Ive found that using the OT as an overdub maniac really helps breath life into tracks.
When making studio tracks I make sure to really decide what needs to be sequenced and processed in the OT as opposed to just in the DAW. Once I do that I do the method described above by using Studio mode in the Audio prefereces. Depending on the track I will either hard pan LR or just have two separate stereo channels.
Like I started to talk about before, the OT is beastly when treated like a regular studio overdub. Lay out your track in the DAW, then slave the OT to it (taking latency into account) and build the OT tracks over top of whatever else you have. Grind the effects, change some samples etc. That way you really are performing!
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I have to say it does work reasonably well to just send one afte the other to cue for recording. Not as nice as multi out but still absolutely fine.
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Hi! Could you give me a hint, how you recorded the midi and how it is presented within Ableton? I have something similar in mind, with my Analog Rytm. When I insert a midi monitor to my Rytm track, it tells me that there is midi being send, containing all the mute, scene and performance actions.
But I have no clue how to record them…
I’m considering turning my octatrack into a “quadrutrack”. 4 tracks each with a neighbor track then rout them each to an individual out in studio mode. That will allow me to continue to perform live and record each track separately.
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Pretty cool idea actually. Might give this one a shot for studio use. You lose out on panning but the 2 extra FX might make up for it.
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I could, of course, try this out for myself but maybe someone has an answer ready: Does hard panning and using the OT effects together cause some bleeding? I mean, I think at least the delay has some pingpong aspect to it, but can you set everything to function without stereo widening?
Thanks