After going to several keyboard/sampler meetups over the last year and reading this forum endlessly, I am thinking about holding an Octatrack workshop this year. Just gonna drop my thoughts here for consideration:
Held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this instructional workshop is for those who want to boost their existing OT knowledge to a higher level and share ideas. We’re talking a half day here so I don’t want to get too complex.
What will we cover?
*Sampling and editing
*Slicing and kismet
*Time and pitch as magic
*Gain staging
*FX techniques and advanced scenes
*Drones and beyond
*Mixing
Planning to hold this at a downtown studio space. As far as cost, I am thinking a $10 donation to cover the space and food/drink.
This will be a hands-on, “everyone is actually doing every technique together” workshop and the space needs to support that. There is a downtown location I have in mind with the correct multi-player studio setup, easy parking, and support space. Just working out the timing and logistics.
The Miltown Beatdown (a beat battle I participate in) was rescheduled to the fall, so I will probably put this together in Q2 2014.
Also, since we have some midwesterners here… if you are heading to Anime Milwaukee, make plans to attend my DJ EGGBERT set at Promstuck on Saturday Feb 15th 1:00-2:30pm. Hundreds of kids cosplaying Homestuck + me with an Octatrack loaded full of the fandom music, J-pop, and original material.
Bass. FX. Filter on fader. Jumping up and down. Resample. Repeat.
Anything other than May 17 (family event) would be great!
I’ll prioritize this workshop over Moog Fest (in April) though - they’re only selling 5-day passes which are expensive - no cheaper ticket options - and they don’t respond to email.
can you set up an overhead camera looking down at your OT as you work? possible to beam that to a large flat screen so most in the room can see what you’re talking about? might make it easier for everyone to follow along, and it would make it easy to record for sharing with those who can’t attend.
what’s the format? since there are soooooo many possible workflows within OT, every attendee will have a shortcut or a workflow that everyone else might benefit from. what’s the best way for everyone to share his/her knowledge with the group without the event turning into a free-for-all?
chicago users, after this event, perhaps we should do a monthly meetup covering 1-3 topics in depth (such as the too-awesome matrix breakbeat of doom). we could video our sessions and edit them down for sharing and posting.
this sounds great. looking forward to meeting folks in milwaukee.
Here’s my mental picture. There will be 6-8 people. We will sit in a more or less circular arrangement at a table with a shared mixer.
I will publish an agenda of topics with the goal of you coming away with a whole new approach and vigor for creating tracks with the OT. We will not wander off into areas that I do not personally find productive. For example, we will not be covering pickup machines but we will kick the living crap out of everything else. You will come home with new skills.