Some of you may remember this post from last year, showing my portable Octatrack and Virus setup. Well, I’ve been using it every single day ever since, building up my Octatrack muscle memory and learning the Virus menu structure inside and out. Since early December, I’ve been designing a MKII version of this box, with some huge improvements.
People have shown interest in how this all fits together and have been telling me I should log the build, so I figure I’ll use this thread to post my progress.
Here’s a breakdown of the specs:
- Octatrack as the main brain and sequencer
- Virus TI Snow, sequenced via four of the eight midi tracks
- Intel NUC mini PC, with a 7" portrait touchscreen, running Bitwig and Reaktor
- Bitwig/Reaktor instrument tracks sequenced by the remaining four midi tracks
- Audio out from the Octatrack and Virus into two stereo Bitwig audio tracks for additional processing
- Two Behringer UCA202 interfaces with outputs summed through an external mixer circuit for live monitoring of all four RCA inputs
- Custom I/O panel, rerouting all the necessary sockets from the Octatrack, Virus, interfaces and computer to the front, so they’re easily accessible, with a battery level meter and individual power switches for everything
- Custom built 12-cell lithium ion battery pack with individual boost/buck converters for each piece of gear
- Laser cut plywood case, with quality flight case fittings, gas struts, and neoprene foam strip seals. When the box is closed, it should be totally sealed from the elements.
- Custom laser cut front panel to house the Virus, NUC and touch screen
- Custom JavaScript application to bounce individual tracks from the Octatrack as audio stems
And here’s a 3D model of the overall design, though it’s slightly outdated now:
Here’s the power schematic:
Here’s the signal path diagram, though this is also a bit outdated:
I’ve got loads more to post, but this will do for a start! The build is well under way already, so I’ll post some pics soon.