Yeah, this is indeed one of the things I’ve struggled with. For example, I couldn’t figure out why the filters didn’t work until I listened over my speakers rather than my headphones (I’ve used all my other gear almost exclusively with my headphones). Same for routing the output while monitoring sampling etc.
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There’s a couple of potentially confusing things:
- there’s 8 output channels which are routed to the main outs, unless you plug a cable into the individual output, in which case theyre routed to that output, and not to the main outs anymore.
- those 8 channels can be panned any way you like in the panning menu. This panning effects the way they are mixed into the main outs and the headphone out. You can set up 8 channels playing mono, or pairs (1-2, 3-4 etc) playing stereo, or any combination thereoff.
- if you play a sample set to ‘stereo’ on a channel, it will automatically also play from its neighbouring channel (1-2, 3-4, etc). If these channels are panned in the middle, the stereosample will be played from both channels, and thus be summed to mono using 2 channels. If the sample is the same in the left and right channel, you just doubling it in volume, because its being played from 2 channels now.
- you can also play a stereosample in l+r mode, which sums it to mono, but then only plays it from 1 channel.
- Obviously, if you’re playing a mono sample on a track which is part of a stereo pair, it will only play either right or left.
- the input monitoring and looper also go through one of these channel pairs (automatically set to 1-2). If you didnt split these into stereo in the panning menu, you will hear your inputs summed to mono instead of stereo.
The solution for me is to set some channels to stereo pairs by panning them l-r (1-2, 3-4 for me) and the other to mono by panning them into the middle (5,6,7,8 for me).
Now the sampling and looping can be heard in stereo, and I can route samples to either mono or stereo channels.
If you dont pay attention to this, things turn into a mess with stereo samples playing twice from 2 monochannels, mono samples only playing on one side, or the input monitoring not actually working in stereo.
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As much as the s2400 appeals to me, every time I read this kind of important detail I consider the octatrack as a relatively simple machine!
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I think its the unavoidable result of them adding more voices and routing options to the machine.
Once you get the basics its quite easy to understand and work with. I even think its beneficial to be forced to think about stereo/mono samples and the way you combine them.
The OT makes everything stereo iirc which is easier but also sometimes messed with me when for instance I wanted to do a pingpong delay, in which case it works completely different from the DT/AR.
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Reading this reminded me of how we used to do panning on the SP1200. As your probably aware these were all mono outs. So we used Chorus to widen the field to make it sound stereo. Along with Reverb and back and forward delay which worked really well. These three workarounds compensated for the lack of stereo.
So heres my thinking. Talking to Brad and the upcoming DSP FX cards he says that chorus delay and reverb will most likely be included on it. And Voila! We now have the ability to get panning in stereo integrated into the Isla same as was done on the SP1200. Exciting times ahead.
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Silly question, but I can’t find on the website where you can register your device. Did you guys have any luck with that?
I dont think ive ever registered as the invoice i think Brad said was enough.
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Ok! I thought maybe there would be an advantage when you would want to pre order, thought I saw something on Reddit about that but can’t find it anymore.
Thanks!
Edit: OMG, I just discovered live looping. I am in love…
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Its one of its best points. A or B buttons save or delete on the fly.
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Live looping is amazing and so quick to work with! I record my guitars and moog into it all the time.
You can also use the loopers to record an fx loop. I go: output 7-8 into sp404sx into a looper track to add sp404 fx to my beats. You can then save the loop as a sample and even chop it up if you want.
The s2400 is fairly basic in a lot of ways, but the loopers add a whole layer of possibilities.
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it just has a really nice workflow. what i like about it is you can treat it like an SP1200 and stay simple, but bit by bit you can start to unpeel the more complex UI additions and you realise that all the functions are really well thought out and designed. some users have scoffed at the added complexity, but really i think it just takes a bit of learning and desire for those new features. i really like the way in which the whole UI has been setup. Even navigating the lists in the OLED screen is a pleasure vs scrolling lists in my Push 3 which is a pain. The Push 3 screen is like 4x S2400 screen, Ableton could easily have made scrolling lists a lot more simple than the current implementation.
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Has anyone had a look under the hood yet to see where the Daughter card will go?
I’ve been more productive in the last week with my Isla + summit than I have been in the previous 3 months.
Honeymoon phase for sure, but it is just so intuitive, capable and sounds amazing out of the box.
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Cool to hear and same: I’ve now made more than 150 beats since I got the Isla, I literally never been this productive.
The only thing you (and I) gotta watch out for: it’s so easy and inspiring to start something new that I often skip over really diving in and finetuning stuff on the s2400. Might just be me, but on my elektrons I spent more time finetuning everything from microtiming to filter settings. I’m not sure this really made things better actually… the s2400 just sounds so good from the start that I might be getting lazy.
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I found this and its a common thing on the forum. Just toooo easy to make a beat.
Why not seperate the quick and easy tracks from the one solid one. That way you can have both.
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I’m too lazy to find the source but I thought apart of the DSP aspect with the daughter cards was also adding LFOs as well. Who knows if that would allow for panning modulation though.
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Have had my studio torn apart so I could paint the room and been procrastinating setting it back up…
Decided to bring my S2400 out to the dining room table with my A4 and did all the sound design from kicks to hi hats to pads and basses with the A4 and sampled them into the S2400 and god… really forgot how great this thing sounds.
Like, I know we all know it sounds great but there is some magic happening here. Even with things like a kick and a bass I feel like I don’t have to do much and they just sit together. I can’t tell if I’m making unconscious decisions or there’s something else going on but everything just sounds so good coming out of the S2400, especially the low end.
Also, been sleeping on the live looper. Compared to my other devices with loopers: Deluge and Octatrack, this is probably the best live looper. I tend to avoid using loopers cuz in my head it’s for Guitars but it’s really a crucial part to the S2400 recording. Unless you’re just recording one shots or something from vinyl, live loop recording is the way to go if you’re playing any instrument. Seems obvious, I know. In two years I’ve never touched it and I feel like an idiot now lol.
I’m glad I’ve done these last few sessions this past weekend before setting up my studio again. I think I’m gonna go all in on this device rather than just for drum uses. Center my entire studio around it, recording all audio through it before going to ableton. The workflow is super easy, doesn’t overload the brain with features, just a quick sampler that’s fun to use.
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For sure, it is the best sounding sampler I have used, and also, that live looper is fun.
One of the other things I like about it is all the inputs/outputs. I always have my turntable hooked up to phono 1, so I play my records through it, and I can sample at will. Also, I don’t meed to have to have a phono preamp taking up space. And having the other inputs is great as well, as I have a couple synths hooked up too. For a small/medium setup, it negates the need for having to plug/unplug things, or having to use a switcher/pathcbay. And of course the 8 channel outputs as well are nice. Samplers nowadays often skimp on these things.
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It’s my favourite piece of gear I’ve owned. The sound is just unbelievable tbh and workflow is mostly sharp and focused.
I actually have almost no complaints in this piece of kit. I do wish the sequencer could run when sampling (outside of looper mode), is a bit of annoying limitation but there are workarounds if you have an external sequencer to support. Understand this is a hardware limitation of sorts so guess s it is what is.
Other than that just looking forward to the FX card and filter card. Hope they make it to production but these don’t impact usability of the machine in its current state.
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Right?!?! I don’t think I will ever buy another sampler because they all sound like sh*t compared to the s2400. It has ruined me. Bunch of cheap sounding plastic boxes make me sad when I hear the s2400 lol. Even the digital filter is like the best sounding digital filter ever.
Super excited for the analog filter card though. I really hope it materializes some day.
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