Joining the OctaCult

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#41

@HotdogLothario @smoketraks @blaize
Thanks for watching, I’m trying to build up my subscribers - so feel free to join! I’ve been writing and recording one song a week AND making a video. It’s been insane! The Octatrack purchase was my reward to myself for all the work I’ve put in this year.

@sezare56
You got it! The music was unlistenable at 4x slow, so I just made a 30bpm metronome, but then recorded audio notes “get ready to spin in 3, 2, 1 - turn off lights, ready, go” then sped up the video 4x! (also shoutout to Beastie Boys! definitely an inspiration)

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#42

Already done! The trip to the corn maze with Frank sealed the deal for me.

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#43

The only thing better than one OT is two OTs.

Three is surely worse than two though.

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#44

Would make a nice tattoo :wink:

#45

The Operating Thetan (OT) manual.

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#46

Just did this for the first time and had so much fun!

My first thought: “This feels like doing a DJ set with drum machines!”

Being able to design/stack/arrange FX is totally wild, coming from a Digitakt user.

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#47

Definitely try a random LFO on the slice parameter, too. Crazy fun!

#48

And the LFO designer is fun as well as creating p lock scenes and using the fader.

#49

It’s like a computer or a DAW in the sense that no one uses all of it’s features. You just use what you need for your workflow and it’s so versatile that it should be a good fit for almost anyone.

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#50

This makes a lot of sense!

#51

Could you elaborate?
Were you listening the song structure ?
I’d be curious to hear what you were listening during shooting.

For my try, i used doubled tempo sound…

#52

I do think a good way to learn the octatrack is to try making sketch or a track focusing on one specific function. This is especially good for when you make a lot of progress but then get stumped. I think learning the octatrack is kind of a ascension / plateau thing where you have an “aha!” Moment and then a lot of things come together quickly. Then it’ll be weeks and you kind of exhaust the possibilities from the stuff you just learned. For instance, I’d been using it for years before I started using the arranger. I build things usually through scenes but was kind of stuck for new ideas, started learning how to use the arranger, and it opened up a whole new field.

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#53

Is there anything they could absolutely improve or do away with on the cryptic side of things that would be an improvement or is the machine “perfect” as is? Like obviously no machine is perfect, but is there any fat to trim on this that wouldn’t ruin something else about it?

#54

I was using mine mostly to sample movies and as drum machine. When Rytm arrives will focus on resampling again and creating fun patterns.

#55

do we have a secret handshake yet?

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#56

Yeah, looping. Needs polyphony per track.

#57

Brilliant. Frank trying to keep a straight face is the best bit for me.

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#58

Yep I can confirm, having sold my DT when I got an OT and regretting it within a week. DT also works good at being 8 mono synths as it has a larger chromatic range. Mine’s loaded up with a ton of single cycle waveforms that I’ll never use all of haha.

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#59

Workaround with OT : single cycle sample chains. 64 semitones chromatic, more with defined scales.
I made some for OT and don’t regret DT (mono samples, no slices, 33s mono recording max, no pre-defined recording length, auto normalize :grimacing:, no audio editor…)

Even without sample chains I think you can make interesting stuff with OT and single cycle waveforms.
(6 tracks generative example, good luck with DT)

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#60

I like having both of those machines. You can’t have one without the other IMO

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