I use Octatrack and after quite a bit thinking I decided to buy an Analog Heat. Anyone here with the same combo or general recommendations on Analog Heat would be great to here from people who already have experience with it.
PS: I want to use it as an audio card while using Ableton 11 on windows. How is your CPU overload and general usage satisfaction upon it?
I use mine with my octatrack mk2, and it feels like a new instrument. The oomph the heat gives it, is something special to my ears.
It has breathed new life into my favourite toy.
Thereâs been no noticeable cpu spikes, but as the work is done by the heat before being sent to ableton, I wouldnât expect to see anything strange in my set up.
Itâs not too shabby on the Syntakt either, however I do tend to use what that box has for warmth and growly things.
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Heat makes everything sound better, gorgeous glue and oomph. Itâs as subtle or as extreme as you like. Brilliant with hardware and software.
Works great as a send effect in Ableton Live.
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Do you use the 8th track as the master? And how is your experience with the Octatracks compressor while using it with Heat?
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I donât tend to use the master.
I do use the compressor on drums however.
Itâs always down to your own taste, but the combo can sound great. The OT just needs a smidge before it hits the heat, unless youâre aiming for an overly distorted sound.
Itâs easy to get carried away with the heat, and so I tend to be more âlight touchâ with it. That being said when I need that filth, I can shape what I want very easily.
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Could not agree more 
Using it at the end of chain, just after a FMR RNC and I could not live without both.
RNC as a pseudo limiter and Heat for the rest (Dirt, bit of EQ and filtering as well as Env Follower for Dirt)
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How does it glue without a compressor? Is it the envelope follower? I had a Mk1 but was a long time ago and canât remember how it sounded for glueing everything together, was a great for adding dirt and colour
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That does help.
Having the RNC just before the Heat also helps a lot.
There is a setting for using Heat as a pseudo compressor, detailed in the manual (page 29 - Section 8.2):
8.2 PSEUDO-COMPRESSION
You can use the Analog Heat MKII to emulate a compressor and/or expander by using the Envelope Generator. This is useful if you want to add some extra pump to drums, or to liven up a flat sound. In this example, you should use a highly dynamic sound source, with sharp transients, such as drums.
- Select the CLEAN BOOST circuit and disable the filter by pressing both [FILTER TYPE] keys at the same time. All filter type LEDs should be turned o .
- Connect your sound source to the Analog Heat MKII and make sure that the volume of the sound source is as strong as possible.
- Make sure the input level is correctly set. For more information, please see â3.2 SETTING THE INPUT SENSITIVITY LEVELâ on page 10.
- Start by setting DRIVE to 0, WET LEVEL to 127, and DRY/WET to 127.
- Press the [AMP] key to access AMP PAGE, and set VOL to 127.
- Press the [ENV] key to access ENVELOPE PAGE 1, and set MODE to AD. Adjust the MODE (AD) parameter until you clearly see the incoming signal in the TRIG meter. You should see the peaks and dips of the incoming signal, retaining as much as possible of dynamics of the signal.
- Lower the TRIG value until you see the trigger icon blink in the upper right corner of the screen. Make sure it triggers mainly from the strongest peaks of the incoming sound.
- Set ATK to 48, and REL to 72.
- Press [ENV] a second time to access ENVELOPE PAGE 2 and change DEST1 to PRESET VOL and DEPTH1 to -72.
You should now hear a very dynamic ducking e ect with pretty sharp transients. You can change VOL, ATK, REL, and DEPTH1 to achieve di erent compression e ects.
If you change VOL to 80 and apply positive modulation (DEPTH1), you expand the signal instead of compress it.
Bonus: Adding LFO
- Press the [LFO] key to access LFO PAGE 1.
- Set WAVE to SQR, SPEED to 1, and MULT to x1.
- Press the [LFO] key again to access LFO PAGE 2.
- Set DEST1 to PRESET VOL, MODE to TRI, and FADE to 40.
- Apply positive modulation from DEPTH1 for even louder transients.
Note that DEPTH1 on ENVELOPE PAGE 2 need to be lowered to make room for the LFO modulation.
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âŚkiller comboâŚperiod.
but i hope u snatched a really good deal for that heat mk2, since thereâs is no other reason to not pick the +fx version right away instead these days if u going to buy a brandnew device anywaysâŚ
and since there is no sonic difference between mk1 and mk2, u might wanna have a quick search for a 2nd hand mk1âŚ
Got a pretty good deal. 680 ⏠for a brand new one. Second hand mk1 is around 400⏠so it was okay for me.
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It is a brilliant device, but can be a little fiddly, itâs not instant gratification a lot of the time and you have to kinda learn how to use it and know what youâre doing and why. Itâs easy to go from 0 to distort a lot of the time and think, âis this it?â For the money, you will probably second guess the device more than once. Because it can ruin sounds and make them sound worse, which wasnât what you bargained for!
BUT, it can totally lift a drum bus out of the track, for example. Little bit of saturation and TINY amount of the âpoleâ filter and ENV follower on drive can really smoosh, compress and fatten a rhythm section.
It is really good on groups of sounds with lots of bass content, the sound just⌠changes, and you can really dial that in, and itâs always fatter and more coherent.
Then you can run the whole mixdown through a bit of Clean Boost and final EQ.
This is very expensive way of adding a final 10-20% polish to a tune. Is it worth it? Dunno, but Iâm not selling mine.
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