Keith McMillen 12 Step with OT

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hi there,

I won’t get back my OT before next weekend but want to order the Keith McMillen Midi Expander. Before doing this I wanted to ask you guys some question if possible or not:

  1. The 12 step sends midi notes. Can I trigger recording for individual/specific tracks by setting up the corresponding midi channels?

  2. Main problem is I use the OT as midi slave to Ableton. Would it be possible to route the midi clock/transport from the computer via USB to the expander and have this routed to it’s midi out so it can still trigger/synchronize the OT (while at the same time sending midi from the 12 step)???

Confusing? :slight_smile:

Best,
L.

Keith McMillen 12 step to control OCTATRACK
#2

Yes to #1. Track recording functions are mapped to MIDI notes already in the OT. Consult the manual to see what notes map to what.

#2… don’t know… I just don’t use Live with my OT.

Also dunno why the forum editor bolded the above line. Sometimes I think the forum software is too smart for its own good. It needs to be dumber and let us make the styling decisions.

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#3

:wink:

Thanks. Problem: The 12step doesn’t have separate midi channels per key. But for each track of the OT is one a different midi channel, right?

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#5

I thought the Softstep works ONLY with the Mcmillen Midi Expander? besides that: Don’t you need cc’s for the pickup machine? Does the Softstep send them?

#6

You can use KMI gear as SoftStep, Quneo, Qunexus, etc. without Midi Expander but with a computer.
patching the device using Max for Live or something like this, i made it connecting my Quneo to control the MDUW via the MachineDrum editor. on a Mac. Hope this helps:robot:

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#7

Yo, but the Ot can only be controlled via midi.

#8

FWIW, I’ve used Softstep 2 to select Tracks and Record/Playback on Pickup Machines on the OT.

The OT does not support MIDI over USB as I recall. It was necessary to use the Expander to connect the SS2 to the OT.

I also have a 12 Step, but never tried it as an OT controller, as the idea was to use it to play drone and bass notes.

Elektron should have the OT manual on their website for download to answer your more detailed questions about MIDI and stuff on the OT. There is an appendix or something which lists the mappings of MIDI note numbers and other values to OT functions. I think the Track Up/Down functions and the basic Pickup machine functions are mapped to MIDI note numbers 60-67… or something… def. in the manual.

#9

I use a 12step with my OT and it’s work fine.
You can change active track with midi note. So you can have key for recording an two key to change tracks, up and down.
If you want Ableton as master, you have to use a midi port like this
http://www.m-audio.com/products/view/midisport-4x4-anniversary-edition

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#10

I came to a different solution: I use Bome Miditranslator to send all commands. Forgot that I still have it installed on m laptop…

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#11

Hey, are you still using the 12 step with the OT?

I’m having a hang up:

I can use my custom note-preset to send midi note 60 to initiate recording of my pickup machine on T1, which works perfect. I can use notes 68/69 to move the active track up and down, but when I get to, say, T5, and then I hit the button for note 60 again, it jumps back to T1 and records there.

Everything is happening via the auto channel, so I can’t figure out why it jumps back to T1 for everything.

Any ideas?

#12

I don’t know why. It’s working here.
I send midi notes on the channel 11. I tested your method and it’s work perfectly.
I send note 60 ch11 to T1, pickup start. I pass to T2 with notes 69, start and the same with T3 etc…
My record setup is One2 and the lenght 64 on every tracks.
When I’m using this fonction for me, I send note 61 to start recording and note 64 to stop recording or just stop overdubbing.
It’s cool because you can clear the loop with note 64 too.
I made a maxmsp device to check what’s your midi device send. You can download it here and run it with maxruntime.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4OyL_O-2RRlLW5kcG5EdDJCelk/view?usp=sharing
Just check that your midi note 60 is on the good channel.
May be try with a new project too.

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#13

Wow, @dacoutu! Thanks for an awesome response!

It’s completely inexplicable but after restarting all the machines this morning the midi is routing fine and not resetting to T1 any more.

I’ll try your m4L device later, so thank you for that, too!

p.s. how are you getting 64 to clear the loop, too? It’s not doing that over here… yet

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#14

It’s not exactly clear the loop but it stop the pickup machine and you can start a new record on this track with note 61.

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#15

Ah, yes. That makes sense. I’ve already been utilizing this behavior.

One other strange quandary: have you had any strange jumps in tempo/bpm when you send note 64?

It doesn’t do it every time, but a few times, while playing live last monday, i hit that button for note 64 and got a jump of something like 20bpm, and then another time it was something like a 12bpm jump. It’s pretty strange behavior. It almost sounded intentional, but it wasn’t. So i kept a straight face and continued on.

It has done this across multiple days and machine on/offs

#16

It’s seems normal.
Because your first record in pickup machine sest the tempo.
Octatrack knows the lenght of our loop and set the tempo.
So if you don’t want that, put a lenght of your track recording i think.

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#17

I think it’s weirder than that

I’m familiar with the “pickup machine sync” in the tempo window (track + tempo button) and when the P.U. machine is the first track going, BUT…

OT is always the tempo/bpm master of all other pieces of gear. So if time is already moving based on the global OT tempo, it seems strange that recording into a pickup machine via the foot controller will change the tempo. This doesn’t happen if I record into the P.U. via the red buttons… only the foot controller.

So, I’m curious if that’s what’s going on. Maybe the OT is analyzing and interpreting my recording and changing the global tempo. I don’t think it should do that. It should stay global unless it is the first track initiated. Right? …weird…

Sometimes recording a triplet groove from a synth or something could feel faster than the current tempo and a 16th note pattern would feel even faster, but it’s still in the same tempo. I think my OT is judging my playing incorrectly

#18

I have another question regarding the KMI 12 Step.

Can I use it to play slices or samples chromatically? Or will it just work with the MIDI channels?

Cheers

#19

Hi I have been trying to get my SS2 to connect via MIDI expander to the Octa MIDI IN.
SS2 set to send on ch 11 midi notes 60-64 and Octa receive on auto ch11.

Proj settings Octa
transp recv - ticked
recv auto- ticked

Midi control
Audio cc in - ticked
audio cc out - int+ext
audio note in - ticked
audio note out - ext + int.

I have tried both the advanced and basic editor for the SS2 sending via standalone to softstep expander. pressing ‘save’ and then ‘send to soft step’.

it seems people can make this work, but I can’t!
I saw you said you were having some glitches, but you had it working, did this continue? I am at a loss as to why it is not transmitting data properly. Any advice much appreciated. I think I have proj settings correct but would appreciate any hints and confirmation of settings.

#20

I have a 12step and have yet to attempt getting it in line with OT. Interested on others experience.

I definitely want to setup to just with Pickup machines for looper madness.

#21

Interesting setting you should be able to set with 12 step / Soft Step with Toggle :

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