Korg KP3 Style Slicing w/ Octatrack?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
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hello folks,
i just recently got an octatrack- been playing with it for about 4 days- really excited about getting deeper and deeper into it.

i had a question that i thought i should ask before i spend tons of time trying to figure it out for myself- which is- can i easily duplicate the super fun sample slicing on the kp3?

for those who are not familiar with the kp3:

i have a sample loaded- there are 8 lit up buttons representing 8 slices of the sample. the sample is looping. when i press one of the buttons, it goes dark, and that slice is no longer played in the loop- BUT- here’s the thing- the loop is now one slice shorter- no silence- actually shortened in length

this is a super fun way to chop drums live- as you can easily get weird polyrhythmic stuff going on- and can easily get neat stutters by only allowing a few slices to loop for a bit…

i’m almost positive there is a way to get this kinda thing with the octatrack- perhaps this community has the wisdom?

thanks in advance!
-d

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Actually not that easy to replicate such behavior.

You can do plenty of things with slices, though.
One of the funniest thing being to actually play and live record the different slices.

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This is a nice feature of the KP3/KP3+, as a result of the relative simplicity of the unit.

The Octatrack doesn’t have an identical implementation of this feature, but there are many ways to end up with the same functionality with a few more button presses, including:

  • changing the slice that is triggered on each sequencer step
  • lengthening or shortening the current pattern
  • applying a random LFO to sweep through the slices of a sliced LFO
  • using a designer LFO to program playback rhythm of slices

And, of course, the Octatrack can be doing this on 8 stereo playback tracks simultaneously.

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Yeah, the actual way to implement it on OT is a bit long winded. You’d have to slice a sample, with all the steps required there (check the manual), the plock the slices on a pattern manually, then shorten the length of the pattern to suit the reduced length.

Alternative, considering you have a KP3, just hook it up to the cue out and one of the inputs, + midi out for clock and you could send a loop out to the kp3, slice it however you like and resample it back into the OT on the fly and without the headache.

I actually quite like the KP3 as a companion to the OT, It’s quite good live as a master effects, and also a quick and dirty looper when you need to change/load sets on the OT.

Additionally as a tip to a new user, try not to get hung up on what the OT doesn’t do or do well. You’ll get upset very quickly, but the things it can do are amazing.

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thanks for the responses! i am realizing that rather than trying to replicate this i should just focus on all the crazy stuff the octatrack is good at… once i have a better grasp of all it’s features i’ll try to develop some kinda similar technique. i def like the idea of connecting the OT to the kp3…

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