More reasons to love octatrack…
The tubbutec midi mod for SH101 required a pitch bend calibration to be executed upon installation of the new CPU. This command requires PB sent over midi while playing an A, then high B key to be pressed to accept the calibration protocol
The keys from high F and above on my SH101 do not work, the circuits are damaged very badly.
However… this morning I discovered I can send a continious PB message from the OT, to stabilise the tuning and bypass the protocol!
I didn’t explain it correctly. Not sure I can, but the MonoMachine samples are just really low bit rate, one crappy kit, maybe 8 samples in it…kick snare, hh, oh, siren(?), and the usual…But, yeah that kit, spread across the keys, and as you go up in keys, the same samples in different octaves. It really makes for some strange sounds when paired with the filters and distortion ect. I’m sure I could do it to any kit with some sort of software and then make them a samplechain, just haven’t thought how.
Thanks for bringing up the MM BBOX, ya’ll.
It’s brought me back to how I used to use it…
The thing that’s great about the MM BBOX is having all those sounds on a single track. It really forces you to concentrate on composition and maximizing the track. If you use two BBOXes, you’ll never hear more than 2 drum sounds on the same step.
Combine that limitation with all the possibilities you are granted with in having an EQ per track, filters, a delay, all those LFOs!, and the flexibility of neighbor routing into some reverb and/or compression.
Suddenly you can push those rather crusty BBOX samples quite far thanks to p-locking the steps. And not just on the BBOX track but the neighbor FX track as well.
This all brought me back to a tune I made with MM by itself. And how having to p-lock so much on a single track made for unique results. Two BBOX track, two neighbor FX, and an FM synth track were used:
And with all that said, yes, of course the OT can do this as well!
Sample chains, neighbor routing, FX, LFOs…
I can’t remember what the P-Lock limit on the MM was, but if I remember correctly the OT is the only Elektron without a P-Lock limit.
So the next “hat” I’m going to put on my OT is an “Ode to the Monomachine” hat.
I often use 3 or 4 OT tracks for drums anyway. This would just be the Monomachine way of doing it, instead. Leaning on neighbor routing, p-locks, and creative sequencing, just like on a Monomachine.
But this time around with the benefit of fills, scenes, conditionals, polyrhythms, and micro-timing.
That’s pretty much how I do all my samplechains, because of the MnM BBOX. Like in the samples from mars 808/909/sp ect packs. They have “kits” all 8 pieces. Thats 8 kit’s per samplechain. Like I said, I would love to figure out a quick way of just having one kit, and then pitching it up and down…But actually, when I think about it, you can’t get super extreme pitching like that on the OT. Oh well…
My latest project is setting up my OT MK2 to sequence, sample and serve as control hub for my new modular system. I am making solid progress but need help to figure out how to send each voice/oscillator on the modular system to separate tracks on the OT as well as how to figure out how play each oscillator per track like piano keyboard with the MIDI keyboard on the OT. Lastly, I am trying to figure out how to use FX from the OT on the modular system. The reverb and delay is nice on the OT but no luck adding these to the modular system. Anyways, I came up with this happy accident today:
Connect the modular voice outputs to the OT’s audio inputs (some attenuation may be required).
Put a Thru machine on one or more of the OT’s audio tracks.
One option: select a MIDI sequencer track on the OT. Set its MIDI channel number so that it transmits to your MIDI-to-CV convertor. Connect the CV & Gate outputs of the convertor to the modular voice.
Use one of the audio tracks on which you have selected a Thru machine (see above). Add reverb or delay to FX2 for that track.
Hey. Can I ask, why do people find it better to use drum chains, instead of just sample locks? Is it just to free up flex slots, or am I missing something?
@Rusty
Yeah ok. So the point is to have more than 128 samples in a project … and if 128 is enough for me, wouldn’t it then only be more cumbersome than using one slot per sample?
Yeah, if that is what works for you, of course it is.
For a lot of other people they may find it better to have a chain of 64 kicks when composing; or maybe they are using multiple loops, with a slice lock for variation, maybe tied in with Trig Conditions for more fun.
true
i even like the album
but
I love it to play my guitar
without any ambition, or other reason than to enjoy and make something nice
when playing, i find out new things, have problems in a song to solve, etc.
I try, try and try, and this way I my songs appear by doing.
My octatrack makes me stop making music, find the manual, read the manual, check this forum, etc.
OT has fantastic moments, but in many situations it just kills my flow.
i love my Octatrack
by i hate my Octatrack
big chance I am gonna sell it
( it’s not the octatrack, it’s me being tired of work & kids, and still want to make music)
analog four (with heat) gives me the flow I love… so I am happy anyway. i wish I find a sampler I love
I’d say if you use OT everyday, it becomes second nature. Of course OT can be used in many ways and one that mainly uses OT as drum machine and midi sequencer might need to look some stuff up in the manual when wants to do sampling and mangling.
Octatrack probaply is not a good choice for someone that only wants to switch it on every now and then for a quick jam.
So true, even after a long time some stuff can be forgotten if not used a lot. I think all the flexibility and options cost a bit of clarity and overview, but I came to realise I would not want to change much about that.
I think one of the biggest challenges is how to figure out how to fit the idea into the structure of the OT, there are lots of ways to achieve the same thing, but each if them have pros/cons, examples:
Flex vs Static
Slots vs Chains/slices
Pickup vs regular track recorder
Save to Project/Pool
And so on.
I think the key is to just be patient with it. I’ve felt like this at points and then two jams later I’m so glad I kept it. Unless you need the cash for something else right away, just hang onto it and give it time. It’s less immediately gratifying than some other gear, but once you get comfortable with it, there are so many wonderful possibilities.
