Live with Octatrack with finished tracks in Ableton

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#11

…lower the scale resolution to a quarter of ur actual barlength on ur ot tracks…
so the can run in expected length within each pattern…so each pattern can reproduce one of ur pre-estimated track/song/composition parts…

create chains…work with slicegrids…no need for further ot parts at this point…
ur bass line got a lot of different variations during ur song/track/composition…?
fine…stem out this bass line as one thing, slice it, and adress those single slices via one shot trigs…there u go…each pattern plays another part of ur bass line…

do the same with the kik and the snare…and the hats…and once with ALL the rest…

now u can flip through ur original arrangements by just jumping through patterns…all u gotta do for this, is arming the one shot trigs again, whenever ur going to change the pattern…
no need for ot parts…still…

get used to the thought of one song per bank…if u can squeeze two in per bank…u’ll need a ot part nr. 2…

and we’re talking static machines only here…

get used to fixed workflows…

it’s nice to drop ur computer made tracks live like this without any computer…but never forget the power of flex engines…

i have a fixed track layout like this…

t1…is kik…plus
t2…is snare…plus
t3…is hihats…plus
t4…is bass only
t5…is all the rest…but sometimes it needs…
t6 for further more rest or one dedicated lead sound i can grab on…if not needes…it becames also a flex engine…
t7…is at least always a free radical flex machine loaded with something to fool around with…
t8…is for external sources and realtime sampling whatsoever…

summing goes through an analog heat…replaces the master compression needs pretty fine…

same with secenes…handle A scenes like snapshots…and B scenes as realtime fx progressions…scene 1 always empty…and so is scene 9…for blank sonic parking…

keep in mind that most of ur tracks/songs/compositions won’t need much variation space when it comes to basic stuff like kiks and snares and hats anyways…so one single kik for exsample played by a flex engine might already do all the trick…
advantage here is, more static slots stay free and u can twiddle way more with different tempi, since fixed kik stems start gnarling at some point further away from original tempi…

all in all, this let ur live perfomance always reflect ur original track, but u can expand and change them also on the fly…

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#12

This sounds exactly like myself… I’m in the continuous process of switching through multiple workflows, routings and gear involved to find THE configuration that will finally suit my style of play, and I’ve found many useful information in this thread to try out. Thanks guys!

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#13

Wouldn’t 1st condition trigs be a better option?

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#14

This is the question I ultimately wondered about.

#15

…well…ot planet…many ways to rome here…i, for example, literally never used a 1st condition trig for anything i wanted to achieve in this machine…even forgot that there is such a thing…

#16

Before we got trig conditions for the OT, I tried using one shot trigs for synth pads I rendered from the DAW (was practising for live gigs) and I found it kinda complicated and slightly annoying. Each time after a one shot trig fired, I had to make sure before I switched to the next pattern to arm one shots again. Head -> smoke.
I bought a poly hardware synth instead and played the pads myself…

Then came trig conditions. (aaaaahhhhhAAAAAAAHHHHHH :rainbow: :sun_with_face: :innocent: )

1st TRC solved that problems and brought so much more.

I’d always use 1st TRC for this. Nothing to worry about, just switch the pattern or use plays free tracks. That’s it.

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#17

Amen. One shot trigs are a headache. Even when setting down rec trigs I’d rather lay one down at the beginning of the bar, then get rid of it when it starts sampling rather than use a one shot trig. Accidentally rearm all? Oops, there goes your sound.

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#18

I like me some one-shot recorder trigs… :grin:
To ward that off I check the “disable yes/no arm” and “dis. stop-stop arm” in the preferences… That way you have to press function+yes to arm all…

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#19

…neverending story…learned something new…again…for my two ot’s, i got since ages…

#20

Out of curiosity what do you use the one shot trigs for that can’t be done with 1st trc? You play pattern 1, then 2, and when you come back to 1 you don’t want that one sound to play?

#21

I use one shots when I want to trig them while the sequencer is already running (“on demand trigs”), in which case a 1st TRC wouldn’t be appropiate.

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#22

There’s a lot of comments so I’m not sure if it’s already been suggested but turning preexisting songs into OT format sounds like a job for octaedit

#23

I’m still on 1.25H as I’m not fully convinced of the stability and functionality of the latest OS, so no trig conditions for me…

I use one-shot recorder trigs probably just because I’m used to it, I could also use track+rec, but sometimes I arm more than one recorder at once with function+yes… I use one shot play trigs to launch long static samples not on the first pattern cycle. As @roadmoviemusic said also useful as “on demand trigs”, I don’t have the fill condition either. And then there’s this trick:

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#24

OK my ears have pricked up… Go on

#25

Usually for drum fills. The nice thing about one shot trigs is that you can vary the drum fill.
If for example you have several one shot trigs set for hi hats, you can keep the button pressed down (it re-arms one shots immediately after one was played) and play all of them, or only play once, or start finger drumming on the yes button.

#26

not an owner yet but a big update is coming and i’ve been watching the thread closely. its a complete computer editor for octatrack, definitely worth a look. planning on buying when the update comes around. it looked useful before but the software is looking deeper and deeper. if youve got a lot of premade stuff outside of OT I can see it being very useful. check it out, the recent posts in particular

https://www.elektronauts.com/t/octaedit-win-osx-octatrack-software-editor/

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#27

Cool. I’ve been keeping an eye on that thread, but like you I don’t own the original, so it’s all a bit foreign to me at the moment and I’m trying to work out how it could work for me, so comments like yours are really helpful for enabling me to get a ‘real world’ use in my head!

#28

I produce in ableton and often use long reverb tails. They will cut off when I sequence them on the Octatrack, right? Do you guys export your stems dry and use the OT reverbs?

#29

If you cut samples, obviously yes.
If you prepare and play them as a seemless loop, you can keep reverb.
If you sequence one shot sounds or re-order slices of a loop, dry seems better for long reverbs.

#30

Thank you! Yes, I use one shots. Internal fx seems to be the better option anyway because I can manipulate them with lfo’s and scenes.

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