Machinedrum Template To Control Octatrack Levels, Freq, Res

[previewlounge]

Currently planning on a Faderfox to play the Octatrack like a seven deck standalone Traktor hardware performance rig …

But that is for the future… for now, only have a Machinedrum and a soon-to-arrive OTmkII.

So i thought maybe the way to go is control the OT levels all at one time with the Machinedrum, for simple “progressive” style mixing…

After much planning and overthinking, the current design is this:

Use 8 machines on the Machinedrum and assign them to be Mid machines 1-8 … set OT to receive on channels 1-8.

On each Mid machine assign a parameter to the corresponding Octatrack channel CC to control “Level” for that track to receive from the Machinedrum

Similarly so on each of the Mid machines 1-8 to control the Frequency and Resonance on the corresponding track on the Octatrack.

But these Mid machines will not be used directly for these parameters.

The Ctrl-8P machines are for immediate single page access of these parameters yay …

Create 3 Ctrl-8P machines…

Set the 1st one to control the Level assigned parameter on each of the 8 Mid machines. This will then present all 8 of the Octatrack track Levels on the one page.

For the 2nd Ctrl-8P Machine, similarly control Frequency

For the 3rd Ctrl-8P Machine, similarly control Resonance

This uses 11 tracks of the Machinedrum to behave as a control-surface,
and so allows for 5 more slots available to sequence drums realtime into the OT as part of a progressive/improvised performance…

For the record, when performing i won’t be loading new Patterns to either the Octatrack nor the Machinedrum.

Does this seem like a cool idea?

[whikidazz]

I dunno. Thats kind of eating up a lot of tracks on the MD for no real reason. The MD would be rendered almost useless for what it’s famous for only to control what’s already on the OT.

I’ve been looking into a way to control each of the 8 levels of the OT with faders as well as control of some or all of each of the pages parameters without having to physically go to those pages. The best option I can see to achieve this type of control are the Fader Fox controllers or look into the Novation Launch Control XL (which your fellow Elektronauts have already designed base Templet’s for the OT in the files section of this forum). The only issue with going with the LCXL is having to have a usb/midi box in between the two of them unless things have changed since I last looked into this external control option.

I feel it’s a sound option that isn’t going to break the bank plus gives you back many of the channels on your MD for the twisted craziness it does.

You know you can program pretty much any controller to control nearly anything you want to reduce the menu diving, look into a controller option that works for you.

You very well could use your MD to do the things you want it to as far as controlling OT, but my opinion is you will be missing out on the potential of the MD.

[previewlounge]

fascinating concept

it’s actually quite amazing what can be done with the Machinedrum just using 5 machines for samples/drum synth machines… been exploring the potential of the Machinedrum for ten years now (and much more to explore)…

from my perspective, the main hassle with using the Machinedrum as a control surface would be the requirement of not loading patterns (so as to not reset all the Ctrl-8P parameters during a set).

i don’t mind using the OT as a hardware version of a seven deck Traktor scenario, and not loading any patterns to the Octatrack during the performance… rather just loading clips directly from prepared folders, cueing via headphone, mixing in progressively using a Ctrl 8P page on the Machinedrum accessing all 8 levels at the same time.

But the Machinedrum, it’s a resource of grooves and really comes alive in a live scenario. Loading patterns would open doorways …

and yet, i’m also considering just doing gigs with one box, the Octatrack … so as a compromise scenario, using the MD as a control surface, could be alright.

If many grooves from the Machinedrum are prepped at home and sorted ready to play/improvise with using the OT, maybe it doesn’t matter so much about loading patterns to the Machinedrum in a live context.

but those 5 spare machines on the MD could prove incredibly useful all the same.

[previewlounge]

going for the Faderfox mx12 instead

might still use the Machinedrum to perhaps control reverb sends via midi in/merge of the Faderfox