Michal Ho: OT+Volca set March 2014. 65min

Elektronauts Our Music
1

Michal Ho: OT+Volca set March 2014. 65min.

MichalHo_HardwareLiveSetup_copy.jpg1489×1080 172 KB


https://soundcloud.com/newdutchschool/nds033-podcast-w-michal-ho

2

This is very good! What were some of your steps to prepare for the set? I’m enjoying it a lot :slight_smile:

3

Thanks a lot, nirun :slight_smile:

Setup:

OT sends MIDI clock & transport to the Volca Beats, which throughputs that as sync to Bass and Keys. The sequencing of the Volcas is done on the Volcas themselves, i did not use Midi sequencing from the OT this time, although it is a really nice option if you want the Volca Beats to swing.

The audio from the synced Volcas is sent back into the OT for mixing and FX. This saves me the trouble of carrying a mixer around to live gigs.

  • Track 1 and 5 are static machines set up as “DJ decks”. This means they have a DJ EQ each, and a Delay (or whatever) each (i did not use my OctaHackBeta patch for this set, which would have enabled repitching and looping, among other stuff).
  • Track 2, 6 and 4 are thru machines for the Volcas. 2 and 6 have neighbour machines on 3 and 7, for more FX.
  • Track 8 is in master mode.

The Faderfoxes, which unfortunately are not MIDI CC-programmable, i use to control the OT: the LD2 for Track EQs and levels, the LC2 for FX.

I wrote a Pd/MMP patch to translate CCs from the Faderfoxes into the OT Audio CCs. So there is an iphone MIDI-patched in between the FFs and the OT, which is not pictured in the photo i posted. This Pd/MMP patch also gives me real-time visual feedback for the LD2-Encoders on the phone’s screen, so i don’t have to guess or fumble to see their current values.

Etc.

4

this is very helpful, I hope some others see this and are inspired like I am with your detailed setup info.

Thank you, I knew there was something going on in there that was special :slight_smile:

5

Nice stuff! Are the chords you hear in the set all from the Volca Keys? If so, I have to get one! Sounds very techno to me.

6

This is a great set !! Nice work.

Yea barfunkel volca keys is very techno cord monster, you can also controll everything from octatrack. It’s my fav one out of all three.! I think it would fit perfect with your music.

7

Mostly yes, but the ones on “ghetto seven” and “to the people” are from the Bass - 3 tuned oscillators running in parallel. Making chords on the Bass is something that tends to get overlooked, because the synth gets advertised as a monophonic bass synth.

8

Excellent work, I’m quite enjoying this!

If you’re not too tired of answering questions :slight_smile: I was wondering: In addition to the vocal lines, was the OT providing any of the sounds we are hearing? Just trying to get an idea of what’s possible with the Volcas alone.

9

Cheers Dubathonic, in this particular set the OT fires a combo of loops, stems and “full” tracks (which are listed in the tracklist) - i like to throw my work in progress into my sets and go from there.

10

Hey MichaelHo, would you be able to provide a little guidance on how to use the Faderfoxes with the Octatrack ? I’m looking into using one and wondered how useful they;d actually be ?

Thanks,

11

@bambrose

the LD2 (and all 1st and 2nd gen FFs), which i use, cannot be reprogrammed in detail, so i needed a MIDI CC “translator”.

i’ve used these 3 iOS apps (going through iRig MIDI inteface) with success:

  • midibridge (use the HolyMapper; easiest solution)
  • lemur (you need to write a script)
  • MobMuPlat / Pd (you need to write a patch)
    none of them has any major latency issues.

if you hate iOS, you can try android, but i don’t know any apps on there, and apparently, you’d have more latency. and no idea how to get midi in and out. Update: MMP now runs on android. By far the cheapest solution!

if you want an out of the box solution you can check out the MIDIsolutions Event Processor.

or you could get the newest 4th gen FFox, the PC4. that looks like it might actually work with the OT as is.