So i’m looking into getting a virus ti desktop/snow or an analog four, and i wondered if i’m able to use both the octatrack sequencer and a midi keyboard for control. I.e one or two instances of the external synth controlled by the sequencer, and an instance playable through a keyboard.
Could you for example have a midi keyboard midi out going to octatrack midi in, and then octatrack midi out going to external synth midi in, and setup the channels on the keyboard and sequencer to the channels on the external synth as needed?
Can’t get my head around this, i.e whether midi could pass through the octatrack from the keyboard to the synth, so any help much appreciated!
You have 8 midi tracks that can be set to control MIDI channels for external synths. You can have your controller keyboard transmit on the auto channel for the OT and it will control whichever track (MIDI or sample) is currently selected in the OT. For the MIDI tracks, the information comes out of the OT on the channel that that track is configured for.
For example: keyboard controller transmits on channel 11, OT auto channel is 11, a MIDI track is set to channel 13, your external synth receives on 13. If that MIDI track in the OT is selected, it will do what you describe.
Or you can transmit on the actual channel that your external synth is receiving on.
Very helpful thank you, just what i wanted to hear!
Can i just confirm that this means several midi tracks can control several instances of the external synth simultaniously, or would a midi track need to be selected for it to output midi? I.e only one channel at a time?
You can set up multiple octatrack channels to address the same midi channel on an external keyboard or module. One octatrack track could play chords on a single timbre while another track plays a melody with the same timbre so you could mute or unmuted different parts of the same sound.
You can also set multiple channels going into the same multi timbral unit to control different sounds.
This thread was really helpful for me to understand the concept. I managed to set up my (quite basic midi keyboard) to control the different channels of a multitimbral synth using the auto channel on the octa.
The midi page works flawless, not sure what the sample page is doing (going up and down on tracks, guess it is for foot pedal)
Lets say I get a midi keyboard with some knobs and sliders. Is it possible to have control over pages I am not on and still jam out things to the multitimbral synth somehow?
Am I wrong in thinking that the midi changes from OT’s knobs and sequencing is happening to midi out as well as midi from an external keyboard (as long as it is set to autochannel?), but in order to mute channels, enable recording, move knobs on pages you are not at etc, you need to have auto channel disabled and notes from a keyboard will come out on midi thru?
The OT’s audio tracks allow their samples to be played over a two-octave range and also for remote control of the OT using MIDI notes. The details are listed on page C-1 of the OT’s manual.
It depends what you mean by “jam things out”, and how you set up MIDI channels on the OT, and what functions the MIDI keyboard controller has.
If the OT’s sequencer is playing, the OT’s MIDI sequencer will play back what has already been recorded.
If you use the OT’s AUTO CHANNEL functionality then the MIDI keyboard will control whatever the active track is on the OT (audio track or MIDI sequencer track).
If you set the MIDI keyboard’s (single) MIDI channel number to a different value, it will control whichever tracks(s) have that MIDI channel number on the OT.
Some MIDI controllers allow different MIDI channel numbers to be assigned to different controls, which means that the controllers only control the tracks as assigned.