Modular synth and octatrack

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#61

This is all pretty new to me, but I’ve successfully got my OT and eurorack speaking to one another. At first I had the OT as master clock, but find the timing is better with Pamela’s New Workout as master clock, so…

Pamela’s New Workout has an optional expander called the Pexp-1 (I think!). I use the midi out on that into the midi in on the OT. Midi out of the OT goes to a Mutable Yarns, which gives me 4 channels of pitch/gate into the modular. Midi thru of OT goes to my A4 sometimes. I spent a long time looking for a great eurorack sequencer, but so far I just prefer the OT in that regard. Still considering a eurorack sequencer, but for now I feel pretty good.

#62

Hermod from Squarp?

#63

I know that’s a great sequencer, but especially with eurorack, I don’t want something quite so program heavy, as opposed to performance based. With my OT and Intellijel Steppy, I can punch in ideas very fast, then improvise my way into something from there.
Modular sequencers I’m still kinda considering are the Winter Eloquencer, Orthogonal ER-1 and the Five12 Vector. Still researching :slight_smile:

#64

I just got the Five12 vector. It’s brilliant for live use. Very direct, improvisation friendly!

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#65

Yeah?! It looks great for improv to me so thanks for confirming!!!

#66

I’ve got the Expert Sleepers FH2 and way easy to use with the updated oled screen. Just dial in what you want to be a CC or a Trig. I run the OT into it using the midi out of OT into at MIO4 and the USB out into the FH2. The cool part of the FH2 is that you can expand the Midi CC almost infinitely with the FH2 expander. The builder says there is enough horsepower in the FH2 to handle near infinite expansion modules. That way you can use all of the LFO’s and CC’s you want form the OT. I also have the Midi OCD box, and it works, but its just a little no fun to program to work with the OT.

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#67

I’ve had a Make Noise Shared System (Plus) since February and actually the main way I use it is with the Octatrack. I primarily bought it because it’s so different from all my other synths, with the intention to focus on creating more interesting textures and such. then shove those into the Octatrack and re-sample/slice as needed.

I use the Rene v2 to sequence the system exclusively. to clock it, I’m using Tempi. I’ve used multiple options to get it synced to midi:

  • Kenton CV/midi converter clock out
  • Analog Keys trigs
  • midi clock going to Acidlab Drumatix, with trig out (rimshot) going to Tempi
  • Mother32 midi in, clock pulse output to DFAM trigger

in other words… there’s lots of options. just depends upon what you have to work with.

#68

Cv ocd

So easy

#70

I have an OT which I know really well, but I’m just starting to go down the modular rabbit hole and I purchased a CV OCD. I’m finding the manual a bit of a learning curve since I’m still learning the technical details behind MIDI. I want to be able to clock and sequence Plaits and Plonk via the OT and also use the OT for p-locks and lots of LFOs, but I’m finding it hard to put 2 and 2 together! Beyond learning MIDI more and going through the CV OCD manual, do you have any resources to make it “so easy”? Would you be willing to share and briefly explain your sysex if it has any overlaps with my requirements?

#71

I change my sysex all the time because sometimes Im sequencing from octa and sometimes from Ableton, sometimes a single voice on modular and sometimes two voices.
I can share my sysex file later today if you like.

#72

Ok, after a solid hour of trial and error with the manual, I have MIDI notes working from CV A, 3 LFOs controlling 3 MIDI CCs using CV B, C and D (after configuring certain CC numbers to the MIDI CC pages in the OT and assigning the LFOs to those) and a bunch of MIDI notes on other channels working just in case. I’ve attached my sysex file as a reference to others in my boat. (Oh wait, I can’t yet because I’m new here but if anyone wants it let me know)

I still have a couple of questions though - maybe someone here can help. .

  1. all my notes seem to be the same length, no matter how long I set the Len parameter in the MIDI track on the OT. How can I adjust note length on my modular using this OT parameter and the CV OCD?
  2. If I wanted notes and more than 4 LFOs, is this possible or do I need more CV? Is my use case unusual? Why do most MIDI to CV seem to have way more Gate outs than CV outs?
#73

What envelope generator are you using in your modular?

#74

I have a Maths (also a Plaits and a Disting)

#75

Just Friends is also an amazing thing to have for so many reasons.

#76

vca?

#77

So forgive me if you already know this

you need a sound source- oscillator VCO

you need and envelope generator to set the attack, decay

you need a vca to open and close to let the sound through and not

without an envelope and vca you will just have long sustained notes

#78

Thanks. I also have a Quadratt, with this and the Maths and Plaits’ internal LPF/LPG and internal envelope generator I think I’m good for now with respect to envelopes and VCAs, but the problem is not that I have long sustained notes (appreciate I didn’t make this clear in my earlier message), it’s that when I’m sending MIDI from the OT through the CV OCD to Plaits, with Note from CV A going into the Plaits V/Oct input and the Gate from Gate 1 going into the Plaits Trigger input, I don’t know how I can control Note length to increase from what seems to be a relatively quick AD. Do I need to route the Gate signal through Maths as an envelope using the slew?

#79

You need to send cv (note/pitch) to your sound source

You send gate to vca to start and stop the sound

You send the audio from plaits into vca

The trig on plaits will trig an envelope maybe Im not familiar with plaits but it won’t open and close a gate/vca

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#80

Plaits has a internal Low Pass Gate. From the manual:

  • Dedicated LEVEL CV input controlling the amplitude and brightness of the output signal.
  • The internal LPG can also be directly plucked by the trigger input.
  • Two parameters of the LPG can be adjusted: amount of low-pass filtering (VCFA to VCA), and response time of the virtual vactrol.
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#81

With the way you patched things, your gate triggers the internal envelope of Plaits, you can change its decay with a button+knob combination on the module, I don’t remember which but it’s written in the manual.
If you want to use Maths as an envelope, you will have to plug your gate into one of Maths trigger or gate input and then use the corresponding output to modulate a VCA. Without a gate in its trig input, Plaits behaves as a regular oscillator, which means it outputs a continuous waveform, which you can then plug into a VCA to attenuate its volume with the corresponding CV input.

Take a look at the “Minimal patch” on this site:
http://www.doepfer.de/a100_man/a100_patch.htm

Unfortunately, it does not seem like Quadratt has CV inputs, so I don’t think you can use it with envelopes…

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