Monitor options for live recording mixer bus

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

I am setting up a set where I have all my gear into my mixer, and a stereo subgroup going into the OT. On the OT, I setup 1 or 2 (or more) tracks that can loop whatever I send from the subgroup.

Now the goal is to sample an instrument, for example a guitarlooper playing back a loop, and make transition from hearing the looper through the main out on the mixer to hearing it on the octatrack.

My first thought for doing this was to be able to put a ‘side chain’ lfo on the guitarloop. But thinking about it, there is so much more I can do once the loop is in the OT! I just don’t know what yet :slight_smile:

Using the sub on the mixer I am also able do sample drums and synths. And my main goal is to make it easy and quick, so I can do this while tweaking other stuff as well.

Opinions?

#2

I would monitor the mixer sub with OT only.

#3

off course… and then I can press the main switch and the sub switch simultaneously. The solution is in my mixer, while I was thinking too much about the OT.

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#4

I have the same sort of set-up. All my gear is patched into my mixer, and I use the aux mixes to create signal chains. I can send whatever I want into whatever I want. The mic-in to line out latency of my mixer is < 0.8 seconds so I can create rather complex patchings without sacrificing too much in terms of latency. BTW, I bought my OT (just a week ago) because of the way sampling is implemented: I was fed up with sync issues of the various loopers I owned or tried. I find that looping directly with the OT is way better than recording in an external looper first. I still keep my TC DittoX4 for recording long non-time-critical impros (up to 5 minutes in stereo), notably when I play around with a Touché controller or a Roli Seaboard. But any time-critical stuff such as bass lines and guitar grooves go into the the OT (maybe with some Eventide FX in the chain pre-recording, and I can also add more of those post-recording (using the cue outs of the OT back to the mixer and in to an fxchain again). Endless possibilities, but a steep learning curve to master the whole thing.

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#5

I was just thinking about the same thing. looping everything inside the OT. I was holding back because the pickup machine doesn’t have undo function, and didn’t want to sacrifice tracks on the OT, but I am going to change everything up and loop directly into the OT. I will do this post fx, so I can also route anything I want into my guitar fx chains, because It won’t be used for a guitar loop…

my only routing problem is the click track! I need a click track on my mixer, and if I want to use the OT metronome, I have to sacrifice the cue out for sending it…

#6

Don’t you have an external midi sound source that could handle the metronome? Besides, you can switch it off when not necessary anymore and free up the cue outs

#7

Until now I used a boss rc-505 for looping mics, in there I could set up that the internal drum/metronome track was the only thing routed to headphones out.

Now this task is also done by the OT so the boss goes out… I have a digitakt, but I really don’t like the metronome it has! I will soon have the analog rytm arrive as well, maybe I can route his (or her?) metronome to the mixer…

#8

Make your own on the Digitakt…

#9

That would be one very expensive metronome! As digitakt only has main output. No cue or signal routing…
Which also means my previous answers was not possible, as I could never use the DT metronome is I want to have it play sounds as well…

#10

An AR track with its individual output seems the best, or take a cheap midi expander as metronome and control it with OT / DT midi tracks…

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#11

I run my external fx from an aux on my mixer. I have the OT cue outs going into a channel strip of the mixer that routes the signal to those fx. This way my pickup loops get recorded dry but they are cued to the fx. This allows me to change the fx settings from the pickup loops as they are not baked into the recording and also allows any OT track or any mixer channel to be sent to the fx.

On mackie mixers we get an alternate bus that if connected to the OTs inputs you just press a button on the mixer and the signal is sent to OT instead of the mains. With monitoring set up on OT you still hear the signal after pressing the button, but now it can be sampled by itself while the other mixer audio is still going out the mains…

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#12

yes, that’s how I do it now as well! submix to OT inputs, and cue out to channel strip. I love the flexibility of this setup. The only thing I do differently is recording loops post fx, but that’s because most loops will need different fx… (vocals, percussion, flutes…)

I also used a bus on the mixer (mackie is great!) to send a signal to my guitar pedal board. On the board I have a switch right before my guitar signal splits into 2 different fx chains. so with a switch I can use my whole pedalboard as an fx strip on the mixer (when I’m nog playing the guitar off course). I have a different fx chain for my mics and percussion, but the awsome mackie mixer (I have the 1642-vlz3) makes it all interchangable… I have not started to use this to it’s full possibilties, but it’s there :slight_smile:

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