Musical Scale

[FTJ]

@Blasted_pingin

Mmmmhhh i read carefully but i have to disagree.

High skilled drummer will definitely kill your OT skills in terms of grooves and so on.
The skills needed to record on a DAW maybe different than to record on tape but still you need some skills or you’ll end with crap results. Digital is obviously different from analogue but still can end up badly. If things results are so easy to obtain that you don’t need to get interested or work anymore, then i’d ask why making music? You could just save a lot of efforts and press play on a random sound machine generating sound for you.

Whereas with auto tune, you don’t need no skill at at all. Just mumble with your hangover morning voice and that’ll be in tune. Shitty but in tune.
Once again, it has to see with the travel and not the destination: if saving efforts is more important than the rest then… good luck with your plans.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t make great grooves on the OT and I actually can make groove that a drummer can’t play.
Well you need to learn how to use autotune, I never used it I won’t get great results. Does autotune even give you good results?

I totally understand your point and I agree with you but if you think about it the majority of things you’re using today kills skills from the past. In the past to make your synth people needed skills now days they just have to load a program and a robot makes it for you.
Even a volume automation in your DAW, you just draw it when before they need skills to make the transition smooth.

@Blasted_pingin

If things results are so easy to obtain that you don’t need to get interested or work anymore, then i’d ask why making music? You could just save a lot of efforts and press play on a random sound machine generating sound for you.

You would never make your work much more difficult you always try to make it more efficient.
So you never use the random LFO on the OT?
Don’t get me wrong I really like your vision but it’s utopic.

[Blasted_pingin]

@FTJ

you can achieve the same and more in your DAW so why you use the OT?

Because you don’t want to use a computer? Because you want one box to achieve things live with knobs and not on a screen and with a mouse?

Beside that, it is amazing and a pity at the same time that we have to rely on workarounds… it is so much job for @sezare56 to discover them all for us

[FTJ]

@Blasted_pingin

Because you don’t want to use a computer? Because you want one box to achieve things live with knobs and not on a screen and with a mouse?

And I want to use one box to play more than 2 octave instead of bring with me a midi keyboard?

@Blasted_pingin

Beside that, it is amazing and a pity at the same time that we have to rely on workarounds… it is so much job for @sezare56 to discover them all for us

Somebody has to guide these kids.

[Blasted_pingin]

@FTJ

And I want to use one box to play more than 2 octave instead of bring with me a midi keyboard?

I’m using Midi tracks and an iPad for that so it’s not much to carry

@FTJ

Even a volume automation in your DAW, you just draw it when before they need skills to make the transition smooth.

Still you need to have musical skill to use the volume automation. And you get more or less the same result than with analogue.

With auto-tune, you don’t need to learn to sing. Or I hate auto tune or different reasons Enjoyed it as an FX when it was overused in Rai music back in the 90’s but as soon it was used for covering Cher disaster, i quit the boat. Easy tool for lazy-non musical-money oriented “producers”

@FTJ

I actually can make groove that a drummer can’t play.

Even a guy like Jojo Mayer?

[JL]

@Norb

I’ve learned a bit of music theory, and it really helped me break out of the same few harmonies I would use on everything.

This is the reason why I’ve learned a bit of theory as well. If you are not aware of the scales/modes you are using, chances are that you’ll keep using the same ones and the more widely used ones in western music, basically the major scale and it’s modes. Because those are the ones that will sound “right” for most people.
So theory, even a little bit of it, can be a tool to not repeat yourself as much.

Having said that, I will always love to just explore sound and timbre without thinking of traditional harmony anyway.

[Merv]

Hey I get you, it would be cool to have for sure. But specifically regarding OT, we know it is very near EOL, and that this feature has a next to 0% chance of being implemented. Also, the slice workaround is actually a whole lot more powerful than what you’re requesting in many ways.

You can have different timbres per slice, over two octave range, transposition scenes with pitch and rate, note selection/randomisation with start and LFOs, different notes per octave… You could set up alternating sliced scales and switch between them with FUNC + left/right in the sample slot menu.

Just seems that, in specific case of the OT, you’re asking for the moon when you have the stars.

[sezare56]

A major scale with OT audio tracks would have 15 notes max if I counted well.

[Merv]

you’re already making slices, resample!!

[craig]

Yep! Repeat the middle one so we can have 8 and 8 (preferable on the Digis especially)

[sezare56]

Yep for Digis. But I don’t think doubling the middle one would make sense for OT.

[craig]

It would for me cause I would tend to see them in blocks of 8 anyway. Plus, there’s that underline bracket thing for each octave

Also ‘double-pedalling’ the root note haha

[sezare56]

No good for chords progression.

[craig]

A good point, well made

[FTJ]

@Merv

You can have different timbres per slice, over two octave range, transposition scenes with pitch and rate, note selection/randomisation with start and LFOs, different notes per octave… You could set up alternating sliced scales and switch between them with FUNC + left/right in the sample slot menu.

Just seems that, in specific case of the OT, you’re asking for the moon when you have the stars.

No you could simply do the same without the need to slice a sample. It would be an internal feature so imagine with the workaround what you could do with that.
Just skip few buttons press is an improvement I don’t understand why people don’t like the idea or they’re fine with workaraund.

To me sounds a bit like the old dude who force the new generations to do what they did because that’s how he did and the new has to learn the hard way even tho they could achieve the same results easier.

[FTJ]

@Blasted_pingin

I’m using Midi tracks and an iPad for that so it’s not much to carry

Still more convenient if the feature is built in.

@Blasted_pingin

Still you need to have musical skill to use the volume automation. And you get more or less the same result than with analogue.

Yeah but you use the DAW automation because it’s easier right? Or would you do on a mixer just because you sweat more? It’s your goal have a nice smooth volume automation or show others how you’re so good at moving faders?
We make music right? Music is for others to listen, of course for yourself too. So it doesn’t really matter how you did anything in your production what matters is what you bring to other people. I do music and I honestly don’t care if that crazy synth line is you playing the synth or some sample wizardy what matters is the beautiful synth line, I don’t even care who you are or whatever I just care about the music.

[Merv]

@FTJ

To me sounds a bit like the old dude who force the new generations to do what they did because that’s how he did and the new has to learn the hard way even tho they could achieve the same results easier.

Haha dude the OT is like 10 years old, i’m saying this ain’t happening any time soon so take advantage of what it does instead of arguing about adding functionality to it. By all means ask elektron and wait for them to implement it if you like!

[FTJ]

@Merv

Haha dude the OT is like 10 years old, i’m saying this ain’t happening any time soon so take advantage of what it does instead of arguing about adding functionality to it. By all means ask elektron and wait for them to implement it if you like!

Where did I show you that I’m not taking advantage of the OT? I’m actually asking a feature which can give us more advantages.

It’s a forum we discuss it’s not arguing.

You’re right the OT is 10 years old and unluckily we’ll see an update but Elektron still selling the OT for over £1000
. We shouldn’t understand why companies don’t update. I’m someone who buy in the 2020 a brand new OT for over a £1000,that’s what we should just care.
Do you think if this forum was full of people moaning about updates Elektron wouldn’t update more their gears?
Tbh everytime someone talk bad about Elektron in this forum they receive tons of workaround and a typical “that’s how it works”, it’s nice but it kinda doesn’t force Elektron to update their gears.
Why people here defend Elektron instead of musicians like them? Elektron doesn’t give you a wage or something , it’s just a company who use to do full features boxes and that’s why you bought it.
Honestly it reminds me of MPC owners, they defend so much the MPC workflow meanwhile they got the same features for decades till people moaned about it and Akai updated their MPC. Elektron kinda the same, they did a great system and then they sit on it giving actually a slim version of it. Such a good business model:do something amazing but complicated, then do a simpler version and scream user friendliness.
Compare what these companies do with DAWs. 10 years ago Ableton Live wasn’t like that, it actually looked primitive compared to the modern one and today it runs smoothly on lower specs. So how come that 10 years ago we had an OT but now a Model Sample or why we can’t update the OT? Optimization is better today than 10 years ago,Elektron could actually put more madness inside the OT with the same hardware and even if this isn’t possible surely a better board will cost less than 10 years ago.

[Merv]

Mate i’m just here to make music and help others do the same with the equipment they actually have. I’d much rather elektron fix all the bugs with the OT than add on some half-arsed feature that breaks 5 other things. But since they haven’t even done that, seems like a bit of a pie in the sky, no?

I don’t think elektron give a monkeys what is going on in this forum particularly. Case in point, people have been asking for bug fixes for years. But since you

@FTJ

don’t even care who you are or whatever I just care about the music.

Sounds like you should be using something with the features you actually want? In any case, I personally have very little interest in spending my time

@FTJ

moaning about updates

so i’ll leave you to it

[Schnork]

Elektron said OT will only receive bug fixes, there are no cpu cycles left and even bug fixes need code optimizations.

That’s why. So it is indeed kinda pointless talking about new features. Octatrack has gone such a long way, I’m not a user from day one, but even during the years I had my OT it has seen some great updates! If you compare it to how the Octatrack was when it came out, it’s a different machine now!

Remember when they suprised everyone with trig conditions not long ago? That was huge and basically transformed the way I work with my Octatrack.

So there is slight hope they’ll surprise everyone again, but…you know…

[FTJ]

@Merv with “I don’t care…” I mean I don’t care who you are, you can be anything, I listen to your music for the music not for others stupid reason. It wasn’t to say I don’t care about your opinions otherwise why be on a forum!?
I know the OT is unluckily to get an update, mine was more a general quest for present and/or future box.