Hey everyone. So I just purchased an octatrack mk2 and I’m having a tough time trying to fit it into my studio. I have an analog RYTM, Octatrack, Virus Ti2 and a Korg SV1 as my instruments. So far I have all of them connected to a Midi Interface and everything works great. However, one of the selling points of the octatrack for me was the ability to sequence midi. But Since my main workflow is through a DAW I kinda want the best of both worlds. Is there anyway to do this ? I want everything to be synced when I press play in logic for instance, but I also want to be able to play a chord on the SV1 and have the octatrack see those chords and be able to set a trigger with those Chords. Hope I’m being clear. Thanks in advance everyone, your insight and help is much appreciated.
beware because Octatrack is not really a polyphonic sequencer.
it is more an 8 track monophonic sequencer.
each track can handle chords but it is really limited
Interesting, So Have the RYTM send clock to the midi interface ? How is that done ? Do I just change the setting in the RTYM to send clock ? I’m def going to try this setup today and report back. Thanks for the reply !
yes overbridge sends clock to the rytm, and normally the rytm can pass that clock thru (there is a parameter for that in the rytm menus…)
what is your midi iterface? Does it work in standalone (without a computer)
The midi interface is a MOTU micro lite - 5 ins 5 outs bud powered. Not sure about standalone mode.
Well that’s how I had it setup, I wasn’t running the rytm with overbridge tho, I was just using the usb for a midi connection. What I had trouble with is using the sv 1 or the virus as a keyboard to enter simple chords into the octa track
I don’t know if this is an issue with the Micro Lite, but you might want to be careful about how you assign clock to the outputs.
I use a Midi Express XT and for a long time I kept having weird issues with sync. Most things would work fine, but certain pieces of gear wouldn’t sync at all and some things would kind of jump in and out of sync for a bar or two before settling in, and just generally nothing seemed to work right consistently. It turned out that the way the MOTU worked, if I sent MIDI clock to any single output from Reaper, it would actually be passed to ALL of the outputs, but if I assigned it to more than one output, it would send multiple identical MIDI clock streams at the same time to all of the outputs, one stream for every output I had set to send sync in Reaper. The manual didn’t indicate anywhere that this would happen and it took forever to figure out what was up.
As long as I only tell Reaper to send MIDI clock to one port on the MOTU (doesn’t matter which one but it has to be assigned to one of them) everything attached to every port will sync up fine, but if I ever set two or more ports to send MIDI cock in Reaper everything goes weird in unpredictable ways. I never need to sync hardware with any other software so I have no idea if it’s specifically how Reaper and the MOTU interact or if it would do the same thing with other software, but it’s something to be aware of.
Yeah, as long as you don’t run in to any unexpected behaviors like what I described in my last post, and don’t accidentally get a MIDI feedback loop or something going, it’s pretty straightforward.I’ve scaled back a lot but for most of 2013-15 I had about a dozen then-cheap 90s rack synths all synced up to my MPC and would do everything in real time to stereo, and it worked fine - it wasn’t until I brought DAW MIDI into the mix that I had trouble, and like I described that was specific to the way my MOTU interface worked,nothing inherent to MIDI itself. It’s really not that tough to get it working.
Incidentally, if you’re using much MIDI hardware and you or anyone you know is handy with a soldering iron, everyone needs a MidiPal (or rather one of the arguably superior clones since the originals are long gone).
I specifically had that problem with an older Midi Express XT (but using the latest firmware, drivers and Clockworks) with Reaper. The confusion was that sending Midi clock to any one output port in Reaper actually meant sending it to ALL output ports in the Motu, so any time I tried to send clock to more than one output port at a time I’d actually be sending multiple simultaneous clock streams to all of the ports at once. The manual and the routing in Clockworks didn’t indicate that it would be working that way. Once I figured it out and changed my MIDI settings in Reaper accordingly it was fine.
Only reason I brought it up here is that LOVESTONED is using a MOTU interface too, and it might do the same kind of thing.
In Reaper you can manually turn clock on or off for every MIDI port on your system in the options menu, but with the MOTU if ANY of its 8 ports is set to send clock in Reaper then it actually sends it to all 8 of them and if you enable clock output for multiple ports in Reaper then you end up with multiple clock streams being sent to all 8 ports at once. Just a quirk of how Reaper’s device setup interacts with the MOTU.
Anyhow, it sounds like you won’t have that issue with Logic.
Ok maybe I’m not understanding this. I have it hooked up like the picture posted by phaelam except my rytm is hooked up via usb to my computer for midi and not the interface. All I would want is to be able to input midi from my Synth (virus) into the octatrack. How would I set this up ? Would I hook up a midi cable to the thru port on both these machines ? I’m not sure, I’ve tried a few things. Also like this, it seems I cant even get the octatrack to trigger the synth or the sv1. All i should do is change the midi channel and make sure the synth corresponds correct ? Doesnt seem to work.
I wouldn’t worry about the stuff I posted unless you specifically notice sync issues, I was just throwing it out there because it’s an issue I had with my MOTU interface and Reaper specifically, and since you’re using a MOTU interface too it might come up. But if things are working the way you expect them to then it should be fine.
Phalem already described how to route the MIDI from the Virus to the OT in the post above this one, that’s how I do it, too.
So I’m using the latest version of Logic. And I create a external Midi instrument I have the Octatrack hooked up MIDI IN AND OUT to my midi interface on Port 1. IN logic I pick Microlite Port 2 as the destination. I make sure both the octatrack and virus are on the same midi channel, im doing 10 lets say. Nothing happens. I’m wondering if the midi out from the octatrack should be hooked up to the virus or the sv1, Also how do I make use of the midi thru ports ? Maybe this will help me out.
I’ve never used Logic so I’m not going to be much use here. If you have it patched up like Phaelem’s diagram you shouldn’t need to use any of the thru ports.
First Off Thank you !! Sending good vibes your way.
So it seems to work sort of, I think I just need to set up the midi channels correctly. I’m finally getting midi info into the Octatrack which is great!
And I gotta say, I think the octatrack might not be for me, I think I might return it and get a Maschine Mk3 and a Analog heat. I’m realizing that many of the things I want to do on the octatrack can be done in ableton or logic. I have a Rytm and initially got the Octatrack as a sampling machine for my setup but honestly, its lack of overbridge is a huge turn off, I want this to mold into my setup, I want to be able to control aspects of it on my computer, I have that with the RYTM with SDS DROP (amazing app that adds so much value to RYTM now that I think of it) and this really has nothing, It forces me to work with loops and sounds I have on a small screen instead of my computer screen and even tho I get cool results, it doesn’t seem to be worth the menu diving.
Yeah, if you’re looking for a traditional sampler the OT isn’t it, but if you just go with the OT’s internal logic instead of coming at it with a preconceived idea of how you want to use it you might find it completely changing how you approach production. I’m as skeptical as anyone and I was fully on board after having mine for a month. OTOH, I’ve been using it more than any other instrument for close to a year now and I still consider myself a skilled beginner (as opposed to, say, the Tanzmaus I got recently, where it too about half an hour to feel like I’d pretty much mastered most of it in terms f understanding the features and workflow, and will just have to use it regularly for a couple more weeks for muscle memory to catch up to the point where I can use it without even looking at it). I’ve literally never even opened Arranger yet, unless I kit the button by mistake. So yeah, it takes time.
Don’t think of it as a machine to load existing loops into and play them back (although it’s certainly possible to use it for that), think of it as a machine for creating new sounds from scratch, with samples as one of the starting points. It really is its own unique thing, I can’t think of another piece of hardware or software comparable, new or old. It has some overlap with a lot of different things but the overall package is very unique, and that’s either what makes it good or what makes it useless depending on your goals.
I guess there’s a reason Elektron users can sound a bit cult-like to everyone else - you really do have to let their instruments (but especially the Octatrack) kind of guide your approach to making music if you want to get the most out of them. A bit like the classic MPCs in that regard, except a lot more so. I work in a completely different way than I did this time last year.
Listen I totally get it, the love for the Octatrack, it’s intrigued me for years. I haven’t ruled out getting a 2nd hand one for a good price, but for 1350 dollars the mk2 just lacks the X factor, most of the mk2’s have it - Rytm mk2 can sample! A4 has deeper basses ! Octatrack mk2 is the same ? Really? What about some overbridge functionality for simple sample management ? Forget about loading up a 64 gig card and looking thru stuff on that small screen! I mean come on, but I’m looking at it as a sampler. People use the Octatrack like a instrument and a lot of them rock the shit outta it.
Who’s to say what is good and what isn’t, it’s what we create that matters.
Having said all of this, I dropped Octatrack mk2 back off at UPS and ordered the analog heat along with the Maschine MK3, can’t wait to get into the analog heat!
I’ve never really gotten the complaits about file management on the OT, it’s fine. But then most of my sampling experience is in hardware and most hardware samplers out there are a much bigger hassle in that regard.