Hey all, new to the Octatrack. My plan is to drive my Eurorack and resample in realtime. Nothin new or groundbreaking but something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.
I’m seeking advise for what appears to be an issue/bug on my machine - the unit is not sending clock out. I followed the instructions in the manual. I’ve confirmed that the midi in works by sending transport control from another machine to the Octatrack. Nothing is coming out of the Midi-Out though.
Is there something I’m overlooking like there needs to be a certain machine on a certain track sending out some kind of Midid information? Clock out typically means there’s a pulse per minute coming out regardless of other information but every manufacturer does things differently right?
I tried searching the forum and only found one other person with a similar issue. Looks like his resolution was sending the machine back to Sweden, which seams a bit ridiculous.
Check that your MIDI cable is working OK to begin with.
A couple of users on the forum have reported that the MIDI Out on the Octatrack was broken. Check whether your OT sends MIDI notes from the MIDI sequencer or sends MIDI CCs from the audio track parameter knobs. If not, then let’s make sure you have the correct settings and , if the problem still persists, you should probably consider the machine faulty and act accordingly with whoever you bought the OT from.
If the port can be shown to send out any MIDI messages, then let us know and we can advise on what settings are required to ensure that MIDI clock is sent. Of course, do check on the receiving end that the unit can react to MIDI clock.
Thanks for the reply. I’ll double check everything tonight.
I know the following for sure:
Midi Cable - working
Octatrack - receives start and stop info from another drum machine
Units that are to receive Midi info from the Octatrack are both working (AKAI Rhythm Wolf & Pittsburg Audio Midi2) Tested by connecting the two together.
I’ve gone into the Midi settings per the manual and turned the clock and transport controls on.
are you sure the problem isn’t on the receiving end? did you try a midi monitor or any other clock receiving device to make sure the octa really isn’t sending clock?
check if the midi channel settings are correct and matching.
check if anything other than clock is working out of the midi out.
Appreciate the responses and questions/suggestions. Here’s where I’m at after an hour or so tinkering tonight:
Setup #1 - Octatrack Midi out to the AKAI Midi in and then the AKAI CV out to the Pitts Midi 2. Pushed play on the Octatrack and boom everything worked as far as transport (start/top) is concerned.
Setup #2 - Octatrack Midi out to midi interface on my sound card in. Fired up Ableton, set to external sync and everything worked just fine.
Setup #3 - Octatrack Midi out to Pitts Midi 2 in. Nothing happens when I hit play.
Just to make sure the Pitts Midi2 worked with other gear I went straight from Ableton to it and start/top works great. Same with going from the AKAI to the Midi2. Works fine.
Now here’s the last bit that has me really perplexed - I went back to the Octatrack and ran the midi out to the Pittsburg one more time. As I was double checking the settings in the Octatrack I bumped one of the trig keys and saw the activity light on the Pittsburg light up! I noticed I had the record button on the Octatrack active, or on, so I hit play and nothing nothing happens on the Pittsburg. Press record and hit a trig key and the Pittsburg lights up/shows activity.
Does anyone know if start/stop coming out of the Octatrack is on a certain Midi channel? I’ve always assumed start/stop was a global thing on channel 16. I just looked at the MIDI Association page to check and it was technical document overload.
MIDI start/stop is a MIDI system message and is not channel specific. Midi clock is not always running if the machine is stopped.
I am not sure what your trying to do exactly but maybe more of your patch details would help.
The pittsburgh midi2 does not respond to midi start/stop. It only outputs 1ppq (4 beats a bar) from the sync output. This is derived from beat 1 of the incoming midi clock. 4 beats a bar. Gonna need a clock multiplier for that. When you hit play on the OT the only thing that should happen is your get 4 slow pulses out of the sync output per bar.
How are you hooking up cv from the rhythm wolf to the midi 2? The midi 2 has no cv/gate inputs. I thought the rhythm wolf actually only had gate output.
Your octatrack is obviously working correctly as both ableton and your rhythm wolf are syncing to it. When you hit the trigger on your OT, you sent a midi note message to your midi 2, and it responded. This is normal and correct.
So… Let me know more about what your trying to acomplish and I’d be happy to help.
This can’t be stressed enough. MIDI monitors are one of the most valuable tools in diagnosing these kinds of problems. It can be a minor hassle to set up but it’s worth it to know exactly what’s being sent. In my experience, this leads me to saying “D’oh, forgot to set that option” about 90% of the time
This can’t be stressed enough. MIDI monitors are one of the most valuable tools in diagnosing these kinds of problems. It can be a minor hassle to set up but it’s worth it to know exactly what’s being sent. In my experience, this leads me to saying “D’oh, forgot to set that option” about 90% of the time :)[/quote]
midi ox midi ox midi ox
This can’t be stressed enough. MIDI monitors are one of the most valuable tools in diagnosing these kinds of problems. It can be a minor hassle to set up but it’s worth it to know exactly what’s being sent. In my experience, this leads me to saying “D’oh, forgot to set that option” about 90% of the time :)[/quote]
midi ox midi ox midi ox[/quote]
You’re correct, I was mistaken on one of the setups on my previous post.
Midi out from the Octatrack to the Akai Midi in starts and stops the Akai. Out of the Akai CV to my clock divider. That setup works just fine.
Out of the Octatrack to Ableton via my sound card works fine.
Based on the Octatrack being able to start and stop everything but the Pittsburg then I’d agree the Octatrack is fine.
Maybe what needs to happen is I need midi note data to come out of the Octatrack midi out port on one of the 16 available channels, and not clock data, in order for the Pittsburg to respond?
Here’s a blurb from the Pittsburg website about the Midi2:
The midi channel is assigned based on the first midi note is received. The two lights on the Midi2 module will change from solid, to blinking, to off. This indicates a midi channel has been assigned and the module is ready to use.
How does one go about sending midi note data, from the trig keys(?), out of the Ocatatrack Midi port? I found all the channel settings in the Octatrack but I’m not sure how to assign them to a trig. Or is it assigned to a machine then a trig?
This is obviously where my limited understanding of the machine comes into play! I’ve only had it for a few days though.
This can’t be stressed enough. MIDI monitors are one of the most valuable tools in diagnosing these kinds of problems. It can be a minor hassle to set up but it’s worth it to know exactly what’s being sent. In my experience, this leads me to saying “D’oh, forgot to set that option” about 90% of the time :)[/quote]
midi ox midi ox midi ox[/quote]
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my favourite is my ipad/iphone plus irig. it’s super easy to set up. plus midi tool box app which also gives you CC sliders and PrCh knobs to check your receiving hardware. plus an included sysex librarian. there’s also a free clock generator app called midibus. if you are an iphone owner and use music hardware i strongly recommend you to get yourself that stuff. it is essential midi trouble shooting gear and it fits inside your pocket.
Are you saying the midi toolbox comes with iRig or is that a separate app. Could you post links to the apps you’re speaking of? Or just the names would be good.
According to the Pittsburgh website, the MIDI2 receives MIDI notes on a particular MIDI channel that has to be specified by the user. The text that you quoted gives the method for specifying the channel. So you need to send a MIDI note from the OT to the Pittsburgh on the MIDI channel that you would like the Pittsburgh to operate on.
So, you need to:
Decide on the MIDI channel (in the range 1 to 16) that you want to use. It will be best if you choose a different channel number to those that the OT’s audio tracks and AUTO channel use.
Connect the OT MIDI Out to the Pittsburgh MIDI In.
Access MIDI mode on the OT.
Select a track on the OT.
Goto the MIDI Note Setup page, adjust the CHAN number to be the MIDI channel number that you have chosen, then press the Data Entry Knob A or the [ENTER/YES] button until the CHAN number display is inverted (white text on black background).
Set a MIDI note trig on the MIDI track that you are using.
Play the OT pattern. This should send a MIDI note on the desired channel to the Pittsburgh.
You should now be able to sequence the Pittsburgh from the OT.
Your background assignments are to learn more about MIDI and to study carefully the OT’s manual.
I know and understand midi. I’ve been using it since the days of slicing samples in recycle and dumping them over midi to my Akai S6000 and then painfully playing them back via Cakewalk 3.
I admit I do not understand the Octatrack - I’ve only had the thing a few days.
After much tinkering tonight I finally got the Pittsburg to respond to the Octatrack based on Peters suggestion. Thanks for that.
There’s some weirdness going on with note length and how the Pittsburg reacts to it. From there I found even more weirdness coming out of the midi 2 into various rack modules. They all seam to have their own interpretation of what exactly the correct bpm is. I worked around it using clock dividers and got everything in sync.
Now on to sampling in real time.
Thanks for all the responses and suggestions. Hopefully after a few months with this machine I’ll have something to contribute back to the forum.
I can already see the other two machines being added to my setup in the future.
