I’m not new to my OT, but I don’t often fully utilize its MIDI capabilities, tending to focus more on the sampler. And, though I’ve used the arranger, I’ve come to realize it’s really not for me; I rather go through my patterns completely live.
Since I got the Polyend Tracker though, I’ve come to appreciate that machine’s song mode and was wondering about using it to command my OT to go through patterns in a given bank.
So… is that one of the things a program change message can do? I’ve never used MIDI program changes before. Can the OT receive them? Can anyone advise on a good tutorial for how to set that up?
Just looking for some advice on the very basics of this! Thanks y’all.
You would connect the MIDI Out of your transmitting device (for example, the PT) to the MIDI In port of the OT.
MIDI Program Change (PC) messages are sent on a MIDI channel.
In the OT’s PROJECT > MIDI > SYNC menu, activate PROG CH RECEIVE and set the corresponding Channel number to match the channel number on which the PT is sending the Program Change messages.
The PC message has a value in the range from 0 to 127.
The OT’s patterns are split into two halves: 128 patterns in banks A to H, and another 128 patterns in banks I to P.
If you send a PC message alone, then the OT will jump to the corresponding pattern in the current half. The mappings are:
value 0 = pattern A01 (or I01)
value 1 = pattern A02 (or I02)
value 16 = pattern B01 (or J01)
value 32 = pattern C01 (or K01)
and so on up to:
value 127 = pattern H16 (or P16)
[MIDI Bank Select MSB messages can be used to jump between the two halves of the pattern storage - let’s discuss that once you’re familiar with pattern changes.]
For the Octatrack to transition on time between patterns, the transmitting device needs to send the PC message a little before the moment of transition.
I will let PT owners describe how it sends PC messages.
