Octatrack as a modular, grain, sample synth -My thoughts

abergdahl · 2014-03-06T21:26:40.000Z

Hi all,

I continue to use the Octatrack to boldly go where i have no idea where i am…
Lately I have tried to think if it as a modular, but it is actully very reverse in thinking… where a Buchla for example is all about SIMPLE signal and complex control voltage (thanks for the insight or Charles Cohen, Morton Subotnick and Todd Burton) - the Octatrack is the opposite, it is all about complex signals, samples…
What i try to do is to start with a simple sample then “route” the replay to it to other track bu sampling the playback of a track, and then i create chains of sampling and re-sampling.
I also often create one track that plays back short “grains” often with some randomness on pitch, balance and other parameters.
Below is a clip where the “rhythm” comes from a pickup machine that records the output of a flex sending short grain…
Listen to this example…(all that is a sample is a very simple little sound that you don’t even hear in its original form, you can here i looped with comb filter in the beginning and at some other time)

I have posted a bit more of an explanation on soundcloud…
Please feel free to comment and post you’re own experiments… I just LOVE the Octatrack

izzymonkey · 2014-03-06T22:12:26.000Z

Anders,

I truly appreciate examples like yours that showcase the Octatrack as an instrument in its own right - not just a sampler/beatmaker/MPC-without-the-pads thing.

Thanks for sharing this!

jamrod · 2014-03-07T01:59:05.000Z

Anders, this is really awesome. I love the texture and the way you achieved it. I haven’t explored the pickup machine since the first month after it was released…gotta go back and play with it more.

subq · 2014-03-07T04:15:26.000Z

good stuff Anders!

every time I use my OT I think this device is a true “groove” machine…you can take simple samples or sounds and mangle them into grooves without much effort

robotunes · 2014-03-07T04:59:26.000Z

cool, abergdahl!! way to think outside the box. OT is awesome!

your technique reminded me of something elektronaut neil baldwin has experimented with.

Here’s an inspiring track he made a couple of years ago with 2 seconds of noise, routing the output to different recorders that he would manually trig at random: https://soundcloud.com/neilbaldwin/eff-bee-bee

Here’s how Neil described making the track. it was for the famous OT science lab where OT owners committed to making a track using only 2 seconds of noise:

http://www.elektron-users.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=28&func=view&id=170583&catid=15&limit=10&limitstart=190

So, I started by assigning the noise sample to Track 1 in a flex machine and placing a couple of random triggers in a 16-step pattern.

I then went into Record Setup and set the source for Recorder 2 to be the output of Track 1. The source for Rec. 3 to the output of T2 and then the source for Rec. 4 to the output of T3.

Then I just placed a few random Rec Trigs in Track 2-4, some of them being one-shot as during the ‘performance’ (which is essentially what the track was) I would be able to re-arm certain Recorder steps. I also set the RLEN parameters different on each Recorder

There’s some filtering going on of course and I also had 4 Scenes setup which had the Amp Release for T1 set to 4 different lengths from very short to very long.

Once the Octatrack is playing, what’s happening is T1 plays the noises, T2 samples some bit of T1, T3 samples some bit of T2 and T4…well you get the idea.

Now, with all that setup, depending where you place the playback and recorder trigs you get a totally different collage of sounds. It’s strange though, as you make the tweaks, because there’s inter-track delay (as the tweak is fed down through the recorder cascade), you don’t hear the effect of your tweaks immediately. Some stuff worked, some stuff didn’t. The feeling of being slightly removed from the tweaking process is funnily at odds with the usual immediacy of tweaking on the Octatrack. And that’s only using 4 tracks

It gets even more complicated part way through as I then had the idea of p-locking some of the playback trigs on T1 to play from Recorders 2 to 4. Much of the ‘tonal’ textures you hear are because there’s an internal recorder feedback loop going on (it got a bit out of control about the 6:00 mark for a while in that harsh ringing section - I was trying to subtly wrestle it back under control without being too obvious)

It’s definitely something I’m going to explore more of. I really got the feeling I scratched the surface of something pretty interesting.

robotunes · 2014-03-07T05:19:20.000Z

btw, i postsed the neil baldwin stuff because i couldn’t find anything on soundcloud where anders explains his technique.

and ICE sPRING is quite cool, anders. nice work.

abergdahl · 2014-03-07T06:19:54.000Z

THanks för listning guys

Yeah Neils stuff is great… I only sort of add the pickup machines to the mix… and a lot of odd meters…
This nigh I also played around with VERY short grains and a pickup machine of 1 step… it gets into a mix of echo and noise after a while…
Another neat trick is to vary the LEN more on the grains (from a Flex track) that get the receiving loop more varied but not as rhythmic… I found that grains with len shorter the 0.250 are almost to short to be heard at 90 BPM, a bit longer, 0.350 or something (attack and Rel is set to 1) makes a very short grain and adds up to a rhythmic pattern even on a receiving pickup machine set to the length off one step…
I will be away over the weekend but i will try to find time to copy the project on sunday…

abergdahl · 2014-03-07T06:27:59.000Z

And here is a copy of my explanation from soundcloud:
Everything on this recording originates from ONE small, small sample… that sample is recorded to a pickup machine (looped) the that loop is sampled by a flex machine, and i slow down rate a lot… but without changing pitch… the i apply a lot of random LFO’s to pitch, balance and a little bit less to len (in order to have slight variation om grain length) i record the playback of that track into a new pickup machine (length 12 steps, while the sending track is on a different step length in order o create randomness)… that pickup machine creates a rhythmic “grain cloud” that eventually creates the base rhythm, which also change when i adds to the loop… than an other track samples and replay PART of the loop and replays it on a flextrack with ordinary triggs… it only samples 2 steps and on with a record trigg again on another number of steps that the loop so I again get some randomness… Then all other tracks we hear sample parts of the recently mentioned flex track…
To make it interesting i frequently change patterns and also have a few other parts with only the to loops as common factors… one of them creates a feedback between the first pickup track and a flex track…
By this i mean that the pickup constantly samples the flex and the flex samples a few steps of the pickup which creates some interesting distortion…
BTW its 90 BPM, good to know if you wnat to borrow parts

additional info… the sample is on track 7 (never heard)
Track 9 is pickup listening to 7 (12 step loop)
track 6 is flex sampling from 9
track 1 is pickup listening to 7 (12 step loop)
Track 3 flex, sampling 1
track 2 flex, sampling 3
track 4 flex, sampling 2
track 5 flex, Samplng 1

The first minute is a pattern where no track is on 16…
When it gets more rhythmic all track (put not the loops) are on a 16 pattern… Thus gettinf a 12/16 feel, or triplet feel…
THEN a change patterns and PARTS a lot so the above track list is for PART 3…

jonah · 2014-03-08T18:16:53.000Z

try headphones out to back in. the volume knob is actually quite useful then. it’s a good starting place at least.

sabo · 2014-03-09T07:53:08.000Z

great stuff. love to see these machines being pushed beyond EDM.

abergdahl · 2014-03-13T06:48:02.000Z

Thanks guys,

Here is a new clip with a evolved version of this “patch”:

It is 70 Bpm and uses more switching between parts than the earlier track… it became a sort of dub style feeling, at least towards the end…

I have some more minimal stuff on the way… soon…

GovernorSilver · 2014-03-30T19:05:11.000Z

I finally loaded up Anders’ modular and grain project in my Octatrack. Wow, this is next-level stuff! Thanks again, Anders!!

I created an “Anders” Set and saved copies of the project there, then copied the project to my own “Presets” Set, so I can play around with project settings and still have the original project to refer to.