Octatrack BPM per Track?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hi All, I am trying to use the OT like a Mixer as stated in the guide page 109 and have the following issues:
When loading a song to track 1, the samples manager displays a bpm of 90 (which I doubt it because it’s pretty hard techno). On track 2 I have a song with 130 bpm. So I lower the general bpm of the OT to 90 (by default it’s 120) then play track 1 but right before switching to track 2 i need to increase the bpm to 130 which is always messy. Is there a way to set BPMs per track?

The example above is with 2 songs only; when handling multiple songs, i always need to read then remember the “calculated” BPM on the screen when adding them to the project/tracks and set the BPM of the OT to that level when switching to play the song. Is there an easier way to do this? Especially that I can’t get back to the screen where the BPM of the songs is displayed while songs are being played; so I need to reload them if i forget :frowning:

I hope you understood my struggle and can share knowledge that will make bpm management easier to handle.

#2

Have you tried to put the BPM into the filename? OT parses for this afair.

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#3

Imho the best is to use power of 2 numbers of bars : 1,2,4,8,16,32,etc.

I’d check and correct the number of bars in Attibutes page > TRIM, if the number of bar is precise. Otherwise you can use TRIM page to make a selection of bars, power of 2 values.

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#4

Not… I just downloaded the album feom bandcamp and transfered it to OT…
You mean I should rename the songs to _songname.aiff (e.g. 90_song1.aiff) ?

How can i know the value of the bpm of the songs for sure?

#5

…no 48k files…don’t forget…

under file attributes u can always dial the truu bpm, in case the file was not accurate on first bar cut and overall lenght…in this case ot can only guess…

so u better make sure first slice point marks first beat…

if u wanna avoid dialing tempo on the fly, u need to use the arranger…only way to jump in different tempi on the fly…

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#6

Not with decimals (except 0.20 and 0.50). No problem with natural numbers, but otherwise, it is not precise at all, values you can dial are :
0.25, 0.5, 0.75 with arrows or Level
With Fn + arrows :
0.04
0.08
0.12
0.16
0.20
0.25
0.29
0.33
0.37
0.41
0.45
0.50
0.54
0.58
0.62
0.66
0.70
0.75
0.79
0.83
0.87
0.91
0.95

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#7

Regarding the arranger: I could also just create a playlist on a notebook and hit play :pensive: (see : Creative Dilemma )

Can the OT set BPM per track?
Example: Track 1 ist at 90 but when I slowly slide to track 5 the BPM would increase proportionally to the BPM of the next track which is 130.

#8

Samples are interpreted / parsed for their BPM not tracks. If OT thinks your file is 90 BPM it will try to play it back at 120 BPM if you have not disabled the timestretch (which is per default on)

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#9

…predefined tempi only via arranger possible…

and no gear on this planet can go truly smooth from 90 bpm to 130…
and no dj would try so…if u got such a gap in tempo…play that gap obviously as a gap/full stop/break or fill the gap with some beatless elements…but finish one track and then clearly start from scratch the next/faster/slower one…

anything else is a mindfuck…for u and any people on any dancefloor…

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#10
#11

That’s not necessarily true with the arranger. All you need to use the arranger for is the pattern changes with BPM included. You can jump in and out of arranger mode and do whatever you want with the active pattern. But instead of selecting the next pattern like you would do normally, use the arranger to select the next pattern. It need not be necessarily the next pattern in the list. You can select every pattern you want (and have previously added there). This way you can automate BPM changes as well as track mute states and scene changes.

BTW: another useful feature of the arranger: you can add comments.

2 Likes
#12

The Arranger can really do some nifty stuff, besides per row BPM, midi track transposition, track mutes, that do not cut off the audio (!), pattern start offset and pattern length you also get per row scene selection and the reminder feature, that lets you write little notes - so theres plenty of use cases beyond a simple pattern list and automating some stuff for you.

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#13

…ha…yes…indeed…the exception statesthestereotype…

of course u can make a constant rise in tempo a dedicated part of ur performance…and drive people nuts that way…with cool rolls and drops at the right spots while climbing up…
but that’s not really a solution for each transition ur up to nor next to come… :wink:

and hey…fatboy slim is soooo last century… and was famous for accapella in first place and then for mixing together what was never expected to come together for once…

but well…only four years ago, he was headlining some big event and i was really surprised to see his payroll that day…earns still over 100 thousand bux a night…sometimes…

not too bad for an ex housmartin brit boy…25 years after his peak…
but no time to miss the good old nineties…
and wait til u see me twisting ur breathtaking comb filter experiments… :wink: