Hello everyone,
I figured I should share this with you people as I’ve never come across it. I initially created this patch to produce dub techno but I feel that this example is much more diverse and covers the dub reggae genre as well. Dub techno is much more “static” so you’ll get the gist and apply it to any other genre you want.
This is a patch that uses the Octatrack as a 4(or 5) channel console with a “traditional” reggae feedback loop and lets you take it on the stage and perform reggae dub live, the way it’s supposed to be done 
So with this patch, we need a backpack compared to:
- An analog console
- A source that plays the tracks and feeds them to our channels
- Outboard FX (racks etc)
I’m kinda obsessed with delays and feedback loops and to me the Octatrack is hands down the best machine to use as a delay. You can go into unimaginable configurable depths where no other machine can take you (maybe some pure-data organelle custom stuff…)
I didn’t fiddle too much with this, I think that if someone likes dubbing reggae tracks will dig deeper cause there’s great depth to this (using the arranger, sophisticated scenes, more LFOs, etc).
------------------ CONNECTIONS ------------------
CUE R -> Octatrack Input C
------------------ TRACKS ------------------
CHAIN 4 CHANNELS:
T5 THRU -> IN C comes here
EFFECT 1 -> FILTER (WIDTH 0, BASE ~80) This control has a lot of variation
EFFECT 2 -> DELAY (FB: 0%, SEND: 100%) a single repeat (2nd page DIR: 0)
CUE LVL -> 0
T6 NEI
EFFECT 1 -> CHORUS
EFFECT 2 -> PHASER
CUE LVL -> 0
T7 NEI
EFFECT 1 -> FLANGER
EFFECT 2 -> COMPRESSOR
CUE LVL -> MAX
Our feedback loop ends here. The next neigh channel offers control (compression) and reverb, also the level of the last channel controls the final mix/volume of the wet result.
T8 NEI
EFFECT 1 -> COMPRESSOR
EFFECT 2 -> REVERB
(Bonus: Elektron spring reverb algo is great for dubbing, it even bongs like a true spring reverb)
------------------ HOW TO USE ------------------
Just send any channel (1-4) to the cue and listen to the outcome
------------------ WARNING ------------------
Whenever playing with feedback loops be VERY careful about your levels until you’re sure you got everything under control, it can get ugly really quickly and can damage your ears/equipment!
------------------ NOTES ------------------
The hardest thing is to control the levels of the loop nicely, this is why compressors help in
various steps of the signal chain. to start let the loop work and calibrate the volume with the
T7 compressor threshold (and ratio somewhere in the middle), you should aim for 3-4 repeats max. When you understand that you have control of the loop volume and repeats you can go to infinity.
Levels (send) come into play a bit but after calibrating correctly you should be able to fully send to cue and use the input level on T5 to feed the compressor correctly.
If you want more repeats afterwards just add make up gain from this compressor.
In all this process there should NOT be any kind of feedback-y sound (like a very dominant frequency), this most probably means that you have left the feedback open OR sent more than one (neigh-loop) channels back to the loop (CUE).
One channel ONLY (5 -> 8) MUST be sent back to the loop.
Lastly, you will see that there are 2 filters in this chain (T5 & T5 DELAY) which offer plenty of control. Also, T5 Filter offers distortion as well.
To control the overall volume of the loop use T8’s volume (the last of the chain).
To make insanely crazy delay effects play with the chorus/flanger/phaser that exists in the other channels. Each of these effects applies the effect to the repeated signal again and again with insane results! You can of course exchange the creative effects in this chain for others that you might like more.
You can also make a send-like fader with the octa fader, just attach it to T5 input volume but just note that when you close the fader the feedback loop will stop working, so you will hear delays as long as the fader is open!
------------------ DUB REGGAE EXAMPLE ------------------
In this example, with the midi controller, we use 2 faders per Octa channel to control Track level and Cue level respectively (my midi controller fader 3 is broken so I bypassed it and used the rest, also I did not send the bass channel so it’s ok)
Our channels for this example contain:
Track 1: Drums/Beat
Track 2: Bass
Track 3: Guitar chords
Track 4: Vocals
Very simple, just for this example to work.
Limitations:
Well, there is the obvious limitation of the 4 channels, you can get creative with Conditional Triggers/Fill Triggers/Arranger, or simply patterns to add more elements. Also, this is the full-blown dub loop, meaning that you can easily throw away 2 FX from Chorus/Flanger/Phaser and gain one more channel, but I think that the loop needs at least 2 channels (without counting the last, so 2 + 1) to be glorious 
If you ever use it to create dubs, please do share the outcome or other ideas!
Cheers 
Also, I mainly use the Octa to perform live and I haven’t really felt the confidence to use the record functions on stage, but again, haven’t spent the time…
