Octatrack Filter Sound

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hey!

I am really thinking about buying a OT. I want to have a production machine that helps me getting songs done when I want to stay away from the Computer. Mostly because of that I prefer the OT over the DT or M:S. I am doing Techno stuff most of the times, mostly dark, minimal stuff, sometimes with some acid in it, but moving to do more psy stuff in the last time.
Now to my question: is the filter on the OT useable for more then just sound design? Would I be able to sample some super-saw, 303 and whatever loops and do all the filter sweeping and movement of the sound inside the OT? With use of resampling and extensive reuse of tracks, I might be able to be successfull with he Limitations of only 8 tracks. As I could attach a Blackbox to it, I would be able to move more static stuff (drums? Basslines) to it and play it via midi.
I would sample sounds directly from my hardware synths or use some I make in ableton.

Thanks,

Jens

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#2

Quick answer. YES.

There is a 12db and 24db mode. Resonant filter. High pass and low pass, you can even make bandpass if you get clever with scene and cross fader.
Filter Envelope is there. LFOs slide trigs, you name it.
Enjoy.

7 Likes
#3

On the OT we have a couple of options to apply FX. There are two FX slots per track and if this is not enough, we can add more FX with the use of ā€œneighborā€ machines. With three LFOs and the LFO designer we can create quite some creative modulation mayhem :wink:

The sound of the filters is okay IMO, nothing to complain about. There is also a FX called ā€œDJ Style Kill EQā€ :wink:

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#4

Yes, the octatrack can become a pretty cool synth when using raw waveforms as samples.
As said above, the filter is 12 or 24db/octave resonant bandpass with drive and its own envelope. It is a base/width filter, which means that with one knob you control the base frequency, and another the width of the bandpass filter around the base frequency. And itā€™s set such as when the base is 0 and moving the width, it acts as a lowpass filter, and when the width is fully up and moving only the base, it acts as a highpass.
The octatrack voice routing is very flexible in the way that you can either use a long raw recording of a synth with open filter as a sample and build your own synth like that. You can even use chords as sample and change the sample on each step to swap between minor and major and build your chord progression like that. The other option is to use a single cycle waveform (only one cycle of a synth waveform) and loop it to get a synth oscillator. I think you could even create your own wavetables and have the LFO modulate the sample start position.
And in all this, the OT filter is an awesome companion!

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#5

The OT LP filter sounds super squelchy with high resonance settings, I found it to be quite similar to my Shruthi SMR4mk2 filter (which is based on the Roland ir3109 (Juno 6/60, SH101 and others).
I can actually sample my Shruthi with cutoff open, no resonance and use the OT filter instead.
That also explains why I always loved the OT filter^^

Yep, the filter in the OT is by far my fav digital filter. It sounds great on the master track filtering drums, it can sound super squelchy on acid lines using single cycle waveforms, but also does a good job as a sound design tool.

Elektron really nailed it^^ :elot:

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#6

Yeah OT filter is really great, pretty flexible too.

For acid it is :ok_hand:

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#7

Just chiming in to back up the previous comments. The OT filter is really great! Also on the second/setup page of the filter (double tap the FX page button) there is a distortion that can be used to rough up or enhance sounds before they hit the filter. I use that parameter a lot!

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#8

The OT can absolutely do everything youā€™re asking about, and a whole lot more. Modulation with the crossfader is amazing and really unlike anything else.

However, there is a caveat to this in its use as a production machine for getting songs done. It is a performance instrument, and while it does have an arrangement mode, itā€™s rather unintuitive and has quite a few limitations. Arranging anf ā€˜finishingā€™ tracks in a linear way is really not where it excels at all, which can create a pretty hard barrier between being in a creative, improvisational, loop-based state, and a state of actually nailing down arrangements. Iā€™ve had my OT for a while now and Iā€™ve still not exactly figured out how best to cross that barrier, but the most intuitive way seems to be to record a performance in one take and record it. This means going back and tweaking things is impossible, and since the OT doesnā€™t have Overbridge or many analogue outputs, youā€™re likely going to end up with a single stereo wav of the master. There are workarounds, but they are workarounds, and therefore still can make it all quite a hassle. This is not intended to discourage you, because itā€™s a fantastic machine, but this is a limitation that I think a lot of people struggle with.

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#9

OT filter is very flexible and sounds really great even with high resonance settings

#10

are you taking about OT mk2 or mk1? :slight_smile:

#11

Does it matter? The filter is exactly the same in both boxes.

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#12

The arranging is my main concern then. Thought the arranger view will be something useable.

#13

Itā€™s very usable, but like most things with OT, it requires a little setting up. Great thing is you can dip in and out of the Arranger at will. So improvising in the middle of an arrangement before continuing is perfectly possible :slight_smile:

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#14

You donā€™t need to use the Arranger, just setting up your Patterns and Parts/Scenes is already more than sufficient to build a live set.

And yes, OTā€™s filter is very good, both powerful and very usable. :slight_smile:

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#15

The arranger is very cool and pretty straight forward. Much cooler to use than song mode on AR or A4 imo

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#16

Never say never, but I donā€™t see myself performing live with my music. Besides that I did live a lot on the past, no one wants to see an old man doing dance music for kids ,)

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#17

I got OT a couple of weeks ago, so Iā€™m still very new to it.

While I was busy working through the basics (parts, patterns, scenes) I got the urge to listen to at least some sort of arrangement of the stuff I was doing, as that motivates me. My muscle memory was not there yet to mute tracks, switch patterns and scenes, etc. on the fly, so I thought Iā€™d have a look at arranger. Iā€™m going to take a guess that most OT veterans will probably suggest donā€™t worry about that in the beginning, you can get to that later.

But I was pleasantly surprised, arranger is covered in 1 or 2 pages in the manual, and is pretty logical, once you learn a couple of shortcuts (adding & removing rows felt weird at first).
I think it does just enough so you can learn it pretty quickly, and there is not a lot to remember. Itā€™s certainly not a DAW (if thatā€™s what you are looking for), but that is a good thing IMO. Iā€™m a fan, after a couple days of use.

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#18

The ā€œFilterā€ on the OT is so so good. BFF!

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#19

Another +1 on the :elot: filter. And Iā€™m very picky about filters as Iā€™m sure many of us are.

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#20

I am just reading the Merlin documentation, because it seems to be easier to get by just reading, than the manual.
Do I understand it correctly, that the Filter takes up a FX slot, so not FX, Delay and Reverb without using up another track as neighbors track?