I’ve seen a number of threads and vids about the potential of using an Octatrack to DJ with, but all are concentrating on the notion of mixing audio files.
What I was really wondering about was the potential of inputting old school records decks through some sort of pre-amp and into OT to mix between them and/or sampled audio using the cross fader.
There’s probably a myriad headaches trying to achieve this (primarily getting 2 stereo sound sources pre-amped before inputting into the OT) but the one thing I can’t get a handle on without having a machine in my hand is the ability to switch readily between monitoring individual inputs on the OT’s headphone out.
Am I right to guess that the headphone just matches the main audio stereo out?
And therefore my plan is all a non-starter?
Otherwise somebody would have already done this, I guess.
Please shoot me down, before I go out and spend a grand.
thanks
Having trawled through a PDF of the OT manual it looks like monitoring the inputs isn’t the big problem at all.
It would pre-amping the decks in a straightforward (and portable) manner.
It’s starting to look like too much arsehole.
I suggest having a look at the OT manual section 16.4 “OT as a DJ mixer…” Re you question, the headphone out can be faded between main and cue outs.
Section 16.4 of the manual actually has an example of how to set up the OT as a DJ mixer, and gives you the ability to monitor both Main and Cue outputs, and crossfade between 2 decks using Scenes. You can set the headphone audio to be any mix of the Main and Cue.
It’s entirely possible to use the OT as “just” a DJ mixer. Are there any other OT capabilities you’d want to “layer” on top of being a DJ mixer? Scenes and the crossfader can be used for other things like applying FX, or live resampling that might conflict with their set up they’ve detailed.
Thanks.
I found the online manual after posting (sorry)
as mentioned above, the thing now that has me scratching my head is how to pre-amp 2 decks and get their separate stereo feeds into the OT, without it getting cumbersome and expensive.
yeah the idea would be to use the OT FX to process the sound inputs.
I’d not got into the logistics of that until I could fathom if the desired setup was even possible.
That’s easy. Just get two of these and some cables:
https://www.andertons.co.uk/behringer-pp400-phono-preamplifier-000-49204-00010
If you don’t like behringer this looks equivalent:
That’s fair. If you created a Venn diagram of what a DJ mixer does and the OT does, monitoring audio and cross fading between the 2 sources would be in the overlapping section. Whether an OT is a good fit depends on how much DJ mixer-only and OT-only pieces are important to you.
A really common mixing technique that a DJ mixer would be better at are dedicated knobs for adjusting EQ on both decks, like simultaneously cutting out the low-end from deck 1 while bringing in the low end on deck 2. The OT’s knobs only affect the selected track and parameter page so your changes would need multiple steps: select the track 1 FX page and cut out the low-end, then select the track 2 FX page to bring in the low-end.
Yes, there is a way to replicate this with the crossfader and Scenes, but you can see how something as simple as 2 knob turns on a dedicated mixer, requires more foresight and preparation on the OT.
Don’t mean to push you away from an OT, I love mine and I think you would too if you also intend to explore it’s other capabilities.
thanks for the response.
It’s starting to feel like a lot of admin (and power supplies), which is why I suspect I’ve never seen anyone doing it.
If I had an OT for other purposes I’d explore it, but it looks like an expensive experiment.
Also - OT doesn’t do the kind of instant looping you’d sometimes find on DJ mixers with a built in sampler. As in - tap a button to start recording, tap again to stop sampling and go straight into looping.
It also lacks the level faders, so you’d be hopping around track selections - or going into the mixer page - for that