Hi everyone!
I’m trying to make the smallest setup I can, here’s the diagram, with the explanation below:
[ Ok I realize now this is going to be LONG, so I hope I can get your attention for a few minutes. ]
Let’s start at the beggining: I’ve had the Octa for probably a bit less than 2 months, I’m still trying to find a good worflow for playing live, trying lots of different things.
What I know so far is: I like using 1 part per track mostly, and one pattern - playing with mutes and parameter changes as I go, maybe some pattern variations too (I come from an Electribe EM-1 background, so probably that explains it, although I feel confortable with that)
So, among these live workflow things I’ve been trying, there’s of course transitions. I work with one-shot samples (at least for now) so the play-free method doesn’t work for me… I’ve also tried cueing with recorder buffers, but it’s too troublesome for me and it ends up taking too much time (and one of my tracks)
So I went back to the method I used to do with the Electribe, wich was using the ALT 3-4 of my Mackie console to send the Electribe to the Kaoss Pad whenever I wanted to sample something and move to another pattern (I didn’t connect it straight into it because by using the ALT 3-4 I can switch it back to the normal output and keep modifying the look on the KP without affecting the Electribe’s / Octa’s output)
This option is also kinda tricky, but anyway, it worked.
Yesterday I realized I can do it as well without the mixer on the Octa - by setting the KP to SEND mode, so in that way it will be silent until I either press the pad or it finishes sampling… I use the CUE OUTS to go into the KP, then KP’s out goes to the IN C-D of the Octa.
So it goes like this:
-I’m playing with the Octatrack, I cue whatever tracks I want to sample with the KP.
- The KP starts sampling - no output is heard (I can even mute the sample if I keep the KP’s crossfader at 0)
- Now comes the tricky part: I want to turn on the loop at the same time I mute the part. there’s a few ways to work this out. I could:
A. Wait just until the KP finishes looping (with the crossfader all the way up) and, while in mixer or track mute mode, mute all tracks. The KP loop would begin playing automatically.
B. use the Octa’s crossfader between: Scene A- DIR CD MIN > Scene B - DIR CD MAX / All tracks with the XVOL set up to MIN. (this one seems way too complicated)
C. The other option (that I haven’t yet tried) is, instead of muting all the tracks, soloing a track that I might want to keep on sounding… I have to try it.
Here’s where the Nanokontrol might come in handy (and actually the reason I initially wanted to start this thread for… gasp!).
First of all, G.A.S. guilt - I don’t even have the Kenton Host, but I’m planning on buying one (I live in Buenos Aires and we don’t have those around here, anyway)
But could I map it like this? my main concern is the INPUT C-D mapping on fader 9:
I think having an external controller might be handy for quick muting / soloing, and if the setup above is possible, I could bring in the KP sample in different ways…
Sorry for the long post, I hope you can help me out. Also, if anyone’s curious about it, I also use the Monotron Delay to add some grittiness to Cued tracks
I incorporated it before finding out this whole mixer-less idea for the KP