Octatrack MIDI Legato '303' Slides Video & Introduction

Elektron Gear Octatrack
1

Hello! My name is Phil and I spend most of my life playing with modular synthesizers - building, designing, and of course, playing! The OT has been one of the most revolutionary pieces of gear I’ve ever come across. It is now the centerpiece of my rig. The depth is incredible and with enough study (which it has absolutely been), it is becoming a real instrument and not just a helper or tool.

Anyways, I figured for my first post I’d better contribute something before I ask for help of my own!

I made a quick video showing how I’m doing 303 style legato slides on the OT using the ARP. A happy accident with the ARP led me down a rabbit-hole of exploration uncovering a workaround for a feature I dearly missed!

It is possible I’ve missed something much more obvious although I’m pretty sure I’ve read through the manual enough times!

Thanks,
Phil

19 Likes
2

Great video thanks Phil! I have just bought an Octatrack and decided to move away from the computer for all my writing. Such an awesome piece of kit!

3

Liked and book marked for later viewing thanks!

4

You’re doing it the hard way. The easy way is to set LEG on, and use the length parameter on the playback page to determine where the glides happen.

6 Likes
5

Thanks so much! I’ve added a note in the video and in the description how to do it the easier way you mention. Thanks! I’ll use this way when I don’t need arp functionality.

1 Like
6

Found this thread today, 5 years after its creation, I love that I still learn new stuff about the OT every week after owning it for a couple of months :slight_smile:

1 Like
7

That SPD x96 trick is clever!

1 Like
8

That‘s actually quite clever! Although unnessecarily complicated (with arp off, p-locking legato will slide overlapping notes), but I really like the part of using infinite nlen, because you can remove notes and still keep it sliding to the next note as shown in the video.

Also shows what a cool machine OT is with its several different ways of doing stuff OT way. :grin:

2 Likes
9

Awesome :smiley:

10

i failed : it glides all notes here… it’s possible to slide only one note ? any other video tutorial ?

11

Just make sure your “not-legato” note length is not so long that it will overlap with the next note.

1 Like
12

it’s strange i hear no slide or extremely soft (?)… on my track i have legato ON & just a note overlaps another for the slide…

i use a Ladyada x0xb0x, maybe i must send SLIDE Midi CC ?

13

I think stock OS on a x0xb0x should work without any CC magic, actually I’m pretty sure it doesn’t use CC for anything but I might be wrong on that. Do you mean your slides sound different sequenced from the OT than they do with the internal sequencer?

1 Like
14

i hear no slide at all. Im pretty sure note lengths are ok. LEG on 1…

the x0x OS is 1.9.1 Sokkos. Got it since 3 days :slight_smile:

i thinked maybe "portamento too fast or need adjust on Octatrack… (?)

15

I believe the slide on x0xb0x is all analog and to change it you need a soldering iron. Can you post an audio example?

16

this time it worked, normally ! Thx :slight_smile:

1 Like
17

Thanks for the video and info all these years later. The synth im trying to glide with the OT (Intelijel 1U Midi > CV converter) requires a CC of 65 (the portamento “on” standard) to turn on portamento… I can achieve this with the OT by assigning CC 65 to one of the Midi CC’s and modulating it but its not ideal… There’s no way the OT’s Legato functionality via the ARP can send that CC out by default too?

18

No. Legato just makes an overlap between notes.