Hello all! So I decided to dj on my Octatrack MK2 this weekend for a Halloween party I booked. I usually perform on my old school tech 1200s, but decided for simplicity of setup sake (and of course looking for an excuse to use this lovely instrument) go with the elektron. I basically set up track 1 as deck one and track 5 as deck 2 with 1 running out of the main outs and 2 running out of cue outs into a mixer (just like a DJ setup). I liked it and think I would be motivated to use the setup moving forward, especially as a visiting dj with one problem. When I’m trying to dial in the bpms on my “cue track” before I mix it in, the Octatrack doesn’t seem to have the resolution I need. It only increases/decreases the speed by 0.25 bpms, and in most cases it seems to be too much or not enough. I know how to nudge using the arrows, but it just seems like there must be a way to beat match EXACTLY the speed I want. Any advice? I’ve tried the “normal” setting and “beat” no luck.
Ask Elektron and pray some gods like Odin, Thor, etc…
Check this :
The Untold Truth About Octatrack Tempo
In Audio Editor ATTRIBUTES, it’s 0.04 increment resolution actually.
With Fn + arrows :
0.04
0.08
0.12
0.16
0.20
0.25
0.29
0.33
0.37
0.41
0.45
0.50
0.54
0.58
0.62
0.66
0.70
0.75
0.79
0.83
0.87
0.91
0.95
I always thought it would be cool if tempo could be mapped to crossfader/scene, I’m not a DJ but was surprised that AFAIK no DJ ever asked for it as a feature request, seems kind of obvious to me.
Thats a great idea. Maybe OS update in the future somehow?
Oh, I missed this thread.
Just posted something over here that you might want to look into, @tallec01
Edit: this is not using the sequencer at all…
This is genius. Thanks for linking this in. I’ll give it a try.
Welcome. Hope this works for you.
Hey having trouble figuring this out. I assume you mean make the lfos under the “design option”? How do you assign it? I see how you can do that with lfo 1 2 and 3, but not the custom. Thanks
Yeah, using LFO Design you can set the values (all -1 or 1) of the selected tracks custom LFO.
Each track has its own.
To use these (in any track) select from T1-T8 in one of the LFO1, LFO2, LFO3 slots.
Hope that helps.
when i DJ a techno or house set, usually my only BPM change is a little bit faster than when i started, no need for drastic x fader change…
Right now I currently have T1 and T5 setup as "turntables. One comes out through the mains, the other to the Cur outs. This goes to a mixer. I basically use the ATTR to get all of my tracks “close” in bpm so there’s minor adjustment when I play, but like I said, the nudge function is just to “weird” to me. It doesn’t skip ahead or backup to the resolution I need “like a record”
Once you get it setup, what do you actually “press” while your song is “playing” out of a track to speed up or slow down the song? Sorry for the ignorance. I love this thing, but I’ve found it incredibly difficult to master. I have a machindrum and it just seems so much easier to use, so I didn’t think the learning curve would be so steep.
Just increase the depth of one of the LFO’s, or both, until you get close enough for the time it takes to perform your blend.
So, I was using LFO1 (wave set to T1; all -1) and LFO2 (wave T5 all +1) on both tracks.
To slow down, slightly increase LFO1 depth. Speed up with LFO2. Small amounts.
To really nudge you’ll have to have to twist it some more (momentarily). Also try -2/+2 values in the LFO designer.
Haven’t tried it in a while, but I thought the pitch control was quite granular, enough to pull off a fairly clean mix.
It does take a little practice.
I wish the linear crossfader wouldn’t suck so badly at this.
Edit: I think it is essential to get fairly close using SRC>PTCH first (with LFO1+2 depths still at 0). After that you can really hone it in with small increments and there is enough range for corrections.
Using an external clock source might give you finer tempo control