Octatrack... Octatrack

Ononon · 2014-01-28T21:01:16.000Z

Hey,

I’ve been looking at the Octatrack for a long time but haven’t been able to try one out.
I have questions about super basic functionality which I somehow can’t seem to find the answer to. (Apologies upfront if this is simply down to limited intelligence or effort on my part).

Basically what I would like to know is, and maybe the OT doesn’t work like this at all and it’s the wrong question, but so:

Can I trigger an individual sample from each one of the 16 trig buttons?

If yes, can I hold 16 samples for each of the 8 tracks? Meaning: selecting a different track means I now have 16 other samples available on the trig buttons (assuming I’ve loaded one into each?)

If that makes sense?

And is it so that a sample is loaded by a machine? So 1 machine = 1 sample? Can I then have 1 machine playing 1 sample in each one of the 16 trigs on any one track? So that I could in one loaded project have 128 samples at my fingertips?

I know that it’s possible to load a sample, slice it and have the slices spread out over the trigs (…or?), but I find it hard to get a sense of how and where you keep your samples to just play individually, in or over both the tracks and the trig buttons (and wether there are two sets of 8 trig buttons, one set called track trigs (and if this then means that one track is synonymous with one sample) and one set called sample midi trigs (which means then that this is where you can trigger your samples from, and you can only have 8 per track, or that this is where you trigger external gear from, but then…) or if you can also consider the trig buttons as being 16 of any one function.

I just would like to know simply how many samples I can actually load and trigger, in terms of the 16 (or is it just 8 of them) trig buttons and/or track buttons. Alright, sorry for all the…

I’d be very grateful for any answer.

Yes and one more thing: people are writing that they’re dissatisfied with the polyphony on the OT. What does this mean exactly? What’s the deal with regard to polyphony on the Octatrack?

Thanks!

Old_Artsutanov · 2014-01-28T21:16:20.000Z

OT tracks are monophonic. So whilst you can trigger a different sample on each step/trig, each consecutive step/sample will cut off the previous one, just like a monophonic synth.

RoyShade · 2014-01-28T21:25:07.000Z

Are you comparing functionality to MPC-style finger drumming? I suppose that’s possible but it’s really not that machine. Elektron is built around the sequencer so people talk about p-locks and they mean that for one track of your 8, you can cause different samples to play for each step of the sequencer. I think it’s up to 127.
When you say 16 buttons above, it’s really 8, btw. The other 8 are midi tracks.
Also, the pads are not velocity sensitive. You can hook up a controller if you like and that’s well cared for in the config options.
You can switch the 16 buttons to a virtual keyboard and scale a sample up and down but you cannot load 88 samples for 88 piano keys.
But the box really isn’t not about that.
The new Elektron box called the AR may be closer to what you have in mind but still probably not the same.

Ononon · 2014-01-28T21:29:35.000Z

""Artsutanov"":

OT tracks are monophonic. So whilst you can trigger a different sample on each step/trig, each consecutive step/sample will cut off the previous one, just like a monophonic synth.

Thanks for that! Great to know. (That kind of sucks a little bit)

But it does mean 8 (albeit monophonic) tracks can play together at the same time?

Ononon · 2014-01-28T21:45:11.000Z

""cleverconqueso"":

Are you comparing functionality to MPC-style finger drumming? I suppose that’s possible but it’s really not that machine. Elektron is built around the sequencer so people talk about p-locks and they mean that for one track of your 8, you can cause different samples to play for each step of the sequencer. I think it’s up to 127.
When you say 16 buttons above, it’s really 8, btw. The other 8 are midi tracks.
Also, the pads are not velocity sensitive. You can hook up a controller if you like and that’s well cared for in the config options.
You can switch the 16 buttons to a virtual keyboard and scale a sample up and down but you cannot load 88 samples for 88 piano keys.
But the box really isn’t not about that.
The new Elektron box called the AR may be closer to what you have in mind but still probably not the same.

Thanks so much for this. I understand that it’s not like an MPC. I’ve owned various MPC’s over the years and I also have a Machinedrum, and I didn’t expect anything to be velocity sensitive on the OT, I just still found it hard to really understand exactly how single samples run through the Octatrack. It’s not so much that I’m looking for a machine that can do this or that, it’s more I just really want to try and understand what the Octatrack does in the most technical terms. Your answer is very clarifying!
So: you can have 8 samples loaded to trig on each of the 8 tracks. And at the same time you have 8 midi trig buttons (for use on each track, or…).
And is there expectation (unfounded or otherwise) of an OS update to make each track on the OT polyphonic?

subq · 2014-01-28T21:52:05.000Z

""Kujak"":

[quote=“Artsutanov”]OT tracks are monophonic. So whilst you can trigger a different sample on each step/trig, each consecutive step/sample will cut off the previous one, just like a monophonic synth.

Thanks for that! Great to know. (That kind of sucks a little bit)

But it does mean 8 (albeit monophonic) tracks can play together at the same time?[/quote]
yes, he is talking in terms of each individual track

Ononon · 2014-01-28T22:05:37.000Z

""subq"":

[quote=“Kujak”][quote=“Artsutanov”]OT tracks are monophonic. So whilst you can trigger a different sample on each step/trig, each consecutive step/sample will cut off the previous one, just like a monophonic synth.

Thanks for that! Great to know. (That kind of sucks a little bit)

But it does mean 8 (albeit monophonic) tracks can play together at the same time?[/quote]
yes, he is talking in terms of each individual track[/quote]
Alright. So it means that you can’t have something like a cymbal ride on each beat ring out on top of itself. It would be cut off.
But so if I wanted to make it ring out on top of itself anyway, I could put a reverb on it, right? And then would that reverb go on all the trigs/sounds on that track, or only on that trig/sound?

Do you (any of you using it) find that the tracks on the OT being monophonic makes the machine feel stuttery in any way? Or does it feel easy to build fluid, big, growing music on it? And in case of the latter, do you feel that this is mostly due to using the effects?

RoyShade · 2014-01-28T22:14:47.000Z

Each ‘track’ is a monophonic voice. It can make one sound at a time and the sound happens when the sequencer associated with that track tells it to play. For each trigger from the sequencer, many parameters associated with the sound can be set - pitch, effect settings, start point, sampler stuff. Also, you can set which sample will play. It defaults to the one you have loaded but it can play different ones instead. When you use this feature, you lose a modicum of control over the sound, but just a smidge. Then multiply this by 8 tracks.

Ignore the 8 MIDI tracks. These are almost the same thing except they control external synths or perhaps an MPC or other sample player. Or, you could send out control data to an effects box that takes MIDI. Whatever. The MIDI tracks are differently powerful and better than any of my other sequencers, but the integration between the sequencer and the sampler is tight tight tight, while the MIDI features integrate the sequencer with an unknown third-party synth or whatever. You send control messages over a thirty year old cable and hope for the best.

So the secret sauce to the OT is the sequencer. Press play and that running red light becomes a task master forcing you to stay a step ahead of it while attempting to be musically interesting.

Expect nothing from OS updates. Elektron keeps it interesting but they’ve also got new kids to care for and trends are changing. If we OT owners get lucky, they release an OT Keys or Lady Gaga shows up on stage with one and it gets renewed attention.

This mono limitation does not exist as far as I’m concerned. The tracks are monophonic, but it is not a limitation. Could you imagine the muddy mess a polyphonic bass synth would be?

Ononon · 2014-01-28T22:26:17.000Z

""cleverconqueso"":

Each ‘track’ is a monophonic voice. It can make one sound at a time and the sound happens when the sequencer associated with that track tells it to play. For each trigger from the sequencer, many parameters associated with the sound can be set - pitch, effect settings, start point, sampler stuff. Also, you can set which sample will play. It defaults to the one you have loaded but it can play different ones instead. When you use this feature, you lose a modicum of control over the sound, but just a smidge. Then multiply this by 8 tracks.

Ignore the 8 MIDI tracks. These are almost the same thing except they control external synths or perhaps an MPC or other sample player. Or, you could send out control data to an effects box that takes MIDI. Whatever. The MIDI tracks are differently powerful and better than any of my other sequencers, but the integration between the sequencer and the sampler is tight tight tight, while the MIDI features integrate the sequencer with an unknown third-party synth or whatever. You send control messages over a thirty year old cable and hope for the best.

So the secret sauce to the OT is the sequencer. Press play and that running red light becomes a task master forcing you to stay a step ahead of it while attempting to be musically interesting.

Expect nothing from OS updates. Elektron keeps it interesting but they’ve also got new kids to care for and trends are changing. If we OT owners get lucky, they release an OT Keys or Lady Gaga shows up on stage with one and it gets renewed attention.

This mono limitation does not exist as far as I’m concerned. The tracks are monophonic, but it is not a limitation. Could you imagine the muddy mess a polyphonic bass synth would be?

Thanks for taking the time, that’s a great answer. I also thought the only 8 trigs for the OT and 8 for midi sounded limiting but when you put it like that it makes more sense.

Of course, I like the idea that a sampler potentially could make a total muddy mess by samples being piled up on top of each other, and that you can choose yourself if a sample should be poly or mono. But this is not that machine. It also sounds like something that is memory dependent rather than OS dependent. Anyway, that’s great, thanks!

Ononon · 2014-01-28T22:33:11.000Z

What about two Octatracks playing together. Anyone try this?
Can they be synced (tight, tight, tight) but still be each on their own, or would one have to be the master OT?

Old_Artsutanov · 2014-01-28T22:45:30.000Z

I have 2 OTs. They sync perfectly. You can set one to mirror the other, so selecting tracks, cross fader movements etc etc on the master will effect the same parameters on the other, or you can simply use the master OTs transport to start and stop and work the 2 OTs faders and knobs independently. As mentioned in a different thread, with 2 OTs you can also automate one of the OT s fader movement via midi cc, which is nice.

StinkyBeat · 2014-01-28T22:49:17.000Z

As you mention in your first post, slice-chains are the way to pull this off with the OT.

If you start with a prerecorded sample of silence, filling your slice-chain with samples is easy as copy-paste. Just think of creating the slice-chain for a track as the OT’s method of assigning a sample to a trigger for each track. Changing up a sample is as easy as deleting the one out of the chain and pasting the new one in. I leave chunks of silence between samples if I plan on changing out samples in the chain and set the slice points manually.

The functionality you seek is there.

RoyShade · 2014-01-28T23:11:01.000Z

…Alright. So it means that you can’t have something like a cymbal ride on each beat ring out on top of itself. It would be cut off.

Use two tracks for this. Since you can have multiple samples on a track, there’s a lot of room to play there. I suppose you could think of the track as a choke group?

…But so if I wanted to make it ring out on top of itself anyway, I could put a reverb on it, right? And then would that reverb go on all the trigs/sounds on that track, or only on that trig/sound?

Reverb is per-track so ‘all of the sounds’ if I understand you correctly. You can also run a master track which uses up/replaces track 8 and put the effect there.

My personal observation with the OT is that it’s not a DAW but an instrument. I’m sure folks feel different, but personally, it does its own stuff and makes its own sound. Some folks move their live set from their PC to the OT, but I don’t see that, personally. For example, for me, the effects are not a strong point if you want to do what a delay typically does or do what a comb filter typically does. I wouldn’t take something that needs reverb and expect the OT’s verb to do the job. On the other hand, I would expect to take something and make sounds out of it, and the reverb and the comb filter for sure, would play a roll in crafting that.

RoyShade · 2014-01-28T23:13:38.000Z

""Artsutanov"":

I have 2 OTs. They sync perfectly. You can set one to mirror the other, so selecting tracks, cross fader movements etc etc on the master will effect the same parameters on the other, or you can simply use the master OTs transport to start and stop and work the 2 OTs faders and knobs independently. As mentioned in a different thread, with 2 OTs you can also automate one of the OT s fader movement via midi cc, which is nice.

Are you saying slice-chains get around the monophonic limitation or something else? I’m super curious. I played around with slice-chains and didn’t find a use for them beyond saving slots or using an LFO to change samples. (Which is awesome but I haven’t found a use for it.)

Ononon · 2014-01-28T23:25:18.000Z

""cleverconqueso"":

…Alright. So it means that you can’t have something like a cymbal ride on each beat ring out on top of itself. It would be cut off.

Use two tracks for this. Since you can have multiple samples on a track, there’s a lot of room to play there. I suppose you could think of the track as a choke group?

…But so if I wanted to make it ring out on top of itself anyway, I could put a reverb on it, right? And then would that reverb go on all the trigs/sounds on that track, or only on that trig/sound?

Reverb is per-track so ‘all of the sounds’ if I understand you correctly. You can also run a master track which uses up/replaces track 8 and put the effect there.

My personal observation with the OT is that it’s not a DAW but an instrument. I’m sure folks feel different, but personally, it does its own stuff and makes its own sound. Some folks move their live set from their PC to the OT, but I don’t see that, personally. For example, for me, the effects are not a strong point if you want to do what a delay typically does or do what a comb filter typically does. I wouldn’t take something that needs reverb and expect the OT’s verb to do the job. On the other hand, I would expect to take something and make sounds out of it, and the reverb and the comb filter for sure, would play a roll in crafting that.

Ok thanks. I get what you mean about it being an instrument. I guess I just think of samplers (and I suppose when I say samplers, I probably mean some old Akai machine in one incarnation or another—but a sampler in the most basic sense is just a recording device, or a bunch of little recorders that work together) not as DAWs but still as instruments to make collages with, rather than ‘sounds’. I take this sample and this other sample, and when I put them together, something new happens. Sampling for me was always first and foremost about listening out for the good sample to take. The OT sounds a little bit more like ‘take whatever the hell sample you want and tweak the nuts out of that thing!—times eight!’… which as far as hardware samplers go is fairly unique and great (but yes I see that it’s more than that).

Ononon · 2014-01-28T23:30:11.000Z

""StinkyBeat"":

As you mention in your first post, slice-chains are the way to pull this off with the OT.

If you start with a prerecorded sample of silence, filling your slice-chain with samples is easy as copy-paste. Just think of creating the slice-chain for a track as the OT’s method of assigning a sample to a trigger for each track. Changing up a sample is as easy as deleting the one out of the chain and pasting the new one in. I leave chunks of silence between samples if I plan on changing out samples in the chain and set the slice points manually.

The functionality you seek is there.

Thanks StinkyBeat. (Fun track by the way!)

I think I kind of understand. I relented and downloaded the manual now. Skimming through it, it looks a little like also perhaps the thing called “Sample Locks” is a bit the functionality I seek?

If I first assign a bunch of samples to a machine/track, then I can just hold a trig and scroll through those samples and assign them to that trig?
Is this correct?

And if so: can I do that to all 16 trigs across, or only to the first (or the second, their assignment confuses me) 8 trigs?

DrRock · 2014-01-29T02:30:16.000Z

Yes, correct, provided you load at least 16 samples into the pool and assign them to the tracks/ trigs. if you do this you might consider halving the tempo multiplier (which can be per track or globally) so that each trig plays longer but still fit on the one page. The octatrack is good at auto timestretch when you dont bend it too far, so that can help if you need to use random stuff too.
hope this makes sense

joshEjosh · 2014-01-29T02:44:54.000Z

""Kujak"":

[quote=“StinkyBeat”]As you mention in your first post, slice-chains are the way to pull this off with the OT.

If you start with a prerecorded sample of silence, filling your slice-chain with samples is easy as copy-paste. Just think of creating the slice-chain for a track as the OT’s method of assigning a sample to a trigger for each track. Changing up a sample is as easy as deleting the one out of the chain and pasting the new one in. I leave chunks of silence between samples if I plan on changing out samples in the chain and set the slice points manually.

The functionality you seek is there.

Thanks StinkyBeat. (Fun track by the way!)

I think I kind of understand. I relented and downloaded the manual now. Skimming through it, it looks a little like also perhaps the thing called “Sample Locks” is a bit the functionality I seek?

If I first assign a bunch of samples to a machine/track, then I can just hold a trig and scroll through those samples and assign them to that trig?
Is this correct?

And if so: can I do that to all 16 trigs across, or only to the first (or the second, their assignment confuses me) 8 trigs?
[/quote]
Yes, in order to trigger a sample, it must be assigned to a slot. There are 128 slots for static machines, and 128 for flex (I think). You can sample-lock a different sample on every step of a pattern if you like. If you have a track in slice mode, you can p-lock the slice number as well, as it’s just another parameter. This can also be controlled by an LFO, or you can slide p-locked slice numbers between steps. Yes… now your brain will start thinking about all of the crazy mangulation you can do.

If the track is not in slice mode, the slice parameter becomes the ‘start’ parameter, and it can be LFO’d and p-locked into crazy-land in the same manner.

So… it’s not a keyboard sampler with multiple voices and all that. It’s not Ableton either. It’s got it’s own thing going on. Your samples can be loops, whole songs, single hits, or even single waveforms. You can load the same sample file into multiple slots with different settings too.

The OT is a very strange land, but it’s fun once you learn the local customs.

DrRock · 2014-01-29T02:53:05.000Z

Also, now i think of it. Any concern about samples being cut off can be sorted by using 2 tracks if you need a longer decay, and then resampling.

Ononon · 2014-01-29T07:20:12.000Z

Ok good. But a ‘slot’ is simply a ‘virtual’ place inside a machine/track, right? You designate a machine to a track and then load samples into that machines ‘slots’ and then… you assign the samples from that machine’s slots into or onto a physical button which is a trig. But the trigs can, if you want it to, catch a new or different sample from whatever is loaded into the slots?

So then, on average, if possible to say; how many samples do you usually have up on the trigs on any one track? Or how many samples do you usually have per track, in general (I see that this question may not make sense seeing as everything can be changed around so much all the time, but imma ask it still…):

So, one sample per track? 16 samples per track? More than 16 samples (that keeps changing around) per track?

Thanks.