yo, i like the artifacts as well. but not as basis for all my sounds.
specific sounds that i fed into the machine require different methods / strategies/ processing.
since the ot has different modes i thought we could choose the quality of the algo…
and with 1400 € for an ot mk2 i want the option to choose between shit and gold…
When I first got the OT I hated it… Not because I couldn’t use it (everybody told me to read the manual even though i knew how to use it… Hated that) but because everybody repeats over and over how it can do everything and once I got it I found out it couldn’t do so many simple things.
The reason why I like it now is because I’ve realised its much more of a processor of samples than a utility machine that does everything well. Buy it if you want to load samples in and fuck with them and destroy them until they’re something else. You cant make good music on it if you try and do what you can do on on an mpc Imo.
Also get an mki
This is my advice
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One thing I’ve noticed is that the longer the full sample the better time-stretching I get on a smaller part of the sample.
So let’s say I have a long sample and I just want to use only a small part of it. If I just re-sample that small part and use that small sample directly, time-stretching generates artifacts easily. However using the original long sample with trimming to that small part of it, the time-stretching sounds much better.
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very interesting, this is how the time compression/expansion algorithmm in protools behaves.
(timstretching longer selection = better result)
Timestrech can also be used with Rate in Timestretch mode. Set it to 0, 1, + reverb for granular/freeze fx.
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hey Saltaire,
thanks for the input on this thread.
I’m currently looking at purchasing a used OT mi.
Just curious why you state get a mi?
A better deal for essentially the same product perhaps, or something else?
chur
Im surprised the ot mk2 has NOT improved upon the first time stretch algorithm.
The ts is definitely one of the ots weakness.
I just picked up an old s2000 akai and the ts is great, fantastic actually.
I can trig the 2000 with my monomachine, press ts on a sound/note and the 2000 goes off to process the sound in an unuasual way.
Mk2 uses the same algorithm as mk1, so sounds exactly the same
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There is something to be said about pre-processing/editing samples before they go in, too… I am tending towards pitching up stuff just a bit beforehand…for some reason, OT pitched down has a sweeter spot. To me, +pitch sounds like an actual pitch shift instead of a “speeding up”. Depends on the sampler and material.
I tended to pitch up stuff in the ASR10 in composition to get that 48/96k sound and there was some beef, too.
Although I specifically got the OT for a unique approach/sound, I am getting an ear for what material hits. If I know I am going to pitch down a sample, like a synth, i leave in a bit of the high end/harmonics/artifacts…timestreched, interesting. Opposite with material I might tend to pitch up- LPF. Although there’s a ton of onboard effect/filter options, don’t like the idea of having to rely on them if I happen to open the filters up.
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Indeed, sorry I left out ‘not.’ Now edited.
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Real-time timestretch ?
Dunno kind of, its weird, only picked up the 2000 recently. I just trig the s2000 from mm seq and press ts and the s2000 just seems to lock onto a monomachine sample sound/loop and go off on a deep time stretch
I’ve had a 10 second sample go on for minutes, just ts glitching away and rolling out.
Strangely, the resampling function does weird shit also.
AFAIK the s2000 timestretch algorithms are identical to the MPC2000 algorithms. I’ve got a 2000xl and the timestretch is comically “bad” but in a way that I really like. I definitely wouldn’t call it “better” (or even close to) the OT in the sense of sounding natural or transparent, but it definitely sounds pleasing, like how the timestretch on the SP-303 sounds great musically v though it was pretty crude even at the time.
Anyhow, the s2000/MPC2000 timestretch is definitely not real time, processing a 30 second sample at CD quality can take 4 or 5 minutes depending on the settings. If it’s doing it in real time,t hen there’s no time stretch or pitch shift happening, it’s just changing the playback rate of the sample (which always sounds good to my ear, especially if you’re slowing/pitching down).
A lot of old samplers sound objectively better now because they’re actually “worse” on paper but the artifacts that are introduced sound good because we’ve gotten used to them. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Octatrack sound became a sought after thing in another 15-20 years the way the aliasing in the old Akai 12 bit samplers is today even though it was considered a limitation at the time.
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agree and mangling samples is my favorite thing to do with OT. I was tweaking some movie clips and had lot of laughs adjusting pitch on them.
Did you ever figure out how you uploaded samples to the A4? I really want to try this out.
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I did via USB and the C6 utility on my PC. You need to set the USB in the system menu. I loaded all the free sample packs to the A4.
Which sample packs?
Definitely all great points. Yeh its not real time, just an unusual process.
I can’t remember my old mpc2000xl sounding as ‘nicey weird’ as the s2000. I’ll definitely take a look a the sp303, algo.
I reckon a cheap $100 buck rack sampler goes great with elektron gear.
I see A4 sound packs but none of them are sample based…
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