Hello. I own an AR and AK and initially just want something that can build up and loop layers from the AK. Ive been trying to use a TC Electronic Ditto X4 but trying to sync the midi is like trying to herd cats. I am interested in the sampling features of the OT but as mentioned, I just wanted to know how you would simply loop a 64 step sequence from the AK so it is bang in time and then keep overdubbing?
Thanks for any help.
With ease using pick up machines. Theyāre like loopers, you could do this with 8 tracks at once should you wish. You can also alternate the direction of playback (forward, backwards or ping pong)
ease is not always a phrase seen alongside pickup machine threads - on paper yes - but the OT would need to be Master Clock to justify the phrase āeaseā here
this question is asked/answered elsewhere btw
flex machines can be used to resample/overdub too iirc but I use pickup machines for this stuff too - keep in mind a PUM can make a wild guess about tempo which could be significant issue if you have to slave the devices youāre sampling - but again thereās ways to manage this
Thank you for you replies and yes apologies after digging a bit deeper in the forum I see the question has been answered already.
Take care
I use recorder trigs. You canāt get more accurate than that.
Valid point. Ive actually only used pickup machines a handful of times playing instruments into OT so no midi issues. always recorder trigs for me too, especially if im sampling another sequencer playing. I didnāt know you can overdub flex machines either, interesting
Pickup machines. And Parts, are the only confusing thing I donāt get on the Octatrack!!
Learn parts! It will change the way you work with OT completely
If pickup machines are your main machines that you use all the time, you get used to their quirks and they become easy. You have to learn their strengths and their weaknesses, and use them for their strengths but avoid their weaknessesā¦
While learning them you do experience some quirks that throw you off. They are far from perfect, but if your determined you can get a grip on what not to do with them, and the rest then works fine and becomes easyā¦
It does certainly take longer than a normal looper to figure it out. You have to go through a training phase and get challenged, but if you persevere they become your friends. The whole OT does that to you anyway so itās just part of the getting to grips with the machine phase, but pickups can be even more quirky than the restā¦
Iāve been using them everytime for 3 years now and I canāt remember the last time they havenāt worked as Iāve expected them to, but thatās because Iāve learned exactly what to expect from themā¦
Iām trying to explain how they are super easy for me to use, but looking at what I wrote it doesnāt not seem easyā¦ 
They get easy, if you use them enough and devote some time to explore and avoid quirksā¦
For OP, I could easily explain how to use a pickup machine to record and overdub a perfect 64 step loop and get them going on that in 10 minutes to a 1/2 hour. You could get up and running with this and figure the rest out laterā¦
For me theyāre best use is perfect synced to sequencer loops of 64, 128, 256, 512, or 1024 steps with the ability for easy overdub (maybe not for 1024 steps). With some other uses they become less ideal, but they are perfect for above. They work great for this and I always capture the loops with them and have flex machines warping what they capture. They donāt have an undo function, which upsets people, but as a live musician I donāt really plan on messing up, and in the rare occasion that I do, Iāll redo the whole loop, itās live!
Buy an OT
Felt the same for a long time and avoided both. They are both no that complicated (at least to the degree as how I use them). Have a closer look!
For ābang on timeā you either want the OT to be the master clock (have it start the AK sequencer via MIDI) or you may have to invest in some external clocking device - there was somebody named oldgearguy was doing that.
Agreed w/ the advice to learn Parts, especially if youāre going to use the OT as a live looper.
Set up Part 1 so that all the settings you want to start your performance with are stored in it. For example, I had filter width all the way open, volume on Track 2 all the way down, ,reverb mix fairly low, etc - all on Part 1.
Then I started my performance w/ the OT, playing and looping, fading in Track 2, tweaking filter width and Q,etc, fading in the Dark Reverb, etc. After I was done with the performance, all the FX settings, track volumes etc. were changed from the start of the show, but for the next show, I just reload Part 1 and everything is back to the starting settings again. I learned this method from either this forum or the old elektron-users one.
Great points Open_Mike, thanks for your input 
Parts just never did anything for me. What about them do you find exciting?
@konputa I think itās great to be able to instantly switch your whole set up to something completely different. Also tweak away into madness and instant reload with func+reload. Using them helps you explore new possibilities without over producing, if things take a bad turn reload, good turn and you can resave part. Merlins guide analogises it as āsetting up base campā, so you donāt get lost or stray too far
I think what does peopleās heads in about parts is keeping track of them, I find the easy way to do it is 4 patterns per part. As in pattern 1-4 will be part 1,
Pattern 5-8 part 2 and so on. Stick to that and you can switch banks and always know where everything is at
I use one OT as a drum machine, I can use each part as a whole different drum kit so thereās that too
Parts are the bestā¦ 4x16 =64 of themā¦
With them one project can be 64 different Octatrack setupsā¦ Some of them can be so drastically different than others it can feel like many different devices all accessible by buttonsā¦
I will even dare to say that Parts are not hard to understand. Parts are OT kitsā¦
Plus you get to explore the deepest regions of outer space, then func+cue and your back home againā¦
Exactly! The octatrack can serve a whole different purpose in your rig for part of a set, it could go from sequencing everything to being a looper and doing some improvisational jamming and layering a bunch of stuff across tracks then back to normal with just a pattern change. Thereās a ton of uses for it
What confuses me is what confuses people so much about parts?
Seriously, no offense anyone, but it seems pretty simple to me. I think people must think thereās more to them than there is, theyāre pretty much kits.
I think people keep assuming they should change them mid pattern and find uses for them that way. They are much easier to use and understand if you link them to another pattern and use pattern change, just like a kit on any other Elektron deviceā¦