Hi guys! I don’t own an Octa but I read in the manual a chapter about using the Octa as DJ mixer. Apparently, there are two diff methods consisting in using a trhu machine or direct, while main diff being that thru machine can use the track effects.
It seems that both methods tho allow sampling and the used of master effects, but if the effect is BPM dependant, it needs to be adjusted manually or tapping the tempo…how does it affect sampling? Does sampling also need tap temping in order to be properly time stretch?
Can a pick up machine also be used instead of the two options proposed? Is there any way to use as a DJ mixer and the Octatrack grabs the tempo from the audio being input from de Cdjs?
Thanks in advance
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DIR is affected by Master Fx (with track 8 set to Master Track).
No tempo detection (tap, midi clock slave or record a loop with Pickups).
Bpm fx follows set tempo.
Pickups can be used as monitoring, Flex machines too, playing the recording directly.
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So having tracks 1 and 5 as trough machines, and any other track as pick up or flex, would that give it back the bpm from the “audio in” source and set it up as master tempo? Therefore master effects will have the master tempo and any sampling time stretch properly?
Would that also work even the pickup or flex machines are muted?
Thanks, and sorry for that many questions 
You can get bpm only with tap or recording with Pickups.
Yes, possible to record / set tempo with Pickups muted.
For fx, tap tempo may suffice, for sampling, I’d use pickups to set the tempo, more precise I think, especially if you use more than 1 bar.
Personally, for sampling duties, I think i’d use OT master tempo, and sync other gear to it. Possible to have a reference track sent to CUE for monitoring.
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That’s very helpfull, thanks 
I understand that for sampling duties it is ideal to set up the octatrack as master, and slave the other instruments, but in this case, if using a cdjs or even decks, this option may not be possible and a work around may be needed for sampling the audio coming form de external outputs live.
I guess pickup will be helpfull for such a case, or even taping tempo, but pickup should be first option.
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I found this an interesting read by the DJTT crew on how they mix their own creations with existing tracks for hybrid live-dj sets. Anybody tried this?
https://djtechtools.com/2021/08/15/a-beginners-guide-to-adding-dj-tracks-to-your-synthesizer-set/
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I just played two 1.5 hour DJ sets using an Octatrack and thought I’d post my setup here for anyone interested in using an OT to replace a DJ mixer and play a beat matched set of songs with a minimum of fuss.
This is an extension of the “Octatrack as a DJ deck” section of the OT manual. There’s a bit of prep involved, but once configured, this setup lets you easily tic tac between two tracks that you load on the fly with songs of any length from the audio pool, all beat matched with automated intro and outro loops for FX mayhem that you can reset on the fly without resetting the songs you loaded into the tracks. It’s worked well for me.
Here’s the setup to make this work:
- All songs must have accurate BPM in sample settings so accurate slices can be created that always sync to the beat.
- Prepare all songs that you might play in your DJ set with three bar-quantised slices with looping enabled - an intro loop (slice 1), the bulk of the song (slice 2) and an outro loop (slice 3). Slice 3 is never triggered, but is instead used as a reference point to overlay slice 2’s loop and end point. This means that with a one-shot trig, slice 2 will play forever, always on the beat.
- All slice settings must be saved to the sample, not the sample slot. In this way the slices you configured for each song are available for the sequencer to trigger regardless of which of the two slots you loaded the song into.
- Set up two scenes that enable you to use the crossfader to mix between tracks and avoid hearing both songs at once when you don’t want to.
- You must save Part 1 with slots 1 and 5 assigned to tracks 1 and 5 but empty (i.e. no songs in the slots). By saving Part 1 in this way you can reload the part to reset track FX etc without resetting the songs currently loaded into the slots.
- It’s safer to use static machines on tracks 1 and 5, not flex machines, as you don’t need to worry about track length. Both tracks should be set with slices and timestretch on.
Once you have your songs, scenes, tracks and part configured in this way, your DJ set is just a matter of cycling through four patterns and replacing the songs assigned to the tracks as you go:
- Pattern 1
- Track 1 trigs slot 1 slice 1 (i.e. the loaded song’s looping intro).
- Track 5 has no trigs, which allows the song previously one-shot trigged on pattern 4 to continue playing while you crossfade to the looping intro on Track 1. Re-arm all tracks before launching Pattern 2.
- Pattern 2
- Track 1 one shot trigs slot 1 slice 2. This plays the song forever, as you have set up a looping outro for your song as outlined above.
- Track 5 trigless locks volume to 0. Use this time to load a new song into track 5 from the audio pool.
- Pattern 3
- Track 1 has no trigs, which allows the song one-shot trigged on pattern 2 to continue playing while you crossfade to the looping intro on track 5.
- Track 5 trigs slot 5 slice 1 (i.e. the song’s looping intro).
- Pattern 4
- Track 1 trigless locks volume to 0. Use this time to load a new song into track 1 from the audio pool.
- Track 5 one shot trigs slot 5 slice 2. This plays the song forever, as you have set up a looping outro for your song as outlined above.
Shift BPM as needed. I found it easiest to preface my file names with the BPM of the track so it’s obvious from the OT screen what the default speed should be for the loaded tracks so I can work in tempo changes during transitions etc. Have fun!
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I’ve tried this a couple of times but it didn’t really work out. Putting it on a send from a dj mixer and using it for effects and one shot samples or loops was more rewarding.
You probably followed the section in the OT manual which will only get you half way there. If you follow the extra steps I posted above it will work great, and usually better than the ‘OT as FX unit’ setup you describe because most CDJs (or vinyl, obviously) don’t transmit midi clock, so there’s no way to lock the OT to the CDJ to build tempo synced fx or loops. If you keep everything in the OT there’s lots of scope for tempo synced mayhem. I can’t say everyone would find that more rewarding, but it works for me.
fwiw - i have found the clock to be super stable so if your CDJ tracks don’t drift in bpm and you’re reasonably confident you can smash the play button on the downbeat you should be pretty safe without any need for midi sync data