The Octatrack really is quite hard to understand how to use.
The manual is a maze of very tough to understand exercises.
Now this is all I want to know…
(PS I know how to turn the volume up on A B so I can hear the sample).
1/. I sampled some stuff using a pickup machine and its playing back in a loop. If I press stop and play again the samples arent playing anymore. I cant seem to record a trig to make them play at the first point of a bar. So do I have to manually press C D to play the sample?
2/. If I was doing a live set (or even if I’m doing it for myself), how do I dictate the playback of a loop to start at the beggining point seamlessly and without editing start and end points. I’ve seen Dataline using the octatrack and he never seems to have to do anything but record the loop and it just plays seamlessly with the last loop.
3/. Whats the best machine to learn the basics of Octatrack with - I just want to press a button and it record the first loop, then goto the next track and record the next one.
4/. Can someone explain the basic record process to me - I read about ONE and ONE2 methods but I cant seem to figure out if I press the track button and AB Record to record or just A B Record. Also do I have to have the main record button active (like the step sequencer record button on an A4 etc) or is that just for trigs? The C D Record button doesnt say playback on it but I’m slowly thinking it has something to do with playback of a sample.
Ive had many Elektron products but I think the Octatrack really is something special but its misunderstood and its so deep that people can get frustrated but I dont intend that to happen. I just need someone to do a complete begginers guide - I’ve seen Elektrons Youtube guide and frankly it doesnt show you about AB IN levels and whats a CUE? There should be a lot better series of videos!
…if the ot is not your first elektron machine and you readed the manual, both as you stated, you would’nt ask this way…sorry…
the way you ask can only be answered with an overall explanation session…
won’t happen…i’m afraid…sorry again…
just for now…the pick up machines are not really safe ground yet…and a perfomance tool…
if you’re into sampling, you better use the recording buffers and the flex machines…
if a recording buffer is linked to a certain flex machine track first, you can play it straight away…
and don’t worry…the ot is indeed quite a package to wrap your head around…
reading the manual at least twice was a road many here had to take…so you should do that at least once…
Look up Merlin’s guide to the octatrack. It’s much shorter than the elektron manual and will give you valuable insight to the OT.
Also, there are a lot more videos on YouTube than just elektron videos ( I found elektrons were some of the least helpful/most confusing)… Look them up.
I spent 3 month watching videos and taking notes BEFORE I got my octatrack… And it’s still been a process
Good luck!
Thanks Baddcr but the problems I have following your instructions are as follows.
Enter edit mode…?how
Place a playback trig…is that when you press record and play then place a trig?
Enter edit mode again …?how
I have an analog rytm playing a simple bass drum loop on a 4/4 beat - both machines are sync’d by midi so they are playing the same trigs along the bottom but when I press record to record they are out of time with each other and because the analog rytm is playing through the octatrack i can hear bass drums clashing (the rytm vs the sampled playback). How do i get them to be in time straight away and how do I stop the rytm being heard once i did the sampling.
I am grateful for all the help and I am going to stick with it cos its obviously such an amazing machine but the a4 and the ar are so straight forward compared that it makes my brain hurt…
