I am loving the power of MIDI on the Octatrack. You can do soo much with the chords, MIDI LFO control over all Virus CCs, MIDI ARPs and microtiming (including p-locks).
Then the Virus’s own controls and effects really add nicely. Its actually pretty interesting playing the ARP on the Octatrack against the Virus’s own ARP.
Now I just need a Rytm for a wopping big kick !!!
This is why I went Analog Rytm and not the A4. Although A4 would still be a nice addition.
Once I discovered the Virus Multi mode and run all 8 tracks from the Octa to 8 different patches on the Virus i was blown away. Add to that CC’s and so much control for each patch on the Virus. I really cant think of having it any better. Any good old Synth with Multi is just amazing, it turns the Octa in to a serious center piece. The Roland Integra 7 would be great as well.
I miss my Virus C. Sold that and my Waldorf Pulse to fund my AK - my first Elektron purchase. A year later I got an OT. Totally hooked on the Elektron workflow.
How are you finding the Bank/patch changing with the Virus? I was struggling a lot with my 2nd hand JV1010, as it utilised MSB/LSB numbers (had a lot of help from forum users!) and is a bit flaky when recalling the patches.
It is a reasonable old though (1999 I think) - was wondering how a more modern synth operates with the Bank/Programme change mode on the OT?
Yeah, I don’t understand why OT Bank select sends MSB only. Is that really of use to anyone?
I recently bought an old Proteus2000 ROMpler to be placed out of view somewhere and be sequenced from the OT. However, the Bank select issue caught me off guard and made things more cumbersome.
I hope you mean “Sequencer” mode?
HAHA, yes SEQ mode, someone is paying attention here.
[quote=“” buzz""]
I am loving the power of MIDI on the Octatrack. You can do soo much with the chords, MIDI LFO control over all Virus CCs, MIDI ARPs and microtiming (including p-locks).
Then the Virus’s own controls and effects really add nicely. Its actually pretty interesting playing the ARP on the Octatrack against the Virus’s own ARP.
Now I just need a Rytm for a wopping big kick !!!
[/quote]
I’ve got that setup you’re describing with Tempest instead of Rytm to be the only difference 
Insanely fun!
Now i need a Midas Venice F-24!
Where do you change a synth patches? On Octa or on Virus?
Is the separation done by using different MIDI channels?
[quote=“” noisemaker""]
HAHA, yes SEQ mode, someone is paying attention here.
[/quote]
Why is SEQ mode preferred, is it so you can do bank changes. Can’t say I have reached that stage. I’m still using Multimode
I am going to double check my setup when i get home. Im pretty sure it is Seq mode but I may have changed to Multi because of some limitations with SEQ Mode. Once i know for sure i will let you know the hows and whys.
Standby.
Octatrack + virus ti is a nice combo… Im also using the virus in multi mode
In multi mode u can change multi banks via the global midi channel in the virus
For example:
-Set the global midi in the virus on ch15 in virus config menu
(You can set every channel you like but Its not adviced to use the same midi channel as the octa auto channel)
-Now.set a midi channel in the octa to ch15 and change the prog knob to change the multi
This works great for me. When i load a bank in octa it automaticly change the multi in the virus
Why is SEQ mode preferred, is it so you can do bank changes. Can’t say I have reached that stage. I’m still using Multimode [/quote]
Been a long time since I’ve ever used Multi mode personally, so I may be wrong…
Single: One single patch, duh…
Multi: 16 patches, stored together as a Multi, can be addressed over 16 midi tracks, but a bank/program change affects the Multi, i.e. change from Multi001 (with it’s 16 associated patches) to Multi004 (with it’s 16 associated patches)
Sequencer: 16 patches, with no relationship, can be addressed over 16 midi tracks, but a bank/program change affects the midi channel it is sent on.
So the key difference between Multi mode and Sequencer mode is are you changing all 16 at the same time / storing them together (Multi) or simple changing individual presets on the fly (Sequencer)
Just looked at my setup and I do use SEQ mode. This suits my workflow better and is easy to get my multi patches assigned to the MIDI channel i want. I setup cc’s on the octatrack controlling the Virus Patches volume, EQ, cutoff or whatever i want. I will do this for each track assigned to each patch on the virus. This way I can stay in the Octatrack and simply select the multi patch I need to adjust by selecting the Track on Octatrack. By using the CC’s I can P-Lock whatever i want on the Virus, like Filters, ASDR’s, LFOs, and effect sends. Its sickening what you can do with the both of them.
Yeah, Sequencer mode is the way to go (imho), haven’t used multi or single mode since I got her years ago.
My midi setup / the way I use her is vastly different to yours…
Out of curioisty, how do you have your audio routing set up?
Out of curioisty, how do you have your audio routing set up?
Virus ti audio out → ot audio c/d in.
Ot cue out → virus ti audio in.
On the virus ( in multimode) I have set up a patch that uses the virus audio input. This patch bypasses the virus oscillators but wrenches everything that comes in through the filters and effects.
The result is that anything that gets cue’d on the ot can now be put through the ti’s filters, distortion models, phaser, flanger, reverb, eq, etc.
Midi:
The virus in multimode allows for playing 16 tracks all at once. So assigning two (or more) virus tracks to the same midi channel allows for easy layering of sounds.
For example: put a pad sound on one track and arpeggiated one on the other…program a chord on the ot and set up a couple of cc’s for individual control of filters on the virus.
Midi cc’s:
In the modulation matrix of the virus you can setup a midi cc as source…so:
For example setup midi cc12 as a modulation source and assign a knob on the ot to send out on cc12. Now in the virus modulation matrix you can set any parameter on the virus as it’ s destination.
In the most extreme case this allows to change up to 18 parameters on the virus with the turn of one ot knob only. This effectively turns a knob on the ot into a macro for the virus.
M.
Yes! You can get crazy with those midi cc’s on the Virus! Got me motivated to try some experimental stuff tonight.
I like what you did with the Cue. Need to try that one out.
Personally I avoid using the OT as a Mixer unless i need OT FX or just want to sample something into it. I seem to lose some low end fidelity routing into the OT Mixer. The Virus has all the mixing/FX i need so i route direct into the Apogee Q.
Really appreciate the reply, I’m going to have to give that a good read and really let it sink in.
I won’t even try and explain how I use mine… it’s mind meltingly complex…
+1 for using the Apogee, the audio outs on the Virus TI are pretty hot.
Some great ideas from Merlin re: his setup.
Going off track here a bit, but it was interesting listening to how the Virus came about. Hard to think it is software behind that sound.
Christoph Kemper (Access Virus founder/designer) - NAMM interview
“find the box in the code”
Access-Music, Waldorf-Music, and Radikal Technologies have ALL collaborated on what is now the Virus Series of awesome synths. They are more inter-related than most actually realize.