Octatrack Tutorials! Episode 2 - MIDI Learn

Hello family!

I put together another Video tutorial, this time MIDI Learn, a function that doenst get heard many times and is an incredible feature to have a in a live smapler like this…

For more info in the sounds used for this video, please visit my web and download them for free. www.inspektorgadjet.com

Hope you enjoy it!.

2 Likes

Such a helpful video, many thanks for your effort!!

I just started to explore the midi side of the OT briefly yesterday and this video is is better than a 1000 words.

Hey Goseba! thanks for your words, im glad it helped…

I avoided talking about all MIDI settings and setup pages, as they are quite straight forward… but if needed I will at some poing do more in deph videos of the menus…

Subscribe for more!! :slight_smile:
Cheers!

With such video you contribute to the community. Thanks for us for taking time to produce.

Great tutorials Multiman :slight_smile: If I read the manual thoroughly i would know about this midi learn. But instead i learned all the important midi cc’s of virus. heh…

I really wish Elektron would unlock the option to assign parameter locks to scenes (fader). We could really get crazy on morfing stuff on external synths.

I have Virus C accompanying my OT. Got to love Virus :slight_smile:

Have fun Multiman!

Hey man thanks a lot! hehehe you are right, some times is much better to have a condensed video with usefull tips!!

The Virus TI is such a versatile synth, that yeah you´ve got to love it… and with a companion like the OT, a blasting combo… Endless amount of textures and sound shapping possibilities.

Crossfader+scenes+MIDI would be something out of this world, since I started doing livesets without computers, my main issue is being allways fluid transitions betwen tracs, patterns, banks… The OT is the first device which allow totall freedom for this, and actually you can come with different solutions to the same problem, and controlling the MIDI parameters of external gear all at once with one crossfader… instant mutations of a whole setup…

But yeah, also MIDI triggering of slices and scenes, would be as well something to keep us at home like Hermits for another while lololol…

Have fun guys and thank you all for the kind words!
Cheers!!

Thanks again Multiman!

always loved the Virus…one day it will have to get inside my pod…hope soon!

Great things your tutorials, well done

P.S

hope some Elektron HQ Guys are looking at this thread…the Midi Scenes would HHHHHHUUUUUUUGGGEEEEEEE awesomeness!

Lets gift us this in the next update pleasE!!!

Hey sicijk! how are things man?
Yeah if I didn´t had the Desktop version, I would go nowadays for a Virus TI snow, the other models are too big to be Gig friendly…

Glad you like the tuts :slight_smile:

And yes… I hope Elektron takes note of this if they see enough interest… it seems a pity when you first think of it, go to the MIDI page and find that is not possible!!
Imagine… “One crossfader to control them all” controlling 80 CC´s of external gear wit two fingers… that is… 80 hands!! an Octopus with 80 arms!! lolol :slight_smile: … I hope is not a dream and is there in the next update!

All the best!

:+1: Thank you!

thanks for the video… Agree that MIDI scenes would be great. I’ll take them with or without the crossfader.

BTW, I think you did something I hadn’t seen before: creating the CC mappings then disabling and re-enabling them. I have never tried this before, but I will. So when you re-enable them, all the CC PLOCKs come back too right? But one at a time…

So what if we had a button combination to be able to enable/disable the CC PLOCKs??? Or various sets of them? I know that one of the concerns about implementing MIDI scenes is the possibility of too much MIDI data. But what about going the other direction - reducing the MIDI data?

Hey glaciertree, you are right you can turn them off and then on and they come back as they were left… Would be great aswell to be able to control this ON-OFF with MIDI… who knows :slight_smile:

Ill see tomorrow if its possible to record this on off switches… and if there is something else hiding in the MIDI implementation chart… which indicates some sort of control:

|$24 36 | CC #1 param | | X |
|$25 37 | CC #2 param | | X |
|$26 38 | CC #3 param | | X |
|$27 39 | CC #4 param | | X |
|$28 40 | CC #5 param | | X |
|$29 41 | CC #6 param | | X |
|$2A 42 | CC #7 param | | X |
|$2B 43 | CC #8 param | | X |
|$2C 44 | CC #9 param | | X |
|$2D 45 | CC #10 param | | X |

We will see wha tthings get unlock!!
Have fun!

Ok so after playing a bit with the MIDI side…

As I was expecting, the ON-OFF actions cannot be p-locked. They can be switched on an off manually and they revert as they were left with automation, which still is very cool…

As the manual says:
“While in MIDI mode and CC DIRECT CONNECT is deactivated, the auto channel responds to the following CC messages…”

CC 36 will controll the CC1 Knob (which would be assigned to whatever MIDI CC value you want), so is kind of another way of doing “MIDI Learn” but using this hardcoded MIDI asignments instead of the “Manual MIDI Learn”.

Let´s wait for the next update and see what we get improved in the MIDI side of things.

Cheers!

Thanks for trying that. I wasn’t expecting that to work either. After all, the CC assignments are on the Setup pages, which are not plockable.
We’ll see what new updates bring.

thanks! very well done tutorial. looking forward to the next

Thanks for this, very helpful!

One question though: only one output from the virus could be routed this way right? How to use all 3 virus outputs?

Hi AXN.

Im not sure if I understand you correctly, but I think you are refering to Audio Outputs… For my MIDI learn video tutorial, I was only using MIDI connexions. In fact the VIRUS TI audio was going in to a separated mixer, not to the OT inputs. Each of the 16 parts of the Virus can be routed to any of the 3 stereo outputs.

MIDI wise you could control up to 8 tracks of the Virus from the 8 Octatrack MIDI Tracks.

Hope it helps!
Cheers!

Hi

Thanks for tutorial, mate :wink:

I’m using OT with NordLead 2x and Virus Snow and this midi learn feature only works for modulation wheel and bank select other knobs doesn’t learn i have to set midi CC manually… So strange :-/

Anyone?

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Once again, really helpul. 1000 Words will be not enough like a video, thank you for your time and work.

All the best,

waldemaR

Hi!

Well you first need to make sure that your Synth send MIDI and recieves it… For example check the nord lead manual, normally at the end of it you will have the MIDI implementation chart.

Regarding the Virus TI Snow, the problem is that the Synth is smaller by having hardly no controls on it…
First you need to enter the Virus TI in “SEQ MODE”, then you will have acess to 4 MIDI channels…

Because of the lack of Knobs you can control CUTOFF or RESONANCE but you will allways have parameters that you cannot asign directly, but Ive been thinking in a workaround for you to solve this problem…

Using the Modulation Matrix in the Virus, asign as “Source” any of the 3 “soft knobs”, then asign in the Destination Slots whatever parametters you want to control with the Soft knob… any parameter that doenst have a dedicated knob… now try doing MIDI Learn from the OT, moving the soft knobs of the Virus… You should end up being able to control each Soft Knob or Macro from 1 CCof the OT.

Not Ideal but enough, and you are controlling not 1 parametter but as many as you asign in the Mod Matrix.

Hope it helps!

The problem maybe commes from global setteing in OT. I think it must be the same than the channel used to transmit CC. That mean if you use Ch 1 to transmit midi from OT to Synth, then OT must be on Global Ch 1

Hope can help You. If not, try the settings in the midi pages of your synth.