OT lessons?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#351

Hey guys, you know, now that I can get granular with this thing my brain hurts. I’m like, 3 weeks in? Major concepts I can’t comprehend, like my brain hardens trying to comprehend some of this stuff, some of which is rudimentary recording and synthesis which is new to me. Frankly, it’s sound design.

How many of you walked in cold to this thing, like, maybe you played some guitar and keys, maybe you had a band in the 90’s but never got any real traction even tho you had a couple of record deals, then music kinda faded away to a life of commercial production and decent dough and then smelled 50 coming so you started putting together a studio gearing up to make shoe gaze, goth psych but got bitten by the techno bug cause it felt fresh and relevant and you saw there was actually a sophisticated culture around it, but you got an MPC Live and that was a dead end, and culturally off brand, so here you are with the complicated Swedish box trying to figure out how to make good, dark techno and EBM and it’s a lot more math than you thought?

I’m gonna see it through!!!

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#352

Yeah, I’m recording them fairly low, keeping headroom, in fact they are a little quieter than purchased samples, like Samples From Mars, but those are really loud. I have run kicks through fab filter in logic and the Moog to double check, that OT filter can through some real rumble on things so I’m trying to be super mindful of my bottom end. Also keep volumes real low and have decent headphones. I have terrible ears, just terrible, tinitus bad, I was irresponsible in my youth.

#353

I’m so glad I caught this on like, day 2 I saw a mess happening and I was like, no way, no, no way

#354

I don’t think anyone has had that exact experience… But most probably came into the OT cold (or from another Electron box). I’m not sure there is another box that would prepare you for the OT. As for Techno being more math than you thought…Hmm… I think most music is soul and experience. Most art is actually…And of course perseverance.

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#356

30 posts were merged into an existing topic: Octatrack: 16bit or 24bit Mode?

#385

Please for the love of God someone help me understand gain staging. I’ve seen other threads and read advice but I just can’t wrap my head around it.

ALL I WANT is for the thing I record to be THE SAME VOLUME as when I record it. Let’s say I’m recording an external synth for 16 steps. Okay, now flex 1 is playing it back. Nope, it’s too loud or too quiet. What is the correct gain setting in the attr of the aed to get it to be the same?

Next, T1 is flex 1 playing a sample, t2 is neighbor to stack fx. T3 is flex 3 set to rec buffer 3, with it being told to listen to t2 as it’s src3/input. Everything sounds fine to my ears, but the little light is telling me that the input is clipping. So I record anyway to hear it. Play it back and it’s clipping to shit and also too loud. So I turn down track 2’s level and redo the record. Same thing. I turn down track 1’s level and redo the record. Same thing. Do I have to turn down the volume in the amp settings? If so, which one and why?

Why? WHY

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#387

@defenestration

1 Like
#388

What is your monitoring reference?
With default settings, for a recording matching DIR 127 or THRU with PLAYBACK VOL +63 :
FLEX Track LEVEL 127
ATTRIBUTES +12
VOL 0

Neighbor T2 level depends on T1 VOL, not T1 LEVEL. (Check Neighbor diagram below).

Signal flow/gain staging diagram for Octatrack MKII

Octatrack-MKII-Gain-Staging_will5
Octatrack-MKII-Gain-Staging_will5.jpg1446×889 137 KB

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#389

I don´t understand why sometimes the neighbor track sounds even with the “neighbored” track is muted and viceversa :thinking:.

#390

So no matter what, once I finish recording a sample I’m going to have to turn up the level of something afterward? This is why I don’t get how people use this thing to live resample…

#391

not quite sure I follow… what do you need to turn up?

the only thing i do , is if im using THRU (which is my preferred route) , then you have to turn up gain to +63 otherwise the defaults are all fine. ( i leave track levels at 108, and amp at 0)
this means the monitor level is same as recording playback.

if i need to gain the input signal, i prefer to do this externally, else failing that on the mixer page.

if im saving the recordings e.g. to use as samples later, then prior to save, what I do is normalise (or manually increase gain +12db) the recording, and set the attribute gain to 0db.
this is just so its consistent with other samples i have saved… and also so it displays nicely on the AED with default zoom.

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#392

No. Why? Level 127 is the only thing to change previously.

#393

is this needed if monitoring via DIR? (if so, you could presumably just turn down DIR?)
if you are using a THRU, then if you turn it also up to 127, then its a zero sum gain.

#394

THRU playback page VOL you mean?

And yes, if THRU and Flex have the same level, no problem.

Therorically same for DIR. If you leave Flex Level at 108 (around - 3db vs 127), you can set DIR to 108.

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#395

sorry, yeah, i mean VOL… i keep thinking its gain, to avoid confusing with amp/vol.

yeah, i dont use DIR, as usually i want to mute the input immediate after playback of recording starts … and it seemed easier (for me) to do this using thru - albeit it costs me a track :frowning:
(dont think i can change DIR by CC?)

otherwise, i like to keep track levels at 108, by default, to give me a bit of headroom , and allow me to boost a track a little if needed.

#396

No CC for DIR.
To save a track, you can play the recording directly with a rec trig and a flex.
Pattern change to a pattern without rec trig > it plays your last recording, no more monitoring.

#397

Because by default a track isn’t at 127 right? So it’s gonna be quieter?

#398

Default track LEVEL is 108, around - 3db lower. 127 is one of the settings necessary if you want unity in the chain, as @philtipping showed in its thread ( Signal flow/gain staging diagram for Octatrack MKII).

But anyway what is your monitoring reference?
DIR, THRU, REC SETUP 2 AB/CD (for Pickups only), a mixer?

With default settings, Flex recordings are played with the same level as DIR = 108, or a Thru with PLAYBACK (SRC) VOL = +63.

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#399

I’m confused. What do you mean what are my monitoring settings?

I just want my sound to be the same as when I record it. In the first example I’m not using a thru track, I’m using the direct monitoring of inputs AB at 127. When I’m using a thru track I have it set to +63.

Am I mistaken that you said to get the sound to be the same volume after its recorded I have to turn the level up to 127?

#400

well i know you understand how the DT is amazing and manipulating samples… so the OT is like that but on another dimension. From watching your YT videos, I bet the OT would really fit in your work.

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