OT lessons?

Thanks guys! :kissing_smiling_eyes:

Yeah, that’s an advantage.

When you’re sequencing synths from OT, parts are the only way to make use of program changes, though.

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Sadly yes. Unless for a song change / drastic break, no way I use a part just for that, I use a … of course. @PeterHanes, today I’ll try not to use the 2 usual words! :content:

Other workarounds : Elektrons only with pattern sync, sync with a gear sending Prog Changes, or change patches manually!

Tried the Arp/LFO thing last night with an 0coast on a thru track with two neighbors and various comb, lofi, filter, delay, reverb combos. Does feel magical.

Thinking of setting up T4 to resample tonight. Maybe switch T1 to flex and use crossfader transition trick. Love this noob thread!

Signed, fellow noob.

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øcoast and octatrack midi is such an awesome combo (especially with a korg sq sequencing things other than pitch)

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I think parts are, conceptually, very useful. I can understand why they are part of the architecture of the Octatrack. I think their usefulness will depend a lot on what kind of music you are making – for example, if you are tracking out a lot of stems for a pop song, parts will be more useful.

I think if parts were just a bit more visible in the OT, one or two button presses closer to the user, people would use them more and realise why they are there.

After a while one begins to appreciate that the Octatrack is totally open and closed at the same time- paradox. The only way to learn it is to use it, the only way to use it is to learn it.

When the basic architecture of the octatrack has been learned, the answer to any of these questions : ‘what is x for, how do I use x ?’ Is pretty much always, ’ what do you want x to be, and you can use x however you like.

Parts are useful to me when I am composing ‘songs’. Compositions that have distinct ‘parts’, intro, verse, chorus etc. Or, intro, A section , Bsection Outro. I use parts as sections in the composition. 4 Parts per bank, so logically I apply 4 pattern variations per Part. This allows me to move around the arrangement in any direction I like just by cueing up the next pattern, and everything will flow beautifully no matter what order I cue the patterns. And no need to predefine anything by using arranger mode.

For my less structured noisy techno type stuff, I rarely use Parts, and usually just have one pattern for the whole track.

When I play in my band, I use one Part per song.

Octatrack really is a very clever and rewarding machine.

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Nice! To be sure, it’s your videos? Nice acid Digitone and OT comb filters too!

Do you always keep the pattern 1-4 = part 1 etc structure for each song ? 4 patterns max per part?
I usually use banks to change parts, maybe I’m too lazy to assign them! :smile:
I don’t feel confortable with prepared parts, but I admit that is logical. Should I force myself to try? Addictive?

Yes, and I’d prefer 16 parts per bank, with Part shorcut + press on trigs 1-16 to select them! Or 128 parts like AR/A4/AK kits…

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Yes it’s my video. Thanks for watching!
No I don’t always follow 4:1 patterns: parts ratio.
Adictive? Yes. Force yourself to try? Only you can answer that.
I would prefer more parts also. But we have four. 8 would have been pleasing, since it follows the eightfold octapath. However, 4 is what we have, and I try to be creative with limits, rather than wish things were otherwise :wink:

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Mind-blowing video, love the dnb. Such a nice progression too. Are those crashes toward the beginning when you slide the fader back to scene A timed, or somehow triggered by the fader? Would love to know more about this entire performance.

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Just using banks is a good way I might try that…
more simplified easier to keep track of what part is where…
To me, sharing only 4 parts a bank makes me think to much about where each part is
and it would almost be easier with 16 for some reason

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I feel the same. 16, or just 1 per bank. :sketchy:
Btw bank changes are much faster than part + pattern assign. Even faster if you choose the pattern corresponding to bank number :
Bank 1 / pattern 1
Bank 2 / pattern 2
Etc
Not saying it’s perfect, but it’s fast if you want to experiment.

Caveats of 1 part 1 bank : if your are synchronised with another Elektron machine with 128 patterns, you are limited to 8 banks /songs (8x16=128), unless you load other projects. And of course a lot of patterns are unused…:thinking:
More songs in a project, or make a transition while you’re loading another one? :thinking:

I can see a 1-4 patterns = part 1 adept writing. @Open_Mike? :upside_down_face:

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I definitely will try this way, think it might work better for me.
I’m ok with 1 song per project for what I’m doing at moment,
I’m not making live set, just producing 1 track at at time.

If I was making a live set, It probably make more sense to have 1 track per bank though

I support pretty much everything @sezare56 ever says about Octatracking except not using the other 3 parts per bank (so many uses and tons more mileage out of a project) and not saving parts (go nuts with parameters and then part reload while sequencer still running). :grimacing: :smiley: :monkey_face:

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Thanks for your comments :slight_smile: Oh man it was two years ago. I really cant remember. I think in that intro part Im using the fader to open up a filter and reverb, but to bw honest, not sure.
Its actually horribly simple… write a pattern, copy and paste it to the next one, change the second one, repeat. Do the same thing with parts, scenes etc. Its my old electribe EMX1 workflow superimposed onto the octatrack. That video is an excerpt from a whole set of DnB that I made for gigs.
Im less fond of structurally tight music nowadays so I dont really make that kind of stuff anymore.

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Nice work on that track man. .
did you remember if you used parts in that?

Yes I did. I was using the video clip to illustrate just how powerful linking patterns to parts can be. And thank you for your comment!

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It’s an honor to disagree with you! :smiley:
So I definitely have to try the 4 parts structure!
Saving parts for reload only, yes, but I still prefer to mangle and revert parameters, as long as I’m at home and know what I’m doing with mangling.
For a well prepared / thinked live, I’d probably save them for reload, fearing to be too impressed by SO many people! (Worse with friends for new years eve! :tongue:)

@Microtribe, maybe make an effort to try it is probably more appropriate than force myself! :content:
I’d like to make a decent DnB one day! Your video is motivating! An attempt 20 years ago (MC303 and CS1X!). No Bass! (Dn)

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Thank you @sezare56
Also worth noting. Those old DnB tracks on my youtube channel were all made before the conditional trigs update. So all the breath and life of the track had to be done live in real time with scenes, clever Parts, muting, pattern chaining etc
Conditional trigs have made me lazy…

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This! I was already lazy before, using lfos a lot on a 1 bar pattern. Pff. I should work on 2 steps pattern now…:joy:
IIRC some Elektronauts already made a challenge with that, no? :content:

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