OT//New way to transition between tracks like Ableton- Help please

Hello, fellow Elektronauts I need some help. This post was originally found on the Elektron-Users forum posted by BIOLOGIK. There is a youtube video that shows the method in detail and inaction which I have followed incomplete from 1st to last. The process works but I’m having some issues with my loops not playing back correctly. So if anyone has worked with this method and can help please do. I would really like to smoothen out the kinks here and get this to work so I can advance on my Live PA progress. Here is the original post link + video. Please let me know if you currently use this method or have gotten it to work for you.

http://elektron-users.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=28&func=view&id=218113&catid=9

What exactly is the problem with your loops?

My samples were not looping seamlessly. So I thought maybe my loops were recoded improperly meaning the recordings were not exactly 4 measures. It seems that was not the case because went back and recorded all-new loops. To test and fix the issue I recording them in the length of 64 beats so what would be 4 measures correct? I recorded them all from my Digitakt then exported them to Soundforge on my PC to make sure they were all proper length and looped back seamlessly which they did and then uploaded them to my OT removable memory card.

Just for clarity since the loops when triggered play at a length of 4 measures I only have the first trigger of the sequence initiate the loop. So then it should start playing the duration 64 beats and loop around to play again seemsly but its not doing that. Its all off beat and stuff. I did one thing and selected the loop to play from the 1st trigger of each measure so it plays 4 times in the 64 beat length which seemed to maybe fix it but idk it shouldn’t essitnally be skewing up like it is.

*Update Im running a few tests and have noticed a symptom of what I’m talking about. I’ll explain it I could try to upload a vid but that may take some time. For testing purposes, I’m working with a clap loop that hits on every Kick drum 4/4 64 beats long loop. On my Digitakt I have it trigger on the 1st trig to loop to play for its length of 4 measures then come around and loop again. On my Octatract I have the same clap sample loop start to play from the 1st trig. When they start to play the two samples sound slightly off beat from one another and as it continues to play for its length it starts to go even more off beat until it hits the 1st trigger and loops again with the same result every time it passes … starting off slightly off beat from one another to gradually becoming even more out of sync. They are the same exact samples triggering at the same exact point from my two Elektron machines. So I’m really baffled they should be playing seamlessly transposed over each other! To note… I had created a brand new project for testing this method so as far as I know no changes were made to any of the SRC, AMP, LFO pages or any of that… In fact I know how to reset the settings by holding them down and pressing clear… I’ve done this in the past multiple times trying to figure out why they play differently.

Here is a video to show you what’s happening you can see how the same sample that is looping on the OT kinda studders at the end of the sample or plays from a different start point. I check to make sure the loop start point was at 0 and length doesn’t seem to affect anything but I put it to max 128 and there was no change.

Try this . On your OT, open the AED page for your loop. Then on the attributes page, check the length setting. Adjust it so it is correct (16 steps, 1 bar, or 64 steps 4 bars etc)
Also, check the BPM. If you know your loop is 127 then adjust it if the AED attributes page has incorrect BPM.

That should fix it.

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Yep, check attributes. Checking the playhead live while the sample plays can help to discover problems. Maybe the stuttering is caused by an untidy loop?

If slices are not active, length can be set to time or off in src setup. If it doesn’t do anything, it’s probaply inactive.

Im not sure what you mean by AED menu… I pressed that and it took me to slices menu… my loops are all 137 bpm but look it shows different in the loop browser or whatever.
screen

AED=Audio Editor. The fx1 button takes you to attributes. Don’t forget to save changes (fx2 button for file menu).

Here is what I got…SCEEEN2 SCEEEN3

I’m rechecking my loops and I’ve found they were botched… so user error on the sync issue I had a feeling but I was pretty sure I had them all timed perfectly. I’m so sorry for that. I’ll fix and run some tests but could you elaborate more on this AED menu… What would you suggest I have for the loop mode, time stretch, and the Quantized Trig settings

The settings for loop and timestretch in the attributes only come into effect when loop and timestretch in src setup are set to ‘auto’.
You can still turn them on or off in the src setup for each track.

It’s a convenient way to have your preferred settings for a sample you assign with a flex/static machine’s default states (like in a fresh project or fresh part/bank).

Do you use timestretch for your loops?

I have just begun kina experimenting with vocals so I’ve done it a few times but not too much. I’m almost done rechecking and fixing my loops about to run another test.

Ok this issue seems to have been solved. For this to work your samples need to be exactly at length so you can’t leave any tails. Once I clipped all my to exactly 4 measures they play back in sync. However, I didn’t need to change anything in the AED menu the original tempo still reads wrong but the sample plays correctly. If I go in and change the bpm to match the bpm of the sample it screws it up again… im not sure why but I’m going with it! Thanks so much for your help fellas. I thought it was going to be something in the settings turns out it was my loops were not perfect. I’ll need to keep that in mind moving forward.

One last thing I noticed however, is the sound from the loop playing on the Digitakt sounds more like how it was originally recorded seems like the play back of the loop on the OT just sounds slightly different in a weird way. But everything is working so I’m very appreciative for your help Thanks!

Regarding losing the tails of notes or chords. You can add FX such as a bit of reverb and delay to get them back in the OT.

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Could be timestreching. Check if it’s set to off.

Since the Digitakt operates at 48kHz have you converted them to 44.1kHz used by the OT before putting them on the CF card?

If you haven’t it’s clear why they won’t loop seamlessly. It would also explain that the OT detects a lower BPM than the original.

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Your getting into technicalities that I have no previous knowledge of… Seems I’m going to have to do a bit of researching and I may need to be formatting my loops a bit more in preparation of moving loops over to the OT If I plan to continue this process.

So I checked and all the samples are still 48kHz I can use my Soundforge and convert them to ( 44,100 Hz, 16 Bit, Mono, PCM) is this what you recommend? 16B Bit Mono right?

*Update: By converting from 48kHz to the 44.1Hz worked the loops no longer sound different and the bpm is displayed properly. But one thing to note I specifically used one of the trouble samples that was playing offbeat to test with and it still plays off-beat only because the sample length is not exactly 4 measures its like short by a minuscule amount but that is enough to throw things off with the way the OT was specifically set up to play the loops in this Ableton live type method shown by the video. That is my guess… Thanks so much for adding your input tnussb I have learned a lot here today. I couldn’t thank you enough. You guys are great!

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24bit 44.1khz wav for octatrack. Slightly better sound if transposing, modulating pitch etc than 16bit.

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The original tempo says 127.04 and you say they are 137. Right?

Change it to 137 there where it says 127.04 and the tempo is correct in the OT. Perhaps

Also I always record my DT straight into the OT and had perfect loops. Doesn’t that do the trick for you?

Dani, the fact that the loops I put into my OT on the card were still 48k screwed the actual bpm information on the file also the length of the sample in correlation to other data that the OT reads from the file seems to determine the exact bpm to display it there so it was just wrong. Converting it to the 44.1 like tnussb said fixed that problem. I do get some variations tho like 137.2 or 137.3 but that may have been because my DT was slaved to the OT and the bpm shifts a little here and there between the midi time code i guess.

As for recording, I’m still learning OT. I had my DT prior and work pretty quickly with it while recording loops. It would be nice if could learn how to record straight away into the OT. When I record to the DT i hit stop as close to perfect as I can but then need to go in and trim. It would be nice if you could set it up so that it stops recording like quantized to 4 measures every time no trimming just save and bam! Prolly can do this but I’m just a novice and haven’t had a lot of time with graduate school to search tutorials and put the time in.

Yes you can. And yes, you can set the OT to record perfect 4 bar loops, no trimming required. It can all be automated. Just press play and boom, done. Does takes some time to learn how to set it up. Good luck on your quest.

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