Yes, using a Chain would be quicker than setting up an Arrangement. I don’t know why I didn’t think of Live Recording chains. Thanks!
yeah i use the arranger similarly more for functional mini jobs. the nice thing about the arranger is re-arrangerment. 
you can use the offsets and length to only work on a smaller section or if you want to grab audio non-linearly or do repeats of the same thing with different scenes or have tracks separate by repeating with different mutes .i find it really helpful with moving midi tracks to audio and by syncing the scene changes that are targeting thru machines it can get interesting or messing with bpm or transpose + changing parts manually.
oh something kinda silly that i think makes life easier is locking everything, or a ton, to a scene to start and working backwards unlocking in newer scenes.
Yes! I’m finding ways to collect a bunch of useful samples and chains this way - great tip!
i find it really helpful with moving midi tracks to audio and by syncing the scene changes that are targeting thru machines it can get interesting or messing with bpm or transpose + changing parts manually.
Would you explain this in more detail. Scene changes targeting Thru machines…
oh something kinda silly that i think makes life easier is locking everything, or a ton, to a scene to start and working backwards unlocking in newer scenes.
Are you still referring to the Arranger here, or just in general? I like the idea of writing in reverse though!
More tips and tricks!
Yes! I’m finding ways to collect a bunch of useful samples and chains this way - great tip!
i find it really helpful with moving midi tracks to audio and by syncing the scene changes that are targeting thru machines it can get interesting or messing with bpm or transpose + changing parts manually.
Would you explain this in more detail. Scene changes targeting Thru machines…
oh something kinda silly that i think makes life easier is locking everything, or a ton, to a scene to start and working backwards unlocking in newer scenes.
Are you still referring to the Arranger here, or just in general? I like the idea of writing in reverse though!
More tips and tricks!
[/quote]
with the locking everything 1st i just find that helpful in general.
lol i’m not sure if this will make it more clear:
a simple(?) example , with thru machines (but you could use anything), and it depends on what you’re sending into the thru machines, but i might use each scene as a mono input for a,b,c,d with different sounds coming in and use the arranger to change what input is active over the same 4 steps, rather than using 16 steps and locking what input is active or trying to manually switch scenes in time. by having scenes also target effects or lfos, or amp settings, etc you can get tons of variety.
it’s kinda using the arranger similar to the lfo designer, or like parameter locking without cluttering up your track’s trigs. with your 4 parts you have more unique scenes (64!!!) that you can use on any 1 step than you have places to place locks (one step). using scenes, steps don’t even have to have a trig on them. basically, it just helps keep things clear and flexible for me.
so a lot of times i use the arranger more as a scratchpad and pattern editor and use patterns more for arrangement. if i try to parameter lock stuff i do in the arranger in patterns i end up with so many trigs i get confused and then it’s hard to interact with patterns live, while using the arranger to arrange large chunks i miss using patterns to jump around.
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During the last weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about the ‘optimal’ way to to use the OT for drumming with external drum pads (Akai Mpd32 in my case). Straight-forward method: 8 tracks with one sample each. Main obstacle is the OT’s lack of access to slice/slot trig modes via Midi.
I found a good workflow that is less straight-forward but more powerful than just 8 samples on 8 tracks, which might be interesting/useful for some of you:
Integrated drum pad/looper setup
Track 1: kick
Tracks 2-4: disentangled from sequencer, hold mode, 4/16 quantization, always cue’d --> “drum pad tracks”
Tracks 5-7: flex recorders, recording from cue, qrec 4/16
Track 8: flex recorder, recording from main, qrec 4/16, on some patterns always sampling (see build-up trick)
Part 1: 3 basic drum sounds assigned to the drum pad tracks (snare, tom, rim)
Part 2: clap, oh, ride
Part 3: male vocal, female vocal, cowbell or closed hihat
Part 4: bass, synth1, synth2
Part 1 assigned to patterns X1-4, 2 to X5-8, …, where X=bank.
Mute tracks 5-7. Play a sequence on the drum tracks, press record on one of the flex recorders to start sampling, unmute the recorder. Switch to a pattern where part 2 is active, play some hihats, press record, unmute. Modulate what’s going on via prepared slices on the recorders, cue both playing recorder tracks, resample to the third. Mute recorders 1-2 (tracks 5-6), unmute 3 (track 7, resampled version). Switch to the vocal part, record something, etc etc… Additionally, ‘good-sounding’ sequences can be programmed into tracks 2-4 (drum loops, top loops or slice-mangling sequences) for instant goodness when creativity makes a break or accurate playback is needed (16th hats).
–> you get a kit with kick + 12 samples per bank, not perfect but more than the usual 8 samples.
of course, you can still easily scroll through a lot more samples with a knob or lfo assigned to the start parameter on a sliced one-shot sounds sample chain, but with these many flex recorders, it can be done in a more controlled fashion where changes on the start parameter do only change what’s not yet been resampled.
1 Like
^ you could use midi to control the lfo depth to choose a slice point or select a scene locked to a slice? i dunno if mpd32 lets you send ccs on pads.
it’s too bad velocity or poly after touch aren’t freely assignable to anything from within the octatrack, but if you have something to remap them or use velocity or poly aftertouch for cc amount, it’s cool to use on stuff like lfo depth, or crossfader position or scene. it’s not bad using some pads to play your sample trigs and then using others to do that.
I have several knobs assigned to slice numbers/lfo’s to select slices, as a workaround, but that’s just not the same as using pads to play different sounds.
@ your second point: a converter might indeed be very useful! can you recommend one? that one looks nice and simple to set up and use: http://www.midisolutions.com/prodepp.htm
EDIT: just ordered a MidiPal, should do the job as well but has far more scope for extensions in the future.
crossfader position? that’s a great idea! of course, you can remap a note to one specific CC value! although not perfect, that’s a lot more precise than turning a knob. it won’t record properly in live recording mode, but combined with a looper workflow as described in my post, you can select a new slice by holding a different pad while all the playing sounds stay the same as before. I don’t have much of a problem with a workflow where 2 pads need to be pressed. I’d already been dreaming about what might be possible with remapping of velocities and aftertouch!
You made my day, dude with your simple hint! one feature I was dreaming for since the beginning is a more-dimensional trig mode: one Midi device in slice mode, one Midi device in chromatic mode. hold a key/pad on the first and play the corresponding sound chromatically on the second device. with some simple remapping that’s already possible! so obvious but I didn’t see that before. I did know that you can play slices via Midi with a small Midi delay and also set it up in iPad Lemur, which also worked, but this delay stuff due to different priorities of Midi CC and Midi notes makes it so complicated and unprecise that I lost interest in remapping, but this changed now. I definitely have to get a remapping device, but which one?
Thanks a lot, jonah!
P.S. Elektron, you should still please give access to slot/slice modes via Midi.
Pickup Mayhem by Merlin:
http://www.elektronauts.com/t/technique-pickup-mayhem/7673
that’s definitely a “special trick”!!
Ok this is a really boring tip, but usefull
You can rename PARTS with for example the BPM of the song
Or the name
I find this quite usefull, if i forget where i am
I have several knobs assigned to slice numbers/lfo’s to select slices, as a workaround, but that’s just not the same as using pads to play different sounds.
@ your second point: a converter might indeed be very useful! can you recommend one? that one looks nice and simple to set up and use: http://www.midisolutions.com/prodepp.htm
EDIT: just ordered a MidiPal, should do the job as well but has far more scope for extensions in the future.
crossfader position? that’s a great idea! of course, you can remap a note to one specific CC value! although not perfect, that’s a lot more precise than turning a knob. it won’t record properly in live recording mode, but combined with a looper workflow as described in my post, you can select a new slice by holding a different pad while all the playing sounds stay the same as before. I don’t have much of a problem with a workflow where 2 pads need to be pressed. I’d already been dreaming about what might be possible with remapping of velocities and aftertouch!
You made my day, dude with your simple hint! one feature I was dreaming for since the beginning is a more-dimensional trig mode: one Midi device in slice mode, one Midi device in chromatic mode. hold a key/pad on the first and play the corresponding sound chromatically on the second device. with some simple remapping that’s already possible! so obvious but I didn’t see that before. I did know that you can play slices via Midi with a small Midi delay and also set it up in iPad Lemur, which also worked, but this delay stuff due to different priorities of Midi CC and Midi notes makes it so complicated and unprecise that I lost interest in remapping, but this changed now. I definitely have to get a remapping device, but which one?
Thanks a lot, jonah!
P.S. Elektron, you should still please give access to slot/slice modes via Midi.[/quote]
great! just read this. cool! old school elektron-users vibe. 
how is the midi pal working out? been thinking about one.
i use max or nord g2 to do midi remapping, 
so it’s good you found something easier/cheaper! a dedicated box probably has some advantages too. 
i thought of it though because i use the mpc1000 pad pressure to send out ccs.
it’s funny as much as i’d like elektron to add or tweak things… the octatrack is what finally pushed me over the edge to get into building more of my own custom solutions and it’s (eventually… 
) really rewarding once you find something that suits you. (although i do think midi freaking/effects would be a good fit on the midi side of the octatrack lol)
on another note, if anyone is using an osx computer to sample from, the app intermission is pretty useful with the octatrack. it lets you pause, rewind live audio.
https://www.rogueamoeba.com/intermission/
Audio Hijack Pro from Rogue Amoeba is also excellent for sampling any audio on your computer. I’ve used it for years to get bits from movies and other things. Sadly, I doubt it will ever make it to iOS…if only someone would make a similar app, it would solve a lot of things for me.
@jonah: the Midipal is just perfect for my needs. just 4 filters available at once, but those are very flexible, so it’s enough. if I had more than 4, it would get too complicated anyways 
I mainly map velocities to amp volume, note off to volume zero, aftertouch to cue send (–> strymon el cap) and use different programs to select/deselect different settings (e.g., this note off thing is not always useful). very responsive drum playing on an OT, unbelievable! play a snare fill with increasing velocities and send some of the hits into the delay just by pressing the pads differently. Nice
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/jul97/ronberry.html
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may04/articles/synthsecrets.htm
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun04/articles/synthsecrets.htm
i don’t really have time to say more, except there are a few neat ways to fake pulse width modulation, but these all apply nicely to the octatrack. good fun.
WOW! This thread is Fantastic!
Thanks you guys.
iirc single cycle waves didn’t cycled correctly in ping-pong mode. now they do. we have another one set of parameters for synthesis now.
Pretty obvious but I feel gets overlooked are the individual track lengths and timing.
I set the master length to 128 and then play some of my tracks back at half speed 64/64. I usually do this to tracks that don’t require less than an 1/8 resolution.
For example, my kick track will be 64 steps played at half speed. Maybe delete the last kick for a nice fill.
Or for really long (8 bar) FX such as risers and drops.
It’s also good for layering random sounds and FX in various parts of a 8 bar loop.
For my purposes this solves the 4 bar limitation.
One aspect of “individual track lengths” that might not be obvious is that they are set per pattern - including the master length.
You can get some nice variations by copying a pattern, changing the lengths and then chaining these patterns together.
Bump - just to get the attention back to some interesting discussions. Thanks for all the inspirations in this and similar threads!
ok, need to read this and post something, I guess I have one. or some…OR ONESOME.