Overbridge for Octa?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#41

The USB on the octatrack is simply and exclusively a path to the flashcard… ! There is no way the overbridge stuff could be done…

But after prolonged use of an octatrack one invariably builds up a mass of bits of project, samples that have been sliced, banks, scenes, .ot files lying around, and pattens here and there and some ‘error can’t find sample’ messages in the audio pool… etc.

The most sensible solution would be an offline editor on the computer. One would hook up usb to your computer as normal when transferring samples. Set the octatrack into USB mode and then organize! Traditionally the argument against this has been that elektron just DON’T do computer software. But now Overbridge proves they can and that softwarethey have produced is even a more complicated than an organizer for the octatrack would be.

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#42

Agreed. I’m not looking for capability on the OT that is beyond the hardware.

I do however think that Elektron should, if they’re not prepared to release the file structure so rusty here can put his editor out, put one out of their own. Proper file and project management on the OT is a dog’s ass as it stands.

From the voting on this board it’s the most requested update for the OT as well. So please Jon and the rest of you guys can you sprinkle some love on the OT too now that the analog fairy dust is settling…?

#43

+1.

#44

Er…why would you possibly need A/D converters in the USB interface! :zonked:

Whatever is going over the USB bus is digital, everything else in the OT is also digital from when it arrives at the inputs or until it is sent out of the outputs (where the A/D and D/A converters are already in place). There’s no internal analog signal path because being a sampler, it’s an all-digital instrument, and there’s no analog coming or going over a USB cable.

Re the Microprocessor, audio gear usually has 2 main digital chips, the Digital Signal Processor (from Frrescale or Sharc, IIRC the OT is Freescale) which handles all the sound-warping/effects stuff, and the microcontroller which handles the user interface, the data from the front panel, and all the data housekeeping - all the non-audio stuff in the OS basically. The Analog four/keys/Rytm also have an FPGA which handles all the’plumbing’ for the analog circuits and allows rapid reconfiguration in real time, but that’s not really relevant here.

Sending audio to/from USB requires a chipset at the device end to make it c’lass compliant’ (which the OT apparently doesn’t have) but it doesn’t involve much in the way of signal processing, power, if any, because you’re not doing anything to the audio other than routing it to a particular destination; in this respect it’s a plumbing problem. It’s like the buss buttons on an analog mixer, all they do is split off another copy of that channel to a another bus in addition to the main outputs. The main point of the different chipset for realtime audio is that (in a simple explanation) you have to share an audio clock with the converters so that everything is happening synchronously in the device, otherwise you would get constantly changing latency and so on. It uses standards called I2S (signal) and I2C (control), and obviously these chips aren’t present in the OT (I wonder why not as it seems a missed opportunity and the technology has been around for a long time, but that’s another question).

I do hope there will be the possibility of an upgrade though; I haven’t checked to see if there are any expansion headers inside the OT. It is definitely something I’d pay for.

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#45

do folks really use the octa in ways that tracks have much meaning? i can’t imagine it being very enjoyable to use without bouncing. for instance, i’ll sample lock, resample, sample chain, slice lock, resample, effect lock, resample, switch parts, resample, haha, you get the idea! :slight_smile: i’ll use the octas MIDI to mute and unmute my mixer deciding what goes into input abc and d.

point is, everything’s all mashed up. individual tracks wouldn’t do any good in that case. i mean, it’s 8 tracks, you have to layer, yes? at least it’s 4 tracks better than the beatles had. :wink:

something like being able to parameter lock or scene lock tracks to the cue outs would be much more useful i think if you desired to isolate individual sounds for whatever purpose, resampling, to send effects, tracking out, and so on.

i agree that the big picture data management would benefit from the same type of flexibility you have with audio and tracks. it’d be great to do stuff like rip banks out of projects and mash them together, save machine and effect settings for later use and name things. just getting more ins and outs i’m not sure would improve the user experience and without new ways of working with them, i think might make it worse.

tbh, if i was managing the octatrack from a computer that much i probably would just use a computer? there isn’t any other (sampling) hardware or non-custom software i’ve used that rewards “disorganized” free association resampling like the octatrack. in a lot of ways i think it’s closer to a patch cord based modular. i like computer software for a lot of stuff, but most of it is made in such a way that it really punishes you for being disorganized and non-methodical, which i find can make it harder to get into the zone.

it would be cool to have one usb cable for bi directional audio and MIDI though! :kiss:

#46

I could be a little naive in thinking this (not reached the stage of exporting stuff to daw) but how about a render track option that is linked to the arranger? Once you have done a song (in the arranger), you could bounce it (track by track) and just click and drag the stems via usb into the daw?

#47

I am working on the slicer app for the OT and I was told that in a few months there may be an API for the OctaTrack…

#48

The ability to transfer audio to the daw without using d/a - a/d conversion would be a massive plus point for anyone using the OT as a core production tool.

#49

Now that would be really something : )
Also an internal bounce arranagement to CF card feature as mentioned by octacalm would already make me happy!

#50

The ability to transfer audio to the daw without using d/a - a/d conversion would be a massive plus point for anyone using the OT as a core production tool.[/quote]
@naboo the audio transfer maybe part of the hardware restrict @jon mention as to why the OT is not in the list…

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#51

Skipping the converters (and saving a set of inputs) is one reason. Another is that (at the moment) I tend to do a lot of drum programming the OT and would like more flexibility to treat individual channels with other effects. This might not be such a big issue once the AR comes out.

#52

Cheers dimi3, I was thinking about a OT MKII.

I suppose working with samples is so efficient with software that overbridge is less important with the OT. The whole point being that the OT allows you to work with samples away from the computer.

2 Likes
#53

This. Must. Happen.

#55

No, Never - same officially for MK2 and well discussed

edit : replied-to merged post has now been deleted

4 Likes
#56

No OB, no cry. :rofl::man_artist:t2:

3 Likes
#57

maybe we can a free trolls sample pack for OT without charge from Elektron as a consolation prize?