Parts and Scenes (about Merlin thoughts on the OT)

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hi all,

I just registered to this forum because I am seriously considering getting an OT.
Let me briefly introduce myself: I have been workin with samplers and sequencer for the past 20 years (only hardware: the yamaha qy and RM/RS series and a variety of Akai samplers: s3000, z8, s20 and MPCs 1000, 4000).
I have read a lot about about the OT and watched many videos, and I am particularly thankful for the members of this forum who posted/linked so many useful resources easing my exploration process.
I’ve recently read to Merlin document on the OT that has basically finished to convince me, but there is one thing I don’t get.
Merlin says that scenes are stored with parts. But I had also understod that parts are using pattern data (triggers and locks), so I could have one different part per pattern/track? Then how can a scene be stored in a part? I mean, is the selected track defining what are the scenes available at that moment in time? And what if I switch to another track? Do I switch to a new scene environment?
The Yamaha RS7000 sequencer/sampler had a similar concept, you basically could store a series of settings in a scene, but the scenes would be available accross all patterns and affect al tracks at once, they were stored in the Project file, and you could not get a new scene setup when moving from pattern to pattern, the same scene settings would apply to the 16 available patterns.
Well, thanks for all the help.
Hope to be active here soon.
Dirtysampling
Aka freezerman

For anyone interested in what I did in the past check my bandcamp:

#2

Welcome!
Merlin’s document is a great one, and an excellent compliment to the OT’s instruction manual.
Parts are NOT “using pattern data”. Parts contain the machine and effects assignments (including default parameter values) for the eight sample player tracks. Scenes hold particular values of the machines’ parameters.
Patterns contain rhythm and melody information only.

You will need to accept that the OT uses slightly different terminology from the RS series.

#3

Thanks for the answer. Indeed I am ready to accept variations in terminology from a machine to another. But what gets me confused is that I don’t get if you have one part per track or is there one part per pattern?

#4

It’s 4 parts per BANK. So you can have for example have 4 different “kits” of machine/fx assignments for use with different patterns within that bank

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#5

as per the manual, but with numbers (~ = capacity limited)

photo.JPG768×501 107 KB

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Parts and Trig change?
Octatrack structure diagram
#6

There are 4 Parts per Bank each holding 16 Patterns.
Think of it as 4 Kits.
So Bank A has Patterns A1-16.
Each Pattern can access any of the 4 Parts (Kits) & you can divide them up however you want & switch on the fly without stopping playback. The OT remembers the last Part to Pattern association & will recall it when jamming away switching Patterns.
If you’ve changed to a different Part an asterisk indicates the change & a button combo will instantly switch back to the saved state if you desire.

One common approach is to use Patterns A1-4 for Song 1 using Part 1.(Kit 1)
Song 2 uses Patterns A5-8 with Part 2
Song 3 A9-12 Part 3 & so on.
This gives you 4 Songs per Bank.

Another way would be to use A1-16 for one song, if you’re more into a compositional approach, & have the option of switching Parts on the fly to add variation.

B’cos Scenes offer a lot of variation anyway I prefer the former.

The 4 Part decision has been a bone of contention among a lot of users of the earlier Elektron machines (MD & MM) who were accustomed to using a Kit per Pattern if they so desired! It’s a fair point but I’ve personally never found it restrictive.

Hope that helps :slight_smile:

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#7

One part per pattern, but only 4 parts per bank. You have to administer the 4 parts for the 16 patterns of the bank. I use Part 1 for Patterns 1, 2, 3, 4, Part 2 for 5, 6, 7, 8, and so on.

1 Like
#8

I was sitting on a Bank, had a nice Pattern and enjoyed the Scene, then a Kit came along Faded, I Recorded each Step while in Cue for a new Part after I Scaled on a Tack with a Mixer …

welcome to the forum and OT dear OP … all this lingo with the OT just sounds confusing as fuck to me, just like my written crap above!

:confused:

#9

Thank you all for adding your wisdom.

1 Like
#11

I’ll give one more take on Scenes:

Say you set the Filter width of Track 1 to be 127 on Scene 9, and assign Scene 9 to the right side of the fader (Scene B).

That way, regardless of what your Track 1 settings for Filter width are, or your possible parameter locks for Filter Width in your pattern are, the Filter width will always be 127, if you shoot the fader to the right.

So, Scene values override any other values. That’s why they aren’t really dependent on patterns at all.

The rest is as others have said – you have 4 parts for every 16 patterns.

Usually, I make a new part when I’ve run out of tracks, and want to introduce a new sound that either

A) uses a different sample or
B) uses the same sample as the ‘old’ part but has a large amount of new settings.

You don’t have to change parts for these reasons – solutions:

Scenario A) – You could change the sample assignment for individual trigs
Scenario B) – You could P-lock new settings for the track per trig, or just use the same part and make a scene for changing the track settings

As I’m doing stuff in the studio, rather than gearing up for live, I can squander patterns and parts. :slight_smile: