I see, then they are a floating type of Global setting or something then…
But will the Part be recalled as part of the saved Program File, on the CF card?
Yes, of course! And sorry for saying it a third time, but remember to save the parts and save the project each time you are content with your stuff.
Octatrack does autosave all your changes and will also remember the last state when you switch it off, but this also means you can only go back to the saved states of parts and project.
If the last time you saved parts/project was hours ago, you’d lose the work you did during those hours if you wanted to go back.
Rule of thumb; save your stuff from time to time when you’re content with the current state.
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yes, takes me back to my early 80’s (save) days before auto save on my synth boxes, daws, Opcode Vision etc.
There are also “Save current bank” and “Reload current bank” commands from the Project menu and you can use the “Save to new” command to save the current project with a new name if you wanted to keep two versions.
Yes those are 3 good ones. I am just becoming familiar with the possible menu options on OT.
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Figured I should answer this here…
What happened is that you switched the samples in slots 1-6 to different samples. The sample slots are global per project so any part that you have assigned to play the sample in say slot 1 will play whatever sample you have currently loaded in slot 1. When you are working with another part load the samples you want to use in higher slots and point the flex or static machine at those slots. Don’t change the samples in slots other parts are using…
Another thing is that in each bank there are 4 parts only accessible for that specific bank. When you switched to bank2 you were already using a new part, bank2’s part one, so no need to use part2 yet in bank 2.
If you were to stay in bank1, switch to an empty pattern, and assign part2, then you’d be in a great spot to begin to use bank1’s part2.
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Many thanks… Totally explains it. Will go thru your instructions and see if it works…
I might have changed the actual samples that were in slots 1 thru 6 that I used for Bank 1, but I believe I deleted Bank 2 already when I reloaded the Saved Bank 1 tonight. No biggie, Im still at the learning stage, nothing precious recorded…
Will get back to you either way; Def. making progress, just lots of snags along the way.
Starting to sink-in, that makes sense. I can see then why it is super important to leave the Samples in their original Slots that the Banks and Patterns are built from, otherwise its a total loss and major mess.
Is there a way to Copy a Bank to Another Bank, and one Part to another Part? or Not?
(saves me from searching the internet for the answer).
You can copy patterns [Function + Bank] when the red LED is off, [Function + Bank] when the LED is on copies the track.
In the menu where you select parts [Function] + [Midi], the shortcut [Function + Bank] opens the menu with save part, copy part, reload part and save all parts.
[Function] + [Cue] reloads the part btw.
With the Octatrack it’s really a good idea to read the manual, read Merlins guide and maybe print out the list of button combinations (it’s at the end of the manual)
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From what I understand, the OT evolved a lot from its original design. Did the concept of “parts” make more sense in the original implementation (like OS 1.0)? I didn’t have one way back then, and I don’t have one now, but I just recall when I had one some years ago that 4 was a very arbitrary number of parts, which made understanding their usefulness hard to digest. Seems like it was more of a technical limitation rather than a workflow decision?
Parts are exactly as they always were. It’s worth remembering that each part has 16 scenes, so there is a lot of capability for different sound configurations in any bank.
While having 16 parts per bank would certainly be nice, especially because the Octatrack ties program changes for the midi tracks to parts, but then the 16 scenes per part system wouldn’t make much sense anymore. A whole new set of 16 scenes for each of the 16 parts available per bank? Lots a copy pasta.
I don’t get why 16 scenes would be a problem. We need them for smooth transitions and other things. You don’t have to use or copy all of them…
256 pattern > 256 freely assignable parts would make sense.
Not a chance.
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I mostly use parts for live playing/ tweaking so 16 would be a bit of a nightmare. 4 works great for my muscle memory.
Why, if you’d use only 4?
You’d keep the 4 first parts regular access, and a button combination like Part + Trigs 1-16 would complete the choice.
256 part is trickier, but it’d be doable with Part + Bank + Trig 1-16, Trig 1-16 again,. As you’d choose a pattern.
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Unless I am misunderstanding your proposed UX (which I bet is the case) this would require mode switching along the bottom row. I am sure I would get used to it, I just have a workflow with the arrow keys that feels intuitive.
I basically ‘arm’ the part menu, [part, then seperate click on the arrows keys for the part i want), with my right pinky hovering over the func key. And then hit yes with my middle finger and then func + trigger for a pattern.
Not necessarily. It’d be a button combination like pattern change.
Maybe I missed something, MKI user, but it seems faster if you hold Fn + Part > arrow to choose directly. No need to press YES.
You change pattern after a part change?
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MarkII user. You can arm a specific part by clicking part and then clicking the direction you want. Then at the right time you can just click yes to go to that part.
Often I am triggering a start silent pattern after switching the part, usually for key changes. but sometimes for FX.
Yes. But what about the quick-link?
Do you have to press Func before pressing Part button, or after?
I think it is ambiguous in both manuals.
MKI Quick Link : Fn+Part+Arrow
MKII
PART QUICK SELECT
To link a part to the active pattern, press [PART] to access the PART QUICK SELECT menu. The part currently linked to the pattern is shown with inverted graphics. If a part has been altered but not saved it will be marked with an asterisk. Select the part that should be linked to the active pattern by pressing the appropriate [ARROW] keys. Press [YES] to link it. It is possible to quick-link a part by keeping [FUNC] pressed when selecting the part.
MKI
PART QUICK SELECT
To link a part to the active pattern, press [FUNCTION] + [MIDI] to access the PART QUICK SELECT menu. The part currently linked to the pattern is shown with inverted graphics. If a part has been altered but not saved it will be marked with an asterisk. Select the part that should be linked to the active pattern by pressing the appropriate [ARROW] keys. Press [ENTER/YES] to link it. It is possible to quick-link a part by keeping [FUNCTION] pressed when selecting the part.
Interesting. Could you elaborate?
The start silent pattern has the same part assignment?