Parts

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#102

Templates sound like a good idea, but personally I don’t use them. I like starting a project like a “tabula rasa”, because I’m very reactive the way I approach creating sounds.

Yeah, another reason i like this messy bank idea is that i don’t care if I “waste” tracks. Like if I decide i want a bunch of thru/neighbor machines, plus a master track, I don’t feel like I’ve used too many tracks.

I end up creating mostly loops on the messy bank. I like resequencing and layering breakbeats for example. I can have one of these messy sessions for hours and generate dozens of interesting loops to be used in multiple projects later on.

It’s pretty cool you’ve used the OT for 8 years! I only started a little over a year ago… I could see myself still using it 8 years down the line. I’ve never been bored with it so far.

2 Likes
#103

I used to use 4 Parts per Bank as suggested above.
However copy and pasting Banks on the OT only make that a lot more clicks of buttons.
These days I definitely think of Parts as kits.
Banks are usually 1 or more songs for me.
I ONLY use more than 1 Part per Bank if I absolutely need to.
I generally try and use 1 Part for each song.
I’ll use more if the song requires a kit change.

For me this method is a self imposed limitation I work within.
If I need multiple samples per track during a song, I use sample chains.
Most of my songs are designed exactly the same.
Same track routing, same effects assignment per track, same Machines per track across all songs.
All that changes from song to song, is the Scenes I create, and the samples I use.

This approach sets things in stone, making muscle memory/navigation solid.
I always know how Trk 1-8 is designed, what effects are there, it’s completely predictable to me.
All I need to remember is what I did to my Samples, Scenes or Patterns from song to song.

If I do decide to step out of my own paradigm, I do it in a whole new set, and establish another set of limitations and work within that.
This makes templates more useful for me, keeps my workflow more organized, but more importantly simplified.
Each Set gets dialed in over the years, and I end up understanding my workflow perfectly.
I rehearse sets, making me way less confused when performing live.

So I may have a set thats based around live sampling of Thru tracks.
I’ll have another set that’s mostly Thru and Neighbor tracks.
Maybe another set that’s mostly Static Machines playing Samples.
Another set thats based on the Breakbeat of DOOM process.
The more I understand these principals contained, the more I can make new Sets that mix these things together and are more complex.

2 Likes
#104

That’s interesting how you organize by set. We have such different approaches to the same machine! I think that really speaks to its flexibility.

3 Likes
#105

I find there’s two major schools of thought with organizing the octatrack:

Those that think in loops and those that think sequentially.

Folks who use loops tend to organize by patterns and scenes, and those who work predominantly with sequenced thinking tend to use more patterns and trigger locking samples and machine data and ignore parts and scenes.

Obviously you can use both, but it can be a heavy task to keep track of everything.

3 Likes
#106

Me too.

Those that understand Parts.
Those that dont.

4 Likes
#107

I don’t find myself exclusively in either of these groups. Maybe that’s why my projects are so disorganized i needed to create a strategy to separate the mess from my actual compositions :laughing:

1 Like
#108

:thinking: I think sequenced loops…

By scenes you also mean parts changes ? Otherwise you’d mean nobody uses part changes. :content:

I avoid part changes within a song in order to set common settings once. If I just need a sample change I use sample locks and if I want fx setting variations I use scenes.

I use part changes for breaks that need a fx type or machine change, eventually rec setup change.

2 Likes
#109

I think looped sequences. Sometimes I resample them and re sequence the loops.
I use parts for all sorts of things, typically I work in 8 or 16 bar phrases, so parts are very useful for that.

Its all personal preference though innit? Do what ever works for you.

2 Likes
#110

Definitely. Seems hard to categorize OT users workflow.

2 Likes
#111

Are you swapping Parts to change “section” or “phrase”? So you have minimal trigs, just to start loops or open Thru, and the Part change swaps the loops?

#112

Me too, I tend to use it in many different ways, for example my current project has an album of 9 songs, each song in its own bank and with its own samples and track assignments in a single part per bank. If I decide to use another part for different sections in the song it is easy enough to do, for example use patterns 1-8 for regular song sections, then use a few patterns for resampling and playing back to free up tracks or whatever.

Another time I might use a whole project just for a single song, another project might be used for sampling and effecting external gear, another project might be a perf mixer etc. Flexibility is key for me, I love that about the OT.

2 Likes
#113

At this time, I am using a bank par track, part 1 is the main, and part 2 can be used for drastic change, otherwise I use Plock.

Other part can be useful with midi track, I love to set up a part 2 with different transpose and arp settings, you can have big change that way, easier than plock.

#114

Whoops! Yeah I meant parts + scenes vs patterns

I will also resequence loops as mention above, such a great way to find stuff you never would have done on your own

1 Like
#115

Sort of. Plus chaining patterns, which are linked to parts containing the changed i want.

#116

Fair enough. That “system” makes sense to me. I read more into your earlier comment than was there.