I read quite a few threads about similar topics but couldn’t find a solution for my case. It should be rather simple, but I cant get it to work. So heres my problem:
I want to slave Syntakt to Octatrack. Transport and Clock works fine, but pattern change does not.
Settings on OT:
TRANSP SEND X
CLOCK SEND X
PROG CH SEND X (Ch AUTO)
Auto Ch : 16
Settings on ST:
CLOCK RECEIVE X
TRANSPORT RECEIVE X
PROG CH RECEIVE X
AUTO CHANNEL 16
PROG CHG IN CH AUTO
I had it the other way around before, so OT was contolled by ST and that worked seemlessly. So no idea whats the problem here.
Did you try NOT using the Auto Ch? I would. I don’t remember why, but I have the vague recollection that it’s a generally known issue NOT to work for your use case.
Auto channel is better for directing note & CC input to arbitrary tracks from a controller.
wtf what is the AUTO (in Octatrack Menu > MIDI > SYNC > PROG CH > Ch AUTO) supposed to mean then?
so I changed the OT’s PROG CH Channel to 16, same as ST’s Auto Channel. It works kind of, but theres another weird thing: while the OT’s pattern changes after 16 steps (as I set it up in the OT), the ST’s pattern changes with a delay.
That seems to be connected to the settings in the ST’s Scale Menu.
If e.g. PATTERN > CH.LEN is set to 16, the ST’s pattern starts with 16 steps delay.
What do I have to do to make it change immediately? I would’ve guessed to set CH.LEN to OFF, (because theres no 0) but nope, then it doesnt change at all.
If I change the Scale Mode to PER PATTERN on the ST (so all Tracks have the same length) it works, but to leave it like that would be a real bummer.
It mean it depends on lowest audio track midi channel setting !
IIRC it doesn’t work if audio tracks channels are set to off.
Not convenient. Useful to know : crossfader midi channel use the same channel (lowest…).
Yes, very probably. It was buggy on other Elektrons, don’t know if they improved it.
Bummer, yes. I didn’t try with Syntakt yet.
Do either device have a pattern with M.Len/Master length set to INF?
Don’t use INF. The manual tells you Ch.Len replaces M.Len when M.Len=INF… this works as you hope when changing pattern manually, but it does not work when changing pattern vis MIDI. if you want polymetric rhythm, set m.len/Master to the lowest common multiple of your polymeter * bar length.
In my experience, you also must set your longest track in each pattern on the paired devices to have the same settings in both devices. Don’t rely on “the maths comes to the same total”, make them match setting for setting.
Tried to change it to other values like 1024, 128 and 64 - on both devices. Doesnt work. It only works when i set the Scale Mode on Syntakt to PER PATTERN, so every Track has the same length. But that is super restricting.
Jeez thats so underwhelming. Wouldnt one expect that the Elektron boxes communicate perfectly with each other?
I guess Im just gonna do it the other way around again. Syncing the OT with the ST is no problem, i dont get it.
My problem atm is that I want to have the OTs MIDI IN free for a MIDI Controller… Is it maybe somehow possible to hook up the Controller to the Syntakt and pass its data through the ST’s MIDI OUT to the OT?? (I think not but maybe Im not creative enough)
That’ll stop it working for sure. The device with an INF length will never change pattern through a MIDI message.
Set one track on both devices to the same m.len, with that m.len being 16*whatever_your_polymeter_length_is (and CH.Len of 16 or 32 or whatever you like). Should work then. Might be ~20% flakey if you single-stop and restart often.
To be honest, I’ve not tried with the Syntakt yet. I’ve tried with Rytm and Octatrack and had reasonable sync both ways, so long as my pattern lengths match setting-for-setting as close as possible.
Yes. Unfortunately it’s only “mostly good” rather than “always good”. One problem is, I’ve heard, the staff have different opinions on what the correct meaning of M.Len and CH.Len should be. There’s backwards-compatibility issues to consider too.
is there a copy/paste function for the scale settings so that I can transfer them to other patterns? i haven’t been able to find anything about this yet.
I think you can copy paste pattern, then clear it : scale settings should be maintained.
If you already worked on sounds / sequence, you should be able to reload them after paste if the pattern has been previously saved. (KIT DATA / SEQUENCE DATA)
or corrected in an update…