Pickup machines - who is using them?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Been a while since I looked at the pickup machines, I tried them when they were first implemented but instantly disliked them due to the unintuitive way they are implemented, and their keenness to dump their contents into the digital ether, to be lost forever, the moment you pressed a wrong button.

So has anything changed? Are they still like this? Anyone enjoy using them? Has anyone done any decent tutorial explaining and showing their use (I have seen the official one) Are they still unrelated to the sequencer?

TIA

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Why do people not like Pickup Machines?
#2

I never use m…

if i want simular behaviour… i just play with one-shot-recorder-trigs.
thats something i can “plan” with…
I have the feeling it all works better with a seperate-controller.
and well… dont have budget for that…

I might be super-wrong though, so smart-people come on in.

#3

I used a Pickup machine two days ago for the first time just to see how it behaves…

No SEQUENCER. No actual buffer, only the live sounding one, so if you replace, overdub,…i think you will not get back…
And i really would like to see a nice tutorial…
About enjoying them…can’t actually say which side i would vote for…
i just would say that…overdubbing-overdubbing…overdubbing… and it fills really nicely sometimes!

#4

I’m struggling with them. I am trying to get the OT to play nice as a live looper with my bass and a foot controller. Some aspects of the pickup are great: it really does a good job of detecting tempo so I can play something and sync the OT to my timing. But there are some strange limitations.

For instance: much loop based music still has an A-B (or ABC) structure. There’s no “series” mode where I could record an “A” part, overdub, play along, and then switch to a “B” part only to return to “A”. This can be done with track recorders and patterns, but you need your hands available to do that because there’s no way to switch patterns via MIDI.

I’ve also had some issues with combining flex recorders and pickup machines.

#5

I messed with it when it first came out, but compared to the looper in my Line6 Pod HD, it’s just too confusing to use.

#6

for live looping I don’t have much time for them. It’s easier for me to use a combination of track recorders, one shot trigs and free playing tracks.

they do get more interesting combined with parts. :dizzy_face: :joy: Thanks again to whomever clued me into this, but since the record memory is shared, a flex machine on one part can be a pickup on another. This can be cool with overdubing, making resample loops or if I want to grab a bunch of samples.

I dunno, since you can’t plock or sequence them, I’m not sure how much sense they make as machines. I’m not one that found the octrack difficult, but “DUB ABORTED, DUB ABORTED,DUB ABORTED” was pretty maddening when trying to figure them out. Mute out the pitch or put an x next to it or something, please. :kiss:

#7

Oh and are one shot trigs + recorder trigs broken with them or what? You can only arm (and disarm?!) it from the record page?

If I could use them to do sequenced punch ins and outs or pause button edits…

If the pickup machines used slices, ie record/overdub into slice 1, 10, 30, etc. that would level them up for me.

#8

Found a useful use of Picks…

2 Pickup machines for looping duties when using OT as dj-decks.
One Pickup loops Deck-1 and the other Deck-2.
This way you can make also interesting variations with TrackLevelCrossfading.

#9

Used them twice, never again. I suppose it’s just not for me. I find it easier to just set up a foot pedal to move to the next track and arm record, if I feel like overdubbing on the fly.

I suppose it works well for musicians who are looking for a “looping pedal”, although I have to say that the lack of undo must be absolutely crippling.

#10

I’d seriously love to use them and free up the 2u my Repeater takes up in the live rig. But until they can work with external sync OR the Octatrack gains the ability to store the tempo for each pattern, they’re useless to me. Fortunately the Repeater, old technology though it is, just works.

I’m still a bit gobsmacked that this basic functionality varies according to sync source.

#11

Had a mess with them other night for the first time in ages and realised I really dont get half of what they can do. Was using to build up layers of sound from my modular but I have a hunch that if I spend some time getting to know them they could be the key to getting more out of my modular without switching on the pc.

Need to make some time with me the modular and the octatrack manual.

#12

I use them sometimes. In my opinion they are great for ambient and for any other down-tempo projects.

When I combine them with other OT machines, the problem is that the main Pickup Machine is mastering the tempo… That would be great to have an option to deactivate that function.

#13

You can get around this by using the record options that sync the start and end of the record process. When this is set to full bars then whatever u capture will stay in time with the master tempo. :slight_smile:

#14

:astonished: :slight_smile: Thank you ipassenger!

#15

Is there a way to stop/start a loop from a Pickup Machine in time or do you just mute/unmute?

#16

I use them ALL the time and i REALLY like what they do…

Actually i started using them to re-sample MAIN while on which creates FEEDBACK and that creates a tone, like a weird oscillator which turns the Octatrack into a MODULAR SYNTH or some thing like that.
Here is a clip with 3 pickup machines sampling main and all the flex machines, 5, are set to play the pickup machines…

I SOO love the octatrack…it is so creative…

1 Like
#17

I would prefer them to be synced, for now I just sample in the normal way and use the transition trick. I don’t play acoustic instruments or have a footswitch, either might change my mind a bit. Concept is great but the execution is a bit ropey.

Like Darenager I’ve found that it’s too easy to mess it up and lose the contents of your audio buffer. You know what would be great, if it recorded it to the CF card (because you probably won’t be abusing it like a flex machine anyway) and there was an option to keep recording overdubs.

#18

I am less than two weeks in with my Octatrack. This is one of the features I was very interested in. Last night, I figured out a pretty good work around to avoid a midi control pedal (for now). This at least works for my limited purposes:

I set-out to record a 12 bar blues rhythm loop, played on my guitar. I found it worked best to record the beat, first, as the Master loop (this is the opposite of the tutorials I’ve seen, which add the beat, later). I set pick-up machine one to record length 48 (3 bars). I programmed a simple beat on Tracks 3 and 4, and then set recorder 1 to record Main. Hit record and play at the same time, to input the Master Loop.

I previously set Track 2 to overdub on Track 1 at length times 4, input set to A. I then hit record on Track 2, which began the overdub. I let it cycle through one time and then played in time with the beat. I ended up with my 12 bar loop.

I haven’t experimented too much beyond that. I believe you can save previously recorded loops in static, which can be loaded as one shot samples. I’m hoping this will overcome the memory issues, which seem to be the biggest obstacle in building loops.

I apologize for the length of the post, but one more thing: Once I fully understood the functions of the two record buttons (basically, left - record, right - play/stop), my errors and confusion were greatly reduced.

Octatrocius

#19

Which in turn depends on what kind of setup you´ve got regarding this.
3 aviable at the moment: One, One2 and Hold.

#20

Forgot about that part.