Please help with Octatrack Midi

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hey, i have recently got an Octatrack. I quite like the sequencer so i thought of selling my Beatstep pro so have everything in one box plus it will be easier to move around my live set up.

Beatstep pro has 8 trig outs on the drum section under one midi channel. Is there any way to set up the octatrack midi working in the same way. So using only one midi channel while triggering 8 or less sounds…?

One option i though is using one midi channel in octatrack and using different midi notes on each step. But in this case i can trigger up to 4 sounds plus the step sequencer writing it will be such a pain.

Am i missing smth, is there any other way to work around that? Please advice. Thanks!

#2

You can set the MIDI sequencer tracks on the OT to send on any MIDI channel. So you could have all eight tracks sending on the same MIDI channel.

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#3

I see, thanks for that! but that means though that I will not be left with any available midi channels for sequencing my synths :confused: Ok, it seems like i have to compromise here

#4

You can just set it to trigger different notes on the same channel. If the receiving device is set up to trigger on certain notes it will work fine up to 4 voices simultaneously.

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#5

but this means that i will use just one step sequencer to trigger 4 sounds right?

#6

Yes, exactly as you wrote in your original post.

#7

Yep, it is a slight pain but you will build the muscle memory quickly. What you are forgetting though is the awesomeness of the midi arpeggiator. You can create such inspiring insane rhythms with this technique.

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#8

mmm to be honest i m not very aware of that. I had the arp in mind as a classic arpegiator for sequence synths. Any tip to suggest regarding arp and rythms?

#9

It’s an old trick from the monomachine. The way the samples are laid out on there are in groups of 24. There are 24 drum samples in the monomachine but if you go up or down two octaves the samples are repitched. Using the monomachine arp on the drum tracks was just fantastic. The octatrack will be even more powerful as you have more grid control over the arpeggiations. I just picked up an OT mk2 this week and really can’t wait to explore this.

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#10

That’s cool idea. I’m suddenly thinking about using a midi processor to translate note on messages to CC values to trigger start points in chains with the arp :slight_smile:

#11

I didn’t want to start a new thread so thought this might be suitable?

My probably very naive question regards Octatrack not having usb midi. Could I use an adapter like this

to connect midi to a USB hub with other USB midi synths connected and expect to be able to sequence them from an octatrack?

The reason I’m asking is that I seem to be using my mpc one as a glorified midi sequencer and am thinking maybe I’d get more use from a 2nd hand MKI OT if it could sequence my other synths as easily as the mpc does?

#12

Just curious, what synths have you got that feature midi over USB only?

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#13

None. I guess I just like the simplicity of how it works over USB on the mpc. But it’s a good point, if there isn’t significant latency I guess I could go from the Octatack to a midi splitter box…

#14

There isnt.
Adding some kind of midi to USB converter might introduce latency. Why make it more complex than it needs to be. Just use regular midi. You might not even need a splitter if you can daisy chain your midi easily.

3 Likes
#15

hi peeps,

i encountered a midi bug - when triggering some midi trigs simultaneously to play some chords, suddenly some of them won’t play (i think that’s the case when using the “page”-putton as a note) and, what’s my problem primarily, sometimes the octatrack is adding a random note, which is added when i hit the 4th note (so 5 in total). It doesn’t happen everytime.

Anyone knows that weird behavior…?