Quick Octatrack Newb Question

Hey guys, I posted a little while here about trying out the rytm and octatrack. Thanks for the help! My octatrack mk ii came in and I luv it!! I’ve read the manual a bunch of times and I know how to use it pretty well but there are a couple things I wanted to ask.

  1. Are parts used to change machines fully in a sequence? I’m still trying to understand the main use of “Parts”. I read it a bunch of times and it looks like to me that I can change machines with the sequencer by changing the part so that if I have a pattern with a certain set of machines, I can completely change it to another set of machines? Or do I have this totally wrong?

  2. My octatrack came with a 16gb cf card but I saw a good 64gb one on sale so I grabbed it. I noticed in the manual there is a process of syncing the octatrack to the card in the system menu before and after ejecting it. Do I do that every time? Also I notice that I like when the samples are contained within a project so that it makes it easier to back up or move around without loosing samples (ran into this before). So does that mean on every project I have to click the purge samples option? Because I’d like to move all my projects from the 16gb cf card to the bigger 64gb one.

Thank you! : )

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Octatrack Parts

I recommend to not eject the card.

Purge samples is to remove samples that have not been referenced by any of the machines / trigs etc; i.e. not used.

Nab OctaZip (Discloure: I’m the developer)

http://octaedit.com/octazip/

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How do I put in my new 64gb card if I shouldn’t eject my 16gb?

Oh okay, what option to I click to make sure the samples are contained within the project itself instead of the set file? That way I can move them around with my computer without worrying what samples they are tied to.

[quote=“snugglybunhead, post:3, topic:48313”]
How do I put in my new 64gb card if I shouldn’t eject my 16gb?[/quote]

:~

[Project] -> [Collect Samples] will collect samples in the current project to the project folder.

[System] -> [Personalise] -> [Save Samples To] defines whether to save samples to the audio pool; or the Project folder.

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Rusty’s reluctance to answer the ‘eject the card’ question is mainly due to some users bending the pins in the CF card slot when they push the card back into the machine.

I guess it depends on a lot of factors. I tend to remove and put back my CF card(s) whenever there’s an OS update or when I’m dumping the contents to/from the computer using one of those multi-format USB card readers. However, other owners have had the misfortune of bending a pin the first time they swapped out the card.

So, my suggestion is to make sure the 16Gb card is synced, pop it out, dump the contents from it to the 64Gb card, carefully drop the 64Gb card into the OT and then use the USB connection to move data in and out.

If/when a pin gets bent, basically the card slot is unusable which means the OT needs to go back to Elektron or to a tech that can replace the card slot connector inside the machine.

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Is that misfortune a rare thing or happens often?

i use a 32gb Card mainly for tracks arrangements or prepare a LIVE set and a 64gb Card mainly for the creation process where i have on this card a huge amount of things i use… like my personal sound library specifically tailored for the OT. But i’m very delicate when i switch one for another. Also, the 64gb is more in the OT than the 32gb. I never add problems.

Before that, in OT mk1… i experienced issue with mounting the OT sometimes it mount sometimes not. So, i buy a USB3 Card Reader and the FACT is it’s way more FAST than the one inside the OT so when you copy a huge amount if wav files it still my favorite way of preparing my Card.

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No mounting problems with Windows for me.
I prefer to leave my CF inside. It is recommended for any gear that can use usb instead I think.

If it is much faster with your card reader, in a hurry, huge amount of files, use it ! :slight_smile:

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No mounting problems anymore with OT MK2 now :stuck_out_tongue: (Mac)

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You can think about parts like a kit on a drum machine, a collection of your 8 machine/sample selections along with their fx/amp/etc. settings. They also contain scenes, recorder setups, midi assignments, etc., basically everything except the sequences and their plocks…

Usually parts are used by linking them to a pattern, and then using pattern change to quantize the timing of the switch. The pattern stays linked to the last part you loaded to it…
You can change parts mid pattern, but this is drastic and can sometimes cause wild audio as all the parameters and machines change…
You get 4 per bank of 16 patterns so a lot of users use a bank as 4 sets of 4 patterns each using one part…

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Aww okay, I would have never realized. I just got my mkII so I’m still very new with it but I take really good care of it. I’ve swapped cards in and out of it a bunch of times because I have two 16gbs ones and one 64gb. I haven’t bent anything, it’s hard for me to imagine how I’d even do that but it’s good to know !

Aww okay, thanks for explaining it to me. I like to change parts sometimes in the middle of a pattern (some songs I have sound really cool and interesting when I do). But how do you sequence a part? I notice in the arranger I can choose things like halt, or loop, or what patterns and scenes to play but what about parts? Is it possible to have the parts change as a sequence or do I have to do it manually every time I want the part to change?

On a side note, I’m really happy I posted on this forum originally when I did or I would of never bought the mkII. I really really luv it and can’t picture my life without it, so thanks : )

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As far as I’m aware, and I’m not a Octatrack master, parts are manual things.

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You can change parts with the part switcher in a pattern, and you can make some really cool stuff happen that way, but it throws a lot of people off so I usually recommend the following, but feel free to do whatever you like!

When your working on a pattern it’s always using one of the bank’s 4 parts. The pattern becomes linked to the last part you loaded while working on it.
Say your on a fresh project on pattern A1 and using part one, next you change to pattern A2 and you see it’s still using part 1. If you load part 2 while your there on pattern A2, it becomes linked to A2 and you can have completely different machine selections and parameter page settings…
Now when you use the standard pattern change, your part switches along with the pattern.
Everytime you switch to A1 now it will use part 1, and every time you switch to A2 it will use part 2, unless you load another part while in those patterns, they’re alway linked to the last part you loaded…
The most basic setup people use in a bank is patterns 1-4 part 1, 5-8, part 2, 9-12 part 3, 12-16 part 4.
This is just for simplicity and organization, you can do it any way you like…

So, in your case to sequence a part change, while in one pattern you can only do it manually, but by copying the same pattern and assigning a different part to it, you can quantize the part shift using pattern change. You may need to rework the pattern and take advantage of the arranger or use other techniques if you wanted it to change in the middle of the pattern or something, for example split it in half with each half linked to a different part.

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For the card slot fear; As with anything that you don’t want to break: DON’T FORCE IT IN

Metal pins don’t just bend like butter. You have to put some force behind it to bend them.

It should go in relatively easily. If it feels difficult, pull it back out and try reinserting it and making sure you have it straight. If it still doesn’t go in visually inspect the pins/card for any issues. If it still won’t go in try a different card.

It’s designed to be removed and reinserted some reasonable number of times (whatever the rating for that particular connector is). Don’t do it unnecessarily but you can remove it and put it back in for basic copying functions.

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