Rearranging Track Positions

danlukas · 2014-09-10T00:19:19.000Z

As it happens with the Octatrack, my tracks end up in weird orders. Either what I create is different then what I expect OR as I build I catch a different vision for the song.

…I’m open to the music…

When I’m done with a song I find I want to re-order my tracks they are sequential with how I want to build the song.

Is there anyway to do this?

Rusty · 2014-09-10T13:27:35.000Z

""danlukas"":

When I’m done with a song I find I want to re-order my tracks they are sequential with how I want to build the song.

Are you talking about reassigning the track order in a pattern? So Track 04 to Track 01, Track 01 to Track 06 etc?

Or reordering of patterns?

danlukas · 2014-09-10T16:38:58.000Z

re-ordering tracks, but i do want patterns to come with.

take track 1, and all connected assets
(machine, sample, playback, amp, lfo, effect1 , effect 2 & pattern)

and move that to track 2.

basically i just want to reorganize my tracks so as i build a song for performance the tracks are in the order i want to introduce them.

METAGEIST · 2014-09-10T17:23:05.000Z

I think what you want to do can be done simply by “copy track” and “paste track”.
In recording mode, press the track button and “copy”. A message will indicate the track copy action.
Then select the destination track, press the track button and “paste”.
This way you should be able to copy tracks between parts and within a part.

danlukas · 2014-09-11T01:50:31.000Z

thats it. thx.

danlukas · 2014-09-11T02:07:10.000Z

dang. it doesn’t bring scene assignments with it…any way to do that?

Rusty · 2014-09-11T21:31:55.000Z

[quote=“” danlukas""]
dang. it doesn’t bring scene assignments with it…any way to do that?
[/quote]

So if you copy a track from say Track 04 to Track 01…

It copies the track data, machine assignment, steps, parameter locks etc
It doesn’t copy any of the scene settings for that track?

Do they (scene assignments) still exist for Track 04?

And do they still exist after a copy, i.e. if there were scene assignments on Track 01, are they still there as they were post copy?

Let me know how you get on, I might get my Octatrack out of storage and have a play around on the weekend and do some testing.

coralhex · 2014-09-11T22:33:58.000Z

I can confirm this.
Everything is copied except scene locks.
Everything remains on the original track.
Tried copying and re-pasting the scene - no dice.

Ticket?

Rusty · 2014-09-12T13:58:06.000Z

@danlukas : PC/Mac? OT OS version?

""coralhex"":

I can confirm this.
Everything is copied except scene locks.
Tried copying and re-pasting the scene - no dice.

I can tell you how and why that works, and how to get around it…

""coralhex"":

Ticket?

Lol

danlukas · 2014-09-12T15:11:20.000Z

@Rusty

Mac. 10.9.4
Octatrack 1.25b

the scene assignments are not disrupted in any way during the copy/paste process. they remain intact.

thoughtstarZ · 2019-12-24T21:35:39.973Z

I’m doing some winter reorganizing right now. What this old thread says is what I want to do. I’m a bit nervous about doing anything with my project until I am completely sure I know what I’m doing. So, I want to at least get all my Bass drum tracks on the same track (I’m terribly disorganized). So, just a quick simple question. Maybe someone has done this before. If I copy a track and all it’s machine settings, (lets say a static track to my recorder track, so I can move tracks around), with all the settings, plus the pattern…Well, that’s great…But, wouldn’t that change all the settings for that part? So, then I wouldn’t have to change the part? Then, by copying one track in one pattern, all the tracks and patterns will follow throughout all my my patterns? Hope this doesn’t sound confusing. Thank you.

Schnork · 2019-12-25T09:05:29.197Z

When you copy/paste a track, you’ll then have the same track twice in your pattern.
The machine, assigned sample, all parameters and fx settings as well as the trigs on that track will get copied to a new track.

The rest of the pattern and part stays untouched.

So for reorganizing it’s best to have an unused track in the pattern so you can safely start moving things around.
If all tracks are in use, copy the whole pattern over to an empty pattern and start reorganizing from there.
Maybe take notes what you’re doing?

Probaply also a good idea to duplicate the whole project first (Project Menu → Save as new), so you have a backup. Just in case.

[Function] + [Copy] / [Paste] in Grid Recording Mode (led on) copy/pastes the track.

[Function] + [Copy] / [Paste] not in Grid Recording Mode (led off) copy/pastes the track.

thoughtstarZ:

But, wouldn’t that change all the settings for that part? So, then I wouldn’t have to change the part? Then, by copying one track in one pattern, all the tracks and patterns will follow throughout all my my patterns? Hope this doesn’t sound confusing.

You don’t have to change the part then, copy/pasting tracks alters the part.

You’ll have to do the rearranging process for each pattern again.
The machine assignment etc. is for the whole part, but the trigs are per pattern.

Scene locks don’t get copied to the new track.

thoughtstarZ · 2019-12-26T00:26:44.804Z

Wow, ok. Thanks so much for taking the time for a detailed reply. I will save a new project for sure. I’m still a little nervous about loosing anything on this project. This is some of my best work. But, I’ll sort it out.
This is a little confusing, but I’ll start with a bank I don’t really care about and just experiment. The confusing thing is that if, like you said the track that I copy the first time takes the pattern, ie the trigs- and changes the part…I’m not sure how i will move the next pattern and all its trigs to the right track. I guess I’ll just have to go for it. Thanx so much again.

Schnork · 2019-12-26T09:57:46.503Z

Just duplicate the project and backup the cf card. If you screw up, you have the duplicated project + cf card backup.

thoughtstarZ:

confusing thing is that if, like you said the track that I copy the first time takes the pattern, ie the trigs- and changes the part…I’m not sure how i will move the next pattern and all its trigs to the right track.

A pattern consist of trigs, p-locks, track length, scale etc.
When you copy a track, you also copy the trigs that are on that track, but it changes the part only in the sense that you now have the same track twice (the machine + assigned sample + track and fx parameters + trigs). It changes the pattern only in the sense that the trigs are copied.
That’s all that’s gonna happen.

Probaply sounds more complicated then it actually is anyway. I think it’s a pretty straight-forward process.
You can always copy the whole pattern first to an unused bank.
In case you screw up something you don’t have to reload anything, just use the backup pattern.

It might get confusing when copying lots of tracks and dealing with different patterns, though. Easy to lose track of what was where and what should go where. So probaply a good idea to take notes of the process.

thoughtstarZ · 2019-12-26T20:24:40.469Z

Got it. Got some headphones. I’m out of the studio with family. I’ll try today. Thanks so much again.

thoughtstarZ · 2019-12-28T01:44:07.309Z

Well, I pulled it off with only one complete screw up…Unfixable, so had to go back to one of the two backups that I made, and start again. Not sure why this was such a hard process to comprehend for me… And actually still is a bit confusing.
What I realized is that when I copied the track to the blank track, the track that I copied is still there… Which did not change the part for the original track, just the new one. So, then having the original track still there, I can go to the next pattern and copy paste. I just had to keep the original track as is, until the last pattern is copied to the new track.
Then it’s like musical chairs with tracks, a track at a time.
What a mindf#ck.
Anyways. Moral of the story-Get some mixer tape and mark your bass drum track.
Thanx