I (recently) bought an OT MkII because my thing is to play live on stage. I wouldn’t sit down on a stage with a computer and a mouse and call it a live performance. Unless I come up with a whole new concept but there’s nothing new about computers anymore.
If I weren’t into live performance, but if my thing were producing content, I would choose a computer-based set-up with a bunch of plugins, plus Ableton or whatever.
If I read well, your decision seems to have been made already: your issue is efficiency when producing content so just replace your OT with whatever could enhance your current computer-based workflow.
I’d be interested too, (your explanation is not really clear to me ;-)) but if you don’t want to (which I can understand) could I ask you just this question: how much time went into this?
You mean to set it up? 1 or 2 minutes.
To learn OT and do similar things ? 1 or 2 years?
I’m not with OT for a few days. I already gave some settings here and there but I’ll try to explain it better later…
I’m with my family, and if want internet I need to be at 1 meter next to the wall of my neighbor, upstairs, in one room. Not easy.
And as you need really specific settings, I need my OT to be sure. Otherwise it’s useless.
Just want to chime in on the press play debate.
I wouldn’t lose sleep over terms like musician / Dj in these modern times.
Ever seen Kraftwerk live - what an experience (best gig for me) but there was still a buzz floating around the audience about what are they actually doing? How much?
Which they really play on too (robots performing songs between costume change or the finale were each member "solos’ then leaves - ending with an empty stage and music non stop sample).
I love sound system culture from Jamaica., especially dub - and the role of producer here and in Hip Hop.
We are all producers.
One of the best things about the Internet for its change to music is - everyone can dj now - all you need is a phone plugged to speakers.
Btw back on topic - just started using my OT proper ( after too long) and it’s blowing my mind. Love the work flow and thanks to this community its making total sense now
It’s the bomb
How long did you spend learning Ableton before you were comfortable with it?
How long have spent learning the OT? MkI or MKII?
If there is much difference in the time spent learning each then it could simply be that?
I’d recommend getting aquainted with sampling into the OT more, it can be very quick and easy, but again due to the flexibility requires a little investment in time to learn how to set up sampling for a particular use case, I’ll give some examples:
You want to sample loops from a connected synced drum machine - connect the drum machine into inputs AB, ensure it is synced with the OT, in record setup page 1 ensure that the record buffer is set only to inputs A B, set record mode to ONE, set RLEN to the number of steps you want the sample to be eg 16 for 1 bar, 32 for 2 bars etc. On the OT mixer page turn DIR up so that you can hear the drum machine when you press start on OT, adjust the level of gain in mixer so that the input LEDs are just occasionally hitting red then dial back slightly until no red.
Now you are ready to sample, go back to record setup on the track you was on before, press REC button on transport to enable you to place recorder trig, place 1 shot recorder trig on step 1, exit record setup.
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Now press YES, display will indicate that it is armed to record, press play on OT and it will begin sampling according to the length specified. Go to sample list and scroll to the record buffer you just sampled into, enter audio editor, you can preview the sample you just made by pressing FUNCTION + YES - all good? If so save the sample by entering file menu, choose save to empty flex. If no then adjust input level as required.
Now for any more loops that you want to capture just repeat the process from below the line above, you can capture tons of loops in a very short time once the muscle memory sticks.
Of course this is just a basic setup, you might want to sample from a thru machine with say a compressor, simple enough once you get into it.
Quick manual sampling - In record setup 1 set your input and level, set record type to HOLD, set RLEN for whatever maximum length you want, exit rec setup, now whenever you want to sample just press hold input AB button whilst pressing the track button of the record buffer you just set for as long as you want to sample (upto the max set by RLEN) You can again go into audio editor page for any edits or to save the sample.
Once you get familiar with these you will quickly see that it is very easy and quick to sample, and you will come up with other ways to sample depending on the requirements, you can even set sampling up just to be a one button process, set to sample from multiple sources and so on.
Also spend some time in the audio editor, it is very powerful and simple once you get familiar with it.
Still, this is million times more of a hassle than just drag a sample into ableton simpler, which is an easy task regardless if it’s your first Ableton session or not.
All this unnecessary button combos for a simple task like sampling a loop/sound is overkill. I tried to love the Octa for a year now but it’s just not for me I guess, which is fine. This thread made me realize that it’s time to sell it. Thanks…
No probs, to be fair it does actually look like a lot of steps when written down like that, but once set up it becomes very fast to take multiple samples.
Edit: Here is a quick and dirty example of quick sampling, bear in mind I’m doing it 1 handed as holding ipad to (badly ) film it.
I personally spend more time with the sounds that i put into the Octatrack, than with a sample i pull into Abelton Simpler. (Even the same sample.)
Yes - there are things i could only do in Abelton, and which are more convenient to do on a large screen.
The point for me is - that i think more about the actual sound, and what i could do with it, when i did put it into the Octatrack. The limit of 8 tracks,. leads to more minimal approach, and finding out what i can do with that sample. When i do things in abelton, i quickly start to stack layers and layers - creating a wall of sound, which is detriminal to what i want to achieve.
I have thought that way from time to time. The way I look at it though is that it takes several more steps in Ableton to bring the wildness to your samples. Horses for courses really. I can imagine in many scenarios the OT is just not the right option. But there is a flip side in which the OT excels.
In my case I actually dabbled in Ableton’s samplers on and off for more than five years before I eventually bought the program. In the end I could never figure out the samplers and just used it as a glorified multi-track tape recorder and FX plugins.
(From start to finish, it also took nearly ten years for me to understand the nuances of Session and Arrangement modes and to use each effectively.)
I’ve been learning the Octatrack MKII for roughly twenty days and samples are already more incorporated into my workflow than ever. In fact, I went through a bunch of old tracks in Ableton to “rescue” some of my synth parts. I’ve got YouTube clips, sample packs, homemade stuff, samples of friends’ playing, a eurorack system near my left arm… I’ve never had so much to work with.
@darenager Thanks for taking the time to respond. I’ve definitely put in the time and can sample stuff very quickly as you described.
But, I am still struggling with the hassle that @Squadron mentioned.
I’m not going to give up on OT yet. Sometimes you just have to sit down and make some tracks to force yourself to figure this stuff out. I think I need to do that instead of overthinking it.
But, I appreciate the perspectives you and other folks have offered so far.
My recorder setups have been the same and saved in my project for years. In the past few years I’ve sampled thousands of times by either pressing “yes”, “track+rec”, or select a pickup track and press “rec”, it’s only taken one or two buttons for my last several thousand samples… If I turned on “quick record” mode it would only take one press but I actually find that I’d rather do a button combo so I don’t do it accidentally…
) film it.