I don’t have an Octatrack, but it should be doable. Set the TR8S to receive Program Change messages, the OT to send PC messages as well. It should link patterns on both machines.
That said, does anyone knows what PC message is expected to change KITS on the TR8S ? The MIDI chart is a JOKE.
I’m quite super disappointed with the TR8S so far.
The workflow is so slow. Editing a kit takes hours.
Sample start is not MIDI controllable. This is a major disappointment since I wanted to load sample chains. FXs are cheesy.
MIDI implementation sucks.
The screen is so small and ugly.
The trigger pad is unresponsive.
Sample edition is sample-specific, so you can’t have different start/end points for the same sample in different kits.
That might be my last try ever with hardware drum machines. Really looks like a toy to me.
EDIT : just figured out the PC messages. They are channel specific (by default, ch 1 for kits and ch 10 for patterns). So basically, with Ableton Live, you just cannot send a PC to change both the Kit and the Pattern within a single MIDI track. Super clever…
Seems that nothing beats the MD after all these years.
But I’m so afraid to use it live since I send my previous units to repair 3 times. And now it’s discontinued.