Sampling OT into Akai S950 and back

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hey everyone,

I just closed a deal on a Akai S950 sampler. Veeeery excited!

Being a mono sampler, if I want to send a signal from the Cue output on the Octatrack, would it be enough to just connect the L cue output and hard pan whatever comes out of the cue, or is there any way to automatically send a mono signal from the cue output in the OT settings (similar to sampling a mono signal where A+B becomes just A)?

Another option would be one of these adapters https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/YPP111--hosa-ypp-111-y-cable-1-4-inch-ts-to-dual-1-4-inch-tsf-6-inch. Would this work???

My plan is to send samples from the OT to the S950, and then back into the OT after tweaking on the S950.

If any of you are using a similar setup and/or have any useful tips for this combo, any help is much appreciated!

:slight_smile: Thank you

#2

Hi, either approach should work. Since you plan to be doing this regularly, I think the cable adapter makes sense. Have fun and feel free to let us hear them crunchy 950 sounds :slight_smile:

If you want to sync up stereo waves, you may want to prepare a little square wave “pre-roll”. Record the pre-roll and the regular sample on the 950, then send them back. Now It’s super easy to trim to your square wave in the OT. Play the two sides in sync in the OT while resampling. Then trim the resample as needed. Voila perfect sync without brain surgery.

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#3

Grab one of these too:

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#4

Check out my YT-channel if you like, in some of my older videos I heavily used the OT together with the S900. Unfortunately the S900 broke down, I really miss it :frowning:

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#5

Seems like the tail wagging the dog

The whole thing about the s950 sound is the a/d conversion. If you come out the OT, you are embedding the OT’s less than beautiful a/d conversion into the s950s.

Better to sample from your source directly to the s950 and then maybe sample That in the OT (too bad the s950 doesn’t use wav format where you could once again bypass the OT’s a/d)

Three passes through conversion and twice through the OT’s is a bad look imvho

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#6

IIRC the 950 passes audio through its converters even if you’re just monitoring the inputs, so you don’t need to actually sample unless you want to change the pitch.

Re: the Octatrack’s converters, they’re fine and MUCH better than what’s on the 950. That’s the whole point, the 950 converters are primitive in a way that sounds nice. The Octatrack converters aren’t as good as a high end interface or something but they’re not going to do any harm.

A big part of the S950 sound is the timestretch and the analog filter, though. Rather than just recording samples from the OT to the 950 and back as an effect, you might want to actually use the OT’s sequencer to control the 950 and use it as a full blown sampler, then record entire loops back into the OT from it. Unless that’s what you’re already planning to do, in which case go for it!

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#7

Also I’m pretty sure the S950 was still using dedicated, variable sample rate DACs per ivoce and changing the pitch of samples by changing the sampling rate of the DAC in real time, rather than using DSP based pitch shifting of some kind or other like essentially every sampler since the early 90s has done. That’s a BIG part of the sound of 80s samplers and digital delays, and another thing you won’t get by just running stuff through the converters as an effect.

So yeah, my advice would be to really dig in to it and use it as a traditional sampler with the OT being your phrase sampler/looper.

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#9

OT has very transparent a/d conversion in my tests.

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#10

Do you recommend this specific display, or any high contrast display for the s950?

#11

I’ve got one of those displays. Works a treat.

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#12

also get the gotek usb floppy emulator. Cheap & works well :slight_smile: I got one labelled as drive for amiga computers - cost me around 35euro.

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#13

The S950 I got already comes with a Lotharek SD HCX floppy emulator :slight_smile:

Also, just ordered one of those displays, in ocean blue (most were sold out), and seeing as they were about to totally sell out

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#14

try sampling hot into the s950 (going into the red on input meters) as that gives nice saturation. Also combine this with sampling sped up samples and then slow down on 950. so you’ll use the transposition algorithm of the s950 which is quite cool. Reduce the sampling rate for even more crunchiness. I love to sample breakbeats in this manner.

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#15

Doesn’t have to be one of those specifically.

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#16

Always loved your vid with the TDK cassette right in the middle of the frame. Great tune.

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#17

There is a tool I use that can extract samples over rs232 in wav format

http://s900.yahcolorize.com/index.htm

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#18

Pretty sure the audio you are monitoring through the inputs is not converted! The real magic is in the converter, not the input. This means that you actually have to sample to get the magic.

#19

That’s what I would assume too, but I’ve heard people mention using it that way a few times. That obviously doesn’t mean they knew what they were doing, of course.

EDIT: checked the service manual, and yeah, they didn’t - the input is passed through the output with nothing but a little buffering, like you’d expect.

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#20

You absolutely do need to sample to get any benefit from the 950, and you’re probably going to want to play around with the bandwidth and filter for the best results, too. One nice thing to do is to use the polyphony of the 950 to sample some chords into the OT. I think in terms of results - especially in a mix - you can probably use the OT’s FX to approximate the sound (timestretch being the exception), but what you can’t replicate there is the experience of working with the 950 interface, committing to changes and doing things purely by ear or via the number pad. Rough edges and tiny mistakes that all add up. And of course you can let the OT sequencer loose on the 950 and sample the results (or mangle them live).

#21

My 950 never worked so my only hands on experience with an Akai sampler older than the MPC2000 is the S612, and that definitely colors the sounds you pass through it in a nice way (it’s not passing through the converters either AFAIK but you can absolutely use it as an insert effect).