Sending random midi events to all machines

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Heres my current setup I am experimenting with:

A4/MnM/AR/MD/OT.

on my OT tracks 1-4 i am sending random notes out to all my machines via midi chan 1-4. ive got them all configured to receive cc. on the md i have the base chan defined as 1-4.

i want to achieve random notes and param changes to be triggered. on the md its working like a charm. md is in classic mode with the kit i want and is randomly switching patterns and kits. i have my OT lfos set to randomize note and arp ‘tran’ and ‘spd’ values. i also designed some waveforms for the lfos.

i am having a hard time making the a4/mnm/ar behaving in the same way as the md. i can’t get them to randomly change kits and patterns.

in the md’s map editor only one param seems to be effected at a time. i have it set to group ‘ctrl’ and have it set to stop… this value is constantly changing when i open the page. is it possible to have it affect all values? also i don’t quite know what kind of trig to choose here: gate/strt/que - i have it set to strt atm but i dont really know what these values stand for.

at the moment i have it playing on 300 bpm to be able to hear changes asap. the idea in the end is to go down to 30bpm and set the lfos to oscillate at a minimum value so the changes happen as slow as possible.

too bad we can’t map midi scenes with the xfader :smiley:

does anybody have any idea how to get the other machines to change kits and patterns? all of them are receiving the data and are having notes triggered. its mayhem. but i would like to achieve a kind of controlled chaos.

whats also very weird is that even when i mute the pads on my AR they still output sound. this is the same for the a4. i am hearing sounds coming from it even with the tracks muted. i am running my MD through my AR and my MnM through my A4.

#2

It sounds like you found the Map Editor on the MD.

On the MM:
Did you set the Multi Map channel number appropriately? Did you find the Multi Map Edit menu?

On the Analog Four:
Did you assign the PERF CHANNEL number appropriately? Did you find the Multi Map Edit menu?

On the AR:
It does not currently have a Multi Map feature. The only way to change patterns is by MIDI Program Change messages. Or responds to MIDI Note messages as described on pages 15 & 16 of the manual.

#3

hi peter thanks for the fast reply.
yeah i’ve found those pages and have set the channel accordingly… on the MD i can set a channel range for this (ive set it to 1-4 - which are the chans the OT is outputting the notes on) on the A4 and MnM i can only set it to one channel… i’ve tried 1-4 and no pattern/kit changes are happening…

what would your preferred setup be in terms of an ecological setup where i am not wasting channels which could in the future be used for other stuff (as i still have 2 unused chans on my OT which are not sending data on any channel yet.) i am trying to build a generative setup which is as non-rigid as possible. when i’m done with the core functionality i want to use my bitstream to map the midi controls, which can’t be mapped to the xfader

#4

Your setup is peculiar enough to make my recommendations mostly moot. With only 16 channels of MIDI that can be output from the OT and many more channels that can be used on the four other instruments, you will have to set your priorities carefully.

Conventional setups would have the individual units sequence themselves, with the OT providing basic clock, transport, and song/pattern control via MIDI.

I recommend that for each setup scenario, you make a template project on the OT in which the MIDI channels and any other settings are configured for the particular scenario.

#5

Have you set up the Multi Maps appropriately in both the MM and AF?

#6

yes. at least on the a4 - i’m taking it one machine at a time at the moment… to slim it down i went ahead and used only one of the four channels per machine… (only the md is using base channel 1-4) - on the MnM i somehow am not able to input any data into the multimap editor. its locked. i’m quite new to using the multimap and once again even after owning these machines for years i feel like a complete noob :smiley:

in terms of conventional setups i can usually set up stuff quite fast…

ive made an extra project /snapshots on all machines so i dont mess up my setups as this is something out of the ordinary…