Set up different One Shot Samples or different Chords or Melody in each step or step sequencer in a track

Hi guys,
I have the Octatrack MK2 for a week now, my 1st elektron gear, read the manual, checked out youtube, Thavius Beck’s tutorial, etc and i can’t figure out or if’s possible or not to have in a single track Multiple One Shot Samples or Chords or put a note or a chord from a melodic instrument in each step or step sequencer in a track.
I mainly work with one shot samples, not so much loops.
Someone’s told about Sample Locks, Parameter Locks, etc but i don’t know how to set them.

My Octatrack Tracks Layout Idea is something like this
Track 1 - Drum Kick & Bass Drum (with multiple one shot samples if’s possible)
Track 2 - Drum without Kick (with multiple one shot samples if’s possible)
Track 3 - Percussion (with multiple one shot samples if’s possible)
Track 4 - EFX (with multiple one shot samples if’s possible)
Track 5 - Piano Sample (with multiple Chords if’s possible)
Track 6 - Pad, String & Synth (with multiple Chords if’s possible)
Track 7 - Bass (with multiple Chords if’s possible)
Track 8 - Vox (with multiple Chords if’s possible)

For example for a percussion track
1.1 with Krin Drum > 1.2 with Clave > 1.3 with Shaker > 1.4 with Maracas
2.1 with Clap > 2.2 with Conga > 2.3 with Rim Shot > 2.4 with Snare
3.1 with Djembe > 3.2 with Snare > 3.3 with Cymbal > 3.4 with Balafon
4.1 with Marimba > 4.2 with Xylophone > 4.3 with Marimba > 4.4 with Cabassa

Thanks in advance

I think what you are looking for is sample locks…
When you say one-shot, you just mean a sample that is not a loop?
And you would like it to play everytime the sequencer hits the step its on?
And you would like to place different samples on different steps of a track?

If so, then you hold a trig and turn the level knob, it will access your flex or static sample slots depending on the machine, and you can select and place any of your samples loaded to the slots on just that trig…

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Hello.

As @Open_Mike said you can exactly do as he explain. But you must to notice something If Sample Locks are too close to each other you will have choke-sample like a choke group. a little bit of reverb can attenuate that. P-locking the decay of the sample before the other one to play too.

Another trick consist to prepared and mixed those fragments in each phase that you think or know that they must plat together. i explain a bit better that now, taking for a example a simple Four to the Floor beats with Kick, Clap and a Shaker where :

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 (so 16 steps of 64)
Kick | 2 | Shaker | 4 | Kick + Clap | 6 | Shaker | 8 | Kick | 10 | Shaker | 12 | Kick + Clap | 14 | Shaker | 16

All you need for that is a Kick, Shaker and a Mixed one sample of a Kick + Clap correctly mixed in level like Kick 100 and Clap 70.

For more complex on one track you should considering to go further on Tail integration, or different loops to the correct BPM instead. Like Ableton Live clip where you have multiple scene variation… Export as Loop : BD_4bars_120.wav | BD-CP_4bars_120.wav | BD-CP-SH_4bars_120.wav (And then sample locks those variations (drums progressions) in Track 1

But it’s a bit of thinking, try and prepare process :wink:
What you would like to do is technically possible but it depends on how smooth you want things to be… if the choke-group and robotic glitchy can be something interesting, for smoother playing with this method it can require some time to get things right. And the more, you go on the way of one machine to do everything the more limited you are and need to find the best and efficient way of doing it without to be too time consuming. Every Long Materials is the problem, it can be solved as i said… but it’s really a matter of the track context. You can find some repeated rhythmic things and it can work for more than one song. But generally speaking you will have to repeat the whole process each track. (note that you can also play slice from a single file so Kick, Shaker and a Mixed one sample of a Kick + Clap as well as BD_4bars_120.wav | BD-CP_4bars_120.wav | BD-CP-SH_4bars_120.wav both scenario can be in a single wav file)

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Thank you @open_mike. One shot sample not a loop.

One shot sample not a loop.

yes like a ableton live drum rack with 16 samples for ex. You can build a track with only a single sample or with a multiple samples. Take a Djembe drum as example. You have a Go Do Pa ta Gun Dun sounds. 6 sounds in total and the idea is put all this sounds in one track.

when you hold the trig, you should be in MIDI or audio Normal audio and the trig should be setted in TRACKS, CHROMATIC, SLOTS, SLICES, QUICK MUTE pr DELAY CONTROL?

Two sample can’t play on the same step (except if it’s an audio file where this 2 samples are mixed in one wav file), If a Sample don’t have reach its end when a new sample coming on another step will cut the sample above.

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Thanks again William for all the helps.
i forgot the 64 steps :sunglasses:
The idea is producing a complete song on this this without using a sample like a BOSS

Just have in Mind this tail thing and choke-group behavior in mind… and find the appropriate solution to get things done according to your layout idea but in the context of the track you work.

Don’t try to prepare everything like all chords, for all instruments, all possible drum combination before actually to start to make music

but you can prepare some default drum chains to start to shape a new track… (on the go with just the OT) at some point you need to think those things for each track context…

When i do that i do that in the context of this song, open the computer with your OT on your side… Ableton is perfect for that… Try chords… when you have a ideas, generate those chords, try it on the OT with the Sample Locks … See if it’s works… etc… But don’t fill your compact flash with Generic chords, Generic Drums prepared especially for the Sample-Locks techniques as default. Prefer a more Track context focusing approach.

i don’t know if i explain myself fine here :stuck_out_tongue: the morning i guess

un peux sonné par ici aussi mais j’essaye de comprendre cette truc!

when you say drum chains you want say drum loops with some samples?

For the on the go (without laptop computer and thinking and regarding chords the best solution is polyphonic module on the side controled by midi, so you have less preparation to make and less thinking process

Not to mention that thinking process annihilate the music creation process. because not the same brain part is in action…

You’ll need your samples loaded in the flex or static slots, you’ll be on the audio side with the track to be worked on selected, and you’ll need to be in grid recording mode (rec led lit).

Grid recording mode can be acessed at any time by pressing the rec button, the trig modes you mention above affect the behavior of the trig buttons while not in grid or live recording mode…

OT Drum Chain is explain here for Kick Drums (That example is fine for instance if you use only Kick on Track 1 and cover the OT on the go scenario, you have a percussion loop you like on track 2, you have a bassline you like on track 3 and you look for a kick candidate you scan through the Kick chain to find your candidate or the better… this scenario can work also to make variation of the kick and use a different kick here and there) :

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I can’t believe no one has mentioned sample chains for this. (haha, William beat me by seconds)

abhoth’s sample chain manager (in files) lets you create sample chains of pre-prepared wavs into a single file, which you load as ‘sliced’ in OT. you can then play each sample from the start parameter, or from the trig buttons if you switch to slices mode…

edit: the advantage of sample chains as opposed to sample locking is ease of management and arrangement as you can keep all related samples together in a single ‘pack’ and i personally find plocking them way easier in the OT workflow.

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i have mention it… :wink:

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But anyway i would like to insist on the choke-group effect so he see what limitations on one track he gets… A track is clearly not a polyphonic ableton rack where 2 or more Sample can play on the same TRIG (Step) (like layering on top of each other, or like a Akai Program Sampler)

it’s more scanning through a file (sample chain) = playing slice
or Switch on the fly from sample to sample by Step (sample lock) with the choke-group behavior to have in mind. And Tips & tricks to get this behavior working

thanks again for all your helps… yeah i’ve in you that i can’t layer samples on top like on my MPC Live. The idea about the octatrack is that i can’t came to this life and later go out without put my hands is something elektron… Hope i’ll get contaminated by this brand gear like a lot others.
I this after this, the next will be the Analog Four!

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@William_WiLD i like the idea of chaining samples and then you chose what you want

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don’t know if you know Propellerhead Reason but the Octatrack is like Dr Octo Rex + the Elektron Sequencer with all TRIG options they gives to us. it’s a more Loop & Slices approach …

Really not like MPC, Kontakt, etc… where you can add on keys different sample, on velocity range also different sample… but at the END it’s also preparation time too so…

in this regards i can’t tell which one is the bet. What i do know is Octatrack is a beast and can’t do everything with a little bit of time and thinking… And 8 tracks when you only have the OT forced you to use this 8 tracks as 8 Bus (or 7 Bus + 1 Master fx Bus)

The streaming from Huge evolving materials from a STATIC Machine from the Compact Flash is a big win to me… because i need it … :stuck_out_tongue:

yeah i know reason. I’ve tried it when it was 2.5 :wink:

I know i’m a born baby on the octatrack so i’ve to learn everything but i’ve some faith in myself

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This is just to check but you do already know about slices right? I feel like what you want is just different slices on one track…

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