Some OT Workflow Questions

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Here’s my usual session with an Octatrack

  1. Set at least tracks 1-4 to be flex machines, and set them to their own rec buffers
  2. Sample some song onto, say, track 1 via input AB. Get it sounding how I want, etc.
  3. Save and assign sample to static machine. I do this so that I can guarantee my sample is saved the next time I load this thing up, and it sounds just like it did.
  4. Change track 1 to static, scroll down to where my sample is saved, and then assign that sample.
  5. Repeat with any other samples on any other tracks.

I find this workflow kind of annoying and it just seems I’m doing it wrong. I WANT to “save and assign sample to self” but then…Where is it after that? Is it saved in my project folder? Also, T1 will end up being called the name of the sample and I find that annoying to.

What’s the quickest, most efficient way to assign a sample I just recorded to itself and NOT lose it when turning off the Octatrack?

Thanks guys

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#2

I think (versus saving and assigning to self), it’s better to save and assign to new slot. Then change the sample in the flex machine to that new slot. That at least prevents the buffer from being renamed. The sample ends up as a new file in the project top folder. It’s there, ready for use, and should be as you edited it.

Funny enough, I haven’t done much external sampling in a while, but I hope to soon.

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#3

The only problem with that is I’m using static machines cause the stick has much more memory. When I get to recording stuff in a project the flex memory will get used up. But I guess I haven’t actually ran into this problem so maybe I can just assign to free flex…

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#4

Yeah, that’s it - “assign to free flex” I think the flex has a surprising amount of usable memory. I’ve never built a very big project, so I’ve never come close to filling up the RAM. Might as well give it a whirl and see how far you can push it.

#5

flex limitations will come into play much more if you are trying to squeeze a full ‘set’ out of a single project - for what I do if I’m just working on a single track it’s essentially a non-issue as usually I don’t use more than 10-20mb of samples per track unless I pre-load a big sample pack or I have big sliced files I’m working with

‘save and assign to self’ is very convenient for use with the record buffers and the sample copy is automatically saved to the /PRESETS/AUDIO folder if you have the PERSONALIZE setting set to ‘audio pool’ (the other option for this setting is the project directory)

if you overwrite the record buffer after that point, you can always save a copy of your new recording (save sample copy without assigning) and then use ‘revert to saved file’ to go back to the file that you assigned

I show a bit of this in this track breakdown video, it’s a very useful functionality for saving a particular state of a re-sampling project that you can easily get back to - you can record a new re-sample into the buffer at any time and quickly revert back to the saved sample if you don’t like it (and your record buffers that are assigned saved files will populate with that audio when you load up the project)

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#6

If I have it set to project directory (which I do) will it just save it to the project directory?

#7

Yes.

#8

So I save and assign to self “LOUIS PRIMA 1” to Track 1. Now I don’t want it anymore, and I decide to record over track 1, but track 1 is still named “LOUIS PRIMA 1”. How do I get rid of it?

#9

For clearance: You don’t record over track 1, you record over the content of the rec buffer 1.

There are two alternatives when using “save and assign to self”:

  1. always use the original name when saving (so the saved wav-file is named recording1, too, and gets overwritten with each new save+assign)
  2. save and assign to self each time with a different name

If you want to get rid of an assigned sample (BEFORE recording over it!) you can use the CLEAR SLOT functionality from the audio editor or [FUNC]+[CLEAR] after highlighting the entry in the slot list.

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#10

You can also save all the recording buffers at once, instead of one at a time.

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#11

How?

#12

On MK2: [FUNC] + [REC3] opens the RECORDING EDIT menu (even labelled on the face plate). There you have some choices.

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#13

I’m on a Mk1. Is it still the same?

#14

Of course, when you can find the REC3 button there … :wink: :smiley:

From the MK1 manual:

While in either RECORDING SETUP menu, an EDIT menu can be opened by pressing [FUNCTION] + [BANK].

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#15

MkI as all. MKII don’t have Pickup Multiply.

#16

I’ve read the manual and this forum like crazy and I don’t think I’ve ever opened up an EDIT menu from the rec setup menu…Well alright lol.

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#17

To be honest this menu seems quite useless to me, because all other functionalities (besides SAVE ALL RECORDINGS) can be accessed with either shortcuts or from elsewhere.

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#18

Since I know and use the Rec + Bank shortcut to edit / save recordings, I don’t use Rec Setup menu much now (all the time before), sometimes for Memory Settings.
As I prefer to assign samples to Flex or Static rather than Self, I don’t use Save All Recordings.

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#19

I like it. It makes it easy to remember where all the saving options are.

#20

Most of the time when I’ll need to save the content of a recorder buffer I have it already open in the audio editor to check the overall levels, add some microfades at the beginning/end and other stuff. Besides SAVE ALL RECORDINGS (which I don’t use) all save options (+ assignment options to sample slots) are there, too.

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