Speedy J + OT

I see that Speedy J uses the Octatrack in his DJ sets, but I’m not entirely sure how he uses the machine. Does he sample the decks from his mixer into the OT and mangle the audio? Does he just use it as a sample player and plays snares/claps/hihats? Does he use it as an effects processor?

I’m not quite sure since it’s difficult to pick up when he’s actually using the machine, but if anyone has any idea of how he uses it, please share your insight! I’d like to know more about combining the Octatrack with a standard DJ setup.

2 Likes

Here’s some videos:

I’m not sure how Speedy J uses his OT, however recently I made an experiment with OT and a DJ setup.

I just used OT and TR8 as another deck on standard DJ mixer.
In a DJ scenario if you don’t use SYNC, you don’t have really time to play with live programming, so all you can do is switching patterns on OT.
No fancy remixing, no flex recorders etc.

Channel 1 - left desk, channel 2 - right deck, channel 3 - Octatrack + TR-8.
Octatrack has lead hooks and some percussion. Unfortunately OT is not seen on this video, but you get the idea.

2 Likes

That’s a nice live set. I’m wondering how I would be able to send MIDI clock out from Traktor to the OT through a Xone 43C? There’s no MIDI ports and the USB runs the audio. I guess I could always manually sync the two, but sometimes that’s not ideal in a live setting.

My set up would be 2 channels running Traktor, 3rd channel running cue/preview, 4th channel running OT, hmm, but then I wouldn’t be able to process sound.

A cheap iConnectivity MIO or any other class compliant USB midi interface would show up as a device in Traktor’s “Controller Manager” page for sending clock to the Octatrack’s DIN MIDI input.

1 Like

Thanks for letting me know about that device. Seems this setup is much more efficient than using a Maschine/Push with Ableton running together with Traktor.

2 Likes

Goodmorning :slight_smile:
I tried this (see link) setup before, connecting my A4 with usb to my computer (soundcard audio4) and it worked : Traktor sending midi clock, didn’t try it with the OT yet but I guess it works the same way
:smile_cat: I just was curious if this could work, I don’t play with traktor when I’m performing so I didn’t try this out for a public and cannot say if the BPM matching stays solid,

not forget: Go to Preferences in Traktor > MIDI Clock and tick the option Send MIDI Clock.

1 Like

Having seen Speedy J’s setup with Maschine with Liebing, I presume he’s probably using it as a drum/percussive layer to go under tracks, plus maybe some atmos as well.

1 Like

Wouldn’t the Rytm be better for that? Live retrigs and all…

OT is 8 tracks and has more effects. Remember he’s also mixing 4 decks at the same time. But yea he’s using it the same way one would use Maschine in a dj set.

He can use OT as a backup for his laptop (audio tracks, loops).

been doing this for the last month with a friend. just treat the elektrons like another deck without any type of tempo sync. When I am leading he beat matches/nudges to my tempo and vice versa. Not too difficult but having headphones is key.

What my routing looks like

MNM RYTM A4/MODULAR -> Audio interface summed to stereo -> OT input AB -> OT THRU TRACK AB (with cue engaged) -> CUE OUT to XONE 92 line input channel 4

XONE master output to OT input CD -> OT THRU TRACK CD -> OT OUTPUT -> Audio interface input for recording/output to speakers

Essentially if I cue a track it goes through his DJ mixer, if I leave the tracks routed to the master it will go straight to the monitors.

Very powerful, you have to gain stage carefully but everything sounds very gluey

afaik speedy used to work with a machine mk2, seems like he just changed that to an octatrack, so basically adding drum and percussive loops on top of his traktor loops and dropped the second laptop.

Yeah, it seems more convenient to just use an OT for the same duties as a Maschine/Push… especially considering I only have one laptop and don’t need to drain resources on my computer by running both Traktor/Ableton/Maschine, etc.

Exactly. For myself, I plan on making loops that I load into the OT, and then use that for looping while carrying out a set with my AR and A4.

Nice set!
If you remember, what is going on at 11:22 and 13:37? I don’t see any faders going up, so is that an OT pattern change?

Thanks :wink:

Very old video, but yes, it’s a sample slice change on OT.
OT and TR8 are on mixer channel 3, always up.

1 Like

In this video I switched camera angle so you can actually see the OT:

1 Like

Yeah, sorry to necromance this thread. I’ve recently picked up OT, and I’m trying to integrate it into my live-ish-but-mostly-just-DJing act. This is very helpful, thanks!

I plan to have 2 or 3 traktor decks running most of the time, so I want to automate the syncing as much as possible. I tried having OT receive midi clock from traktor yesterday - the tempo sync seemed solid enough, but i couldn’t nudge the OT tempo while it was receiving midi clock. The only workarounds I found were to stop and restart the OT, or simultaneously nudge all running traktor decks by the same amount.

Any better ideas? Looks like you are going the fully hand-beatmatching mode.

No idea how to sync it, I just love to beat match by ear :slight_smile:

1 Like