Stem playback - slice play then loop

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hello there,
I am trying to setup my bands stems into an octatrack project.
I have some evolvement in these stems but they come to a stable point (4bars) that I would wish to loop.
I use static machines for that to leave the RAM free for further experiments.
This should be automatique procedure so I dont want to use patterns switching for that.
It works for one pattern but if I try to use the same stem just with different AED settings (start/loop) it spoils my first pattern.
Can´t those settings be plocked to use different parts of the stems in different patterns?

Any help would be very much appreciated. Elektron user but Octatrack noob begs for help. :grimacing:

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#2

That’s because these settings are stored in the global (in your case static) sample slot and since it is global any change to it is visible to all patterns.

Instead of plocking the changes directly you can use a different sample slot with the same sample and plock the sound (= the different sample slot).

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#3

That’s a clever idea, for sure. However, to me that seems like a waste of a precious sample slot. I’d imagine pattern switching and p-locks would be a more “efficient” use of resources (you have 256 patterns per project, but only 128 static slots).

The “best” answer is the one that suits the OPs overall situation… workflow, sample count, etc.

#4

Thank´s for clarifying

That is what I try to avoid. I would love to have our whole set in one project.
So I am stuck to 128 slots.

#5

I will go with the arranger that have I discovered today while sitting on my ergometer watching youtube.
I will utilize octachain for not wasting sample slots.
That will increase the limited sample space just to infinity, right?
Then I will use the arranger to play what I want until it hits a “safe-space” on which it can loop.
I´ll report if it works. Maybe of use to someone else.

Thank´s guys for your replys.

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#6

Next challange is coming up.
I have a longer slice that plays wich a 1st conditional trigger (Intro) for 24 bars.
It´s all in 4 bar segments so 6 segments of 4 bar patterns.
Everything is perfectly in sync when switching the patterns manually.
How often shall I set the repetition parameter to match?
I guess it´s 6 not 24 right?
Repetition means not actual bars but patterns (which can vary in length)?

Again, thank´s for any input. :slightly_smiling_face:

#7

User error here. I damaged the slices by accident. Everything is fine.
But I observe some strange behavior with gain. I exported my stems and when I did this in Ableton live it pretty matched the volumes of our album mix down.
Octa is definitely much lower in volume.
Does anybody know what’s going on?
Thanks for any advice. :grinning:

#8

First thing you can do is to set tracks LEVEL to 127, same for Master track if set like this.

Some clues, check quoted in below link, different approaches possibles.

Gain aGain - #97 by sezare56

#9

For using stems I’d recommend to try to do them as slices, so lets say you have a stem which is 128 bars, slice to 32x 4 bars. This way you can have a much easier workflow, and simply plock start parameter to select which 4 bar section is playing in a pattern. This also gives you some creative options when combined with scenes too, because scene locking slice/start takes precedence over plocks.

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#10

That’s how I used to do it for stems based live sets.

1 Like
#11

Thank´s for your reply and your input.

Just found that out yesterday. In therory I could have all my stems in one chain of stems.
Might not be so useful for organizing (or have to document precisely what is what for later changes).
At the moment I am utilizing OctaChainer to make drum-stems, synth-stems, bass-stems and so on.
Every chain is dedicated to on group of stems. This eats up 5-7 sample-slots. So not a big deal even when wanting to have a whole live show in one project.
Next step will be to incorporate the arranger and scenes, maybe parts as well.

I am used to the Elektron workflow (A4, Tone & Takt) so I get my head around everything pretty easy.

I hated Ableton everytime I used it (Reaper-guy here). And I am so glad that I have an alternative. Not to mention the fact that the whole live set of my 3-piece band fits in this little box.
Makes traveling a lot easier (in contrary to a notebook, audio interface, controller, stand…you name it).
On my upcoming shows I will simply put the Octa on the right (empty) space of my Virus TI2 keyboard.
It´s just as like Acces have left the space there for the Octa to fit. :wink:

Again thank´s for the input.

#12

Hey thank´s for the link. This is really useful. Internal gain staging is plentiful obviously.

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#13

Is it important to have stems in an exact matching lenght for a given tempo?
Reason I am asking is because I have some syncing issues with stems I exported from Reaper.
The single loops drift in tempo in 4 bar loop.
It seems that the whole sample chain is a bit off in total.
The single loops are cut perfectly, though.
Any input would be highly appreciated :smiley:
Thanks in advance

#14

No they can be any length. But do check the AED bpm and bar length info. If it appears incorrect, change it in the editor. That should fix it.

(Also, if you know your sample BPM is 130 and youre OT is set to 130, if time stretch is off, it shouldnt make any difference)

#15

Thanks for your answer. I did not know that there are parameters to tweak in AED. Will check that.
I have a tempo of 102 bpm. My stems are cut quite nicely but it did not work and I got a bit of paranoia and checked the length of the exported files. They were a few samples off.

Will report if it works. Thanks again

#16

Ah, I am not completely sure (I erased the first project hoping things get better when starting from scratch) but I think that was it.
I might have messed with Len parameter in the SRC setup.
It´s now very tight again.
Thank´s for pointing me in that direction. :smiley: