Also, this forum is packed with info on how we all use the OT
Search forum for octatrack workflow
https://www.elektronauts.com/search?q=Octatrack%20workflow
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I will try that resampling tip, thanks @Microtribe! btw: what are sample chains? I think I know, but I may not know.
Several samples compiled in one sample, with slices.
Octachainer software is really usefull to generate them with slices, different lengths.
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That’s great advice, @vasilymilovidov, thanks. I’ll keep chuggin’ and just focus on integrating it naturally into my setup. I’m just being impatient. It’s a musical instrument, I’m not gonna unlock its secrets in 3 months. I do think I need to sample my other gear with it more. That will lead me down some fruitful paths.
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i actually have a video on youtube that covers resampling
but honestly judging from your post it sounds like you have a solid understanding of the machine.
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also, you will never feel like you’re using the machine to its fullest potential and that’s a good thing
do you pick up a guitar and say “damn, i can’t shred like steve vai, i’m not really using this thing am I?”
I mean, can you expect to do all of the following in a single session?
Sample
Resample
Use eight MIDI tracks
Use eight audio tracks
Use all LFOs
Use all FX slots
Crossfade fun
Playing with parts
Sample locking
Song mode
…on and on
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No worries! You can take a 1 bar drum loop and transform it into a deep dark abyss of swirly ambient fear via the medium of resampling. Then take that same drum loop and turn it into a bleepy bloopy robot circus.
Sample chains are as mentioned above, I limit myself to 16 sounds ber chain now. 64 is too many for me.
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I set up my OT so that my computer went through it when I first got it…This way I could watch movies or listen to podasts, and sample them, practicing setting up trigs and looping (seting up a recorder track is kinda the hardest part at first). Also, just a simple tip. realizing you are in record mode, or play is pretty important for a lot of things…And just realizing that recorder buffers are seperate little “tape recorders” behind your static or flex track, which are the “tape players”, so when you hit func-record, you are looking at the recorder (they both have their own separate sequencer). When you hit func-record again, you are looking at the sample player…Hope that doesn’t confuse you, but, thats something I had problems visualizing at first.
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I actually am finally taking the time to learn scales, and it’s very similar to learning my way around the OT. If I don’t practice, I forget, or hit the wrong keys. The good thing about the piano, is it doesn’t stop making sound if I hit the wrong key 
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Another personal favourite is scenes. I have two types.
- scenes that fade = move the cross fader to hear the effect.
- punch in/out scenes = hold down a button to hear the effect.
Fade scenes always live on the right B 9-16. Punch in/out always live on the left. A1-8.
A1 is always the dry signal.
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-If you have other instruments- bass, piano, whatever - get really fast at setting up record trigs and sampling them in.
-Use the Arranger, it’s good.
- as others have said, resample. I like resampling a single track through a mixer for a lil saturation and EQ.
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Echo Freeze Delay
OT has a lot of pros and cons. Sometimes it feels like your always fighting the workflow. For me I tried to use OT as something standalone for along time. I also went from a DT to an OT and that’s how I used to use my DT. So for OT I tried just using slices and samples and constructing things off that, but I was always hitting walls.
But now I’ve realized that OT works best when it’s broken up. It’s not one huge box where you can do everything all the time (which it technically almost is) it’s really 5 smaller boxes (machines) that you can group together across 16 different spaces!
But I know the pain, and honestly it’s not something that HAS to work for you there’s plenty of other products out there that do something similar these days.
Also I started a similar thread awhile ago and got some pretty good advice from a lot of 'nauts. Good luck!
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This may be part of your problem. I find the utility of the OT to be that I can set it up for whatever need I have. Sometimes a sampler, sometimes a mixer or an effects processor or a midi controller. Not necessary to do it all at once, but possible.
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I’m not familiar with the echo freeze delay. Is this done with the delay play-mode?
That 5-smaller-boxes idea is an interesting take. i’m undaunted, trust me, i’m too much of an Elektron head to give in. I was just looking for ideas to take me to the next level, and all these replies, including yours, @Johnthemoon, have been exactly what I was hoping for.
John Lennon famously said that life is what happens when you’re making plans. I don’t know if anyone here has ever said this, but it seems to me that life is what happens when you’re gassing for other gear. btw: i’m a novice musician but a professional gasser (gas-bag?).
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I’m not familiar with the echo freeze delay.
Manual sections 12.7.6 and Appendix B.12.
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