Thru Machines, Parts and MIDI

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

It it possible to have two separate Thru machines on different Parts, each bound to the same A/B inputs, and driven from Octactrack MIDI ?

I’m trying to do that Cenk thing where he live- records the Thru machine, switches Parts to remix the captured sample, then fades back in the Thru machine (playing a new pattern) and repeats.

That seems to require a second Thru machine on the second Part, and a Scene which allows you to mix between a Flex machine (bound to the Recorder Buffer) and the Thru machine on the second Part.

So far so good. But when I fade in the second Thru machine, there’s no sound. In fact the Octa no longer seems to be sending the MIDI events when on the second Part. Which is a bit strange as the MIDI triggs seem to still be there on the second Part (Octa MIDI is independent of Parts?), although I didn’t explicitly check that the MIDI channel binding was still there (perhaps I should have?)

Anyone able to confirm/deny whether this sort of thing is possible ?

TIA

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#2

I’m not an expert on this, but I don’t think you can have scenes from different Parts at either side of the fader. The Scenes are “part” of the Part. If you’re changing Parts, you’re also changing the set of Scenes.

Parts are like Kits in the AR/A4. Parts hold the definition of which Machines are on each Track. The Scenes define which properties of the Machines you’re playing/automating. The description you gave of transitioning from one Part to another is akin to trying to automate a parameter change across a track in a DAW, whilst simultaneously changing the “devices” on that track.

Someone with more “transition trick” experience will jump in and correct me I’m sure… but I think the way to do this is to use the Scenes + fader to cross fade the XLEVEL/XVOL parameters of concurrent Tracks, using Machines and Scenes defined within a single Part.

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#3

You’d want to switch from monitoring to recording, and keep you midi tracks settings?

I’d change pattern without changing part.
Pattern 1, track 1 : Recorder (trig on step 1), Flex for monitoring (trig on step 1)

Pattern 2, track 1 : No trig on Recorder, Flex for monitoring (trig on step 1)

-> Simple transition. No scene + crossfader needed. If you prefer more complicated things, up to you.

Part change? Parts differences need a trig to be effective.

Same settings? Did you copy parts to keep settings? Did you keep default settings?
Trigs don’t suffice.

Change part on a same pattern may be problematic. I’d rather change to a different pattern with the 2nd part associated.

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#4

@Octagonist sorry I don’t think I was clear. The scenes are all within the same part.

@sezare56 but then how do I do “live remixing”, like Cenk does ? That seems to require a change of part, so that (eg on track 1) you switch from a Thru machine to a Flex machine playing the captured recorder buffer; the audio continues seamlessly, but you can remix with slices etc. Can that workflow be done without parts ?

#5

Maybe this is what you need?

Check out the other videos from EZBOT on the OT.

#6

Yes. Read above. You can advantageously replace a Thru by a Flex.
Seamless transition.

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#7

Like @Octagonist mentioned and @sezare56 alluded to, a clean, simple way to do live remixing is to just use a thru machine track and flex track, in one part, with Xvol or Xlev locked to scenes, such that the xfader mutes one or the other depending on position. I’ve actually never understood the advantage of using parts like Cenk is doing - maybe someone can explain it to me?

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#8

So this turned out to be (newbie) operator error. After setting the Thru machine up on Part 1, I should have used Copy Part to get a similar Thru machine on Part 2, instead of setting one up from scratch. Feels like there were some (hidden?) MIDI settings on Part 1 that need to get copied across. So the Cenk pattern works, huzzah :slight_smile: I’ll have to spend tmrw playing with the Pattern based approach. Thanks to @sezare56 for the hint.

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#9

Yeah at first glance that would seem to be … an awful lot simpler :neutral_face: I’ll give it a go tomorrow

#10

Even simpler : remove the rec trig.

Easier, faster to set up, what you hear is what you get.
Saves a track vs Thru + Flex. No need to set scenes nor part change.