My first try with using PU machines did not yield very good results, I was sampling percussion from Volca Sample and layed out trigs on SLC mode on different sections of the loop, perhaps it was the ENV length…and the silent sections of the loop itself, very choppy.
I want to get into live sampling although going through different patts, scenes and live recording with other inst. in the chain is fairly busy for me.
Using an OT w/ DN and DN going thru Kaoss pad and then to mixer. My thought on a simple way would be run Kaoss pad headphone output to OT AB, mix AB 0.
I only want the DN heard through the mixer, not OT.
I already have a synth sample on OT track 2 which is pre-sliced.
Then while jamming, switch to REC mode, grab a 64 bar loop on buffer 2, double click track 2 and assign to buffer, the grabbed sample should already play according to slices, right?. Then if wanting to return to orig. sample reload part.
But isn’t this what Pickups are for?
I like the idea of having a variation in there without filling a sample slot and having a mixer and a submixer to be able to sample more than one thing at will, a DN, Microfreak and a Volca Drum.
I am trying to integrate live sampling into my workflow as simple as possible into already programmed and sketched out banks. I am running 24 bit and am fairly certain I have enough RAM as I have been grabbing 64 bar samples throughout the project.
This seemed the easiest way for me to start with live sampling.
Is there an easier way? Any suggestions?
I’m not an expert and still learning about recording with the Octatrack myself.
I’ve got the hang of recording regular loops on flex machines with one shot trigs
But I think pickup machines are like loopers that can overdub.
Have you got the hang of regular flex recording?
You can do live looping that way with one shot trigs
The most usefull trick of pick-ups is that you don’t need to know the tempo in advance. The pick-up loop can sync the sequencer to its length/tempo. Very usefull when recording non sequenced (acoustic) sounds! But mostly i only use one pick-up.
@DanJamesAUS of course! automation!
Probably should try this although at this point I just want it to be an option instead a dedicated track in my setup, and prefer every box’s main outs to the mixer. But will keep this in mind if I want to simplify.
@Burpy that’s what I did understand about PUs, unfortunately I am working with global tempo. But that sounds interesting if I break out the pots and pans.
I wondered if anyone else actually preferred to manually do it in this way, esp. if they had outboard routing options and the live recording/looping was not necessarily a key part of the composition. I so far am used to programming a lot beforehand and then just feeling where it wants to go during recording, a planned intro or outro will end up as a fill sort of thing. Invariably some things do not play out as planned or at all against the clock; trying to get focused tracks down in one take, preferably under 7 min.
If you want to keep tempo you need to use QREC setting. Pickups also have a monitoring setting in Rec Setup 2, but track has to be active.
Pickups were added in an update, it is not the default way of recording.
If you don’t use overdub, track Recorder + FLEX solution is probably better. Only 1 track needed. Change pattern to stop recording.
No part change needed if you want to mangle the recording with slices, plocks.
Pattern 1, 1 Flex trig + 1 rec trig (constant recording + playing)
Pattern 2, 1 Flex trig (playing)
Cool! are you saying we can essentially use flex machines for looping purposes without overdubs? I like the idea of this… I prefer multiple tracks running separate loops rather than over dubbing.
Any chance you could point me to more info on setting this up or run through a bit of it here?
Cheers
Sure! Pickups didn’t exist at Octatrack’s release.
And you can overdub with Flex if the recorder also records its recording.
You can record with one shot rec trigs you can arm, or with rec buttons with QREC for quantization.
Chapter 9 is not very long.
9. TRACK RECORDERS AND PICKUP MACHINES
Yes - for sure… I was aware of the history but I wasn’t aware you could essentially use flex machines like a live looper like you would pickup machines.
Is the only difference that you can’t overdub?
Thanks
I have been doing this for a while. It’s super convenient. If you record guitar/basses etc, you’ll likely need a midi pedal to trigger recording.
Alternatively (if it isn’t a live setting), I started recording my (guitar) loops with the recording trig not on step 1 of the pattern’s first page (since this doesn’t give me a count-in), but on step 1 of the pattern’s SECOND page. Once it’s recorded, I can simply move the playback trigger to the actual beginning of the pattern.
Details like this make the workflow convenient. It’s no rocket science, but requires us to look for solutions. The Octatrack way of life 
I pretty much never use the pickup machines for live sampling/looping.
The other neat thing about the recording buffers, is that you can configure and sample to all 8 tracks buffers, even if you don’t have them configured as a flex machines. You can then use one or two flex machines to play back their contents, leaving the rest of the tracks for other purposes.
You can also neatly configure the recording buffers to quantise their start time and length in the record setup 2 page.
Use SRC3 on page 1 to set what you want them to record, if I am doing dynamic resampling, I’ll often use CUE, and then i can cue the tracks i want to resample.
The only benefit the pickup machine has (in my opinion) is the dynamic loop length. Though I’d love for someone to show off some awesome techniques I’m not aware of.
Thanks for the input guys… much appreciated.
I will play around with this tonight.
While using the PickUp machines though… after building up some loops, when I then move back to a previous track - there is a huge BOOM of feedback. Any suggestions to what that could be and how it is “obviously” related to my previous issue in the post above?
Are the mixer DIR and record settings GAIN at play here?
I hope this is also helping others as I troubleshoot this.
I really want MY Octatrack to be solid enough for reliable live performance.
Thanks again!
You actually can overdub with a flex machine, by using “CUE” on SRC3, and cueing the track the flex is on as well as the track that has the incoming overdub, then recording again. The result is a combo of the original recording plus the overdub. There is some minor degradation that occurs if you do this many many times over, but in practice it’s rarely noticeable.
Especially with filter on, even with neutral settings. Unused fx can be set to None.
Actually it can become an awfull muddy feedback sound after around 20-30 passes (with filter on).
Modulating pitch and direction with an LFO while recording.
Has the PU gained an Undo yet? I haven’t used it for a few years, nor kept my eye on the release notes
No.
Ah man, shame
Pseudo undo : save the recording (self) and reload it to undo. Not suitable for live conditions.
Other approach, suitable for live :
Use several tracks for recording (recorders+Flex or Pickups), replace or erase, and resample when you’re done.
Resampling can be done constantly, and played with a pattern change.