Track 8 Looper: Master Track w/Echo Freeze Delay vs Flex Track w/one shot trigs

Elektron Gear Octatrack
1

I did try the search function but couldn’t find anything that really hit the nail on the head…

Currently in my live set, I have a project set up with track 8 set up as a flex track, a one shot rec trig on step 1 to record the main out into recording buffer 8 (with the according RLen settings etc. to ensure a 1 bar loop) with a playback trig also on step 1 to play this loop. I then use two scenes to have on scene B just the record buffer playing and scene A the other 7 tracks. I can therefore crossfade over to scene B and “in the background” move to the the next bank/pattern combo and crossfade back across to scene A.

What would be the differences and benefits/disadvantages of instead setting up track 8 as a master track and using the delay effect to loop the master track on scene B, whilst moving to the next bank/pattern combo? I know that amongst other things, I could use the, so called, “Delay Control” to play with the loop length, right? I guess I could also chop up the record buffer and do fun things with the flex machine but I don’t currently… I’m just reaching out to the experts to see what the benefits/disadvantages of each approach are.

2

Yeah, it’s like you said.
Track 8 as flex track let’s you fade in and out smoothly with the crossfader. You can prepare additional material and fade back to live sound. Downsides are, you have to set everything up properly. Your scenes have to be set up in all parts you use, you have to make sure you don’t switch to a pattern that stops the loop in T8 and you have to initiate or stop sampling (you can either always sample in the background and stop it when you want to use the loop, or initiate sampling when you need it) to capture the loop. A lot can go wrong.

Using delay in T8 is a lot more straight-forward and you can use a compressor in slot 1 or maybe a filter which both will be handy in a live set.

3

Thanks for the speedy reply!

Does that mean that I couldn’t smoothly crossfade (or even skip back and forth) with the freeze delay setup?

4

No no, you can! You just have to use delay send or volume and you can of course set up a scene for that.
I guess it comes down to whether you want to have a master effect like a filter or comp or want to play with the captured sample when transitioning (slowing it down with the rate parameter can sound nice etc.).