Tracking the Octatrack into DAW tips and tricks

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#16

I’m using Studio One as well and have a setup where I’m tracking the OT and my entire mixer’s direct outputs and I’m doing this for both multi track recordings (usually done in the start - printing the basics from OT Arranger) and individual tracks such as syncing along to those initial multi tracks.

I find that using Studio One with a Presonus interface (using Studio 192 mobile) is the first thing to take care of. Any of the Presonus interfaces allowing for the HW ”zero”- latency mode is the key. This actually gives me the feeling of just recording into a tape recorder - being able to play for example the upright piano without worrying about the drift.

Another massively important device for the clock sync to allow for individual tracks to be added on top of the ”foundation” is the Expert Sleepers USAMO. It’s using one of the audio outs of your interface instead of relying on midi (for that part) and then you’re able to fine tune as well as select what to actually send out (from the USAMO to OT there’s regular MIDI).

I’m finding that I can run the OT looped to a specific section in Studio One over and over again without drifting - allowing me to perform multiple takes and actually comp them together if needed.

I’ve just done it this way with the USAMO for a few months but it’s been solid - very much recommended!

#17

Did it work out of the box, or did it take a lot of fiddling around to get it right? I feel like I’ve seen good and bad reviews of it.

#18

It took me, arguably not that smart, about 10 minutes to get it running. There’s a test procedure where you feed it in and out of MIDI and then activate the clock, SPP, etc. When doing that, the red led on the unit starts flashing and you just simply turn the knob next to it and follow the on-screen feedback of the log to complete it.

It’s (I’m sure you know but just writing for possible other interested :slight_smile: ) a VST instrument with it’s own track and trigger for it’s VST interface. In that interface you simply active/de-activate clock, SPP, and 0 separately. In the instrument track you just select whatever output to send to and then the red led should start blinking as hell and you’re good to go :slight_smile: .

I’ll also add that if you don’t have a Presonus interface with this HW-optimised latency, you could probably make it work by offsetting the recording (as mentioned by someone else above) in the recording preferences.

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#19

Definitely :grinning: :+1:

#20

I have the studiolive 32s do you know if they have HW low latency?

#21

I wrote up a post on how to automate this in Ableton: “Octabridge” via Ableton

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#22

Looks like a great console you got there! Cannot quickly find details of its onboard DSP and support for this mode in Studio One but I would be very surprised if it doesn’t support it!

#23

:100:

#24

Yes please!

#25

Curious if anyone is using allen heath zed 10 or similar usb out of some OT tracks midi synced together with a overbridge device,
what about latency or other problems. But mostly I could never see it in bitwig ( windows) , think i tried a lot. Thought its broken, but audacity sees it…

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#26

USAMO but it doesn’t work nearly as well with every interface and the customer support is pretty terrible. E-RM just works and has a lot more features and functionality. If you plan on going hardware in the future, it’s a worthy investment.

#27

Don’t monitor through your DAW, that’s where the latency is incurred. Monitor directly from your sound card and you will find your latency is virtually zero.

#28

Depends on your setup. I monitor through my DAW with various processing chains and I keep the block size at 64 samples, at 48k. The latency is practically imperceptible.

#29

Good point, if you you’re processing on the way in. Are you processing in the DAW?

#30

I disagree. The Usamo has been rocksteady for years here, with different audio devices. I use an output of my adat interface. It’s simple and effective and a whole lot chealer then the alternatives. What’s more, is that I had a very positive experience with the company. So, I recommend it wholeheartedly.

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#31

Regarding monitoring, I´ve created different tracks for recording and monitoring, I don´t know if it´s the best solution but I want to monitor with the fader levels I use in the DAW so if I make a premix and then monitor through other place, the leved adjustment is lost and everything is to the max.

Anyway I have some latency.

#32

I use a mixer as an interface and directly monitor from mixer I’m more concerned about clocking issues I find when I line up individual tracks to my ear and visually to the grid in the daw it still sounds off from internally inside the OT

#33

It’s always solved when I just record master L/R of course just looking to see if there was a way to simultaneously track separately.

Using the internal recording machines like @thoughtstarZ suggested is the way I believe im going to permanently solve the issue

#34

not on the way in and monitoring directly through the mixer

#35

Permanently solve the issue? I fear your expectations are simply too high.

Since the OT cannot record directly to the CF card, but only to memory, it solves the issue only under very specific conditions:

  1. recorders are not used for anything else like dynamic resampling
  2. you are not using much of the memory for flex sample slots
  3. you want to multitrack only “short” sequences (up to 1 min.)

When using all the available RAM for recorders (85,5M) you can roughly record a little bit over 8 minutes in total with 16bit. So when multitracking, let’s say, 8 tracks, you are limited to around 1 minute audio per track (and no memory left for flex machines).

For me this is in no way a viable option and much more hassle than just multitrack using main and cue outs, but YMMV.

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