Trouble loading Elektron soundpacks

Hi… just got a couple of soundpacks to help in learning the OT mk2 which I’ve had a couple of weeks.

I’m totally baffled because when I load them according to the instructions that come with them I can’t access the demo projects.

The soundpack doesn’t show up as a set when go to set change. I’ve tried switching it on and off!!

These are the instructions the came with it:

INSTALLING THE SOUND PACK

  1. Connect your Octatrack to a computer with a USB cable.
  2. Press [FUNCTION] + [MIXER] to open the PROJECT menu, Select SYSTEM and then USB DISK MODE. Press [ENTER/YES] to make the Octatrack Compact Flash card appear as an external storage device on your computer.
  3. Copy the unpacked Set folder to the root of the Compact Flash card.
  4. When the transfer is complete, unmount the Octatrack from your computer.

LOADING THE SOUND PACK

  1. Press [FUNCTION] + [MIXER] to open the PROJECT menu, In the PROJECT menu, scroll down to SET CHANGE and press [ENTER/YES]. Load the Set called Caught On Tape 808+909.
  2. After the Set has been loaded, load the Project called Caught On Tape 808+909.
  3. When the Octatrack has finished loading the project, exit the PROJECT menu by pressing [EXIT/NO]. You are now ready to experiment with the Project.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

This instruction sounds a bit complicated.
Easy way: copy the folders/sounds to the CF card.
Then: open a new project in OT and load the sound you want to your audio track.

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Hi Transference… yes that’s all cool. It’s just that the installation guide says you can work with a demo project that you can mess around with.

It’s not a problem, I just wondered why I could see the new set.

couldn’t!!

There should be a set called Caught On Tape 808+909. On the OT, “Sets” contain “Projects”. So after you transferred the files to the cf card (you have to copy the whole set folder to the root of the cf card), open the menu (Function + Mixer) and scroll down to “Change Set”.
Then you load the set “Caught On Tape 808+909” and then after that is loaded you load the project also called “Caught On Tape 808+909”.
Then there should be demo patterns you can play.

Morning Schnork… Yes that’s what should happen but it’s not appearing when I go to change set. Might be another wierd glitch like my arpeggiator experience but I’ll give it another go later. I just thought it might be useful to experiment with a pre made project.

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Morning :coffee:

Did you copy the set folder to the cf card root?
When you connect the OT via usb and open the cf card on the computer, you should see the set folder “Caught On Tape 808+909” and your other sets.
IIRC it has to be on the cf card root, if you’ve put it in another folder on the card, I think OT can’t find it.
If you have done all that, I’d suggest to delete the folder from the card and copy it over again, maybe even download again and copy over in case of corrupted files.

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Yes I’ve tried all that except downloading the pack again so I’ll give that a go.

I can use all the samples OK, just can’t use the project files.

Thanks!

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Can anyone describe what exactly is the ROOT of the CF CARD? I assume that it is essentially the blank space below the Log info and PRESETS folder?!? When I drop an OT pack on there that has Patterns, etc, I find it when loading a new Set (but then I do not have access to the other samples, etc outside of that set.) I used to have access to all but it’s been a while and now, after cleaning things up on my CF card, I’m a fish out of water again ;(

Sorry been at this for 6 hours…

My other question is when does one put a folder such as DL_Home Cooked HipHop? Should these simply go in the AUDIO Folder inside the PRESETS folder? Can I put it in the AUDIO folder for the CHILLWAVE set??

thanks!

…the “set” is the overall container…it holds all ur ot data structure…and u could call it also the root, if u like…but…eeeew…

u can have different audio pools in a set…

but best is always to keep it simple…too much folder jungle is always a cause of trouble…

so structure ur cf card right from the start better porperly…and mirror this with the exact same content structure on ur desktop…

stay with one set…and one audio pool…even if u could hold lots of different sets and those could contain lots of different audio pools…all head fuck…
… it gets messy pretty fast if u don’t keep things straight…

one set…in there is one audio pool…in there are ur soundfolders…
as u like to sort and name them…
keep those foler names simple…
start to organize ur sounds right from the start in chains…
and drop these into the single folders…

my folders for example got names like…
,bummz…tschakz…haz…baz…padz…prcz…chordz…lpz…noiz…stemz…

and all these folders contain prepared chain bounces…stay with 120bpm for bouncing…keep in mind 64 slices are max… if u wanna adress easily all sounds within such a chain individually…or live with the fact that u got 128 static slots and 120 flex slots…plus 8 recorder slots…that’s it…
if u don’t think in chains…ur ot is maxed out with only single sounds pretty fast…
if u think in chains…ot becomes endless…

it’s only confusing if u load demos…u can’t learn much from them…too overwhelming…
start always from scratch, way better concept…
so if u buy sounds…sort them into ur folder structure and take it from there…

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This is useful stuff! I recently got a new OT MK2 and was also trying to figure out the best way to structure my files.
I also agree with the fact that demos are quite confusing and overwhelming. Tried it out myself and couldn’t really figure out what half the machine was doing.

@reeloy, could you please explain what you mean by “thinking in chains”? I’m really interested but can’t seem to understand exactly what you mean by it.

Thank you in advance!

…thinking in chains…

since the ot can adress perfectly certain spots in an audiofile, it’s a big advantage to keep that in mind right from the start…
so, pick 16 to 64 of ur all time favourite kiks for example, line them up in ur daw or audio editor and bounce them in 44k wav 24 bit…120 bpm is no must, but since 120bpm goes perfectly along in traditional time measurement, it’s most easy to handle…for u and the ot…

drop a bounce like this into a folder on ur card…pick this bounce for one of ur ot engines, whether flex or static, and load it into a slot…check file atributes in ot’s audio editor for safety…pick a slice grid depending on how many single events contain that particular chain…

turn on slice mode, length to slice and there u go…now this engine/track can adress each single slice as u prefer via slice numbers easy to catch via lenght that now counts simply in slice numbers…and therefor each trig can play another certain kik of that single chain…
one slot in use, many sounds to adress…

for simple and hard to tell the difference right away while screening sounds, it’s better to chain up stuff like kiks or snares or hi hats in special, all that standard stuff, don’t chain up more than 16 events at once for better overview and more effective use…

end of the day, u’ll find out that all u need is a hand full of those chains in the first flex slots to cover ALL droumsound designs…safe this as a blank project and ur always good to go right away…anytime u start some new project…

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Bumping this thread as i am in a similar boat…
New OT owner, as of two weeks or so, and i also thought that i could benefit from finding my way around the machine with a couple new patterns, parts, scenes, etc… so i downloaded the Disturbance soundpack.
Following the directions has not produced a new Set on my OT.
I can grasp the flow diagram of where info is stored as far as Sets, Patterns, Parts, etc…
Buuuutttt… The new Set does not show up on the OT after i eject the drive from my Mac and try to change Set to new. I definitely copied a bunch of information over to the CF card from the computer… that took a few moments.
Ive downloaded several soundpacks for the DN, and a few for the DT, this is my first for the OT…so i feel fairly familiar with downloading stuff from Elektron.se, but this has had me scratching my head for a bit now. i guess i should get used to it with this machine.
Hoping to get it sorted as i found it good practice to play with the Factory Presets as far as muscle memory and finding my way around, but those factory presets are kind of ha ha…
Anyhow… I feel i followed the downloaded instructions to a T and there is no new Set on my OT.
LOve and Hugs,
Me

Still bumping this. There really is no solution to this? Also just downloaded factory presets and followed instructions, but when I choose change set only set I can see is the previous one I already have.

Actually, answering also to myself. The instructions aren’t that clear, but instead of copying the AUDIO and Preset folders to root of the drive, you need to create a folder in the root with the set name and put those under that. Then it will work.

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Pardon me bumping this old thread but I went to load an old sample pack, Caught on Tape 808
:909 and I’m getting an error on all the sample slots - file not found.

I’ve moved the sample folders around in all kinds of ways within the AUDIO folder and nothing.

This all worked fine on my MK1 a few years ago, but no go on the MK2

Any ideas how to solve this issue? Thanks!

Here’s what the downloaded sample pack file looks like. I’ve tried copying the Samples folder into the AUDIO folder within the set I created on the SD card. But I still get an error. I even took the individual 808 and 909 folders out of the Samples folder and dropped them into the AUDIO folder . Still no go. Curious.

In case it’s helpful… I used a hex editor to look at the Caught on Tape 808+909 pack’s project.work file. It contained path entries like the following: “PATH=…/AUDIO/Caught On Tape 808+909/808/BD/808BD_T5D11_X.wav”

So I took the 808 and 909 folders within the “Samples” directory from the pack and put them in “AUDIO/Caught On Tape 808+909/” within my set, and it worked. All sounds loaded into the demo project just fine.

I guess some of the confusion around Elektron’s sample packs for the OT stems from the fact that the sample packs are packaged up in their own set (with the same directory name as the demo project).

Directory structure of sample pack “Caught on Tape 808+909”:

 Caught on Tape 808+909    <-- this is the set
    AUDIO                  <-- global audio folder within set
    Caught on Tape 808+909 <-- demo project

When you want to install it as is (within its own set) you just need to drop the set directory directly to the root of the CF card and switch afterwards to this new set.

When you want to integrate the sample pack and the demo project into your own set you need to drop both the AUDIO folder and the demo project folder to your own set directory. The content of the AUDIO folder will then gets merged into the global AUDIO folder of your set automatically (because there is already an AUDIO folder in your set).

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