Truncated Sample Naming and Pro Scrolling Tip

Elektron Gear Octatrack
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after five years of wondering how to accommodate for the OT’s sample name display truncation (using the default selection of beginning and end letters), i have found a moderately usable approach…

call each sample what the track name would be, in lower case, and then leave a space, followed by a single letter denoting what type of sound it is followed by a sequential number as the samples get saved.

so it is something like…

Trackname S1 for Synth type of sound sample

Trackname R1 for a Riff type of sound sample

Trackname K1 for Keyboard type of sound sample

Trackname B1 for a Bass type of sound sample

Trackname P1 for a Percussion type of sound sample

Trackname A1 for an Arpeggiated type of sound sample

Trackname M1 for a Melody type of sound sample

Trackname V1 for a Vocal type of sound sample

Trackname BD1 for a Bass Drum type of sound sample

Trackname SN1 for a Snare Drum type of sound sample

Trackname HH1 for a HiHat type of sound sample

Hope this is of some help for other Elektron Users to find their own sample naming scheme.

Makes things possible to view what type of sample is on a track, and also is helpful when scrolling through samples.

Also pro tip: Use the Level Rotary (instead of the Arrow Keys) when scrolling through large amounts of samples in the Set Library, hold the Function key for extra quick scrolling.

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Knowledge dropped as we old-timers used to say.

Also; for those who don’t know the Octatrack shows ten (10) characters for the Short Sample Name; these can be either:

  • [BEG+END] will combine the five first characters of the file name with the five last characters. (Default)
  • [BEG ONLY] will show the first ten characters of the sample name.
  • [END ONLY] will show the last ten characters of the sample name.

You can change this via Project -> System -> Personalise -> Short Sample Name

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i only realised the Level knob could be utilised for sample library scrolling after trying to explain to another producer how the Octatrack is similar to Native Instruments S1 …

for years, have always admired how the S1 and also the ReLoop could quickly scroll through samples/tracks … and then during the conversation the other day, a sudden epiphany realisation: omg the OT can do this too! :smiley:

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Also Func+Arrow up or down jumps pages (well 6 lines) in browser, handy if working with a large number of samples.

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Yes, the Func key is cool and in fact i was greatly delighted after trying it with the Level Rotary scroll technique. I thought if it worked with the Arrow down and up keys then maybe it would with the rotary scroll technique.

And in fact yes it did work. Extreme scroll activity.

This is great particularly for Users who choose to go with the default library file handling system of saving each sample in the Audio folder, rather than in each Project folder. After a few weeks of intensive work, a lot of samples are made. The list grows long, but the Level Rotary with Func key makes light work of things.