What features on the OT do you NOT use?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

I always see all these posts about how people use all these aspects of the OT that I rarely, if ever use. I’m wondering how many people here only use the OT for one or very few things compared to what it has to offer.

On my end, I pretty much never record directly into it, I don’t know if I’ve ever used a Pick-up machine, and I don’t think I could overdub on this thing to save my life. I also rarely use it for constructing full songs. Instead, it acts mostly as a MIDI sequencer for fun jams and to get new ideas, and a sample mangler which is then recorded into my DAW for further use.

Sometimes, I feel like I have more $$ tied up in this box than I take advantage of, but then I realize there isn’t anything else out there that works quite like it.

How about y’all?

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Mastering your Gear vs Gear Mastery
Moving from Maschine to Octatrack
#2

I’m the opposite I don’t really use any midi stuff on the OT except for clock sync. Also I don’t really use the flex machines.

#3

Cool thread!

The only recording I do with it is for live remixing of my Model Samples, and Typhon. And for transitions.

I don’t record into it to bring in audio to work on tunes, in the traditional sense. I just use a DAW for that. The audio I use to write tracks on it all come in on the CF card.

The MIDI sequencer is rarely used since I got the MS. Previously I used it to sequence Ableton Drum Racks. see: Octatrack MIDI + Ableton Drum Racks = Powerful Drum Machine!

I never use the arranger, just like all other hardware I’ve ever owned that had a song mode.

While I do use a Twister controller for some audio tracks, I don’t use the CC direct connect, since the parameters the Twister controls are not ones I want to interact with on the OT and I only use the Twister on the same Bank and Part (controlling FX for external input tracks). It’s something I could set up, but then I’d have to complicate my setup with a thru box and additional MIDI cables, and changing control setups on my other gear. It’s just easier for me to ignore the CC direct connect feature.

Cue outs aren’t used either, as my inputs are all taken up by MS and Typhon, and I don’t want to add a mixer to bring back an FX return. So the Blackhole pedal I use is a master reverb run out of the main outs at about 20% wet with the low reverberations killed.

Finally, I try not to use multiple projects. Preferring to make the most of a single project so that I have the most material available for live performance without project reload. Occasionally I’ll copy the project and remove the stuff I won’t use live from the new copy, to make room for new material. And then the old stuff just lives on the backups. Constantly iterating.

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Which Elektronauts (or famous techno/electronic producers) don't use multitrack recording?
#4

Huh ?

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#5

I no longer have one but when I did, I rarely used pickup machines (flex and record trigs are a far more elegant solution). I never used slicing or time stretching either, as the beats I fed it were of my own creation on other Elektrons and I preferred to use trigs with different sample starts p-locked instead. Same thing with longer melodic samples. Otherwise, I really abused flex tracks, record buffers, neighbour machines for chaining FX on guitar, the midi arp, and the Arranger (if I didn’t have my hands free). Cue outs were next to useless for me, but I could see them being useful for multitracking stuff to a DAW.

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#6

My top use of the cue outs isn’t to send a signal to the outside world, but to utilize it as additional internal mix bus to sample from (sum up a few tracks and apply the same effects to them or do some parallel processing).

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#7

I meant like sample wise I never really use the flex machines mostly just the static. Not any real difference there though

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#8

Never use the pick-up machines.
I use all other possibilities of this powerfull beast.

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#9

I’m not using PUMs, don’t use the spatializer and rarely do much deep editing in AED.

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#10

Crazy. I could say the same for static machines. Almost never used them.

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#11

I never use a Master track but it’s mainly because 8 tracks are always not enough.

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#12

I feel like you are asking me to list all the features I can’t remember. So personally I am kind of useless. But it is interesting the variety features are mentioned in this thread as it highlights how many different workflows the OT accommodates.

My thought is I will eventually use all the features, unless I buy more stuff and get distracted. I just gotta keep on octatracking.

@AdamJay You should try the arranger mode out, it’s fun. It’s more performance friendly than I thought it would be. I’ve especially enjoy the convenience of automatically jumping banks and changing scenes (both at the same time even).

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#13

Rarely ever use:
Pickups
Neighbour (waste of a track to me)
Master track (waste of a track to me)
Delay trig mode
Freeze delay
More than 1 bank per project
Midi sequencer

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#14

…be assured, vast majority of ot users don’t even use half of it’s features frequently…
there are even quite a lot, who stumble over functions they have never seen or even heard of ever before, after using it since ages already…

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#15

Does anybody use the feature to p-lock the sampling source on recorder trigs? That’s one of the features I was most impressed about in the early days, and still think it‘s crazy feature, whatever it might be useful for.

I just started pressing different rec buttons while recording (the manual version of the feature), switches or layers inputs like a charm…

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#16

I rarely use all 8 audio tracks for any given pattern.

Dont think ive ever used all 8 midi tracks.

I dont use pick up machines, sample locks, or plays free mode. (I really should use sample locks, always forget about them)

There’s tons of audio editor stuff I dont use.

Pretty much always have time stretch off.

Not using OS1.4 … yet.

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#17

I think the lack of tracks really depend on music genre that is produced.
The neighbourg and the master track seems great and i would cry if they were not there.

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#18

Yeah, I have used them but generally I don’t, I still think they are valuable, as are pickups but mostly I tend not to use them.

AED though, always use it, so handy.

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#19

At least, they use it more than we use our brain (10%).

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#20

Maybe one day you will use these features that are not necessary to you now though? Its like saying i never play jazz or blues on my keyboard. One day you might. Who knows the future?