Is there a way to use the pitch function for a Thru track? Thru machines and their neighbor machines do not have a playback page, which is where the Pitch function lives, and there is not a pitch shifting FX option. Does anyone know a workaround for this?
For context, I route my live vocals through the Octatrack as a Thru track, so that I can use the FX. So the thru track cannot be made into a sample/flex/static machine, nor can it be a Midi track.
This is my first time posting, because whenever I’m stuck I’m always able to find the answers on one of these threads, and am very grateful to this community for that Somehow, this one issue still eludes me, and I’m starting to wonder if it’s even possible?
Could you set up a flex track to play back from a Recorder, have the recorder recording your mic signal, then turn up the pitch on the flex track? I don’t have my ot here so I can’t check this but it might be worth a shot?
Put the rec trigger on the first step, then put the playback trigger on the first step, but use microtiming to put it a little later than the rec trig, so there’s something to play.
Ah, cool! I haven’t messed with live recording on the Octatrack yet, but the process you describe makes total sense to me. I’m going to give this a try. Thank you!!
OK, I’ve basically figured this out, but I need a little more help to get it running smoothly.
I’m successfully recording, hearing my audio and pitching it, but I think where I’m getting tripped up is the “microtiming” that @okpk mentioned.
Basically, it starts off being in real-time (i.e. I’m hearing the effected vocals at the same time as I am speaking/singing them) but the further we get into the pattern / the further away from the recorder trig (once we’re into 2:4, 3:4, and 4:4 in the scale setup) there becomes a worse and worse delay between my live vocals and the recorded playback. Then we go back to the beginning of the pattern, it snaps back into place.
@roadmoviemusic , how do you get the vocals to be seamless/without delay? Does “microtiming” refer to a Swing Trig method?
I’ve poured over the manual for a week and just can’t figure out where I’m going wrong Any help would be greatly appreciated!
For reference I’ve got Track 7 as a Flex with corresponding Buffer R7 selected. In the recording setup menu, I have my RLEN at Max, Trig at One, and Loop Off. I’ve set up a recorder trig on A T1. On the playback setup for my Flex track I have loop, timestretch, and slice all off, rate is on pitch.
What you experience here is the standard way of pitch shifting by “playing” the sample slower or faster. Of course it will not stay in sync with the incoming signal. Pitching down will result in longer and longer delays. Pitching up isn’t even possible without first pre-recording a tiny bit upfront (the playhead cannot get in front of the recording head).
The reason why there is no pitch control on a thru machine is also related to this. A thru machine just passes the incoming signal through. There is no machinery in between which can slow down or increase playback speed (like with a flex or static machine).
OK, so using this nugget of knowledge, I decided to place record and playback trigs on the first step of each scale/bar, and then went into Recording Setup Menu 2 and placed a really tiny fade-in (set FIN to .125). Worked like a charm!
i would suggest to run vox through other gear and then to octatrack. let’s say tc helicon voice processor and then octa if you really need it to do it live. look at digitech whammy pedal too, its guitar processor but works with vox too
So here’s what I did:
I set up a rec machine rec length max
I put a rec trig on step 1
I setup a flex machine playing back from that recorder. TSTR is set to auto, loop is off.
I put a play trig on step 1 then used the microtiming menu to move it to +1/384, so it happens just after the rec trig.
When I start the sequencer, I can then change the pitch of the incoming audio, but only up to +5.6 and -5.8. If PTCH is set outside of that, the audio will fade out as it runs out of buffer.
However - you can move the PTCH outside that range if enough time has passed since the REC trig was hit. This isn’t super useful if you are trying to use it as a constant pitch shifter though.
With TSTR on, you can pitch up to 1 octave if you increase microtiming.
With TSTR off, you can pitch up to 1 octave with 2 alternated recorders, with a 1 step delay minimum.
Also possible to use an lfo on start, loop on, to act as a pitch shifter. Maybe a shorter microtiming in that case.
Not the same, but using a comb filter on a drum loop has a really nice effect and does technically change the pitch!
It could be interesting with vocals using a comb filter. You can use trigs to lock different notes on the comb filter. You’ll have to pick notes that work together with your vocals but this could have a desirable outcome.
Somehow, this one issue still eludes me, and I’m starting to wonder if it’s even possible?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!