Downtempo Octatrack Noodlings

Elektronauts Our Music
#1

Seeing as I rarely ever share anything, I thought I’d post some stuff here. I’ll add to it over time as well, and hopefully there will be an improvement over time :slightly_smiling_face:

Here’s some of my recent Octatrack noodling. The OT takes centre stage at all times, any sound sources are sequenced and sampled back into OT and nearly everything else is done onboard. Recorded straight out of the outputs but processed for streaming in Wavelab.

This isn’t my usual kind of music and a lot of the downtempo stuff I’m becoming interested in, has only come to my attention since I got the OT a few years back. With that in mind, I’d appreciate any tips/criticism/sources of inspiration! :alien:

https://soundcloud.com/djenzyme/spray

https://soundcloud.com/djenzyme/chill-pill

https://soundcloud.com/djenzyme/loopback

https://soundcloud.com/djenzyme/data-error

https://soundcloud.com/djenzyme/a4-generative-glitch

https://soundcloud.com/djenzyme/lab-rat

https://soundcloud.com/djenzyme/crystal-mist

https://soundcloud.com/djenzyme/neon-streaks

https://soundcloud.com/djenzyme/flotation

https://soundcloud.com/djenzyme/silicon

I made a video of Silicon, my first live video ever, bit crappy video quality though!

https://youtu.be/5OM6xhhYF10

[Stream Scrambled Eggs by Enzyme | Listen online for free on SoundCloud]

[https://soundcloud.com/djenzyme/adrift]

[Stream Neon by Enzyme | Listen online for free on SoundCloud]

[Stream Fluoro by Enzyme | Listen online for free on SoundCloud]

[Stream Deepdive by Enzyme | Listen online for free on SoundCloud]

[Stream Slumber Party by Enzyme | Listen online for free on SoundCloud]

[Stream Dataflow by Enzyme | Listen online for free on SoundCloud]

[Stream Bubblegum by Enzyme | Listen online for free on SoundCloud]

[https://youtu.be/an3zlyEoYRk] Below Venus

[https://youtu.be/0Z3kjZ-z2SA] Dropship

[Stream Blurred Edges by Enzyme | Listen online for free on SoundCloud]

[Stream Rendezvous by Enzyme | Listen online for free on SoundCloud]

[Stream Saucers by Enzyme | Listen online for free on SoundCloud]

[https://youtu.be/YScVqL_ALec] Epilogue

[Stream Rethink by Enzyme | Listen online for free on SoundCloud}

9 Likes
#2

Thanks for sharing the links instead of the embedded players! I can never get those things to play on my phone!

Listening now

Edit: chill pill is effing great

1 Like
#3

Hey thanks for taking time to listen! :smile:

#4

An experiment from last August, not particularly exciting but its got interesting randomisation. Mainly A4 on this one, the OT just provides a granular texture and some random drum slices.

https://soundcloud.com/djenzyme/a4-generative-glitch

3 Likes
#5

Listening right now too. Spray is very relaxing so far. I’m always interested in the different uses of Octatrack, and this is a perfect example of that. If I may ask, what sort of post-processing for streaming did you do in Wavelab? Also, for my own curiosity, since I always seem to struggle making true downtempo stuff, what bpm are you working in? Or, is this kinda outside any bpm constraints?

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#6

Dude, that’s phenomenal! Like, WHAT?!

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#7

Chill Pill is really great!

2 Likes
#8

Hey, thanks!, These tracks are actually made in the 250 bpm region except chill pill which is 175 bpm, but that’s just how I have the Octatrack set, in reality they are actually 125/87.5 bpm.

I use Wavelab elements to do basic eq’ing and hiss reduction, and then ozone elements to get the levels optimised. I’m too lazy to track out individual stems for proper mixing & mastering but I guess I’ll have to start doing that at some point!

3 Likes
#9

Thanks for taking time to listen guys! :smile:

Chill pill is actually a bit of a screwup, it sounds nice straight out of the OT but extra processing kills off the gentle sub that is ‘supposed’ to actually be more audible!

Fun fact: the drums on tracks 2, 3, and 4 are from Pocket Operator PO32.

2 Likes
#10

Whoa, interesting to work at that speed. Thanks for the tips on post-processing. I haven’t given Elements a shot yet, but I hope to soon / when I record something actually work processing! In my opinion, it sounds great already, despite not single-tracking, etc! I’d love for anything I made to sound half as good.

1 Like
#11

Very interesting music. Thanks for sharing

1 Like
#12

Added Lab Rat and Crystal Mist. I’ll just keep adding links to the original post to keep things tidier :slightly_smiling_face:

#13

Very Nice work ! Following ! Would you mind sharing your technique for this A4 track ? Always something to learn… :grin:

1 Like
#14

It’s track scaling (*2) to get a finer step resolution without using the track scaling feature itself. It’s not meant as the real speed of the beat. Interesting idea, btw, to utilize the BPM this way …

2 Likes
#15

Thanks for listening! :slight_smile:

I can take a look at the project next time I have the A4 set up. To be honest at the moment, I can’t remember exactly, I think there were random delay depth values for each track combined with parameter slides. And a filter feedback modulation drone on one of the tracks. It all started with the excellent FM drum pack by taro. I’ll get back to you next time I’m using the A4.

I’ve been slightly misleading as well, now I’ve listened back to it properly there are clearly some random drum slices coming from Octatrack! I’ll edit my post above

#16

It’s exactly that! I always run track scale as 1/2 (to get 8 bars per pattern cycle) so sometimes it’s useful to double the speed to get a finer resolution grid.

1 Like
#17

More tracks added…

Edit: Added Neon Streaks.

Edit: Added Flotation.

Edit: Added Silicon, links in the first post to keep things more tidy :slight_smile:

Edit: Added video of Silicon

Edit: Added Scrambled Eggs

#18

Thank you. I love your octatrack noodlings. Very found of those glassy digital aesthetic.

1 Like
#19

Thanks for taking time out to listen! :slight_smile:

#20

Heres a live noodle though the Octatrack was only used for glitching out the PO32 drums in this one. I can’t really call it a track as its arrangement is so basic but I’ve been experimenting by resampling Octatrack into Ableton.

1 Like