when I’m at home, I’ve gotten pretty used to Ableton Live married to a Push 2. The last thing I finished was this. At the moment, I’m working on a Goldfrappish kind of thing, and something that soundwise resembles “Immunity” by Jon Hopkins. Technically I’m interested in simplicity - as in: I don’t fancy a lot of stuff, and I can’t imagine myself handling lots of boxes, which are entangled and controlled by a sequencing device.
When I’m traveling, I always take my OP-1 with me, and do some fiddlin’ on the iPad (mainly Korg Gadget, Samplr, and Borderlands Granular).
Thanks for bearing with me up till this point. I haven’t owned any Elektron device before.
What I am looking for, is a device that’s capable of producing something interesting, as in soundscapes and beats and glitches and clouds above mountains you might get lost in. I’m magically drawn to the Octatrack, but it doesn’t seem on par with today’s technology. I don’t know if the sampling and mangling capabilities of the Digitakt maybe too limited.
I ordered the MPC Live recently. But I gues it’s just not my thing. I’m looking for a capable instrument to take anywhere and discover things anew. I’ll finish things in Ableton Live anyway.
Any help will be appreciated. Sorry for any confusion my poor writing might have caused. Should I order an Elektron box - which one?
listening to hiver (and really enjoying it on this quiet sunday morning, even if it is 25C outside ) i’ve got a few thoughts, but maybe i should ask a bit first:
-what does your intuition say is lacking in your current setup? portability? lately i’ve discovered several iOS apps that are wonderful at creating moody soundscapes and at manipulating field recordings. or maybe it’s the tactile feeling of a piece of hardware? the OP-1 has that, and has built-in battery power as well, unlike elektron gear. as much as i love my elektrons i’m not sure you’d gain anything on either of these fronts.
-does the sound of any particular instrument grab you viscerally? all the ones i’ve owned or heard can make sounds of the sort you describe in principle, but often require a lot of sound design effort.
-are you interested in elektron for any particular reason?
i’m sure the OT would take you places once loaded with some samples you like. but i’d spend some time listening to performances on the individual instruments to see if any of them draw you. can recommend some artists if you like.
The hard part of Hardware to your scenario is “long evolving things” when listener lost him inside. To succeed on hardware i guess the first thing coming to my mind is trig conditions. I would not buy a hardware who not capable of that (it’s a sequencer functionality who gives you playing something in term of probabilities… in the way of chance parameter in Ableton Live.)
Then problem is how you like to work… what’s your sound synthesis skills… do you like programming sounds from scratch, what’s your knowledge about synth etc… Do you want to play LIVE performance or keep your work in the studio and release music only.
FACT : I like new technologies for this kind of work and it’s difficult to beat Granular, Spectral Synthesis for that… Padshop, Alchemy, Borderlands, IRIS 2 comes in mind inside Ableton to make all crazy chance random modulations. Bitwig 2 can be very interesting in that territory with the modulators. (Experiment territory have no limits on computer that’s the beauty of it… depend how you feel to work with the computer sometimes it’s not pairs well with human characteristics)
FACT 2 : (hardware to me for what you looking for) all the way to OT + A4 combo = Octatrack is capable of this soundscapes because of the morphing crossfader between scene but you can’t surprised yourself with trig conditions which can be interesting in this sounding area. (OT + A4 for layering your atmospheres is probably the best + your OP-1 why not. (Drawback a lot of learning and programmation to design your thing, but you get your hands on your sounds and can sculpt it like Clay and feel your sound as it’s not really possible on a computer)
Also don’t miss Field recordings huge missing point if you not go outside to get your materials in this kind of music. Take informations about psychoacoustics etc… music concrete…
I think the DT would suit your needs perfectly, all you’re missing is the extra effects in the DT. Granted you’re missing the three LFOs per track, but this can be remedied by circling the midi back in an using a midi LFO and then you can resample easily the cross fade would be another thing, but you can do envelopes in your DAW
Midi loopback on OT for automated/p-locked/lfo scene fader movement/scene switching FTW I haven’t tried this yet but sounds like it would be perfect for the mentioned evolving soundscapes…
The OT is very much like having Live lite in a little box. It doesn’t have overbridge or trig conditions, but what it does have still makes it perfectly capable. You can buy one used, if you don’t like it, you should be able to sell it for the price you paid for it.
First of all thank you so much for taking the the time to answer and listen to Hiver - I am deeply grateful.
what does your intuition say is lacking in your current setup? portability?
It’s portability, and in a sense the lack of knobs and bits and pieces to make a connection to. As great and capable iDevices are when it comes to sound production and editing, for me, they’re still lacking something in terms of feeling the music evolving. Hard to explain, and certainly nothing rational.
or maybe it’s the tactile feeling of a piece of hardware?
Absolutely. Working with Push made me appreciate Live even more. The OP-1 to me is something else on many levels. Just being able to carry something THAT small with me while it provides such incredible possibilities is essential.
I like the sound of the deeper, lower ends of the AR really attractive. But I’m not looking for a drum machine.
-are you interested in elektron for any particular reason?
I seem to admire the look and feel of their products.
i’m sure the OT would take you places once loaded with some samples you like. but i’d spend some time listening to performances on the individual instruments to see if any of them draw you. can recommend some artists if you like.
That would be so kind of you. Again: Thank you so much!
I indeed do like building sounds from scratch. I do a lot of field recordings and I like to turn them into something different later. Sculpting sound like is a metaphor you brought up that seems to ring large bells within me. Thank you!
Yes but we also a lot of people to don’t understand that. Octatrack is probably the most powerful gear out there to sculpt sounds in a way… sonically is unachievable on other gear. Also every Sampler have workflow issues because you need to find-create sample, import inside, organize, experiment, think and make the sampler your own instrument.
Octatrack is not only a sampler and go further …
So sometimes when creating a song you need to be focus on that part and you can be lost at this point. But if you keep the OT as experimentation laboratory. And create SONG elsewhere.
You’re good to go.
it’s good to have more than one gear and to know where your gears excel in parts/sounds territory. Problem is when you gets limited (space, budget, skills) and trying to make all in one box. it’s start to complicate things (as you can’t do everything in one box hardware except on the computer itself).
Funny you say that, have the OT since it was released and later tonight I hope to loopback midi on the OT for the first time … with a nice glass of wine or two!
I’ve my OT in a snug camera case with an omnicharge … proving a lot of fun on holidays without easy access to mains. Didn’t even bring my elektron power adapter
I tried for hours to feel something playing with the MPC Live. I guess it’s a very capable piece of gear, but I failed to make a creative/emotional connection. It’s packed for return.
AND:
I got a used OT on ebay. It’s in very good condition. I hooked up my OP-1 and started drifting away. I am really happy right now.
) i’ve got a few thoughts, but maybe i should ask a bit first:
huge missing point if you not go outside to get your materials in this kind of music. Take informations about psychoacoustics etc… music concrete…