I am trying to set up OT as brain with DT-AB and 2xDN-CD.
I have been reading articles and watching YouTube videos, but there is no end to end explanation of how to set this up.
OT would do Clock and Program changes.
I would use 2 tracks for thru recording and a master track.
Still trying to work everything else out.
DT for drums and one shot samples.
DNs for Synths.
I just added the OT, so know how to use DT and DNs. Was using DT as brain with this setup and muting and pattern changes on DT, which worked well. Any recommendations on how to incorporate Octatrack would be helpful. Interested in utilizing cross fader, longer samples, fx and looping with OT.
…for a start, i would not change ur winning team that worked for u so far…especially not, since the digis now also feature a songmode…
slave the ot to one of the digis midi outs…
host dt’s audio outputs on ot’s ab inputs but leave the other inputs open for now…
get ot’s main out into dtones inputs for now and it’s cue outputs also free for now…
this way ur still open on both sampling devices for whatever u might wanna sample…
can still rock the whole thing as ur used to and start slowly to discover the endless options of the ot…forget about that master track for now also…host ur through input there…
not to mention that this way ot’s full fledged midi sequencer and arp and output is still free to adress external midi gear that can be hosted by ur cd inputs…
no worries about dtones inputs…they’ll do all fine…for now
A lot of people, including me, do the DT&DN into OT setup. Very great and flexible.
You could explore scene changes to alter the incoming audio into the OT. Typically this makes the OT become what’s known as a performance mixer. EZBOT on YT has a ton of tutorials on this, and a extremely well priced packaged of 64 scenes.
The OT then becomes like a DJ mixer, but on super steroids. I like watching DJs while I workout. Funny enough, seeing huge DJs do simple EQ sweeps or run of the mill delays seems pretty lame after seeing the OT’s effects power. I can never figure out why none of them hasn’t run their mixer’s send through an OT at the minimum–seems like an easy way to jump far ahead of their competition.
I watched this YT video. One thing I didn’t understand was why the template is set up with DT as Master. Everything else I’ve seen suggests using OT as Master.
That’s what I suggest if you want to record and play sample loops. Not necessary with one shots, thru tracks…
There is no ideal setup. Depends on your needs. At first I’d concentrate on transport/clock sync, program changes.
I’d set mutes per pattern, it’s pita to control mutes with CCs from OT.
What do you want to control on DT / DN from OT ? I’d reserve a track for DN Multi Map, control it with OT’s arp…
Setting some DT / DN tracks on the same channel, you can control all them with 1 OT track.
I would leave the Digis the way they are and spend some alone time with the Octatrack first. Yeah, experiment and send Digi audio into the OT to learn how to sample and what not. I’m just saying this because you’ll see what the OT can really do and the answer to your question will be far more clear to you than it will be to any of us. You know what I mean? It’s a super flexible machine and there are a ton of ways to do this.
I do have this combo and I change it up very often based on what I’m doing. Personally I have everything (DT, DN, other synths) connected to a mixer and have a pair of aux channels that go into a pair of inputs which become Thru machines on the OT. So whatever I decide to send to the OT for sampling is already cabled, but I can send it with a twist of a knob. I also use another pair of inputs for an FX return, which become another Thru machine, because I’m enjoying using the cue outs as an FX send. But sometimes I’ll have another Part that has 8 Flex machines, and no Thru tracks… Or another one with a Flex and 3 Neighbors, two Thrus, and a Master.
Do you want to use 2 Thru machines, one for each Digi? You can. Do you want to use a single Thru machine for both? You can as well. You could also even do this without using Thru tracks… You could just use the mixer function, and it would still work for sampling from AB/CD. It’s really flexible!
As much as I love planning routing and sync between a number of machines, I still find sessions more gratifying when I focus on a single instrument at a time – sometimes two. Lately I like drums on the DT and everything else on the OT, but then I’ll shut those off and go focus on, say, the Digitone. When I’m done with that, sample DN audio into the OT, and then I’m back in Octatrack mode.
Everyone is different, of course. I’ve seen people rock 5-6 Elektron boxes all at once! I can’t do it very well though – short attention span
Yeah, it’s really crazy to manage something like OT and 2 Digis. That’s like 24 tracks of sequencers! (or more, if one of them is the ST). And I’m not even counting MIDI tracks. It’s also hard for me to write music while thinking of syncing patterns between all of them – in theory you can use the arranger on one and send program changes to the others, but I can’t seem to always ensure patterns make sense between them all.
So yeah, I like to sit down with the OT with all the bits of audio I’ve collected from the other machines and make something new out of that.
I think what I’m looking for is step by step instructions to set up the audio, midi and tracks, so I can start making some music on the digis and use OT for fx, crossfaded and looping. Like I said in the post, not finding any step by step guide or video through this process. At least it would give me a place to start and then I can work from there. Any good resources would be helpful.
Have you seen the tutorials towards the end of the manual? This one comes to mind:
17.5 THE OCTATRACK MKII AS AN EFFECTS PROCESSOR
But as I was saying above, there isn’t one single way to do this. That’s just one example. It might be hard to give you step by step guides, because there are several approaches that would work.
Another good section of the manual is Setup Examples. Maybe you can adapt this DJ mixer example to your needs? Just pretend the DN+DT are decks:
Maybe this video with @mpiecora is close to what you need. It was shot from the perspective of someone new to the OT learning from someone experienced, so questions came up and were answered:
I think they only connected one Digi box, but you could apply that same strategy to both of yours.
If you like that check out EZBot OT videos. The videos are usually straight to the point with solid info
I second following the tutorials in the Octatrack manual. Even if it’s not exactly what you plan to do, it teaches you all the different options, then you can pick and choose what works for you, and create a template.
I too use the Octatrack as the brain, and seem to have similar goals as you. It’s honestly just been a matter of time, and trying out a bunch of setups on your own.
EZBOT has great videos, and so many options, you can kinda pull from them what you like.
I think it’s because he’s invested most of his time/music creation into the Digitakt, and then uses Octatrack more for the mixing, resampling, looping, and fx capabilities.
Yeah, the manual is actually really good. It’s worth reading and you might get more out of it, because otherwise you’ll probably get very opinionated info. And there’s really no right or wrong way about it – it’s art, do it your way!
