Hi,
I´m new here and own the OT since a couple of days.
Well one of the more important uses for me, apart from
mangeling audio would be the use as a backing-machine
while on stage.
Playing different parts of my productions with the OT while
adding sounds that maybe not in the production-version,
minus the main drums, bass and guitar because that will
be played live. This way I´d like to re-arrange my stuff in
front of the audience…
So here is my problem at the moment:
I finaly found out that I had to unlock those tracks from
the sequencer and hit the first 8 trig-keys for a start…
I can have them loop or as one-shots and they have to
be Static. When I do all of this I have the strange behaviour
with some tracks, when I hit the trig/key again to stop
that peticular sample/track, that they don´t stop but continue
to play kinda half speed 
I guess most of you gonna laugh at this question and the
once who laugh the loudest may be so kind to brighten
the day of a novice with the OT 
After about 13 years of using the MPCs it is not that easy
get my head around this completely different idea of a
sampler…
Thanks in adavance for any help!
Hmm. what happends, if you swap the sample that acts weird, with another sample? does it feature the same phenomenom? or does it “instantly work like it should?”
did you use lfo’s ? attached to rate or something?
anyways, welcome to the forum… I aint laughing at ya. but alaas from the top of my head, I don’t know how to replicate the behaviour of your machine on mine… else I would definatly tell you “press this button and smile”
…I simply put the same sample on another
track and there it worked. But now I can´t
stop it from playing. Yes, I put it in LoopMode…
Before some tracks did play the sample in
loop and I could stop it b hitting thr trip…
But there are quite some places where you
switch Loop ON/OFF. But the behaviour of
the tracks and samples in it when unlocked
feels a bit random…
Gotta dig a little deeper 
Thanks a lot for suggestion.
Aha…
if you turn looping on… (and you can do this in the sample itself. or in the track… or in both… depending on what you want to achieve) and hold and release are INF … then it will never stop. Just for the fun of it.
on the track where you get your sample to do what you want (except the non-stopping part) set hold to 64 as a starter… it should stop after 4 bars after the trigger… (and everything is configured correctly)
So as a test… trigger the sample on step1 and set hold to 64… once you trigger the track… your sample should fire/lauch/start… and well basicly keep on retriggering until you stop that track… and it should stop after 4 bars… See how far you come with that one… play a bit with the hold-setting… just to see how your octatrack reacts… because I cant guarantee you if the hold-parameter is 1 step per value… or if its more dynamic… like the len-parameter… (where 64 basicly means, half the loop, whatever length it might be)
Aha…
if you turn looping on… (and you can do this in the sample itself. or in the track… or in both… depending on what you want to achieve) and hold and release are INF … then it will never stop. Just for the fun of it.
on the track where you get your sample to do what you want (except the non-stopping part) set hold to 64 as a starter… it should stop after 4 bars after the trigger… (and everything is configured correctly)
So as a test… trigger the sample on step1 and set hold to 64… once you trigger the track… your sample should fire/lauch/start… and well basicly keep on retriggering until you stop that track… and it should stop after 4 bars… See how far you come with that one… play a bit with the hold-setting… just to see how your octatrack reacts… because I cant guarantee you if the hold-parameter is 1 step per value… or if its more dynamic… like the len-parameter… (where 64 basicly means, half the loop, whatever length it might be)
[/quote]
Sounds like another solution…
And than there is the possibility of one-shot-triggers.
But than I should use longer parts of my original arrangement
for the one-shots otherwise I´m constantly re.loading the triggers.
But I want to play guitar and tweak a Sub37 and the Tempest in the middle of all of this… 
Looks like I´ll have a way to go but the OT will offer me a good
solution anyways. I´m just to curious and don´t wonna wait,
just like most people with their nu toy I guess…
So thanks for now, feels good to get such quick and helpfull
responce here in this forum.
I guess I´ll be back soon
the good new is also the bad news: Yes there are many difrent ways of almost doing the same thing on the octatrack, with just very subtle differences. Just to enumerate a few:
- one-shot triggers (with or without loops)
- different length tracks. I think 1/4 speed of bpm is slowest. giving you 64 1beat steps. (I think that’s 16bars)
- completely detached sequences.
- manual triggering of the sample itself!!
- combinations of previous options
- mute sample by pattern-change
- keep sample playing while changing pattern until other sample is triggered. (so technically, u use 1 pattern to start sample, 1 pattern that doesn’t trigger sample at all (and you keep hearing the sample from previous pattern), the third pattern actually launches a sample, to mute the sample you triggered 2 patterns ago)
So lots of options on how to do it… I might be a jerk to say so… but, why not have small experiments with all…
see what works best for ya… and use it
good luck buddy… happy experimenting.
One of the functions of the OT in my band to play backing tracks and I actually found information on doing so to be quite limited so it took me a while to get a system that worked.
I use a regular trig and then make sure that "start silent’ is unchecked for that track and loop is set to off. I use the arranger to sequence the song and just have the pattern with the backing track on it only play one cycle through (to avoid re trigging the sample) before the arrangement goes to the next pattern or part. I tried them but I don’t use one shot trigs - I can’t remember why haha (OT not in front of me at the moment)
We rarely have one long backing track and usually have a bunch of short loops that come in and out so it takes a bit of tedious sequencing in the arrangement screen but once you get it set up for a song or a set, it’s locked.
The amazing thing about the OT is if you just use one track (and up to 4 parts) for a backing track then you still have tons of room left on the machine to do other things. It’s also the midi brain of our live rig (sending out clock and program changes to all the other gear) an effect unit, and a sampler. Crazyness.
Learn about recorder trigs too - if you’ve also got a guitar or keyboard in your hand usually like I do they will be your best friend.
Happy OT-ing!
the good new is also the bad news: Yes there are many difrent ways of almost doing the same thing on the octatrack, with just very subtle differences. Just to enumerate a few:
- one-shot triggers (with or without loops)
- different length tracks. I think 1/4 speed of bpm is slowest. giving you 64 1beat steps. (I think that’s 16bars)
- completely detached sequences.
- manual triggering of the sample itself!!
- combinations of previous options
- mute sample by pattern-change
- keep sample playing while changing pattern until other sample is triggered. (so technically, u use 1 pattern to start sample, 1 pattern that doesn’t trigger sample at all (and you keep hearing the sample from previous pattern), the third pattern actually launches a sample, to mute the sample you triggered 2 patterns ago)
So lots of options on how to do it… I might be a jerk to say so… but, why not have small experiments with all…
see what works best for ya… and use it
good luck buddy… happy experimenting.
[/quote]
Experimenting has started already
Thanks for explainig a bit the way you work! As I´ll play guitar and tweak the Tempest and a synth as well while on stage I will extra-double-check the recorder trigs next !
Interesting to so see some familiar names here that appear in the TempestForum as well
Have a great day Trevor
Oh, sounds like massive fun! Do you have any clips where you and your band are using the OT this way? Sort of a brief rundown of timestamps what OT are doing in various parts of the clip?
Oh, sounds like massive fun! Do you have any clips where you and your band are using the OT this way? Sort of a brief rundown of timestamps what OT are doing in various parts of the clip?[/quote]
Sorry for the thread hijack PMFM - nice to see you here too by the way!
Hi Mike. It is fun for sure. To date our live vids are ones from the audience w/ camera audio so you can’t really see much in terms of gear and the sound … well, you know. Making a slick studio vid with all the machines talking to each other is on my to do list, but pretty low down on the list right now tbh!
Here’s a clip from a show last month:
The OT is hiding to the right of my synth below the Tempest over there. I don’t actually touch it (other than start/stop) in this track because that’s what I was getting at - my hands are usually full or I’m singing. If I do touch it on stage (other than transport), it’s to use the crossfader for fx or to change the master tempo at the end of a track (super fun and glitchy - especially when arps of the other gear are latched on). Of course there’s hours and hours of OT touching off stage to a) produce and then b) to sequence a live set.
At the start of the track, the vocoder that’s in the bass player’s set up is actually being triggered by midi notes that are on the OT (freeing up her hands to play the bass guitar) so as long as she talks into the mic at the right time, the vocoder is open and the notes are triggered.
The synth line and chopped up vocoder samples that start at 0:43 are on the OT - 2 separate tracks as there’s OT delay on the synth line.
I use my synth to play 2 different lead parts / patches in this track (1:07 & 1:52) so the OT sends a bank change message to my synth at the start of each pattern leading into those 2 sections.
In this track (and in all tracks) the OT cue outputs are sending the click to our in ears.
Um, that’s it. Hopefully someone gets some use out of that info
Oh, sounds like massive fun! Do you have any clips where you and your band are using the OT this way? Sort of a brief rundown of timestamps what OT are doing in various parts of the clip?[/quote]
Sorry for the thread hijack PMFM - nice to see you here too by the way!
Hi Mike. It is fun for sure. To date our live vids are ones from the audience w/ camera audio so you can’t really see much in terms of gear and the sound … well, you know. Making a slick studio vid with all the machines talking to each other is on my to do list, but pretty low down on the list right now tbh!
Here’s a clip from a show last month:
The OT is hiding to the right of my synth below the Tempest over there. I don’t actually touch it (other than start/stop) in this track because that’s what I was getting at - my hands are usually full or I’m singing. If I do touch it on stage (other than transport), it’s to use the crossfader for fx or to change the master tempo at the end of a track (super fun and glitchy - especially when arps of the other gear are latched on). Of course there’s hours and hours of OT touching off stage to a) produce and then b) to sequence a live set.
At the start of the track, the vocoder that’s in the bass player’s set up is actually being triggered by midi notes that are on the OT (freeing up her hands to play the bass guitar) so as long as she talks into the mic at the right time, the vocoder is open and the notes are triggered.
The synth line and chopped up vocoder samples that start at 0:43 are on the OT - 2 separate tracks as there’s OT delay on the synth line.
I use my synth to play 2 different lead parts / patches in this track (1:07 & 1:52) so the OT sends a bank change message to my synth at the start of each pattern leading into those 2 sections.
In this track (and in all tracks) the OT cue outputs are sending the click to our in ears.
Um, that’s it. Hopefully someone gets some use out of that info
[/quote]
Hey Trevor!
Thanks for the details, I know what you mean regarding video vs sound quality. Of what I could hear, it sounded nice! So you all are having click in ears, how´s that working out for you. Long time to adapt and getting used to it? Is it always the same person controlling start/stop? Do you merge songs any time as well, like having an ambience/‘improvising’ part inbetween two songs and if so do you have to decide the lenght?
It might be the video that does make it hard to see, but is there any digital drums on your drummers kit? If yes, there are no communication coming from him? I e, specfic NN# that controls track trigs on the OT?
Did I miss something earlier in the thread?
Have you tried holding the track button and pressing stop?
We had some bad experiences with monitors cutting out etc in our early shows so once we made the leap to in ears, having the click in there too just made sense - it’s awesome actually. We have a lot of breakdowns that don’t have a main percussion element in them so you can get creative and sloppy with synths and guitars and know you’ll be back to the beat when it comes in. It didn’t take long to get used to at all.
I control the start stop. We have a 1 bar silent pattern start each song so we get our count in. We regularly extend the end of tracks - we just have an infinite loop pattern at the end of the song and off we go - the gear stays in time and the click marches on. The song extensions don’t have any backing in them obviously.
We used to try to merge songs but we’ve found it’s actually better to have a small pause as a palette cleanser between big tempo jumps / instrumentation changes and to give the audience a chance to cheer. (typing that sounds funny but seriously). As soon as we started bringing guitars and the like into the set up we gave up the idea of being a full scale dance band anyways.
The drummer’s kit is all digital. He’s also got an Octapad (roland drum looper / drum pad bank) and a RYTM hiding back there. I don’t think the Rytm is used in that song - we just switched to hardware a year ago so most of our songs had to be reversed engineered to be played out and it’s an ongoing process. We were also having some trouble with the OT’s MSPP not triggering pattern changes / pattern starts on the Rytm in time sometimes but that’s an even bigger thread hijack lol.
As for his kit being connected to our gear - not yet. I’m not sure what his big ideas are for the Rytm in terms of multi connectivity, that’s his deal. We’re recording right now so we don’t have to worry about that stuff until we’re back to building the songs for live play again in a few months
Although I have started to get the idea that he should get his own Octatrack for his set up…