Octatrack: routing notes from midi input to midi output WITHOUT going through active midi track?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

I’m just exploring midi for the first time (am pretty competent on other things now). I’ve hit a problem, can’t find the answer in the manual, and I’m not sure if what I want to do is impossible, so here goes…

I have a keyboard on midi in. I have eight midi tracks sending out midi data on eight midi channels. I can enter notes, on the active midi track, by sending midi notes in, using my midi keyboard. I can play the arpeggiator, live, on the active midi track, by sending midi notes in, using my midi keyboard. Everything is fine.

BUT…

I was hoping that when I am NOT in an active midi track (for example when I am interacting with the audio side of the octatrack, in audio mode) I would still be able to play midi notes on my midi keyboard, and hear them going out on midi out, on the most recently used midi track for example, or on a specific track selected by my choice of midi channel that the midi keyboard is sending on.

That doesn’t seem to be the case. Have I just hit a hard limit of the machine that I must accept? Or is there a way to do what I want?

For one thing it would be convenient to be able to use octatrack as midi router and play live midi from my keyboard to a given chosen sound module. And to do this not ONLY when I am in midi mode, in an active midi track.

More ambitiously, I’d love to have four different arpeggiators on four different midi tracks playing four different sound sources from a single controller keyboard!

Worst case I can bin the arpeggiator ambition, and achieve the lesser outcome of versatile rerouting, by buying and using a midi splitter box after the keyboard and then a midi merger after the octatrack: but is that really necessary here?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

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#2

I’m guessing you’re using sending notes from the keyboard on the OT’s auto channel? If you set the keyboard to a particular channel that a MIDI track is set to you should be able to keep playing a synth or whatever while in the audio side of the OT. Or have I misunderstood something?

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#3

After some experimentation, hopefully helpful for others.

  1. You have to go to midi channels, trig Ch, and set them all to something you’re not using (I put them all on 16 to get them out of the way and avoid clashes).

  2. In each midi track’s Midi Note Setup page, set each track to SEND on a different midi channel. That is now also the channel it’s LISTENING on.

  3. You cannot therefore send midi to multiple tracks at once. Sadly for me and my layered arpeggiators plan!

#4

You can set them to off if you don’t control audio tracks (Trig CH channels correspond to audio tracks 1-8).

Midi tracks can’t reveive midi if these channels are selected on your midi tracks SETUP page.

Screenshot_20230419-001128_Adobe Acrobat
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Related to above.
You can set your midi tracks channels as you like, but it has to be different from Trig Ch if you want to receive midi with these midi tracks.

(If you want to control audio tracks with midi tracks, midi cable between midi IN/OUT, you can use the same channels.)

You should be able to control several tracks set on the same midi channel, sending them their channel, not Auto Channel…

#5

So if you avoid channels “conflicts”, it should work using midi tracks channels instead of auto channel as @GurtTractor said above.

#6

Thanks for the advice.

An example of what I’d like to do:

Keyboard is sending notes, on midi channel 1, to octatrack midi in, to make a chord.

I want octatrack to send out, through the midi out:

  • the incoming midi notes, now going out from the octatrack on midi channel 1, from Track 1, as a warm pad sound (easy!)

  • AND those same incoming midi notes, through the arpeggiator on Track 2, now also going out on octatrack midi channel 2, to a plinky sounding synth

  • AND those same incoming notes, through a different slow arpeggiator, on Track 3, now also going out on octatrack midi channel 3.

Is that possible? Or is the channel that an octatrack midi track listens on necessarily the same channel that it sends on?

#7

That’s the case. So you can’t send on 3 different channel from 1 channel.

It would work for 2 tracks, an active track controlled by auto channel sending channel X, and another track set to the same channel as auto channel, sending the same channel…

#8

You could probably use a MIDI processor (or maybe your keyboard, depending on its capabilities) to send your input on multiple channels. I haven’t tried this and don’t know if/how well it would work, but it’s worth trying.

If your keyboard can’t send on multiple channels on its own, it should be easy to set up on a computer just to see if it works before you spend any money on new gear: in whatever DAW you use, set up three tracks that all recieve MIDI on the same channel but send it on different channels, and then route all of those back out to the OT. For example, keyboard output on channel 9 -> event processor/DAW -> remap MIDI to channels 9, 10 and 11 -> out to Octatrack with MIDI tracks 1-3 set to channels 9, 10, 11 -> synths.

If it works then you could find a hardware Midi event processor that could do the same thing (I’m sure the Retrokits RK-1 would do it, probably the cheapest option).

I’m going to be working on a new OT roject later today, i’ll try to remember to give this a shot, if it works I might start using it too. With custom ARP patterns it would be like having a very simple version of a late 90s arranger keyboard.

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#9

Yeah I was thinking a box that copies one channel to many might be the answer. Palaver tho!

#10

Yes, if you’re open to midi processors, it can solve many midi problems/limitations, and allow things like controlling OT comb filters tune with notes…can be used creatively.

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#11

A Blokas Midihub can solve so many problems, as well as expand various capabilities. Highly recommended.

#12

The MidiGAL running the dispatcher app in the original MidiPAL firmware* is also perfect for this, but it’s only a processor so only one input/output pair and no routing.

The Blokas has multiple ins and outs with routing, and a sturdy enclosure. The MidiGAL can do a lot more and has a better UI (you only need a computer if you want to try an alternate firmware), but no routing, acrylic enclosure, and probably a bit more of a learning curve. Either one would work for this job.

If you can build it yourself then it’s a fantastic deal, about $60-$80 depending on how you source your parts. At that price there really isn’t anything else out there that comes close as far as I know (the Axoloti was even better but they’ve been unavailable for a few years and cost too much secondhand). Prebuilt for $145 they’re still a very good deal but not much cheaper than the Blokas, so it’s more down to preference.

*there’s actuyally a more powerful dispatcher firmware specificaly for the MidiGAL but it’s a separate firmware so if you use it you won’t have any of the other apps installed, and for this job it’s probably overkill. It’s easy to change firmware, though, so it would always be an option.