I travel for work and use a DN/ST paired with my MacBook and have built a Max patcher I use to control them with extra modulation and record their individual outputs via Overbridge for mixdown. I’ve built a sampler into the solution to simplify, but am getting bored with it and am tired of updating it; enter the Octatrack.
This will not be my first OT, but it will be my first paired with other instruments, so I have two questions regarding the setup:
1: Do the quarter-inch outs on the DN/ST work if you’re also sending audio via USB? I’m in a hotel room and currently can’t test this, but would like to use the quarter-inch outs from the DN/ST into the OT to do resampling, but I need the individual channels of the DN/ST to be recorded clean for my mix engineer.
2: The 3 extra LFOs from a few OT MIDI channels to the DN/ST; I’m imagining that’s totally possible, right?
I do what you do right now - pair a Syntakt/Digitone with a Macbook, but rarely at the same time. I use Ableton Live. I don’t understand why you need a Max patcher to get individual channels, they are easily accessible just using audio tracks piped from the Syntakt and Digitone Overbridge plugins. I have a template and do what you do, jam and multitrack record.
My workflow is to multitrack record several Syntakt or Digitone tracks along with soft synths or samples in Ableton Live. I sometimes do all that triggering with the Syntakt/Digitone midi channels and song mode. I don’t use Max at all.
It sounds like a ton of work to add an extra device, what do you need it for? I am confused.
Thanks very much for the info.
Ugh, the GAS strengthens…
Oh my bad lol. I thought you already had it. Before buying more gear I would try this ‘macro’ technique to experiment with new modulations.
The grass isn’t always greener. The OT is amazing for live music but doesn’t have overbridge or midi over USB. Its feature set simply isn’t well suited if your goal is to have individual tracks for mixing in DAW. Multi-tracking out of the OT is not fun.
Ah, no worries; thanks for the link. You’re 100% correct; the specs for the OT as a studio instrument are unfortunately pretty limited.
I jam on the road and do mixdowns at an all-analog studio that uses 2" tape that only has 24 mono tracks, so I have to do a lot of strategy to get things ready to be mixed anyway. I work mostly in stems, so the OT’d be a stem in this setup.
Believe me, I gain a lot more freedom building in Max; the stuff I can do and the VST effects available blow the OT out of the water. I can modulate anything with anything; it’s modular synthesis on steroids on crack that’s also on steroids.
Unfortunately, it also means I have to wear a developer hat and I don’t really care about creating and maintaining this solution, despite its quality and freedoms. I just want to get ideas down fast and these boxes make me wanna make music. The fact that they sound better, to my ears, than my virtual instruments is just a plus.
DAWs are a bust; I use Ableton Live for small chamber orchestra composition with strings and piano, but for electronic music I just feel too “tethered” to a workflow. I realize how ironic that is when comparing it to Elektron boxes.
My goal is to sit down at a desk and focus on making music and I think the OT might be the key to that, but I’m still unsure that I want to take the plunge. I really just need something to resample my DN/ST with some effects and modulation, play some field recordings & modulate those & their effects, and add a few extra modulators to my DN/ST. I think the OT fits that bill.
I’ll definitely take your insight into consideration.
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Don’t forget about the midi arp on OT……
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Dang, that’s a great point. The pain of not being able to use the DN’s sweet arp on the ST’s synth machines is a weekly one.
