Hello Octatrackers, I want to buy an Octatrack but I would like to know some things first about it, so maybe you can help. I tried to seek the answers on my own but OT is so complex machine I decided to just ask people who use it. Here are the questions:
I would like to make whole song with verses, bridges and refrains, so i need a fast way to change a samples in different scenes. Can I do that in Octatrack without losing the ability of fast controlling the effects? I mean, for example on scene 1 I have clean verse with no effects and on scene 2 I have a clean refrain with no effects also - in this situation I can easy change samples but no effects. Can I make it different so the samples and the effects are changed on the fly independently? And of course on multiple tracks at the same time? In other words, can I have effects flexibility thru fader + easy acces to different parts of the song (verse, bridge, refrain) like in for example ableton independently?
Can I make other signature than 4-4? And can I have different signatures on different scenes?
Does it have automation? Or maybe I can automate it from PC thru midi? I would like to record a whole song track by track independently to pc and mix it in DAW. To do that i need to have tracks automated.
Can I apply an effect to external signal?
Can I put samples between the steps represented by sequencer buttons?
Is there only mathematical division to 16/32/64/other number of equal steps or can I make steps more groovy? For example can I make steps shuffle?
Can I put multiple samples on one track in one scene? Or just slices?
Can I smoothly change project without stopping audio?
How much GB of samples I can have onboard/on card?
a lot of questions, but I also had them once, so I’ll try my best to pay some attention to some of them!
you can switch between patterns for switching between different parts of your song. this doesn’t affect what you do with the fader. So, yes, it is independent.
Yes and yes and 6) yes, you choose the amount of steps on each track, and you can apply different “tempo signatures” to them. 1/4 1/2 3/4 1/1 3 3/2 2/1, thus creating triples for instance
yes
yes. you can nudge your triggers front and back in between the normal trigger points
yes you can
no, but each project contains 16 banks, which you could see as 16 songs
don’t know by heart. but should be findable online
I will try to answer your questions. I assume that when you say ‘scene’ you mean ‘Pattern.’
Yes. You can write each section (verse, bridge etc) of a song in a separate Pattern or group of Patterns and assign a different Part (sample and effects settings) to the Patterns. For each Part, you can set up Scenes (which contain specific settings for samples and effects) and use the crossfader to move between different Scenes.
Yes. Each of the 8 audio Tracks and 8 MIDI Tracks can have a different Pattern length, up to 64 steps, and can play faster or slower than the reference tempo according to Tempo Multipliers.
Yes, but with limitations. The most-easily adjustable sample and effects settings can be automated by MIDI Control Change messages, but this is not really what the OT was designed for and the process may be somewhat fiddly.
Yes. You can apply effects to external signals by using a Thru machine on any audio Track, or by dedicating audio Track 8 to be a master track.
In a way. The OT’s sequencer is a step sequencer with (up to) 16 steps per bar in normal use. It is not a high-resolution linear sequencer. You can adjust the timing of each step using the microtiming feature, or you can use a Tempo Multiplier to create tracks that have finer resolution but shorter length.
You can make a shuffle feel using the Swing feature.
You can trigger any sample from the 128 in a sample slot list on any sequencer step, starting at any point within the sample. If your sample has been sliced, you can also specify which slice number to play.
No. Loading a new Project requires a short reloading time during which playback stops. However you can likely fit many songs into a single Project, and many users of the OT can play long live sets without needing to load new Projects.
The OT has about 85 MB of on-board RAM and can use up to 64 GB on its Compact Flash card.
