Sampling on OT isn't that bad

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Here I’m gonna try and describe the sampling process as simply as possible partly because I wanna solidify it in my mind partly because there is so much mystery surrounding it. Yes it is more complicated than Digitakt. Yes it is arcane. But intuitive once you get it.

I describe the trig method as it guarantees perfectly trimmed patterns and requires no skill.

  1. Go to the Mixer and turn up DIR if you want monitoring (in a new project, you do).

  2. If using sync (usually you are), go to Project -> MIDI -> SYNC and enable SEND on TRANS[port] and CLOCK. (You may want to disable audio trig output too, in Project -> MIDI -> Control, but we assume the current pattern is empty.)

  3. Press FUNC+REC1 to enter setup page 1 and set the length (RLEN = 64 for 4 bars). Place a one shot trig at the beginning of the pattern holding FUNC to make it one shot.

  4. Press YES to arm (or press STOP 3 times) and press PLAY. The reel will spin and you’ll see the progress.

  5. Press FUNC+REC3 for edit and save options (on MK2 don’t know how on MK1)

  6. In the FILE tab of the editor you can save the sample and assign to a sample slot in one step. Always save your samples before continuing as it is not like Ableton.

  7. Repeat steps 4-6 as needed.

19 Likes
#2

As a vim user, rings a bell and made me laugh.

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#3

hah, I always turn off my OT by pulling the plug too :wink:

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#4

Ahahaha :wq :wq fuck yeah :wq

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#5

:q! is the chad move.

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#6

@Roger step 3 is not necessary.
You can place a trig once you’ve pressed Fn+Rec1, as it gives you access to the Recording buffer sequencer.
I prefer to set a One shot trig (Fn+trig) most of the time.

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#7

In the case if a Thru track I never do this as it can mess up with the audio level if the recording (you hear more than what you record).
I just put a recording trig and press play and stop once. Now you can monitor. (Sounds so much more complicated to write/read than to do).

It’s somehow simpler for me to just press trigs once in recording mode.

There’s definitely nothing intuitive in sampling g with the OT. I wish they’d implement a more direct way to sample using the REC 1/2/3 buttons, like automatically sampling from step 1.

3 Likes
#8

I forgot i use one shot trigs too. Good tip btw, updated. :ok_hand:

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#9

Set qrec to plen, press track+rec.

You literally only need to change one setting, although you may want to set rlen to something other than max.

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#10

I would love some default settings for this.
But it’s right that doing this often makes muscle memory strong :tongue:

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#11

Thanks Roger for taking the time to share.

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#12

QREC exists, if you don’t want/need to use sequencer record trigs.

Edit: This will give you perfectly timed samples, additionally if you set to PLEN you can let the pattern play once to capture end fx tails at the start if desired, which can be handy.

12 Likes
#13

Now I figure I’ve never used quantized recording QREC… I should though, sounds pretty immediate!

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#14

QREC & almost never rec trigs feels so much better for me. Lengths all good even if you change your mind mid sampling and want it to run another go-round or two

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#15

vi jokes … I wonder how many people work in IT on this forum

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#16

Damn, I think I have some serious homework to do to get out of my comfort zone and get to know the OT better.

Another thing I should get to learn is the Pickup machine…
But when I tried to use it last time (like, well, 8 years ago) I didn’t click with them. Though they did click… But overall they changed the tempo, and I hated this.

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#17

With QREC you might find PUM redundant - depending on use case.

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#18

I already did without QREC ^^

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#19

Haha - im in a similar boat, not touched pickup machines yet!!!

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#20

I think OT recording is pretty straightforward.
I think the biggest ‘complication’ is there are multiple ways of doing it… and so when you first get it, you dont know which is ‘best’. (or rather which suits your needs)

for me the only time it gets a bit fiddly is when you want to record over 4 bars of main tempo.
since recorders/RLEN ignores track multiplier - so basically you are ‘on your own’, in freeform recording … not a big problem, but fiddly.

(of source, there are other limitations e.g. things like overdubbing etc, which need to be worked around, but its not bad)

I gave up on PUM due to the way the first track attempts to guess/adjust the BPM.
usually its fine, but its dependent on the material recorded, and can get it very wrong.
so dont use due to this slightly unpredictable nature.

1 Like