I’m thinking about getting an MFB 522 Drum machine and I would love to sequence it via the OT, though I’m wondering how to.
I’ve never owned a Drum machine, though I guess every drum sound has its own MIDI Channel. Please correct me if I’m wrong here!
So as I see it every MIDI Track of the OT is dedicated to only one MIDI Channel. So would I have to sequence the Kick on Track 1, Snare on Track 2 and so on or is it somehow possible to sequence all the drums via one MIDI track?
thanks in advance!
Depends on the drummachine really.
Normally, units are able to receive all on the same MIDI channel, and the only difference is which NN# that are playing all the different sounds.
Other units might be able to split the sounds up and select them to be on different MIDI channels, but I think they´re still linked to any kind of NN#. So it works the same basically.
I control the MD with OT. I map the notes corresponding to bd, sn, hh … C2 D2 E2 …and so on.
I can use a single ch midi or 8 different channels also
for each track you can map up to 4 notes ( root note +3)
but if you do not use the arp all notes are triggered in unison …
you even more possibilities using the LFO.
as you prefer
cheers
ach
ok thanks so far! I just read the manual of the MFB 522 and it seems like I was wrong - only one MIDI channel and the drums correspond to different note values (c1, d1 …).
So that means it should not only be possible to sequence all in one MIDI track but also to trigger two sounds at the same time right? (Like Kick and Snare)
Yes.
^^^
And one of the cool things to realize in the above statement regarding the OT with any drummachine/synth really, as soon as the functionality/communication between them has been worked out.
Is that you can create template projects in your OT that ie specifically consist of:
[ul]
[li]MIDI track, transmitting NN# in a specific order/range on a designated MIDI channel.[/li]
[li]An audio track with an One Shot recorder (at trig 1), sampling from the inputs of choice.[/li]
[li]The memory buffer set for the abovementioned One Shot recorder, being an fixed lenght. Divisible for a specific number of slices AND that the slices will still be long enough for each of the sounds of the drummachine/synth.[/li]
[li]Syncing them (OT master, the other slave) in MIDI transport, and midi clock.[/li]
[/ul]
Pressing play on your OT would then (theoretically) start the other unit at the same time. And immediately from the beginning sampling the sounds from it that your OT commands it to play at each NN# event, until it reaches the end of the buffer lenght where the recorder will stop sample. In the audio editor of this memory buffer, you´re then able to slice the recording up and saving it. The sounds of that drummachine/synth, albeit ‘fixed’ (except for the OT tweaking options provided), are now available in your OT for further/later use.
So, ie, if just bringing the OT on a trip/vacation, you´re basically still bringing the other units sounds with you. Or you could use this technique if a friend of yours got an nice unit/preset that he/she doesn´t mind to ‘share’. Or if your drummachine/synth ALWAYS have got the same connections to your OT, always the same settings (MIDI channel etc) but haven´t got a vast amount of memory for saving sounds/preset internally, this technique wouldn´t save the settings/preset as such as like they would become possible to recall. But at least you are able to save the sounds of them. So you can happily tweak away, and as soon as you hit upon some really cool sounds. Load the above example of project in your OT, and press play…
Lots of cool stuff you can do with OT, when using it even as an ‘worktool’ against your other units sometimes…
really nice tips and thoughts there mike.
just wondering…
is it possible to save the settings of a sliced record buffer?
i.e. the buffer is empty but the slice settings (32 grid for example) are saved?
that would be nice…
Using the OT to sequence drum machines is a great idea for live jamming. Stay in live recording mode on the OT, assign 2 tracks to your drum machine (or more if you need it), one muted one unmuted, record notes on the unmuted track and use the muted track if you don’t want to record what you’re playing (which is easier and less “risky” than entering/leaving live rec mode).
The great thing about this is that the OT automatically drops notes out once you play new notes on the same position. For instance: hihats on every 8th note, then you start playing toms --> hihats are being removed on the positions of the toms. If you want to add toms and leave the hihats, just play toms and hihats simultaneously so that hihats are being overwritten by tom+hihat.
It’s like an automatic erase/overwrite feature. No muting needed, just overwriting with something new.
If you’d like to remotely erase notes, just play notes to which your drum machine does not respond (for instance a note 127).
EDIT: if your drum machine uses different Midi tracks for each voice, use a Midi processor to convert 1 track into different tracks, at least if you’re interested in a live jam workflow as I described.
thanks for the help and all the ideas guys! I think I’m gonna buy this thing right now 
Great 3x!!
In the way I understood your question, and I might have done something wrong or had some settings wrong. But from what I could tell it wasn´t possible in a rude and quick investigation.
I´ll try to find out more with an bit more structured method.
However, you can somewhat get to that result anyway. Here´s how to experiment with it:
If setting up an One Shot recorder trig, with its sources off (inputs and src3). Dynamic recorder memory setting, buffer lenght max, loop off. Pressing play will set of the recorder to sample ‘silence’. And the buffer memory will be writed = an ‘file’. Which can be sliced into an grid size of choice. Ie 16 seconds into 32 slices.
For each time you press play, the recorder buffer will be overwrited with audio material (still in this case: silence) but the slice grid doesn´t adapt to that new lenght (shorter nor longer). It still just reflects the previous one (of 16 seconds), even though you´ve filled it up with new/other audio material.
So if the new lenght is longer. You can actually (in the audio editor) see the sliced section first from the previous writing of 16 seconds, and the remaining up to the new lenght continue afterwards. Any slice playback (ie if controlled by the fader), will just be of the first 16 seconds.
But, and this is quite nice:
Still in the audio editor, with the previous time span written + the added time visible. Which in total reflects the whole new lenght. You are able to again create slice grid of 32 slices, and it will be made out of the new total lenght. There were no interuption of playback while doing this in my tests.
Given the above, you can create an file of ‘silence’ of an exact lenght which you set as sliced. Pre-load that into an recorder buffer (with playback setup of slice set to on), just in the same way as you can pre-load the recorder buffer with ‘valid’ audio material (which you are able to hear). The slice settings will be in effect. And as soon you hits of any recorder trigs, the audio (silence) will be overwritten but the slice grid remains. If keeping the recorder lenght fixed (instead of a dynamic lenght), you shouldn´t (hopefully) get any problem getting this to work each time and thus no need to re-slice the recorder buffer.
If anyone notice that I´ve got something wrong or explain it wrong, feel free to correct me.
cool
so… if i understand you… (i can’t check myself as elektron are repairing my octatrack at the moment)
i will have to load blank audio (or record a blank pass) and then use the slice grid.
there is no way to save a record buffer as a part of a project so slice settings for it go too.
that’s what i thought… just checking i hadn’t missed any super work flow saver.