Hello everyone. I am kindly asking you for your assistance on a couple of doubts I have with OT. It represents a considerable money for me, so I want to make sure I will be able to do what I need, besides the many features I read are available.
As of today I own a Roland Jupiter 50, plus a Roland XP 60, a TR8 and a volca Bass. The JP 50 is wired to a Kaossilator Pro, to which I really have had a fun time. But it is somehow getting limited for my ideas. As pros, it is very straightforward as an input audio looper, but as cons, it is limited. What I am looking with the Octatrak is the ability to loop audio in, the same way I do with the Kaoss, but I also would basically like to have two things: more looping time, and the ability to add independent effects/cuts/slices, or even resamples plus effects to each individual loops. I have tried to understand this by reading many posts, but I haven’t found a clear answer. Anything yhou could tell me about this, or even remark any additional related considerations I might not be seeing, will be really, really appreciated.Thank you so much in advance.
I used a KaossPad KP3 in what sounds like a similar manner before getting an Octatrack. If I understand you correctly you want something along the lines of:
Select track 1, hit record and have the sample auto stop and start looping a given set of steps later.
Select track 2, record a new loop that then starts playing alongside the first
(same for more tracks up to a total of 8, or 7 if you want a master track for global fx)
Jump back and forth between your loops, tweaking effects and muting/unmuting
You can do this, and it would be easy to do ‘real time’ when you have learned the machine and how to configure your project for this. But how to achieve it would probably be confusing at first. I don’t think the OT is as difficult to learn that many makes it out to be, but getting a solid grip on sampling took me a while.
Some limitations: max two fx slots per track + two fx on an optional master track.
Max sample length with auto stop is 64 steps (same as max pattern length). You can record longer samples than that, but things get a bit more complicated to do. A pattern in length is easier at first.
My personal experience with the transition from KP3 to OT has been that it changed my way of working significantly. More midi sequences, more heavy manipulation of samples where I slice them up, reverse parts, shuffle parts around, etc. But it still feels like a fast flowing way of working that doesn’t get in the way of creativity. It took a while to get there, though.
I still own my KP3, but I haven’t used it once since I got the OT.
Hey there, I only recently got my OT about a month ago, and I’m still learning all it’s tricks. However, I used to use a KP3 as a looper in my live setup, and while the OT doesn’t have quite the same resampling immediacy of the KP3 (i used to sample, effect, resample, effect, resample on the kp3 until i had something far removed from the original) the OT is amazing at live sampling and resampling. I still have a number of things to learn and experiements i want to try out, however. I still also haven’t really dug into the pickup machines.
I recently did a short experimental live techno set where i had no pre-sequenced patterns or pre-recorded audio, and built everything up from an external modular, a microphone and a contact mic on the bottom of a kalimba. Just pre-set all the tracks to sample certain lengths of audio, and quantised the rec to start at the beginning of each 16 steps (1 page) and pre-created some scenes for the effects I wanted to use.
I suspect it will be suitable for what you are asking. If you are still not sure, I’ll see if I can make a video of what I mean.
Just put in the time, and you’ll find a way to make the Octatrack do anything you want.