Tutorial: How to sample a 8-bar loop with Octatrack MKII

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Introduction

:wave: Hi all, I figured out how to record an 8-bar loop with my Octatrack MKII, and I thought it was useful for other people.

NOTE: This is my setup, I’m sharing as it is. Not all my settings may apply to your case. :slight_smile:

Hardware Setup

Goal: Sample Syntakt and Minilogue XD in Octatrack.

Octatrack is my master clock.
Syntatk receives the clock from OT and sends it to Minilogue XD.
Syntakt is my MIDI sequencer for Minilogue XD. (I’m not comfortable with OT MIDI sequencer).

Octatrack Project Setup

T8 as Master Track

[PROJ] > Control > Audio > Track 8 > [x] Master

Dynamic Recorders

[PROJ] > Control > Memory > Dynamic Recorders: YES

MIDI

[PROJ] > MIDI > Sync

Transp > [x] Send
Clock > [x] Send

Tempo

Double the value.

Example: In my case, I want my music to play 95 BPM, so I double that value and set 190 BPM.

Per Track Scale

[FUNC] + [PTN] > Scale Mode > [x] Per Track

Scale

Tap on [T7] to select this track.

[FUNC] + [PAGE]

64 / 64 at 1/2x of the speed
Master: 128 at 1/2x of the speed

Recording

[FUNC] + [REC1]

INAB: A B
INCD: C D
RLEN: MAX
TRIG: ONE2
SRC3: T8
LOOP: OFF

T7 as Sampling Track

Double tap on [SRC] > Machine: Pickup

[SRC]
LEN: OFF (Encoder C)

Syntakt Settings

MIDI

[:gear:] > MIDI Config > Sync

Clock Receive [x]
Clock Send [x]
Transport Receive [x]
Transport Send [x]
Prog CH Receive [x]
Prog CH Send [x]

Scale

[FUNC] + [PAGE]

Scale: 1/2x

(Use Global Scale, not per Track, as it’s more convenient)

How To Sample

Sample

  1. [T7] + [YES] To arm the track
  2. [ |> ] Hit Play
  3. :stop_button: Hit stop after 8-bars

NOTE: The sampling will happen only when you will arm T7

Save the Sample

  1. [AED]
  2. [FX2] to enter the FILE tab on the display
  3. Choose one of the options on the display.

How To Playback the Sample

Let’s assume we assigned the sample to T1 (Static track).

  1. [T1] to select this track
  2. :record_button: to enter record mode
  3. [1] to set a playback trig on step 1
  4. [1] + [>] set the value of Trig Condition to 1:2.

Have fun :sunglasses:

3 Likes
#2

Thanks for sharing. Some settings are useful but I wouldn’t record this way. Supposing you want playback the recording with T1, I’d use T1 recorder, with QREC set to 128 steps. No need for a Pickup.

I don’t understand why you double tempo, why do you arm T7 as a Pickup…I am actually surprised if you can start recording this way, as Pickups don’t have one shot rec trigs…

Which means the recording doesn’t last 8 bars exactly ?

1 Like
#3

hmm, so my OT stops recording at 4 bars regardless of what’s in QREC or QLEN. Any other settings I’m missing here? Seems like you’ve got this figured out @sezare56, would love to know how you’ve gotten 8 bars recording with one shot rec trigs. I’ve never been able to get it working.

#4

Welcome @levicole.

What is your RLEN setting ?
64 ? Should be set to Max

With default setting, RESERVE LENGTH is set to 16s (8 bars at 120 bpm). For longer recordings, you need to activate Dynamic Recordings in Memory Settings.

#5

What is your RLEN setting ?

RLEN was set to PLEN. When set to max, it records indefinitely. To me this makes sense, because Dynamic Recordings is turned on. It’s just going to record until the memory runs out.

ONE2 is my trig mode.

#6

@sezare56 What I shared works, but be aware it results from several attempts. So it could be that not all the settings are helpful for the purpose.

1 Like
#7

EDIT: Matt is updating the video…so removing the original link…

#8

Hilarious that it takes a thread to explain how to do this :joy:

#9

Not really funny imho, should have been implemented in a simpler way a long time ago.

4 Likes
#10

Wrong method if you want to record and slice at any tempo.
It works because his song is at 120 bpm, and reserve length 16s.
It wouldn’t work at 119 bpm for instance. In that case you’d have to change reserve length, and anyway it wouldn’t match tempo.

And he says it doesn’t work with Dynamic Recorders ! False. You need to stop the recording with rec buttons to make it work.
…
…

3 Likes
#11

Not really funny imho, should have been implemented in a simpler way a long time ago.

100%. This should have been implemented in a different way years ago.

It works because his song is at 120 bpm, and reserve length 16s.

Indeed…and faster than 120BPM, it records more than 8 bars.

False. You need to stop the recording with rec buttons to make it work.

I need more info here, I don’t understand. Was looking through the manual, and I don’t understand how to stop the recording in a quantized way…

#12

QREC quantize recording start and stop. You have to be in ONE2 mode in REC SETUP.

1 Like
#13

Gotcha, and then it seems you have to double tap one of REC1/2/3

2 Likes
#14

My way is easiest - set memory allocation for nearest number of steps (or just above*) desired amount, RLEN to max, record, then if needed trim off the end (or don’t).

  • The steps readout/resolution only gives exact seconds/steps when integer multipliers, so just get nearest then go above if tempo is not divisible exactly. I made a post about it before.

Note at the top of the screen when adjusting reserve length it will briefly show the number of steps.

IMG_3641
IMG_36412043×974 419 KB

4 Likes
#15

Yeah I totally forgot about that when I recorded that video. I covered the correct way in an older Elektron Talk live stream. The best method is dynamic recorders with trig one / two and press rec button twice. I’ll fix and reupload the vid.

8 Likes
#16

:+1:

#17

I think this is good if you don’t want to slice the recording and want to playback directly. It is safe live, but if you need to change Memory Settings, you may have playback issues (with Static machines) if you don’t reload the project or similar.

1 Like
#18

I was going to point this out too, and this is a much easier. The other thing that I do when I forget to see the number of steps (and I don’t want to mock around the memory settings to avoid playback issues), is that I keep a note of the number of samples an audio recording of N number of steps it has for the current tempo, in this case the number of samples 64-step audio contains, and multiply that by 2 for 128-step audio. Then after I record something that is 8 bars long, If I need to trim it to exact so I can use grid slices, I trim it to that doubled number of samples, and I’m done.

It’s easy to get that number:

  • Go to rec settings and select RLEN of 16
  • Record
  • After recording stops, go to “edit this recording”
  • In TRIM, move the encoder C to the far right; at the bottom of the screen the number of samples, the tempo T, and the number of bars B will be shown. For example, a 16-bit recording of 16 steps (1 bar) displays 105840 samples.
  • Then I do simple math: 16 steps -> 105840, if 128 steps = 16 steps x 8, then 105840 x 8 = num of samples for an 8-bar loop

In fact, one doesn’t even need to do that above if they do not need to be exact. One could move encoder C in the TRIM section of the editor until the bar display reads something like B:8.00 and use the number of samples to crop the audio if needed.

1 Like
#19

Yes.
Btw there is something specific about that : starting the recording just after Play with armed one shot rec trigs, if you want to stop the recording you have to press twice rec button(s). Once doesn’t suffice.
Kind of bug : one shot rec start isn’t interpreted as a first rec button press.

Another point to check, IIRC QREC value have to be inferior or equal to master pattern length. Otherwise recording doesn’t stop.

(@mpiecora, feel free to add these points in your video if you think it worth it)

1 Like
#20

I think I will!

1 Like