Use patterns saved on AR/A4 or send midi to AR/A4?

Elektron Software Overbridge
#1

I use OB to record patterns I’ve made on the actual A4/AR themselves. I never send midi notes to them from my DAW.

I love the first method, but this makes it hard for me to form a track. If I am jamming in the whole song whilst recording automation of both boxes, I have to remember where the certain sections stop and begin. So while I may have a good idea of my automation from that jam, there will be no cue as to where I changed A4/AR pattern or where I muted the kick. I get around this by recording audio at the same time so I have an audio record of what I changed.

If this was a plugin like sylenth, it only responds to midi notes entered into the actual DAW. I’m used to working that way so I find OB challenging to get my head around.

My question is, when forming an actual finished song, do you guys prefer to play patterns from the boxes or send midi notes to them from the DAW?

Cheers.

#2

maybe:

MIDI program change messages 0-127 will select pattern 1-128 (A01 - H16) on the Analog Rytm.

arrange midiclips with the dedicated midi program change to build your song structure :wink:

#3

Thanks for the tip. I tried this already but it does not change pattern right away. Still very useable though. I think it’s something they’re working on.

#4

you have to enable it in “midi sync” …it’s off by default. :wink:

#5

I have.
I mean that it does not play the pattern right away… if you drag a 4 bar clip into arrangement that plays pattern A1 on AR, and then another one that plays pattern A2 directly following the first it will not change right away.
It will change pattern 4 bars later than you plan.
I have read that this is common though and it is not a fault of the AR but how the Daw works with program change.

#6

Ah i see…never tried that before…with cubase there’s indeed a “4 bar lag”…strange, but why is that??!..have to try that in ableton too :confused:

#7

What DAW are you using? In Ableton a simple solution is to create a separate MIDI track only used for Program Change and put a negative track delay on it.

#8

Yeah it’s ableton. Thanks for the tip, Olle. I’ll try this out:)

#9

Yeah it’s ableton. Thanks for the tip, Olle. I’ll try this out:)[/quote]
Delay on midi track sending prog change messages only goes back by max 1 second. I’ve put it -1sec delay and it makes no difference in arrangement view or session view.

Could you explain a little further the technique please Olle?

I’m trying to sequence by sending control change messages from arrangement view. Because of the delayed pattern start, when I go back to edit the automation I have to listen to the track from the very beginning each time. If you press pause/stop in ableton or move to play a different section of the track in arrange view it still plays from the last pattern played before stopping. Always must begin from the start for it to be in the right order.

Impossible to edit automation this way. Perhaps program change is the wrong way to go about this and song mode is the only way forward. I’ll experiment.

Thanks.