Weird thru/pickup machine behavior/bug, has anyone else experienced this?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

I started a new thread because my OT isn’t handy right now and I don’t know if I’m running os 1.40 or 1.40a, plust I haven’t been able to replicate it and rule out user error.

In the project I use for livestreams I had C and D coming in through a thru machine on track 5 with pickup machines on tracks 6-8, all with track 5 as their input source. I’ve been using the project weekly for over a year without any issues.

A few days ago I switched from using inputs C and D as a stereo pair (guitar through a stereo reverb) to using them as two mono inputs (electrc piano on input C and mono output from the same guitar chain into input D), so after reloading the project (which I do before every stream) I changed the track 5 THRU machine’s source from C D to C+D so the two new mono input signals would be center panned. Nothing else was changed.

Everything seemed to be working fine, the guitar and EP were both going through the thru machine in mono, I got some guitar loops recorded like normal, but when the time came to record some electric piano nothing happened. I could hear it fine, but none of the three pickup machines would actually record it, when I tried I onyl got silence. With the guitar they recorded the same as they always have. In both cases, they were recording the output of the thru mahcine that I could hear. Everything was center panned on the thru track like it should be, so I don’t think it was an issue with the balance settings on the PUM tracks or anything like that. We were just starting the stream so I hadn’t done anything else to the project yet, it ws at the defualt settigns that I always use, other than track 5’s source being changed from C D to C+D.

In the end, I had to power cycle, reload the previous version of the project, change the SRC setting for the track 5 thru machine from C D to C+D again, and this tim it worked like it should.

So, in summary:

Track 5 THRU machine with SRC set to C D
I can hear both inputs
Thru machines with SRC set to Track 5 record the output of track 5 as expected

Track 5 SRC changed to C+D, nothing else changed
I can still hear both inputs, but now in mono as expected
All THRU machines still record the output of track 5 when the signal is coming from input C
When the signal is coming from input D, it still passes through the THRU machine but the pickup machines record silence.

Power cycling, reloading the project and changing the track 5 SRC from C D to C+D again made it work, even though all of the settings were identical to when it wasn’t working.

EDIT: I almost forgot to mention that in 2021 I was using the same settings that gave me trouble yesterday for months without any issues.

#2

Nobody?

I guess I’ll submit a bug report.

#3

I didn’t try that kind of configuration. 1.40B was released recently. Your issue doesn’t seem concerned but maybe it worth a try…

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#4

Sounds familiar / similar☝️. I still get the problem of the OT not updating input configurations one way or another. Last weekend I was switching around As Bs A+B and all that. I don’t waste time drilling down into these buggy behaviours now but it helps to have a few tactics to try before having to go full power cycle. In order of convenience:

  • double tap stop

  • part reload - has to be save then reload if you haven’t saved yet

  • song reload - ditto

  • go into card tools > file manager and out again

  • power cycle (speakers down :wink:)

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#5

Power cycling, reloading the old version of the project and changing the settings again fixed it, but since I discovered it in the middle of a live set I wasn’t able to replicate it, so I don’t know if it was a one-off bug or user error or what. It’s a really strange one, the pickup mahcines were behaving as if their sources were set to input D, even though they were all set to track 5.

#6

Probably not related, but there is a bug with Thru INAB setting changed by incoming midi notes.

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#7

I totally missed that, I thought 1.40A was still the most current public version and B was only available preinstalled on the most recent machines.

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#8

Apparently they didn’t announced it. I knew 1.40B existence before from someone having it directly from support before release. (2023 January 23th)

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#9

Just checked the release notes. Two bug fixes but not any of the long-standing ones

Might still be worth checking - they have fixed bugs in the past which didnt get mentioned in the release notes…

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#10

Yeah, I sa the post about someone getting it from support a few months ago but I had no idea it was public until you told me just now.

I have a feeling the thing that hapened to me is some kind of weird one-off thing, like a few years ago when data corruption on my CF card made the track 5 record setting sin my templte project get completely scrambled even though it still loaded without any errors. If it happens again I’ll save a copy of the project before I revert to a working version, so I can go back and spend more time seeing if I can find a way to replicate it.

#11

Update: I spent some more time with the broken project file today, and the actual behavior is:

After loading the project, the first time I start recording on any pickup machine (today it was on track 8, I think it was track 6 last time) it will record normally, go into overdub normally for one cycle of the current pattern, and then as soon as it starts the second cycle in overdub this happens:

1 - it starts to alternate between record and overdub. During the first half of the pattern it will be in overdub, but during the second half it will switch to record and the audio will cut off. When it loops back to the beginning of the pattern the same thing repeats - it goes back to overdub mode and plays the audio that was recorded WHILE IT WAS IN RECORD DURING THE SECOND HALF OF THE PREVIOUS CYCLE, and then when it hits the middle point of the pattern the audio stops and it goes back into record mode.

And then after 3-4 times through the pattern doing this, there’s a fairly loud pop and audio from theat PUM stops copletely. Also the space where the little play/rec/etc. status icon should be goes completely blank. All other tracks behave normally and pass audio.

The previous version of the project doesn’t do this at all, even though NOTHING IS DIFFERENT - the only difference between the two versions are some changes in part B, but the bug occurs in part A which is EXACTLY THE SAME in the working and broken versions of the project.

It’s very consistent and I was able to replicate it easy (just start recording on a pickup machine and it happens every time). The only thing that’s not completely predictable is how many cycles it takes before it completely stops working, but it’s never more than 4 or 5, usually less.

It’s absolutely tied to the specific project file, so it must be corrupted even though it loads normally with no error messages or anything. Thiss actually the third time since I got the OT that I’ve had a project file get corrupted in some way but still load normally The first time, in 2018 or 19, some of the patterns were moved to different patten slots and banks; the second time I loaded a project from the card and the track 5 record parameters were completely different than they were when I saved it the day before. In all cases, recreating the project from scratch (or loading an earlier version and redoing every change that I’d made before I saved the version that didn’t work right) fixed it. Definitely tied to the file itself.