Howto: Octatrack Banks, Parts and Patterns 

Hi Howard :) Great to see you here..you got an Octatrack?

Oh yes it is because since akai s750. . Samplers allways a pain in the ass. Always. Im into it since 89. For HOUSE. For Techno. Bhut we all made it a bit.

Glad you liked it!

Glad it helped!

i'm glad you found it helpful. more tutorials are in the works. let me know if you want me to cover a certain feature of the OT.

The number of sample slots is shared with every bank on the machine. By default an empty bank/part starts at sample-slot 1 for T1, 2 for T2 etc.. up to T8. So if you already populated Slot 1-8 in another bank/part then the next bank will show you those because it uses those slots too (until you change them to another free slot). What i used to do, because i found it misleading, was to NEVER put anything in Slot 1-8 on a new project. That way, when going to a new Bank, all 8 tracks show me the "~" sign, indicating i haven't used it in this bank yet. Of course i shouldn't use it in the new bank either.. Keep them empty. Instead i started using slots much higher by increments of 10. So i have 10 free slots for any given bank (8 tracks + 2 extra). Bank 1 starts at slot 11 - 19 Bank 2 starts at slot 21 - 29 Bank 3 is 31 - 39 and so on... You can use the same system, because it helps not accidentally replacing a slot with a different sample, that may be used in another creation (bank) and mess it up. But of course that amount of management might be overkill. Just remember to not put anything in Slot 1-8 and every new Bank/Part will start in a empty blank state.

@@cellrok great tips thank you so much!!! cheers from canada!

On part 1 i will have a THRU machine for my EXT boxes to play thru. Then i can record those inputs onto FLEX buffer. Then assign PART 2 to the FLEX buffer that i just recorded into from EXT, now i have loops from my gear as well as loops on other channels of the OT, which means you can go to mangle-town on any of your lanes, including the tracks where you sampled from. Then assign part 3 to have all your samples play in reverse, and channel 4 will figure out a different EFX scheme to setup, reverb and chorus instead of filter and delay?

Yes, you can go through all banks and patterns and parts seamlessly. That's 16 banks x 4 parts x 8 tracks with individual configurations. And then there is also parameter locking to go even further.

Yes. Notes(and any locks) and Parts are two separate things. A better term for parts is "Kits", if that makes it easier. The notes and locks basically only store what slot is being triggered and what knob should have a certain value in time. Being part of the sequencer, they don't care about the content of the slot. The parts on the other hand determine what is inside these slots and some general settings. They define the tone and can be swapped out on the fly.

Digitakt + Oktatrack is a great combination. Digitakt is a mono sampler and I used it for drums one shots. The Octatrack can do stereo and you can use it for loops because it can do Timestretch. When you plug-in the Digitakt into the Octatrack you can add live effects on the drums, resample drum loops you made, etc. - you then have 16 tracks in total to make a track. You also have another stereo input free on the Octatrack then, on top of the Digitakt. You can either add 2x mono synths, or 1x stereo. For techno I would either get "Neutron + Moog Dfam" as two semi-modular mono synths, .. or just 1 polyphonic synth like an Argon8 or Hydrasynth, which are both stereo wavetable synthesizer. Argon8M would be the cheapest at 550,- That is IMHO the most potent and compact dawless setup one can have. Two samplers, two synths. And you don't even need a mixer. Just headphones and go.

cellrok Thanks for these useful inputs. I would like to concentrate on the Elektron here. My purpose is to play hard tekno live (and why not pressing vinyls). Are you recommending the DK over the AR (why)? Why not mentioning the Digitone? Have all Elektron machines a mode song to chain patterns? Does it make sense to purchase 2 Elektron at the same time (when the octa has already a long learning curve)? Thanks for your inputs this will help me to make up my mind.

I didn't recommend the AR because it is very expensive and I never had one because of it. If you have the money I would get it instead a Digitakt of course. The DT is nice but not my kind of sound. Maybe I was just bad at FM but I never got to really like it. Its difficult to recommend a smaller or a bigger setup. You can make full songs with just a DK or just a OT or AR.. if you wanna do techno I guess starting on the AR is a good idea and then either add OT or some synthesizer with a sequencer (or beatstep pro) would make a nice pair. The smaller elektrons don't have an arranger mode/song mode. I know OT has one. Not sure about AR.

I'd use the octa as master.

Yes. Machine assignments are associated with parts.

Good question. I'd think so. Haven't tested.

inside a pattern you can define which part should be used. Think of "parts" as "kits". A set of sounds. You can tell the pattern which set (part) it uses and the rest is just sequenced notes playing them.

Yes, i'm free off all things Elektron (took a loss financially, but lessons learned). I also got rid of all Behringer synths except one Neutron. I am now running fully hybrid with a Push2 and MaschineJam, after an excursion in Native Instruments land. This is actually my second Push2 after i sold my own. My current setup: Peak, Rev2, Tb-03, Neutron, Maschine Jam, Push 2, Arturia Keystep and VSTs for Sequencing and Samples. I also currently suffer from back-pain for weeks and wait for a proper diagnosis in another 2 weeks, hence working in the studio and new videos has been difficult for me. Couldn't fully enjoy it which is a bit of a bummer, but i work on beats every time i can but alas don't feel like posting it. - maybe i should, dunno. Being sick sucks. Anway.. my setup now feels super solid as i have everything one could ask for, really. They all work well together and lots of gear passed through here and i just kept the best items. That Hydrasynth i was after still isn't available yet and i am no longer as interested as i used to be looking at a mountain of software WaveTable synths i now own. I got a couple flagship softsynths during Blackfriday. :) How's your setup going? Are you going hybrid too (DAW+Hardware)?

Yup, that's correct. I got rid of the OT and now work with a mix of classic multitrack recording and computer production while also interfacing my synth hardware from my DAW instead. Octatrack is great for a specific task, like live performance of pre-recorded stems and remixing/looping - for larger production i would also suggest something else.

but do you think it was meant to be a sketch tool during inspiration? or more for arranging after idea is implemented externally ( for speed) ,,,,but I am never in a rush as a hobbyist.

I think it was made for live remixing with some extras to support the setup. You can add a synth to play along, control midi effects remotely and it also has some onboard fx to spice thinks up.. Like many scenarios that the OT supports I think some discovered it for production and just used it for that - and of course got very good with it. But I also think they endure many necessary workarounds for working that way. It's a choice. Just like using it as effect box or just a recorder.. just by itself I would say it was ACTUALLY made for remixing and performing finished tracks on a gig

Good points Phil, but that's what I love about the OT. It's a different approach to the creative process!!