November 19, 2013 at 17:12Elektron Octatrack - details
In the past, after I shared my first impressions of working with the Elektron Octatrack sampler, but, firstly, I did not take into account some interesting trifles, and secondly, I ran into a couple of small problems. In general, the impressions of the device are still the most positive - its capabilities are very great, and the thoughtfulness and convenience of the interface are on top, despite the small size and general asceticism. Next, I will share some observations and talk about a number of points that I managed to encounter.
1. A fairly large project at some point stopped loading with the wrong checksum error. This happened after using the Purge function, which removes samples that were not used in the project from the pool. The forums write that this happens, and the damaged project can be sent to support, where they will try to fix it. So I did, the answer came about three days later - they sent the corrected project file. It is worth making backups more often, and in order not to rearrange the flash drive again, you can connect the sampler via USB and select USB Disk Mode in the settings menu, which turns it into a card reader.
2. In a previous post, I wrote that you cannot use triggers as a keyboard, but it turned out that you can. To do this, select the appropriate mode by pressing function + down. White keys will be highlighted with lights, you can shift the octave, record a melody in real time. The result is activated triggers with a modified, in accordance with the notes, pitch. In the same way, you can choose the Slots mode, in which you can play with all the samples loaded into the pool or Slices, which, accordingly, allows you to play pieces from a long sample. In this case, the corresponding parameters are also written to the triggers. Playing chords, of course, is impossible, because all cars are monophonic, so for this you will have to connect an external synthesizer and sample chords from it.
3. In one project, if you wish, you can fit 64 compositions, or blanks for live - 4 parts of 16 banks. Each bank can have 16 patterns, one main configuration of cars and 16 scenes for quickly changing settings. True, the pool of one project will be limited to 256 samples, but, nevertheless, it helps to avoid downloading files during live performances - this requires stopping playback and about 10 seconds for an average project. The eighth channel, depending on the settings, can be a normal machine, or perform the functions of a master channel, where you can hang two effects that have an effect on all other channels.
4. Scenes (parameter sets for each machine and master channel) can be assigned not only to the fader, but also to triggers. To switch using the combination Scene + Trigger.
5. The arrangement mode finally strengthened me in the idea that the developers are related to the demo scene and tracker music. The combination of Function + Pattern can cause a painfully familiar window, very reminiscent of the one that is responsible for the playback order of patterns in FastTracker. Well, it works on the same principle.
6. The absence of a send-return system is distressing - it is necessary to assign separate effects to each machine, even if they require the same settings. In addition, the sets for the first and second effects slots are different, for example, you cannot hang delay and reverb on the first one, so to use them simultaneously, you have to use another channel in Neighbor mode (a kind of send, but working only with the previous channel).
7. It is possible to stick a guitar and process it in real time using the Thru machine. Using, along with it, the Neighbor machine can achieve a very convincing sound by constructing sequences like “compressor + distortion + flanger + delay”.
Some tracks demonstrating the capabilities of the device:
soundcloud.com/ilyaorange/prototape-live
soundcloud.com/ilyaorange/aghata-live-edit
soundcloud.com/legobyte/mistmare
1. A fairly large project at some point stopped loading with the wrong checksum error. This happened after using the Purge function, which removes samples that were not used in the project from the pool. The forums write that this happens, and the damaged project can be sent to support, where they will try to fix it. So I did, the answer came about three days later - they sent the corrected project file. It is worth making backups more often, and in order not to rearrange the flash drive again, you can connect the sampler via USB and select USB Disk Mode in the settings menu, which turns it into a card reader.
2. In a previous post, I wrote that you cannot use triggers as a keyboard, but it turned out that you can. To do this, select the appropriate mode by pressing function + down. White keys will be highlighted with lights, you can shift the octave, record a melody in real time. The result is activated triggers with a modified, in accordance with the notes, pitch. In the same way, you can choose the Slots mode, in which you can play with all the samples loaded into the pool or Slices, which, accordingly, allows you to play pieces from a long sample. In this case, the corresponding parameters are also written to the triggers. Playing chords, of course, is impossible, because all cars are monophonic, so for this you will have to connect an external synthesizer and sample chords from it.
3. In one project, if you wish, you can fit 64 compositions, or blanks for live - 4 parts of 16 banks. Each bank can have 16 patterns, one main configuration of cars and 16 scenes for quickly changing settings. True, the pool of one project will be limited to 256 samples, but, nevertheless, it helps to avoid downloading files during live performances - this requires stopping playback and about 10 seconds for an average project. The eighth channel, depending on the settings, can be a normal machine, or perform the functions of a master channel, where you can hang two effects that have an effect on all other channels.
4. Scenes (parameter sets for each machine and master channel) can be assigned not only to the fader, but also to triggers. To switch using the combination Scene + Trigger.
5. The arrangement mode finally strengthened me in the idea that the developers are related to the demo scene and tracker music. The combination of Function + Pattern can cause a painfully familiar window, very reminiscent of the one that is responsible for the playback order of patterns in FastTracker. Well, it works on the same principle.
6. The absence of a send-return system is distressing - it is necessary to assign separate effects to each machine, even if they require the same settings. In addition, the sets for the first and second effects slots are different, for example, you cannot hang delay and reverb on the first one, so to use them simultaneously, you have to use another channel in Neighbor mode (a kind of send, but working only with the previous channel).
7. It is possible to stick a guitar and process it in real time using the Thru machine. Using, along with it, the Neighbor machine can achieve a very convincing sound by constructing sequences like “compressor + distortion + flanger + delay”.
Some tracks demonstrating the capabilities of the device:
soundcloud.com/ilyaorange/prototape-live
soundcloud.com/ilyaorange/aghata-live-edit
soundcloud.com/legobyte/mistmare