OS Update - Voting Results!

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#85

be more specific please? what would you use it for?
vvd has already made a sample processor for the OT:
Download[/quote]
how can i use it? what kind of file is that? OT?[/quote]
go to the files section of the forum, look for it there. it’s all documented! : )

i have the impression a lot of feature requests here are just out of lack of information?

take this for example:

“12. Ability to trigger slices with Midi” -> Read the manual, please!

[/quote]
Currently, there is no way to do the following over MIDI:

12A: Create slice grid
12B: Assign locks to slices (random or linear)

If I am wrong, please prove it by posting the page number from the manual where you found the information. I and other people on this forum and the old Elektron users one have searched for this info in the manual and have failed to find it.[/quote]
thanks for specifying what you meant, because your 12A and 12B is not “triggering slices with MIDI”

12A is way too arcane in my opinion (you would like to tell the OT, over MIDI (!) whether it should set a slice grid, and with what resolution, all of this is done in the sample editor, which has no MIDI implementation whatsoever) but let’s have the poll decide.

12B is interesting. i like. also, this is on the sequencer level, which has some MIDI implementation already.

#86

be more specific please? what would you use it for?
vvd has already made a sample processor for the OT:
Download[/quote]
how can i use it? what kind of file is that? OT?[/quote]
go to the files section of the forum, look for it there. it’s all documented! : )

i have the impression a lot of feature requests here are just out of lack of information?

take this for example:

“12. Ability to trigger slices with Midi” -> Read the manual, please!

[/quote]
Currently, there is no way to do the following over MIDI:

12A: Create slice grid
12B: Assign locks to slices (random or linear)

If I am wrong, please prove it by posting the page number from the manual where you found the information. I and other people on this forum and the old Elektron users one have searched for this info in the manual and have failed to find it.[/quote]
thanks for specifying what you meant, because your 12A and 12B is not “triggering slices with MIDI”
12A is way too arcane in my opinion, but let’s have the poll decide.
12B is very interesting. i like.[/quote]
Well, before you can use slices, you must create a slice grid. One thing I do a lot with the Octatrack is record loops from a live instrument (viola, violin or guitar) on one track, slice the looped audio, and play back the slices on another track.

With the present OS implementation, I am forced to take my hands off the instrument and manually execute the Create Slice Grid command on the OT. I cannot send a command from my MIDI foot controller to do this. What makes this worse is I have to get into the Audio Editor, pull up the appropriate menu, THEN select Create Slice Grid.

Before I can trigger slices from the sequencer, I must also assign locks. This is also not possible over MIDI.

Compare all this inconvenience to the Yellofier app on iPad. On that app, I hit the Record button once, sample my instrument, and I instantly get 8 slices to play with, all already assigned to the equivalent of Elektron locks.

#87

Governor, i suppose an auto-slice setting in the editor might take care of 12A? i don’t think it’s easy to get MIDI into the sample editor level?

12B yes that would be quite nice.

i like that app as well… but it’s a one trick pony, not an octatrack.
yellowfier does not even have MIDI clock, leave alone any MIDI control…
but a yellowfier machine within OT would be something wonderful, i agree.

#88

I think that would indeed be great, along with the ability to configure how many slices you want for auto-slice. Then allow auto-slice to be triggered by MIDI.

#89

Btw. Governor, i don’t know about your workflow, but have you tried it this way: once you have a filled recording buffer, place your slice grid. When you are using one shot recording trigs, every “fill” of the buffer will be sliced, because the grid will already have been placed on the buffer, and all that changes is the audio in the buffer. so in theory, you only need to place your grid once.

edit: i just re-read the post and saw that you record on one track and playback on the other… i guess you have your reasons for that. but it also complicates sample management in a live situation.
on the other hand, you could have buffers with different slice grid values on different tracks… then sample your loop to the track which has the slice grid value you want…

#90

Another one. What do you mean by granular machine? The OT already does a basic form of “granular synthesis” if you know how to: any loop and ADSR-capable sampler does.
Also, there are tons of free apps doing this and they all sound similar. what’s the point of another one? just use the ipad, luke.
feel free to contradict me of course, but such is my opinion.[/quote]
There’s a full thread explaining it here: Octatrack Grain Engine Petition and your objection was already answered there.
As to your other objection about the iPad, sure, but there are samplers for the iPad and yet we still seem to both find the OT worthwhile. Same thing with a granular machine.[/quote]
JES, unfortunately my objection is not answered there.
the “distinction” made there between “granular synthesis” and “timestretch” is actually skewed, these are not comparable terms, also, the objections about position and length jitter are unjustified: think LFOs on playback start and loop length inside of a microsample/“grain”.

Allerian’s and abergdahl inputs are very interesting indeed.

i respect your wish for an optimized interface for granular sample manipulation in the OT, and of course no one is going to remove it from the list just because of my objection. in fact, i think chances are good the poll will decide in your favour. it would be interesting to hear what you think would be important in such an interface.

#91

Yes, the reason is that Track 1 is assigned to a Pickup Machine. Slicing is not possible in a Pickup Machine. The workaround is to assign a Flex Machine to a second Track, and set its Sample Slot to the recorder of the Pickup Machine track. I learned this technique from abergdahl, who has since developed more sophisticated Octatrack techniques.

After this weekend gig that I have to play, I do plan to investigate at least one alternative to using the Pickup Machine, but would rather discuss that in a separate thread than continue hijacking this one. :wink:

The main point I want to get across in this thread for anyone who just started readin is several Octatrack users here want an auto-slice function, and MIDI control of the slicing functions and the auto-assign of slices to locks, and I believe the reasons have now been explained in detail.

#92

Please let us focus only at the OS features without FX/ BUGS/ New Machienes. Now you can go and vote! I’ve created a poll HERE!

#93

Some of the feature requests in the poll are already implemented in the octatrack or not formulated clearly; I have some comments and questions about some of them:

- recording of note length and velocity in trackmode (like midi)

What do you mean or hope to achieve by this? I really don’t understand.

- easy sampling preset (or the ability to set it up globaly settings)

There is a quick recording method and you can set it up for the entire project. Project management update could solve any problem you have with the current method of setting up preferences.

- slide between patterns or banks

This is not going to happen, you could use crossfade/resample tricks, but that’s not the same. To actually slide between two patterns or banks requires two octatracks. But hey, they used to say the earth was flat, so who knows. :wink:

- Quick sample slice mode

Very subjective, I personally like the current slicing method and think it’s fast and flexible enough. Also I, and again personally, would not like to get used to a new way of slicing.

- Lock stop and play buttons while performing

Subjective again, it could be a feature, but there are many situations where someone would want to pause or even stop the octatrack during a performance.

- Consistancy for button operations

This sounds more like a complaint than a feature request. I agree that it is not the easiest interface out there and it could be even more complex if you’ve been through some of the previous updates. But don’t you think changing the button operations for more “consistency” would create problems for those who familiarized themselves with the current button functions? A bit of a catch-22 if you ask me.

- Track volumes and scene assignments stored in pattern

This is what ‘parts’ are for. Use four patterns to a part. And try to look at it as 1 song per bank, 4 parts per song with 4 patterns each.

- Save all button (all parts/patterns on all banks in the project)

There is a ‘save project’ button, right?

Don’t take any of these comments the wrong way, I usually avoid the feature request threads and work with whatever a designer throws at me. But in this case I’d like to see some things implemented in the OT and I like the thought that the designers might actually read a thread like this. So make sure any list of requests is on point, simple and perfect to increase the chance of anything actually being implemented!

#94

i don’t whant to discuss the whole list and features that are suggested from another people. if you like a feature you can vote for it, if not, then not. if you think its already implemented then you don’t have to vote for that feature. but the list is long time in the forum and there are discussions about some of the features you asked. so please read whats already in the thread.

#95

I did first read the entire thread!

And again don’t take my comments the wrong way, but I think your poll in it’s current state does more harm than good. That is why I wrote a long post, have you read my entire post?

#96

I did first read the entire thread!

And again don’t take my comments the wrong way, but I think your poll in it’s current state does more harm than good. That is why I wrote a long post, have you read my entire post?[/quote]
husc, thanks, we already tried filtering the inputs a bit, but noticed it’s not possible, without offending perfectly respectable OT users.
this is why van is doing the poll, so he can eventually present a short and concise list.
personally, i fully agree with you, there are a lot of points that don’t really belong in the list.

#97

I support effort Van put into all this! My comments were my 2cents to help it getting realized and maybe easier for Elektron to use. It’s good to have active discussions and it was never my intent to just argue the requests. :slight_smile:

Now let’s make some tunes!

#98

in my opinion, it won’t do any good, especially if it’s ill considered, the best way to get heard is to make irresistible, well thought through and modest enhancement requests (if you’re after a third oscillator in the A4 you’re gonna get nowhere fast) some of these ideas lack thought - generally when stuff doesn’t exist and it seems like an obvious and easy thing to have it won’t exist for a reason, these guys aren’t idiots, they know what they’re doing and there’s no doubt they also listen, but my hunch is that this approach will lead to frustration even though a few of the suggestions are modest and totally sensible, i’m not voting because it’s half-baked & arbitrary to me - i’m only commenting because i primarily come on elektronauts to learn (or help with) stuff and it’s getting to be a forum dominated by “i can’t use this because it doesn’t do this” … all of which is not to say that there aren’t legitimate things to hope for and this is the best place to voice them, but this isn’t the best way to do it imho

anything which incrementally improves the overall live workflow gets my hypothetical vote

here’s my parting thought, there’s been quite a few things i’ve hankered after, and for the most part, when i’ve got to know the machine better and really thought about the implications of that idea, i’ve worked out for myself why it couldn’t happen

#99

husk you’re right. but it’s not so easy and not enough time to spend for all details. let us first clean the list with this poll. i think that 5-6 things in the list stay and the rest goes. at this moment the leader is Project Management!

#100

at some point someone could culminate the suggestions from the thread and put that on a voting list

that is the great thing about discussion on it first though IMO, if the discussion is showing that some people feel it is already covered, etc etc…it will at the very least make the features that pretty much everyone can agree on shine

none of which mean those features would be implemented or even possible, there may be some technical limitations :wink:

there are some “gems” in the feature request threads though that I would love to see and I think some of them would definitely be possible

I think as others have mentioned, I would imagine most dev work is being put into the AR at the moment

#101

avantronica, thats not the point!
the point is: i’m a user who paid money for a product that promises upgrades and features.
and because of that, the product hasn’t reach his final state, i feel in the role to give feedback and to collect feedback from users, to became even better product as it is!
it’s ok if you don’t want to vote! we are all free people, right?

#102

Yes, but I want to tie each pattern to a monomachine pattern with different volume/scene assignment settings for each pattern.
So that the scene crossfader effects like delay time are better suited to each particular MNM pattern. The MNM patterns are all different and not made in groups of four.

#103

avantronica, i think if there is even just one single item on the list that you would find useful, then you must vote! : )

that’s the way the poll is built - it’s a sieve.
we quantify desire ; )

if truly all of them are useless to you, fine, don’t vote. no harm done…

the goal is to have a shorter list first, and then further debate these points, (precise formulation, implementation ideas, etc.) at least i think that is what van is aiming for.

i also think the less items we have, the easier to pitch them well.

#104

for what it’s worth, parts can be used in all sorts of creative ways, they aren’t limited to one type of use

I like to use them to switch between a thru machine on a track and a flex machine on that same track that was sampled from the thru machine

…so thru machine, get something I like, sample it, switch parts, mangle it