Update: Adding my template file. I was reluctant to do that, because I still have not tried it for a real song; I have only used it for tests. OctatrackPrinterFollowActions.als (293.6 KB). I added one thing using a MIDI loopback, which causes the set to stop after the last pass. If you look at the MIDI mapping, you should see a note mapped to the stop button, and that note is being fired in the last clip on the MIDI loopback track. Also added a picture below.
This is insane. I have a test Ableton project setup, which seems to be working. It is as close to an automatic OT printer as I can imagine.
It’s almost like Overbridge for Octatrack. No Max4Live required.
It sounds like a lot of work, but you only need to set all this up one time.
I don’t have time to share it and polish yet, but the basic idea is this:
In OT:
- Setup an arrangement. Have it loop 8 times.
In Ableton:
- Setup 8 scenes.
- Setup 8 MIDI tracks, one for each OT channel.
- Group those tracks (you will see why below).
- On the first seven scenes of the group track, set follow actions to launch the next scene. The length of the follow actions should be set to the length of the master MIDI clip you will create below.
- On the eighth scene of the group track, set the follow action to stop.
- In each track, you have 8 MIDI clips with a length of 1/32 note.
- Each clip in each track solos and unsolos the respective OT track.
- On a 9th track, print your master MIDI clip, by performing your OT song with all the cross fades, etc. Copy that clip so that it exists 8 times, once for each scene.
- Adjust the length of the follow actions to match the master clip length.
- Arm an audio track.
- Launch the first scene. Walk away.
- Come back after 8 times the length of your song, and you will have an audio stem containing separate recordings of each OT track.
The cool thing is next time you want to print a different song, with a different length, all you need to do is print the master MIDI clip for that song, duplicate it as described above, and then adjust the length of the follow actions to match the master clip length.
In my testing, I am actually using nine scenes. I have the first one go twice, in case there are any MIDI jitters when launching the song.
I still do not really have a “shareable” version of this set yet, because I am still testing some things. But, it should be easy enough to setup.
If anyone tries this and figures out any other tips, then please share.
Also, IIRC, there is an official free/lite version of Ableton. I assume that means any OT owner can use this without having to buy a full license.
Limitations
- Manual mutes do NOT really work, because the solo overrides them; however, IIRC, arrangement mutes DO work. I explored some some ways around this, but it seemed to make things much more complicated, so I gave up. For me, it is not a big deal; I can just edit my stems in my DAW to have mutes wherever I need them.
- Ableton does not record received program changes, so you cannot record your OT pattern changes. Use the arranger for changing patterns.
