The Return of the Octatrack

Yes, laugh all you want. I've been turning the air blue all afternoon as my foggy brain struggles to recall all the key combinations, the arcane magic of sampling, the bizarre situations when some tracks and samples simply refuse to play any more having done so happily all afternoon. I can never tell if I've missed something or it's just some stupid bug. Like, how annoying that you are still forced to reserve tracks for recording but if you want to reserve, say, 4, it must be tracks 1-4. You can't pick 5-8.

OK, I'm not going off on one. Some things work well, or did until they mysteriously stopped. My old projects load fine, my little mini setup with the A4 and a drum machine (review one but will be the ES2 eventually) worked. Baffled that recording seems to keep forgetting the desired inputs. Or maybe it cannot remember the inputs you choose on a per-track basis, meaning I'm bound to cock up. Having a rest from today. I feel ugly having sworn and cursed for so long and the back of my neck aches.

Someone should write a decent manual for that thing. It won't be me though. I ain't gonna learn or try to learn any more than the stuff I want, which is to play long tracks and do basic loop and sample triggering with parameter locks to make 'em interesting and scenes to tweak them. Using the master track this time, never really did before. Since the main volume control only works for the headphone socket, track 8's level can be my main volume.

I need a drink!

The Analog Four seems so much easier and more fun in comparison. And even that could be made so much better.

It's Saturday afternoon now and I've forced myself to stick at the Ocatrack, get back to where I was at least. The way I've used it today finally feels like a valid way to work. I formerly thought I'd fill the CF with content then use it because sampling was such a PITA. I bought another hoping to do long backing tracks but still allow live improv over the top.  The way it's starting to make sense is not that way at all. It's not a lot different to how I've been using the P3/RC-505 etc. - recording the synth parts you play at the time, like you would in Logic. Accept they can't be too long rather than get into the whole flex/static thing where it can't write directly to card etc. Record bursts of up to 64 steps (why the fuck is this still the last number before MAX? I thought they agreed 128 was worth adding!) and make the best of it. Using that audio, slicing it, triggering it in mad new patterns, making lots of related one with related A4 sequences, sticking to bank = key, accepting there's no fucking tempo changes....

In the end, the Octatrack is good not when you have all your samples accessible as they would in your computer but when you have a limited set but add to it constantly from other stuff in the studio that fits.

SO there we go. minimal rig = KS4, A4, OT, drum machine (currently TT-606) and Microgranny 2. Maybe Lyra-8 and long delay added too for shits and giggles.