Elektron-Users

the dreammer wrote:
HighSage wrote:
Not sure if this is what you guys are on about (I don't use Ableton/renoise).I'm in the dark there.

Lets give you a flash-light your on the right track, with ideas what to do with it.
but its 1 step before that .. If you want a HUGE !! library of sounds in your octa
you can "put multiple samples / loops" in 1 giant sample... and choose the correct sample
with a slicepoint..

easy example: You make a 64 beat sample.. and every beat is a difrent kick-sound.
if you slice the "giant sample" .. you end up with 64 adressable kicks..

do the same with 64 loops, all the same tempo/length.. slice it.. and you got "a bunch of loops" in 1 sample..

this is what most people on the forum call "making a sample-chain".

pro-example:
I make a 32bar song in renoise. and i export this to 1 wavefile.
I just make sure that the intro/melody/climax/melody2 has equal length
and divide the big wave by lenght of "slice" which in this example will be 8
8 * 4 = 32
then i put loop points in the slices.. making sure every 4bar slice, only loops the last 2 bars.

from that point on.. i have very flexible samples, each containing 1 song, and the part of the song.. i select by selecting the propper slice.. to be triggered with a one-shot sample..

I hope this makes more sence enjoy


Ah! Ok, yeah no I was thinking about granular synthesis waveform shaping ideas, etc.
I've done what you're describing on my machine drums quite a bit to maximize the ROM sample slot space. Nice idea on the Song sample chain, hadn't thought of that. Might be a fun way to 'DJ' the Octatrack too. Thanks!

yeah sample chains is what makes the OT spin people out when I demo it...
definitely worth raving about.

I have been getting into making long evolving pad samples... ie. 32/64/128 bars..
then loading up on an OT track sliced with long reverb or delay, mild random lfo to start(slice) and letting it do its thing... add evolution via lots of scenes which progress main slice start point (allows the previous lfo to randomise around the few(or many) slices nearest the current scene) and other parameter locks like delay speed/feedback as well as the other 2 lfo's manipulating filter or vol etc and you have a living thing which is also relatively controllable.

Multiply this by 7 additional tracks and you have an endless performance pre-sequenced but also ready to explore repeatedly.


@ Dreamer... why do you 'always' set up 4 bar slices but only loop last 2 bars of each slice?
I have done this a couple of times with an intro sound that i dont want to loop back to bar 1 on repeat & understand the 'crash' example you mentioned, but just trying to understand why you do this on every slice...

my idea works! I can't tell how useful it will be yet, and it might be a combo you'll need your super move meter charged for...

in case any other MIDI-synced live samplers are listening, here's a (relatively) simple example of what to do:

1. set the T1 (or whichever) recorder to sample a silent source for 64 steps, and sample the silence

2. open the T1 buffer in the audio editor, and create a 4-slice grid

3. set the T2 recorder to sample 16 steps of your source, however you like to do it (I like quantized manual sampling of thru machines), and sample that

4. open the T2 buffer in audio editor and copy the whole thing. it should all be selected when you go from TRIM to EDIT. if you fumble, do a select all

5. open the T1 buffer in the editor, go to EDIT, and paste your loop from the T2 buffer

6. tweak your sample source, and repeat steps 3+4

7. open the T1 buffer, go to SLICE, and hit the right arrow to advance to slice 2

8. go to EDIT. slice 2 should be highlighted

9. paste the second version of your loop from the T2 buffer

see -- just nine easy steps! repeat twice more to get 4 versions of a loop you can easily toggle between without changing patterns on the OT or sample locking. obviously you can take it further from there (more slices, or longer empty sample to add more iterations of the loop, etc).

too cumbersome for real live use I imagine, but studio-wise I think it could beat sampling into ableton clips, xfer to card, and so on. plus zero sync headaches.

ok I admit I find it fun to solve OT puzzles...

^ Thanks.

I was looking for a way to splice samples without having to trigger one after the other while recording.

LETS RAVE!

awesome information on this thread so far..
the rave is up and running!!

Ozone wrote:
yeah sample chains is what makes the OT spin people out when I demo it...
definitely worth raving about.

@ Dreamer... why do you 'always' set up 4 bar slices but only loop last 2 bars of each slice?
I have done this a couple of times with an intro sound that i dont want to loop back to bar 1 on repeat & understand the 'crash' example you mentioned, but just trying to understand why you do this on every slice...

The reasonsl, in my example of the minisong..
Every pattern in renoise will start with a crash.. or something with simular effect.
so i just want to trigger that part when needed.. but after that i dont want to hear it anymore.
playing with this, enhanched my experience.. so i included it.

in reality i even take it up a notch more... broken rythms.

if you loop 3beats of a bar of breakbeat, you can get wicked alternating rythms.
or if you have a simple boom-tjak bar.. loop the kick with the snare
just loop the kick.. just loop the snare.. or loop the snare but loop 3/4 of a beat
play with the slices now, and you get weird alternating rythms, and snare beats.
Combine all this, and you can have beat-perfect starts that make sence, but end up "in tempo/out of sync beats/baselines.

Not behind the right workstation to send you guys a working sample + the ot datafile.
else i would

rhizome wrote:
my idea works! I can't tell how useful it will be yet, and it might be a combo you'll need your super move meter charged for...

in case any other MIDI-synced live samplers are listening, here's a (relatively) simple example of what to do:

1. set the T1 (or whichever) recorder to sample a silent source for 64 steps, and sample the silence

2. open the T1 buffer in the audio editor, and create a 4-slice grid

3. set the T2 recorder to sample 16 steps of your source, however you like to do it (I like quantized manual sampling of thru machines), and sample that

4. open the T2 buffer in audio editor and copy the whole thing. it should all be selected when you go from TRIM to EDIT. if you fumble, do a select all

5. open the T1 buffer in the editor, go to EDIT, and paste your loop from the T2 buffer

6. tweak your sample source, and repeat steps 3+4

7. open the T1 buffer, go to SLICE, and hit the right arrow to advance to slice 2

8. go to EDIT. slice 2 should be highlighted

9. paste the second version of your loop from the T2 buffer

see -- just nine easy steps! repeat twice more to get 4 versions of a loop you can easily toggle between without changing patterns on the OT or sample locking. obviously you can take it further from there (more slices, or longer empty sample to add more iterations of the loop, etc).

too cumbersome for real live use I imagine, but studio-wise I think it could beat sampling into ableton clips, xfer to card, and so on. plus zero sync headaches.

ok I admit I find it fun to solve OT puzzles...

this is fascinating ... i didn't know it was possible to paste into slice positions of a sample in the editor! cool

i guess it would also be possible to start recording to a buffer and trig four different 4 bar samples, one after each four bars has played, and then save the buffer and slice that as a sample chain?


just got this other cool idea about sample chains ...

how awesome would it be to have 16 different sample chains, with 16 different percussion and vocal one-shots on each ...

then go into slot mode, record some funky rhythm pattern realtime, while a funky minimal tech house loop is playing on another track...

and go out of slot mode,
listen to the sequenced percussion track, and have an LFO selecting random slice start positions ...

uber variation!

[edit: just realised it would need to be a Flex machine so the LFO is super accurate when selecting start positions, as the manual says this is best achieved with samples in RAM]

i was 100 percent motivated to start the journey of creating sample chains,
but then realised it was actually a better idea to learn what sounds cool,
what i actually have the most fun working with on the OT...

the Octatrack really is an exotic beast..
requires a somewhat cautious approach before starting to develop familiarity and trust.

and then after a couple of months or so,
start to re-approach the sample chain achievement cycle.