Octatrack: Microtonality, Crossfader/Scene Modulation
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- Although the Octatrack is not designed for microtonal applications, generation of arbitrary frequencies is possible through a few different methods. The third method demonstrated for microtonality represents an unusual paradigm for modulation on the Octatrack, and further implications of this technique are examined.
0:59 microtonality with single cycle waveforms
2:06 microtonality with comb filter synthesis
4:12 microtonality with crossfader sequencing
6:50 MIDI LFOs for crossfader modulation
15:41 scene slot modulation setup
16:25 scene slot modulation audio demo
for a general approach to make accessing microtonality more convenient, check out this video on re-sampling notes of a scale and using slices to generate melodies - • Octatrack: Generative ...
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This midi cross fader / scene modulation is dope. Can't thank you enough to revolutionate my OT even without a damn new OS :DDDD
Good evening, is that the OT midi implementation chart at 5:17? is it available anywhere? Thank you, your tutorials are insane!!!
After watching this video, I'm reconfiguring my MOTU 8X8 midi router to allow mini fold back of the octatrack to itself to explore these concepts.
These hierarchical methods remind me of the complexity of FM synthesis in the various Algorithms, bit in this case, we're working with meta-control value, rather than oscillator Phase value(s).
...if the CrossFader worked could sweep MIDI Track params, them this foundation cold create a closed loop of generative control...more specifically, it would form a mobious figure 8 path, with the single-point CF value at the intersection.
yes, exactly! 'meta-modulation' or 'sequencing sequencers' are some of the terms I tend to use to describe these approaches. The big issue with this approach where it hits a wall is MIDI bandwidth, which is why they didn't allow the crossfader to control a ton of CCs at once, would totally bog everything down. If you're having Elektrons talk to each other using Turbo MIDI you can get around this a bit as it increases the MIDI speed by 10x, although I've never tried (do not have Elektron turbo MIDI device). Using a MIDI re-mapper/translator you can use the crossfader as a 'macro CC' but the amount of messages sent very quickly overwhelms and causes problems
overall I greatly enjoy exploiting these types of techniques, but I am always focused on getting the most out of the simplest versions of them, that send the least amount of MIDI messages, as I prefer to have very stable and repeatable results - which is also why I have a lot of eurorack - I previously did more of this stuff with MIDI approaches until I started hitting the limits of the MIDI protocol, which really doesn't take much!
Damn... that last trick is going to keep me busy for the rest of the year. Thanks for sharing.
awesome! haha, I definitely buried the lede on this one! :D
14:17 Formula 1 time :D This is so inspiring. Shout out Guru Max.
I am so excited to explore the possibilities that sequencing the cross fader allows for, thanks for sharing this! Great video! One question though, I noticed the cc message is going to track one crossfader via midi, does this affect all tracks or just track one? If I send a midi cc to track 2 at the same time, does that change the scene effects on scene 2 while scene one is selected by ch1 cc, or is there an averaging of the values or something? Thanks again Max!
thank you!! crossfader is always global and does not apply per-track - it's a single number always represented by CC #48. Moving the physical crossfader simply updates the CC value. The value of CC #48 will always jump to whatever the most recently received MIDI message tells it to be, whether that comes from moving the crossfader, or a MIDI track/external sequencer. I'm a little unclear on the specific MIDI implementation, but it seems that sending a CC #48 message to any MIDI channel that's mapped to an audio track is able to update the crossfader value (I originally assumed I would be using the autochannel but I was wrong - I'm still not 100% clear on this myself)
Love these OT tutorials. This particular video is really inspiring. Keep 'em coming. Thanks.
thanks a lot! I periodically see people ask if microtonality is possible on OT so I thought it'd be good to do a video where the answer is 'yes, but probably not the way you'd like it' :D
I hope you get more views/subscriptions. This is high quality content. Keep it coming!
thank you, really appreciate that! just have to keep on keeping on :)
Please make more! These are priceless
thank you!! always discovering new aspects to this machine!
amazing work. I love those sounds you made as well. Following x
thanks a lot! hehe, the MIDI LFOs on crossfader modulation example got more than a bit silly, I thought to shoot a different version but I liked how quickly it became ridiculous, which is a pretty likely result with ham-fisted usage of that technique :D
unbelievable. thank you for your service
Brilliant tutorial yet again,love your octatrack videos
thanks a lot! always trying to make them a little better, very cool machine to work with, but tough to demo properly!
@@maxmarco yeah I've had my octatrack 4 years this year.still amazes me with finding out new stuff on it.still yet to use pick up machines.i think it's my only instrument I wouldn't sell
I used pickup machines once, 4 years ago... hahah!! I have been meaning to set up a project to try them out to do re-sampling overdubs, like switch to part that replaces the flex machine with a pickup machine, overdub onto the record buffer, and then go back to a part with a flex machine accessing that record buffer again
Great vid. Thank you.
The midi lfo is modulating everything assigned to the scene together and at the same rate, though? I might try this out with another random lfo changing the CC destination of the modulating lfo but that could be a bit too noisy...
not sure I totally follow - changing the destination of a MIDI CC lfo is an interesting idea in general, but the crossfader is represented directly as a CC so you can't change the destination of the LFO modulating it - you simply won't be modulating the crossfader anymore
Amazing video, thank you!
my pleasure, thank you!
Cool tricks, but IMHO microtonality without tuning tables/scala files and polyphony is a bit of a waste of time.
this video is more about the fundamental concepts than microtonality per se, and I would also contend that perhaps if one cannot tune their microtonal intervals by ear then maybe they shouldn't be bother to use microtonality in their music quite yet - I'd say it's quite similar to blindly shoving MIDI through the scale effect in Ableton. When I actually have used these techniques I don't use a tuner, as it is about the exploration of my intuitions as it relates to re-tuning intervals to suit the feelings I'm looking to evoke
also, it is very trivial to use these techniques to re-sample a microtonal scale, and then slice that file for easy and dynamic access - ua-cam.com/video/tBtk8_4O3MM/v-deo.html
@@maxmarco I would set up a single sound identically on N tracks for N-polyphony. Send the MIDI from the Octa sequencer/keyboard through Scala on a computer and back in to the Octa. Each note of a chord split into separate channels with separate pitch bend commands. This is roughly how I played microtonal music on an Analog Four somewhat successfully.
Thinking Elektron devices have perfectly consistent designs is a trap many have fallen into, including myself :) the OT sample playback tracks don't respond to pitchbend, and I believe the MIDI tracks only send/receive a 7-bit value for it. That's why in this video the 3rd microtonal example uses the crossfader mapped to sample pitch as a proxy for pitchbend - otherwise I would have just looped back the pitchbend value from the MIDI track to re-tune the samples instead of tying up the crossfader. Regardless, the most practical way to access microtonality on the octatrack is via slicing of an audio file containing the pitches you want, whether or not you control via external MIDI - this approach is actually quite flexible, powerful, and has unique advantages that are not always readily apparent, potentially making it far richer in possibilities than the scenario you describe, while also actually being quite a bit simpler in implementation