AN IDIOT'S GUIDE TO SAMPLING ON THE ELEKTRON OCTATRACK (I'M THE IDIOT)

[@dudemanxx]

I enjoyed this video. Something I want to remind everyone.... you can leave the sources enabled for AB, CD and SRC3 even if you only want to sample from one of those inputs. So if you wanted to sample from either A, C or MAIN, for example, you'd set those up and simply choose REC1, REC2 or REC3, respectively, to sample from the sources laid out in the first setup page. In my head, I always imagine that setup page as a mixer of sorts, thinking I'd always be grabbing from all of the sources, so I would leave 'unused' sources blank. But because you have to select between REC1, REC2 or REC3 during recording (and also when placing recorder trigs on the sequencer) you don't have to worry about grabbing an unwanted source. I have only recently been putting consistent (hardly tho) time in with the OT and keep finding things that I initially find to be super annoying, only to realize it was the simplest way to enable a whole lot of functionality. It's been said a thousand times but this machine is really thoughtfully designed. Glad you were able to find some time for yourself to decompress, and also glad to see you back. Have a good'n.

[@AtTheTableGames]

it’s this sort of in-my-face obvious and yet somehow subtle stuff that would always totally fly under my radar. this will change my template a bit! thank you so much for the insightful comment and useful information. consider this comment pinned!

[@dudemanxx]

​@@AtTheTableGames It's an honor- glad I could help! Thank you for the channel, friend. It's been a blast learning with ya.

[@randalb7930]

And to follow up... it can get a little brain-achy if you’re trying to understand mono sampling... I’m thinking of doing a video series for real musicians (no offense haha) that wish to test that courage using the octatrack as a looper live, for vocals or guitar. Samples always are created in stereo WAVs- if you want to Rec vocal on a thru in track one, guitar on a thru in track 5, and pan them respectively L and R... it’s fun until you realize you have to hard pan them in the (forgot) page.... change to a new pattern or bank without that panning... and boom, killer feedback as the channels blend back to center if un prepared... you can check out my super secret, about to delete, test page at Time Dissolution here on KZbin. Please don’t subscribe or like. Cheers

[@levinsonl]

dude, thank you for this comment!!

[@dudemanxx]

@@levinsonl glad to see you’ve found it helpful. Happy Holidays!

[@nottieru]

Thank you! Exactly what I needed after three days with the Octatrack’s manual. A step-by-step slow walkthrough.

[@inarahmusic3369]

You're amazing on camera. Been watching tutorials on synths and groove boxes literally all day and bored out of my mind, lol. Very refreshing tutorial. Thank you!!

[@nworbnimajneb]

The QPL parameter sets the playback quantization of the recording, expressed in 16th note steps. This attribute is also stored in the corresponding sample's slot, and determines the behavior of the sample (or the pickup machine) when triggered manually. By setting QPL to PLEN (Pattern length), or a given number of steps, a manually triggered pickup or sample will start playing back next time the pattern loops, or to an aligned position within the pattern, rather than immediately. This is useful when you want to manually trig pickups or samples (both flex and static) in sync with the sequencer. On normal slots, both flex and static, the QPL parameter is found in the sample editor attributes page. On recordings, both the sample editor attribute and the Record setup QPL parameter change the same value.

[@joryblock7129]

one of the best - watched 3 times so far. Thank you for putting this out into the interwebs

[@reec6389]

My investigation on QPL: Quantized Playback matters when you use a Pickup Machine for sampling. Other than sampling with Flex machines, the P/U machine is more what you consider as a „looper“ with following anatomy: For recording it‘s not the REC 1/2/3 relevant any more, it‘s the GREY LETTERS under the Rec buttons. Pickup+: recording and always overdubbing UNLESS you press Pickup play/stop: Stops overdubbing mode. A second press stops the playback...And now the magic: A third press of PICKUP play/stop reactivates the playback and with QUANTIZED PLAY it‘s your choice whether you want to restart the playback right away or at the beginning of a new pattern to keep it in timing or after given trig counts... Consider it as a counter part of QREC only for the restart of playback from P/U machines... Cheerz

[@TheAhKiller]

Nice one bro, lovely explanation!

[@ModernDevotion]

You can actually see in the recording setup page 1 screen under the 16seconds, it will show how many steps at the current tempo are available in memory.

[@lennyandcarl23]

Thanks so much for your Octatrack videos - I picked one up and while the manual is pretty detailed, it doesn't go into the finer points of how to do certain things. Really appreciate it!

[@randalb7930]

More on QPL.... so I record my guitar in the background, splitting the guitar to a live speaker PRE-octa... I grab 16 bar loops but I don’t play them back til further into the song. Using the trigs in the track playback mode, not slices, or chromatic, I can reach over to the trig number 1-8 (or 9-16) I forgot. Any way, yea, when quantized, I can hit that button before the downbeat comes around' assuming QPL is set to PLENGTH. Now my guitar loop plays back perfectly on time with my RYTM playing alongside slaved to the octa.

[@technopriest8686]

I would love to see you do this in a live video of some kind. I'm trying to achieve something very similar, I just don't have an Octatrack yet haha.

[@randalb7930]

@@technopriest8686 my KZbin is “time dissolution “

[@tom-541]

At 15:33 I just had to keep rewinding. I couldn't stop laughing. I'm glad you're helping everybody make a C-Deh.

[@ModernDevotion]

Quantized playback. Allows you to quantize your live playing. Set it to 2 steps and playing silices live will play on an 1/8th note grid this might make sense if you’re flipping a break in real time and want to make the live playing sound musical or at least more musical. It’s like cheating for programing drums or hits live.

[@benielbrauner9571]

It also quantizes the playback of a pickup Maschine, if you already recorded a loop, stopped the playback and start the sequencer again (then you have to hit Track button and play)

[@unic0de-yvr]

that's super cool.. it's weird for this to be a recording buffer setting instead of a flex/pickup machine setting though, right? I can see lots of reasons you'd want the same quantization trick on any random sample you're playing

[@ModernDevotion]

@@unic0de-yvr you can set it up in the audio editor for any sample.

[@ModernDevotion]

@@unic0de-yvr it’s on the properties or attributes page. Whatever it’s called.

[@unic0de-yvr]

@@ModernDevotion oh right on, thanks

[@Madeguydo]

The ab cd parameters in the second setup menu are a godsend for pickup machines, they simply let you monitor the input while the track is selected, regardless if you’re recording or not.

[@MidlifeSynthesist]

Not all heroes wear capes. I can’t believe you actually made an Octatrack tutorial that was this funny and easy to digest, Amazing work bro!🤟🏻

[@mcgwwide]

omg - finally someone who explained how to get a sample into the Octatrack - THANK YOU SO MUCH

[@theb_roll]

I laughed out loud at the human centipede analogy. I don't even own an octatrack. I come for the commentary

[@KrisBarton432]

Me too 🤣🤣🤣

[@theobnard]

+1 hahahaha still laughing!

[@daniellanekimball]

that intro was one of the funniest intros i've ever seen in a music gear tutorial, props to you! keep up the good work!

[@mcdance1311]

such a funny watch. my brain would be working hard to understand but then I would fall out laughing and miss the next instruction. working through this stuff this week. thanks my dude

[@PeterStrijbos]

Dude.... you're a livesaver! Still getting confused about sampling options now and then. I have the Octatrack for 2 months now. Because of my everlasting gratitude, in return I'm donating all my money to you (Which is nothing, I'm into Eurorack)

[@amosluyk]

Came for the sampling info, stayed for the humour :)

[@Discise]

Thank you so much for your videos. I have so much fun watching just because of your ironic way to get around this complex piece of gear.

[@stanbekker]

You made me spill my drink a lot of times and I am grateful for it! Thanks octodad

[@martinjaakola5634]

Thanks for the tutorials, these with the manual are helping decipher this tool, little by little!

[@christopherwilson8207]

Quantize playback is good for pickup machines if you’re switching straight from recording to playback (not to overdubbing) from my experience. Great for layering loops. Not sure if there’s already a comment for this

[@t1d3s]

Super awesome channel dude, subbed for sure! Really helping me out with the behemoth that is the Octatrack, very engaging. Take good care 🙏🙏

[@izme4700]

Finally!!! I haven’t even learned to use this thing since 5 months ago when I bought it I did get it to make a noise last week though

[@samadhist]

Don’t let this gear break you. There is so much more fun musical equipment. This one is ugly, but useful if you’re willing to suffer the nonsense of their workflow.

[@johnmadere]

Instant sub. Super helpful info on Octatrack. About to have my second crack at owning one and checking out as many videos as I can to be better this time.

[@ronsone8373]

My favorite time of the week!

[@peacefulpigeon7254]

This is excellent - so funny - spent many happy hours at the beginning recording nothing with record trig on because I was completely confused!! Thanks for the entertaining explanations this is gold....

[@gavindytham]

First video of yours that I have had watched, and even though it is past my bedtime, I watched it all because it was informative, engaging and funny and I have slightly fallen instantly in love with you a bit and I have a lovely new Anniversary Edition Octatrack MKII and I have a lot to learn! Thanks, I will definitely watch more of your videos and continue to love you: of that I am sure, unless of course I die before then, but will probably watch more of your videos even if I’m kicking it in the afterlife, in which case I will be sure to comment and let you know if they have Octatracks there. Peace out.

[@suntzu6122]

Thanks for making this digestible. This machine has the most disgusting learning curve without people like you.

[@AdamsBrew78]

I’ve had a new Octatrack Mk2 for months now that I’ve yet to produce anything on ..barely turned it on a few times, where I go - “nope..gotta tackle this some rainy future day when I have the mind energy” and then I’m back to my studio full of other comfort zone gear… Thanks to your videos I think I’m closer to cracking this enigma and actually looking forward to it.

[@TheEskimosPantry]

Did you crack it? I'm a couple of weeks in and I am thinking it isn't worth the pain.

[@brainspoke]

have built house... long story.... unearthed Octatrack mk.1.... have Nanolooop FM going in AB...... following closely.... thanks so much for being so down to earth,,, this thing (Octa) is a beast!!

[@gillescafedjian1381]

Thank you for this video, I'm planning to get an octatrack and I was a bit curious of how it work. Now I have a better view of sampling in the OT. It look awsome.

[@nathansparks6285]

Bless you! Wish I had ya for all my years of calculus.

[@bouguification]

Very enjoyable videos. A few times you didn't know something and I was like "hey! I know this one". I think I'm starting to get a good grasp on this machine.

[@otuon2441]

As a new (day 1) octa user i just wanted to say thank you for this! My brain can actually comprehend this.

[@AJBuckleybutnottheonefromcsi]

I was LITERALLY at my job TODAY, and it was slow, and I was reading the sampling section of the manual with TEARS streaming down my face. Now it’s my lunchbreak and I know everything I love you, thankyou Dad.

[@EZBOT_]

Very nice work Dan! ❤️

[@curtainsinmotion]

Immensely useful! Thanks a lot Octadad!

[@patrickhewitt14]

No joke, the way I made sense of samples/record buffers in my head when I first got it...incoming audio is the fish you’re after, you catch it and it stays in the net, the record buffer. BUT if you want to keep that fish, toss ‘em in the boat by SAVING.

[@AtTheTableGames]

this is also a very good analogy!! good job patrick

[@patrickhewitt14]

@@AtTheTableGames Better at analogies for it than playing it lol BUT I learned a big thing straight away from this video! I’ve been keeping my DIR in mix AND thru machines on like a FOOL! Gotta fix that tonight.

[@patrickp9624]

I'm like: "I know how basic sampling works on the OT...but maybe dad has some new insights" end of the video: "nah, didn't learn anything new but grabbing a beer, watching and listening to OD (OctaDad, fyi) making brilliant jokes about covid and human centipedes is simply beautiful." thanks

[@thisisokmusic3721]

Great Dan, it's so funny (REC2) and so educational....thank you so much

[@GarthVader666]

In the process of watching this the second time. I’m just about to sell my Maschine Mk3 to fund an Octatrack. They are $2000 up here in Canada! 😵 so this video is a big help with sampling, as well as reminding me how slow and annoying my next couple months are going to be. Thanks Octadad 🙏

[@patrickcampbell2267]

Kickass rundown I'm subscribing

[@willdahbe]

"we're gonna shit some audio down the throat of the recording buffer of the octatrack". aaaand subscribed. :D

[@beatnikcafe]

Do you have a tutorial on how to use the OT as a live looper? I’d like to be able to live loop as easily as using a Pigtronix Infinity Looper but instead of 2 stereo loopers, I want 4 loopers

[@ron2298]

Awesome lol video thank you for this. You had me rolling when the 2nd page came up. Wow great thanks man keep em coming stay safe Godspeed

[@eeeyyyeee]

really really clear intro to sampling. really really funny stuff. thank you kindly. subscribed.

[@lwalto]

"shit some audio down the throat of that audio buffer..." I about fucking died.

[@suntzu6122]

We need more messy desk daniel protips series for this bad boy. I miss your OT vidjas 😢

[@xivivix7195]

2:50 I'm confused. Does that mean that we'll be recording the audio from T1 or T7?

[@KyleDaybreak]

I had an OT mk1 for a while, one the biggest complaints I had with it was not being able to save samples into folders after you sample something into the machine and want to immediately save the sample. And then also if you save a sample, and then go into card tools and move the sample into a folder, it will leave the project. I dont understand how for a machine as sophisticated as the OT, something as simple as saving and organizing samples is really complicated. Was I just doing it wrong?

[@paulandreas7955]

Hey octadad, i didn't get the part with the banks..and also how do you set a track as a master track? i'm french so..that's why..

[@clifmeister]

Just have my Octatrack! and this tutorial helped me alot!

[@domingoleija3436]

Definitely fascinated with the fancy options and I would need a tutor in vivo

[@TheHughyg]

Nice vid mate. If I record into a buffer day track 1. Then I record again into buffer 1 does it wipe my previous recording?? This is doing my head in!!

[@robertsyrett1992]

By the way, what has more brutal menu systems, JRPG or the OT?

[@johnslater154]

You are fun, funny and greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[@kisho2679]

can a software update to do stems separation from audio recorded samples be expected?

[@fifedawg1906]

Man, I have to tell you this. I’ve had the octatrack for 3 days now, and I’m sitting here taking notes from this video. Your presentation is great, funny, and keeps me interested. Keep up the Awesome Work!!💯💪🏾

[@dan1111111a]

This helped me out a lot! I like your attitude! ❤

[@wreignone]

So, Im wondering if its a good idea tohook up my daw to octatrack, U think one could hook ableton up to octatrack for things like keys? I think it may be useful. Has anyone else done this? thanks

[@BillyMcBride]

Thanks, Octadad for your help!

[@hasan7786]

Just saying "you got QBL" and CD" got my subscription.

[@Nico-gl8gz]

wow this video is so well done and you are so sympathetic, 14:42 was actually really wholesome! Thank you for this video :)

[@thetimefly]

How do you save it as a template? You have referenced that more than once.... CHEERS and THANK YOU!

[@MusicWizard85]

I don't even own an Octatrack but this video and your commentary made me subscribe. I own a Roland MC707 and play multiple instruments (drums, keys, guitar, bass). Do you think Octatrack would compliment my set up or be overkill? What are your thoughts on the Digitakt or any of the MPC products? Octatrack seems the easiest and most intuitive for sampling.

[@LukeLine]

This is amazing, like all your vids!! Watched in case I get a OT ;)

[@buschovski1]

the messy desk...great name man.

[@Lepetitortu]

Thanks a lot but reamlya lot, just one question, how do you save a sample ????

[@el_dani]

Function + Rec 3 or in audio editor

[@Born_in_92]

Wondering about slicing after sampling or using a long sample. If I cut like 6 slices is there a way to delete the rest of the unused bits to not use up all the flex ram and keep my slices . What I’ve found on the OT was crop to selection but it only does one slice. Shit idk

[@majojenco2200]

Daniel Thank you so much for this, and your sense of humor!

[@H3ath]

Came for the sampling info, stayed for the wit.

[@AmyKnoles]

Sometimes I feel like a rare mushroom…people keep me in the dark and feed me shit! Feel free to adapt that joke to manuals that leave out that one thing that you really need to understand!! Don’t hate us Boomers?!? We had to deal with the “Dawn of MIDI” and Yamaha and Akai manuals translated very poorly from Japanese with no videos!! 🤓 Load floppy discs on stage in the middle of a show( while playing solo)!! Dealt with foreign power supplies where the stage manager puts a wool hat over it and says “don’t toouch!”, it blows up your Kurzweil and the Estonian white lab coat guys decided to add solder to the fuse to make it big enough to work.💁 They did always hand you a shot of vodka just before you stepped on stage tho😎 All this to say, fabulous video!! Needed a refresher to get back on the horse with live sampling and you really brought it all back which means I may now really understand what I am doing without having to dig up,some old notes, and still loose my shit. Your way of getting it across is very much how I teach, bad jokes and lots of “fuck!!”, “‘don’t touch that….oooohhhhhh!!”, “never unplug cables w the mixer on”…after doing it for the 3rd time that class. Some of my students enter class with protective headphones on…Anyway, now going to dig for more of your very fine videos!!

[@morganllewellyn8343]

Rec Trigs made me laugh in hysterics, that’s so stupid powerful.

[@toshea1980]

Fuck I needed this video. I was constantly pressing the AB record button and getting silence when I was actually sampling from CD. Was confused because I had the Pickup Machine recording method in my head while recording to Flex machines. Thanks OctaDad! I promise not to put you in a home when you become old, feeble, and shit yourself regularly!

[@ovnd6825]

As far as I can put my head around it, setting QPL to RLEN makes it that when your manual trigger a recording buffer (let's say at step 34/64) it will only start playing at step 1/64 (assuming that the master is set to 64 as well). I guess this makes it possible to trigger up to 7 or 8? recording buffers at the same time.

[@ryanhursh6322]

Entertaining and informative as usual. What I’ve been trying to figure out is how to save samples to a specific directory, otherwise they all end up in the main folder and this conflict me with my obsessive compulsive nature. I can work the Octatrack quite comfortably but it’s a sloppy machine in that way... which is great for a guy with a messy desk. Any idea how to save samples into sub-folders without have to plug the machine into a computer? .

[@KyleDaybreak]

I had this exact same problem when i owned an OT, sorry i dont know the answer to this. Also if you go into card tools afterwards and move a sample into a folder, it will get removed from whatever project it was being used in. This actually completely ruined a track for me.

[@el_dani]

@@KyleDaybreak I know it's work, but can't you just reassign the samples? A pity that it doesn't sample in some kind of special project audio folder

[@el_dani]

I did some research: Have a look at 8.4 Project Menu in the manual (p.32) - maybe Collect Samples and Purge Samples help !?

[@harmenvlies]

Excellent video, i had a hard time sampling.. Turned out to be pushing A/B input button while my input was on C/D, No wonder my sample was silent 🤪

[@thebadterrorists5323]

Huh I've been trying for two weeks to record something and still nothing. I have never owned a piece of gear like this before, I'm sure any year now I will get it to sample.

[@ron2298]

So I got the bad boy today and now I have to load up the factory content I updated it and dropped the folder to the cf card but don’t know how to load samples to tracks if that is what I need to do I dont know. Can you put a video about how to get started thank you in advance

[@AtTheTableGames]

hey, ron, feel free to DM me on instagram and i’ll be happy to help you sort through that. it’s really not to bad at all. stoked you picked up an octatrack!

[@el_dani]

Double click on the track button to assign samples.

[@Limbic1000]

soo helpfull! thank youu Dan

[@davidvelez5287]

Thanks for the video, it was awesome! Question: when you are in the Recording Set Up 1, at the bottom right you have the 16s indicating the amount of time you want to record, and below that you have a 128. What does this mean? I notice that when the Octatrack tempo is at 120bpm, that number is at 128. Why? I don't see it mentioned anywhere in the manual. Does somebody know what it is?

[@el_dani]

It‘s goint to record for the length of 128 steps.

[@michaeldevries5660]

Great video! Thank you! How do you rate Octotrack Vs Abelton in terms of ease of use and overall creative workflow?

[@woutervandam7334]

thank you, I like you and your help.

[@el_dani]

I saw the thumbnails a long time ago, knew that this is going to be interesting, wasn't expecting something that entertaining - you deserve more subscribers, but then the great quality of the comment section will water down, oh my god I don't even feel worthy to enter my lame comment - hm let's klick ENTER and run away (to watch your other content)

[@auxlen]

I learn more from your mistakes than I do my own...keep making them.

[@J_Carter]

14:50 - 15:16 😆My liege, you are f'n hilarious. Thanks for breaking it down for us

[@MrRob33]

Damn Jesus give the magicians back their rabbits! Thanks for the video, you rule.

[@RodrigoToledo-d8p]

Fantastic tutorial 🤍

[@ZigbertD]

Just really digging into a lot of sampling and resampling on my Octatrack after using it kind of like a Digitakt on steroids for nearly a year of owning it. Great video, covers some stuff I already knew but I also learned a lot of stuff and just saw some different ways of thinking about stuff. What occurs to me about sampling from the Cue output is that you can add any combo of tracks to it, instead of just one track or all tracks. I haven't tried it yet either buy it seems really powerful.

[@audeon_visual]

I feel like a better hypothetical parent and octatrack owner. Thank you for the life guidance.

[@arhnstaylor4061]

God bless Octadad!

[@domingoleija3436]

I'm happy with my Mod: Cycles but which box would be least divey after following m.cycles? $yntack or OCTATRACK . I'm slow and y'all be fast so a 61 year old percussionista has no more long time menu drowning 😢

[@mickpattison7489]

Easily the most entertaining tut’s on the tube 👍 I’m going to figure this shit out and be a big badass beat making bad boy... someday 😀

[@petersambrini6693]

Thankyou. You are the best octadad in the world!

[@roganferguson]

Hello. I wanted to offer a suggestion for how to improve your videos, because I enjoy your sense of humor, so I want your videos to be better: More demonstrations that cut to your hands modeling a process on the OT. This is a video that purports to teach newbs about sampling... what is the minute-mark where you actually demonstrate how to take a sample? I suggest a quick demo of a technique that shows your hands performing a task, then cut to all of this exposition and humor that make your vids interesting.

[@josemarquez950]

In the overhead shot, is that... a can of lacroix that’s been sitting open for 10 minutes?

[@UnitE808]

I believe it’s a Bubly

[@paolodepetris7034]

I loved every second of this video

[@michals1453]

Hi, thanks for your videos. I was wondering when you record a synthesizer, e.g. novation peak, do you send the signal through an audio interface or a mixer or any kind of processing or do you send it directly from its output to the input AB in the octatrack?

[@OtherSideOfTheVoid]

thank you very much dad, I love you