Unleashing Your Octatrack: 4 Methods for External Effects Setup

[@EZBOT_]

Join the discord! discord.gg/KUSBH9h My website: ezbot.live

[@blue_dream_steam]

Spent most of the night figuring this out only to wake up to a video posted 3 days ago explaining it perfectly. At least now I have a definitive reference!

[@matthewdavis473]

As a guitar player with an overly indulgent pedal habit this video sold me on the OT

[@Le_Mat.]

Woaw thanks bro you rock! Now I can use my SP404 Mk2 with my OT. I gave up until I see your tutorial. You do an amazing work on your channel, Absolutely helpful. Thanks for existing!

[@EZBOT_]

Happy to help!

[@TNNLZ]

Thanks!

[@EZBOT_]

Ha, thanks so much!

[@lebotseurch]

Amazing video, thanks for this Mathew! The more i m discovering about the OT capabilities, the more i m amazed by the ingenuity of those engineers who built it

[@EZBOT_]

Thank you!

[@mickwiese3819]

great video! I have the OT since 12 years and always see more ways to use it! THX

[@AltusNoumena]

Can you then resample from the external effects? I just got an octatrack and your videos are the best out here on KZbin!

[@EZBOT_]

You can! Just sample the return the track

[@SKRDyaheard]

So lovely. I struggle with wanting to hook up too much to the OT. A digitakt and microcosm kinda maxes out the inputs… but i would love to add a Digitone:(

[@hazelbenton9634]

Since the digitakt has its own inputs, you could always run the digitone into the digitakt Alternately, the digitone has inputs too, so you could have an fx send that runs octa --> microcosm--> digitone. This probably makes gain staging/mixing a little harder since you'd have your digi synths & the fx send coming in on the same stereo channel. But on the upside your fx send could have the digitone's reverb, delay, and master overdrive layered On Top of the hologram for extra extreme fx But yeah I would love an octatrack with a bunch more inputs. Dream of the octa-input octatrack

[@jeejeeBlaps]

"I'm not the boss of you" Thanks for this video, Matthew. Great tips.

[@EZBOT_]

You’re welcome boss :)

[@OFFMike]

Thanks Ez it’s a dope tips you answered once again to many of my questions at ounce thanks a lot. MD

[@EZBOT_]

Happy to help!

[@dxtrs_mnpltr]

Thanks a lot for the amazing Octa tips!

[@TimesOfTheSines.official]

Thanks for your output too... really glad to have found ya

[@danwenger5281]

Wow, I didn't know there are that many ways to utilizing external effects, thanks for sharing Matthew! very insightful. I was just wondering, what do you do if you're in a live performance and wanted to do dj style cueing of tracks (to prepare them with headphones before going "live"), is there a way to still incorporate external fx with one of the methods you mentioned? or will this either way let my cued tracks out through the cue outs -> through external fx -> into OT -> back out through A/B? hope this makes sense

[@adamstetzer2910]

Helpful and clear. As always Matt! This is very helpful for those of us who still struggle with the immense power (and therefore complexity) of the OT. Thanks again! P.S. I had the same question about the performance template - which you answered below.

[@cldbrbn6070]

Your videos are gold

[@Judasz696]

Maybe in the mk3 they should drop all digital effects altogether and just make more inputs for external fx pedals.

[@rich_qwik]

another jem from the octaboss

[@jjohnson4301]

Boss, It is not possible to be this talented. It is at least illegal. It’s not human. It’s like you and the machine are one in the same. Only a robot can play those live sets. There are not enough hours in the day to achieve that ability. There would be no time to sleep. It can’t be done. Humans have limitations. Bots don’t.

[@EZBOT_]

Best comment in a while

[@HelicopterRidesForCommunists]

Yeah he is my Octadad guru. Honestly his videos convinced me to buy an Octatrack and he personally helped convince me to get the Digitakt as well, which I just so happened to buy on the day firmware 1.5 went live. Synchronicity, anyone?

[@rossawilson01]

You can have a specific level of send on a per track basis without studio mode. Just hit cue to send / mute track, and hold cue again to then adjust the cue level of that track. Also just my take but I have an external mixer which all outboard gear goes into, and it’s out goes to the octatrack AB. So you’re just plugging your synth and everything else into that and your effects and your octatrack is another input to the mixer.

[@prestonhart6685]

Is the OT able to sample the wet fx and source sound to a new track using these methods?

[@EZBOT_]

Absolutely, all of them.

[@blue_dream_steam]

Is this usuable with the performance template without modification?

[@EZBOT_]

No, The template uses both inputs

[@EZBOT_]

Actually you could if the return from the unit goes into another boxes audio in and the fx set up is send and not insert

[@TNNLZ]

It’s like you’re reading my mind about what I need to learn next… Gonna use this to provide an additional effect with the modular. Thanks! Is there some sort of Tip Jar? 😊

[@EZBOT_]

Thanks! You could join the Patreon :) or you can use a “super thanks” right here on KZbin. Your kind words are enough though

[@TNNLZ]

Ah - I like the Super Thanks option… Cheers!

[@boombap08]

For some reason when i set up my thru for my external synth to be routed to my microcosm it only works when i hit play on my OT. If i hit stop once the volume gets quieter… any reason? I thought a thru track will play regardless when i bring up the A/B ( synth ) volume?

[@blankgen8003]

You smart fella, lots to think about there.

[@HelicopterRidesForCommunists]

I’m not sure if you have any videos for how you would approach a hybrid Elektron Abelton Live setup both with and without Overbridge (considering it doesn’t work with Octa), but that’s what I’m doing with the Syn, Digi, and Octa along with the Push 2, and I would be very interested to hear your thoughts. In Ableton I have Overbridge routing to midi tracks with external instrument plug-ins on them that route the midi and audio tracks individually and it allows me to apply effects to each individual track as well as draw automation or record in automation. There’s got to be 1000 different ways this can be done so it would be nice to find maybe the top 3 ways to do it depending on preference and purpose. One thing I would really like to do is set up the Octatrack and have Ableton as the external FX loop. Alright, cheers.

[@atetraxx]

Can you set up your DAW as external effects? Would love to see a video on that.

[@EZBOT_]

You sure can!

[@percboi3000]

Quick question about the headphone output effects send. If I’m using the DIR level in the MIX to return the signal from a MONO pedal, I get the effects return only on one channel panned L/R depending on input I select (C or D), is there a workaround to return the effected signal (mono) on both sides? Or does this setup only work with a stereo return

[@EZBOT_]

if yo return into a THRU track you can bring the effects in MONO

[@percboi3000]

@@EZBOT_ thanks 🤝

[@boombap08]

For some reason when i set up my thru for my external synth to be routed to my microcosm it only works when i hit play on my OT. If i hit stop once the volume gets quieter… any reason? I thought a thru track will play regardless when i bring up the A/B ( synth ) volume? Edit: I re-listened to your set up and I guess thats just normal operation for thru tracks? Also side note, who knows how he has that mixer page on? I don’t think ive seen this page before…

[@Hysteric_Subjects]

Awesome. I’ve been thinking hard about how to incorporate my regular mixer with the OT. I realize it takes extra steps knowing where to gainstage and where to mute but allows me more in and outs. Curious if anyone has experience in this

[@ex1stenz]

Same here, now i have all My gears in chian going into abcd ot inputs… and the octa out in My 16 channel mixer… but i feel wrong using a 16chan mixer for 1 out… should i connect in a different way?

[@Hysteric_Subjects]

@@ex1stenz there’s no right way unless you are Ezbot :) but if you have bunches of stuff going into a normal mixer you can make that go into the In on one side and therefore capture anything - voice, instruments, and layering things to sample

[@Rooftopaccessorizer]

this is the exact combo of fx and octatrack i was wondering about.

[@zschallies]

Hey Matt, a question for you re: microcosm and octatrack. What input settings do you use on the Microcosm? Inst or line inputs? I have my octa sending to the microcosm on cue outs then to an interface but I'm finding gain staging difficult. The signal is always too hot for the microcosm resulting in ugly distortion. Thanks for all of your excellent video guides. Calling it content feels like a disservice!

[@EZBOT_]

You can adjust the gain input directly on the Microcosm, when you combine that with adjusting the output on the OT you should find a good spot

[@ex1stenz]

Wow gamechanger! If i can i have a question.. i have all My synths (mostly elektron gears) in inputs of the OT… then the octatrack out in to a mono in of My mixer (a&hzed16fx). Mixer Stereo channels are the ext effects returns But i dont know i feel this isn’t the right way. Is better to put all My gears in mixer channels and then go from the mixer into OT resampling? But how to select single Instruments to live resampling? Do you have a studio and a live setup with mixer connections? Which routing do you use?

[@prometheus963]

Can you use dual mono external send fx from the cue out? Or is it only possible to do a single mono send from cue out?

[@EZBOT_]

Only stereo out of the cue

[@alterego161]

When I work with headphones on the OT only, I get feedback with the oto boum as insert. Any tips what I need to look out for?

[@EZBOT_]

Sounds like you need a noise isolator? There are so many reasons for ground noise

[@jamiemartin9340]

Great vid, as always

[@austronaut5547]

Your smart watch is showing the bmp heart rate right? Or is that an app for detecting bmp of the sound?

[@EZBOT_]

No, haha I wish! That's my hearts BPM :)

[@xivivix7195]

Am I correct in assuming that the OT cannot affect the parameters of external gear with scenes/the x-fader via MIDI? Holy crap can you imagine if it could?

[@EZBOT_]

It can but it’s not easy to control, and it’s not how it’s designed to work

[@xivivix7195]

@@EZBOT_ Damn. One can dream. I love the idea of the scenes, but the onboard effects have started to show their age.

[@TimesOfTheSines.official]

Do u use any of the Heats? A great topic to cover, would be using Octatrack to cue out into a Heat... & then output Heats back into something like the Syntakt. U can control more with the Heats by using a midi track on Octatrack, which then allows u to have x3 extra midi lfos & the sequencer lane to automate & p.lock CC's for the Heat... & if u then also route back into Syntakt, the sky's the limit for Elektron style fx processing imo???

[@FallenTape]

Hi EZBOT! Thanks for your incredible work sensei :)) Is it normal to have easily saturation in the A-B-C-D inputs with an external synthesizer (or effect)? I don't seem to turn up the volume of my synths so much but... I don't know if this is my octatrack especially

[@EZBOT_]

Yeah the inputs on the OT are a bit sensitive especially if it’s a v1 Octatrack.

[@pfmmodule5144]

Perfect timing. My efx chain is a (very old) MF102 ring mod, an AMT analog delay and a Mercury 7 reverb. This video gave me a better understanding of how to incorporate these into the Octatrack. Thanks.

[@EZBOT_]

No problem!

[@parristaylor]

Fantastic! Great tips.

[@EZBOT_]

Thank you!

[@Judasz696]

Octatrack mk3 will need to have 4 stereo inputs and more outputs.

[@candrimusic]

🙌🏻

[@strangeattractor4959]

yo yo yo yo! light the g

[@diverbsity8398]

Man, way too complicated. For your setup hit CUE + REC2. This routes Input A+B to the Cue outs. Then just use the mixer, A+B is wet, C+D is dry. You don't even need to use a track.

[@EZBOT_]

But then you don’t get the insert effects on the external instrument. THRU machines are pretty easy to setup imo

[@diverbsity8398]

@@EZBOT_ True no Octatrack inserts but worrying about placing trigs is an extra complication when there are lots of others things to think about.. I generally have an OP1 on one input and modular on the other and can the send OP1 through modular by sending to cue bus if needed..

[@EZBOT_]

@@diverbsity8398 I should have added this method to the video, I totally spaced on it

[@bryanbytes]

Avoid headphones when using Cue

[@moreausylvain]

ok So .. I want to insert my microcosm to my octatrack and I fall on this video.. that's scary :P

[@GradyNickel]

I absolutely love your tutorials and you really do know the Octatrack well. But I have to offer a little constructive criticism; the editing, the way you always cut back to you talking into the camera, it's disconcerting and not necessary at all. It doesn't improve the video in any way. If you really want people to see you, just do it at the beginning and be done with it. Too much back and forth. Why do you think we need to see you so much? I promise I'm not picking at you, I'm actually curious. Anyway, great explanation as always.

[@EZBOT_]

It’s how I connect with people, I let viewers see me when I am talking to them. The cuts are usually times when I am not demonstrating but commenting on something. I do a lot of private lessons and these videos are very much how a private lesson looks/feels. Maybe I’ll experiment a bit, thanks for your feedback :)

[@GradyNickel]

@@EZBOT_ fair enough! Keep up the good work. It is definitely appreciated by many