5 Best Octatrack Features for Writing Songs & Making Beats

Рет қаралды 22,737

Күн бұрын

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The Elektron Octatrack certainly is a box of wonders with virtually unlimited features and approaches to songwriting, beat-making, and having fun in general. Here, I talk about my top 5 favorite things so far, after just about a month of playing around with it.
0:00 Intro
0:33 DistroKid Ad
1:45 The Song
4:58 Feature 1
7:50 Feature 2
9:48 Feature 3
12:50 Feature 4
16:06 Feature 5
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Пікірлер: 92

@MSNGR415 2 жыл бұрын

Loved the track. I’ve been dealing with some pretty bad bouts of anxiety over the past week, waiting to see my doc today. So I clicked on this vid because gear vids clear my head and I have to say your musical piece calmed me a bit. Great work

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Sorry to hear you’re going through it right now, that’s never fun. Mental health is no joke, and I’m glad music is able to help you find respite! I find it does the same for me. Be well!

@bororobo7036 Жыл бұрын

Daniel, your channel is the most useful YT channel for this type of music making. You saved me some serious time opposite to zillion of other channels that just wish to sell you something. Pls. continue, many thanks.

@SlowHaste Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much, that means a lot!! I certainly plan to keep on making vids :)

@futureperfectmusic7746 2 жыл бұрын

Small but useful "trick" is using the MIX button to hop in and out of track mutes if you want to keep your trigs dedicated to another function, such as freeze delay, during a performance.

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Oh awesome, thanks for that sharing that!

@Andronicus2007 Жыл бұрын

I have the Digitakt, which I love, and generally I don't need stereo tracks, but when I do I just use Audacity to split a stereo file into two mono ones. I then transfer them to my Digitakt, put the two mono samples on two different tracks then trigger them at the same time. Works really well!

@SlowHaste Жыл бұрын

That sounds like an excellent solution!

@meilstone 10 ай бұрын

I do that with percussive sounds like hihats. For such sounds, you don't even need to split the file, you can use two identical mono samples on different tracks, hard pan them to L and R and then change the micro timing of one track (or both) to get a stereo effect. It's the same principle as applying a chorus effect.

@OFFMike 2 жыл бұрын

Great work as usual, thanks

@BryanVehonsky Жыл бұрын

I don't think I've seen other videos clarify how muting is different on the Octatrack vs the Digis. Having spent the tedious time to "spread" a sample across 16 trigs so I could basically mute/unmute whenever I want I'm now really wanting an Octatrack lol. Great video!

@SlowHaste Жыл бұрын

Thanks Bryan, I appreciate it!! Glad you found it useful

@tatnallkennedy Жыл бұрын

Great track but maybe a little hot outta the ocyatrak it made my speakers screech

@PaulSalamoneComedy Жыл бұрын

Crossfader use around 3:45, so cool. And thanks for demo-ing the Octa in something other than synthi ambient or techno!

@SlowHaste Жыл бұрын

Thank you!! The octa can do anything you put it to!

@MichaalHell Жыл бұрын

This was really inspirational! Love the song as well! ❤

@SlowHaste Жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

@whendoesthisend 2 жыл бұрын

My first time with you and I got to see you peel it off. Thanks man. LOL

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Hahahh just the kind of comment I was hoping for

@maarzt Жыл бұрын

the Octatrack is really out there and Im taking an extreeeemely long and unhurried approach to "making it my own". The distinction between audio mutes and midi mutes was just up for me the yesterday and this video helped it sink in.

@SlowHaste Жыл бұрын

Awesome! I agree, letting it all absorb slowly is the best method with this one.

@PaulSalamoneComedy Жыл бұрын

For another great example of the percussive synth in #2, Barker‘s album „Utility“ seems to use it a lot (and he’s a heavy octatrack user)

@SlowHaste Жыл бұрын

I’ll give it a listen!

@lundsweden Жыл бұрын

Conversation with partner... Me: "I want to buy this mega expensive Swedish box", Partner: "What does it do", Me: "Kinda the same thing as the other mega expensive Swedish boxes I already have, just slightly different ", Partner: "Are you out of your freaking mind!" 😉

@SlowHaste Жыл бұрын

Hahah, I suppose it depends on what you’re using it for, but the OT can indeed be Big Digitakt

@she3po945 Жыл бұрын

So incredibly beautiful!!!

@SlowHaste Жыл бұрын

😎💕

@davearnold4426 2 жыл бұрын

that was a beautiful performance!!

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@NothingNowhereNoOne 2 жыл бұрын

You should do a video and talk about the sound quality of the Octa. A lot of people seem to be concerned with it.

@marsoblivi0n945 Жыл бұрын

It’s fine. Just make sure to use 24 bit mode. It’s sound is part of the charm.

@ryanhom3006 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah from the opening breakdown of the video to the end it was a valuable tutorial

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you, glad you found it useful!

@k-hunka 2 жыл бұрын

That was great! Thank you. Now I need one. ....and there are two on craigslist in my city. Happy dayzzz

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed! Go for it!!!

@t1d3s 2 жыл бұрын

Looks like you're really getting to grips with scenes and freeze delay mate 👌 This really suits your music style, those slow haste dragging/pulsing drum vibes, great track and great video my friend, hope your doing well with the move etc 🙏🖤

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!! We really are getting along quite well 😎

@georgekay372 2 жыл бұрын

You’ve really put in the hours! I’m actually learning a lot about the OT, thank you for this video! Also, one thing for differing track “scales”/lengths, you have to press func+bank when you’re not in the sequencer and you can enable per track scale like the DT and DN. Took me way too long to figure out.

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Great tip, thank you kindly! Ever since I packed it I’ve been dying to play with it more :( at least I’ll have a list of things to try out once I’ve got everything set up again.

@flag313 2 жыл бұрын

Really cool song!

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Thank ya!

@FairuzOsman 2 жыл бұрын

The most difficult part about the OT is to resist using the freeze delay

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Lol yep, I got a bit carried away here hahah

@waveforthefrequencies 2 жыл бұрын

Nice!

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@FairuzOsman 2 жыл бұрын

Best part about the OT is resampling your tracks, slicing them in real time and laying down the slices, and then letting it arrange the trigs randomly. Just magic

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

I definitely need to mess around with live resampling more! That’s one of the things that drew me to it in the first place

@FairuzOsman 2 жыл бұрын

@@SlowHaste not only resampling though. You can practically do the same with say your guitar loop and let the OT rearrange the slices randomly on 16 or 32 steps. With that and removing trigs randomly, you can get instant melody or pattern generation

@l0879 5 ай бұрын

I m¹

@alexanderwiddecke7528 2 жыл бұрын

is there any person in 2022 who doesn't know Jai Paul!? Shame you don't know!! ;-D He's a genius! Plus the album is from 2013.🤯

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Oh my goodness I always always come back to the leak. I keep a burned cd of the og in my car at all times.

@buddingsignal 2 жыл бұрын

this is great. thank *YOU* for the lessons. i learned alot. and YES, love the happy accidents. sometimes, i don't even know what's going on...the OT has a life on its own sometimes. haha. 😁

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Hahah yep, it really does! Glad you enjoyed 😎

@cedric2280 2 жыл бұрын

FYI in quick mutes with func you can add or remove mutes with multiple tracks

@G0nz0uk 2 жыл бұрын

Great video Dan, thanks. I think I need to watch some basic tutorials on this box, I'm still mastering the DN and DT so adding this will just add to the confusion for me :). I love the way it can also do external midi, I'd imagine it would be great to use it arp on external midi gear like a Typhon Dreadbox, or a 303 clone. Shame it's so expensive.

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Andy! Definitely planning to do a sort of beginner tutorial on this. I have a feeling it will be pretty dry, but very useful! They are a bit pricey considering how long it’s been out/some of the competition, but they show up for a pretty good deal every now and then (esp on Reverb)! I’m not sure what availability is like in the UK though

@OFFMike 2 жыл бұрын

Great tips, I actually have an DT but the OT is in my mind from a while now, but I fill it can’t replace it…

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

They definitely both have their perks! I want to do a full on “vs.” video once I’ve spent more time with the OT

@OFFMike 2 жыл бұрын

@@SlowHaste great hope you’ll do it soon, I hesitated to go in elektron workflow and I bought a deluge that I love, cause you got almost same sequencing possibilities it’s a mobile DAW in the box but less Fx than Ot less immediate sample mangling etc…, but now I have a DT, that I really love cause extremely powerful and clearly addictive and the Ot still look like an holy grale, thanks for sharing!

@infn8loopmusic 2 жыл бұрын

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

A consumer of taste, I see

@thejazzjaime Жыл бұрын

Amazing video. What tool would you suggest for creating long ambient dreamy songs, the Octatrack mk2 or Syntakt?

@SlowHaste Жыл бұрын

Thanks!! Honestly, it could be done with either! Check out jogginghouse for some great ambient Syntakt stuff. Since the Octatrack is a sampler, it’s really more a matter of what sort of samples you’re using, and how you sequence them :)

@robertgarvansnyder4665 2 жыл бұрын

Great video!! I’ve just been dusting off my Octa again after nearly giving up on it, and this gave me so many ideas of new things to try.

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome, that’s great to hear! Thanks for watching

@atulthewatcher2259 2 ай бұрын

That kick though! Maybe a vid on your layering, filtering, and reverb used to make that ELITE kick drum!?

@SlowHaste 2 ай бұрын

Thanks!! I’ll add it to the idea list :)

@atulthewatcher2259 2 ай бұрын

@@SlowHaste Anytime! Have the A4 and Rytm and even with the new digitakt im looking at the OT MK2!

@JoshBeavers 2 жыл бұрын

The guitar sounds so good. What was your recording setup for that? Into DAW and then load the samples into Octatrack??

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! I actually just recording straight into the OT buffers from my pedalboard (I have an amp sim pedal at the end of my chain, the Neunaber Iconoclast).

@Heavee773 2 жыл бұрын

I don’t think anyone needs help finding a reason to get the octatrack. I think it’s just the money lol. I definitely plan on it

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Hahah, fair point indeed!

@andrzejkucharzyk9970 2 жыл бұрын

Im considering buying Octatrack but im afraid that lack of Overbridge will be too hard to overcome in order to polish tracks. BTW nice jam, probably the best ive seen so far on Octa. Cheers!

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Wow, thanks a ton!!

@davegibbon 2 жыл бұрын

Yikes. What a track!!!

@SlowHaste 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!!

@user-fi4yd2kf6g Жыл бұрын

I am hoping to get Octatrack one day but it is not an easy one to learn I think…. Would it help to get the Digitakt first, learn it properly and then?

@SlowHaste Жыл бұрын

Knowing the digitakt first definitely helped me, but that’s not to say it’s necessary!

@destroy_television Жыл бұрын

I really want an Octatrack, but I've been seeing some pretty cryptic comments over the past few months.. possibly an MK3 incoming? Last thing I want to do is pull the trigger on one and then see a new version announced. It's all speculation, though. I should just get a used one on Reverb. 😅

@SlowHaste Жыл бұрын

I haven’t heard anything in regards to an mk3 but it’s certainly fun to think about! Buying used is always a good idea, and it’s always easy enough to pass it along if the mk3 day ever does come

@RAFAELLO077 11 ай бұрын

Can you do sidechaining on OT ?

@SlowHaste 11 ай бұрын

You can assign an LFO to the amp volume of individual tracks, and rhythmically pump the volume to get that effect - I do it all the time! But there is no true “sidechain” option

@RAFAELLO077 11 ай бұрын

maan, why they do not du simple sidechain@@SlowHaste

@williamwallace6508 2 жыл бұрын

wait for the mk3. this is already old

@FairuzOsman 2 жыл бұрын

Good for you. Wait then

@RoomReflections 2 жыл бұрын

Mk3 is something we'll never get, let's be realistic. Elektron didn't even give OT access to overbridge, all we got is a black makeover. You can wait for Syntakt, but it won't replace OT.