Octatrack MK2 Tutorial: A Guide to Pickup Machines

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Octatrack MK2 Tutorial: A Guide to Pickup Machines

Рет қаралды 19,782

Күн бұрын

Bit of a dry video this week, but if you're unfamiliar with pickup machines, this info is vital to understanding next week's video once things get a bit more creative.
Hopefully this video clears up any questions you may have about how pickup machines operate, as it's definitely a bit confusing at first. But as with everything on the Octatrack, there is creative potential built right into the design.
I talk about pickup machines in a number of my other videos. Here's another video of me explaining the use of muted/cued Thru tracks for Pickup machines - in case this one wasn't clear enough:
• Octatrack Mk2 Tutorial...

Пікірлер: 39

@mralikhan 4 жыл бұрын

This was really helpful. Pickup machines didn't make sense to me, until I watched this. Appreciate, and I'll be using these more!

@howardanderson3061 5 жыл бұрын

Finally digging in to learn the Octatrack and I'm going to use it as a Live Looping Monster machine. Thanks for another super helpful Tutorial.

@KennyZhao 5 жыл бұрын

Howard Anderson thanks for watching, glad you got something out of it!

@Soundwrecker 5 жыл бұрын

So solid, succinct and intelligently presented. 10/10 - many thanks.

@KennyZhao 5 жыл бұрын

Appreciate it! I tried to record it twice before, found out halfway through my phone had stopped for storage reasons...that may have accounted for the succinctness a bit :D

@simonsandleitner2341 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the explanation. A small suggestion: The Kick is superloud but irrelevant to the tutorial and the actual sound you loop is pretty quiet. It also is not easy to hear the overdubbing due to the reverb. It sound very good but it is suboptimal for your tutorial.

@Resoundsound 5 жыл бұрын

Hi Kenny. Just wanted to say thanks. Your tutorials are super helpful! Keep up the great work.

@KennyZhao 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@ubiquitousreverser 4 жыл бұрын

Hi Kenny! Been watching your various tutorials as I’ve spent the past year pining away for the OT after getting the Digitakt. I got a mk2 coming and though I’m excited to start learning it I’m glad I was able to keep my DT as the nuanced capabilities of this seem like it will be a slower process for me to learn but with both I think it’s a good pair to be able to bounce back and forth whenever it gets overwhelming. So I’m sure I’ll be watching all of your tutorials as well as cuckoo’s and the merlin’s guide. I think to get some quick gratification I’m just going to start with mixing/dj’ing whole songs and learning how to scratch with scene’s and the cross fader. Thanks for taking the time to create these informative tutorials! ❤️👍🤯😭🤷🏽‍♂️🤣

@jpromano_ 5 жыл бұрын

Awesome video! Just really wished you would be able to close up on the OT screen, it’s very difficult to see what’s going on on the screen.

@KennyZhao 5 жыл бұрын

Telemann yeah I can look into that, thanks for watching!

@snoopyoverthehills 5 жыл бұрын

looking forward to try this thank you

@jpromano_ 4 жыл бұрын

Very helpful information, well explained and to the point, thank you!!!!!

@KennyZhao 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching, glad you could learn something!

@bibik44 5 жыл бұрын

Will try this today, thanks :)

@shatteredsquare 4 жыл бұрын

3:16 so it's like the clip launch settings in Ableton, depending on what you have clip launch settings at, when you click it the clip starts at the next beat of the resolution you picked, 8th or 16th or 1 bar, or turn it off to let it trigger free of grid...

@robertparenton7470 5 жыл бұрын

Thank You!

@rustikinc63 4 жыл бұрын

It would be super helpful if in future you can have a zoomed in view of Octa screen. Thanks for your vids

@KennyZhao 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the input! In my most recent videos I've adjusted my camera so that its focus is a little better, hopefully that works better. Otherwise I've found it's very difficult to set up two cameras so close together while maintaining the level of quality.

@rustikinc63 4 жыл бұрын

@@KennyZhao Keep up the good work! I would love to see some more Octatrack videos and specific FX configs of 4 thru tracks or in general regarding the depths of what FX template/palate you can get from the OCTA. Happy New Year! Where you located?

@jb-gb7yi 5 жыл бұрын

As always, great stuff, Kenny! It's amazing how much variation you get with just the OP-1 non-velocity-sensitive keyboard. Kudos! Somewhere you mention that the OP-1 is routed thru a pre-amp. Do you meanthe A&H mixer? Or is there a box we can't see in the videos. Also, I really love the Empress reverb too

@KennyZhao 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks j b! Yeah I actually really enjoy the OP-1's responsiveness - the clicky-ness of the buttons makes them a pleasure to work with in a rhythmic context, and I'm aiming to introduce dynamic contrast in other ways like LFOs, reverb, and delay. My preamp is actually under the Octatrack, below my stand. It's a MOTU Audio Express, which has 4 ins and 4 outs, is typically used as an audio interface but can also route directly without a computer. You can also save settings onto a computer, so you can have multiple presets for standalone use vs. computer-based applications.

@georat16 2 жыл бұрын

Did you run MIDI out from the Octa into the Volca Kick to get them to sync up? (I REALLY dig my Volca FM but I haven't synced it up to the Octatrack yet...) Cool vid!

@KennyZhao 2 жыл бұрын

I'm pretty sure in this video I just synced them manually and hit play at the right time :) MIDI is a bit odd in the Volca Kick, connecting it seems to deactivate many of the onboard controls

@georat16 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much. I'm getting the impression that MIDI on Volcas is set up for attaching a keyboard. I actually dig the odd little Volca keyboard -- it's its own instrument!

@greun Жыл бұрын

Beast feat Toy

@shatteredsquare 4 жыл бұрын

4:45 whaaaaaaaaat 😍

@leandropazos 4 жыл бұрын

I wanted to ask you about "Pickup Machine". I saw your tutorials, excellent. I've been working with PM for a while, but lately they behave strangely. Sometimes randomly, when I record, it automatically plays in reverse. And without changing the settings other times it does it in the right direction. I have read in forums, I have looked for videos and of course the manual. And I can't solve this. Do you know what it could be?

@KennyZhao 4 жыл бұрын

hm that is bizarre. Do make sure the pickup machine is set with the arrow pointing to the right in the device menu.

@leandropazos 4 жыл бұрын

@@KennyZhao elektron's answer (support ticket): Hi Leandro, This is a known bug and our developers are looking into it. It can happen when changing parts. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience and I hope this will be fixed soon.

@sanderklepper1794 3 жыл бұрын

Hi kenny , I have problems with the Pick Up Machine when im recieving clock on the OT im getting the message " Overdub Aborted" .do you know this problem how to fix

@KennyZhao 3 жыл бұрын

Yes I am familiar with this! In order to overdub, the octatrack needs to be playing back the sample in its original form, so make sure your pitch is not being adjusted in any way, either by the knob on the first page of the track or by any of the LFOs.

@inkajoo 5 жыл бұрын

I am still wrapping my head around the OT. Still can't fathom why Elektron set the sample memory limit to 85MB. So painfully Swedish of them.

@KennyZhao 5 жыл бұрын

Haha! Yeah, always a disappointment to get the little prompt telling me I'm out of space. Nonetheless, I try to just keep my mind open when this sort of thing happens, and just put on my problem-solving hat haha :) If you juggle your record buffers correctly you can basically record 8 8 bar loops over four buffers, and sequence them in that order. Obviously that leaves no room for anything else, but...

@inkajoo 5 жыл бұрын

@@KennyZhao Well, at least STATIC machines don't use RAM so there's that. I'm trying to master the pickup machine. I have RLEN set to MAX and it keeps squashing my loops to "normal" lengths. 3 bars becomes 2 bars, 12 steps becomes 1 bar etc. So things come out all sped up.

@georat16 2 жыл бұрын

According to Merlin's Thoughts on the Octatrack, Elektron designed it that way in order to prioritize malleability of samples over sheer size. Dynamic sample processing is the concept, I believe.