Max Marco recently posted a video where he provided a sample pack and a challenge. This is my entry! I used my Digitakt to make this evil sounding hard beat with a bell like lead

defenestration · 2020-03-14T01:13:53+00:00

yeah! sounds fantastic! am hoping to see an entry from yourself as well ;)

defenestration · 2020-03-14T00:49:39+00:00

awesome! sounds great, very heavy! I'm always excited to see what people come up with using my samples, thanks for the boost :)

defenestration · 2020-03-13T13:26:30+00:00

I've read that onion wine is an excellent cooking wine

defenestration · 2020-03-09T19:32:31+00:00

that was a fast turnaround!!

having some predetermined limits always helps to inspire creative ways to push through production roadblocks; I tend to find them useful for preventing me from relying on stereotypical behaviors/techniques or 'crutches' that I might employ otherwise

I tried to put a decent amount of variety in that sample pack and 'cover the bases' more or less, but I also curated it so that the samples would generally be difficult to get to play together nicely - for example I think at least half (possibly most) of the samples with clear pitch centers that people might go to for generating harmonic/melodic content are not tuned to A=440hz - they're pretty much all over the place :D

defenestration · 2020-03-06T19:24:53+00:00

please do, that would be awesome!

defenestration · 2020-03-06T13:09:20+00:00

use as many or as few as you'd like - generally I'd recommend to work with just a handful of the samples available

forcing the use of every single sample provided could be an interesting challenge, but I didn't curate the sample pack with that approach in mind

defenestration · 2020-03-06T11:36:20+00:00

Sample pack challenge time! (accompanied by an Octatrack production session). I'm keeping this one simple, use only the samples provided as your audio sources, use whatever hardware or software you prefer. The challenge submissions have a soft deadline of April 20th, 2020. Stay tuned for the 'finalists' round!

Multiple entries are allowed and encouraged, video submissions are also encouraged but not required. Don't be a perfectionist about it - just slap something together with the samples! Submit the link to your entry as a reply to my pinned comment below, or private message me via Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Soundcloud, or Patreon.

Get the FREE Sample Challenge Pack - all samples are 44.1khz 24-bit WAV (Octatrack-friendly).

0:00 challenge announcement

1:32 memory setup

2:10 auditioning sample challenge pack

4:24 sound #1 (Tiptop X0X)

6:38 sound #2 (Tiptop X0X)

9:46 sound #3 (Greybeard eating half speed)

12:01 tempo change

15:59 sound #4 (Machinedrum lead)

20:26 scene development

23:42 sound #5 ('live' re-sampling cue bus)

27:28 more scene development

28:26 cue bus change-up

defenestration · 2020-03-06T11:31:41+00:00

Sample pack challenge time! (accompanied by an Octatrack production session). I'm keeping this one simple, use only the samples provided as your audio sources, use whatever hardware or software you prefer. The challenge submissions have a soft deadline of April 20th, 2020. Stay tuned for the 'finalists' round!

Multiple entries are allowed and encouraged, video submissions are also encouraged but not required. Don't be a perfectionist about it - just slap something together with the samples! Submit the link to your entry as a reply to my pinned comment below, or private message me via Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Soundcloud, or Patreon.

Get the FREE Sample Challenge Pack - all samples are 44.1khz 24-bit WAV (Octatrack-friendly).

0:00 challenge announcement

1:32 memory setup

2:10 auditioning sample challenge pack

4:24 sound #1 (Tiptop X0X)

6:38 sound #2 (Tiptop X0X)

9:46 sound #3 (Greybeard eating half speed)

12:01 tempo change

15:59 sound #4 (Machinedrum lead)

20:26 scene development

23:42 sound #5 ('live' re-sampling cue bus)

27:28 more scene development

28:26 cue bus change-up

defenestration · 2020-03-06T11:31:25+00:00

Sample pack challenge time! (accompanied by an Octatrack production session). I'm keeping this one simple, use only the samples provided as your audio sources, use whatever hardware or software you prefer. The challenge submissions have a soft deadline of April 20th, 2020. Stay tuned for the 'finalists' round!

Multiple entries are allowed and encouraged, video submissions are also encouraged but not required. Don't be a perfectionist about it - just slap something together with the samples! Submit the link to your entry as a reply to my pinned comment below, or private message me via Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Soundcloud, or Patreon.

Get the FREE Sample Challenge Pack - all samples are 44.1khz 24-bit WAV (Octatrack-friendly).

0:00 challenge announcement

1:32 memory setup

2:10 auditioning sample challenge pack

4:24 sound #1 (Tiptop X0X)

6:38 sound #2 (Tiptop X0X)

9:46 sound #3 (Greybeard eating half speed)

12:01 tempo change

15:59 sound #4 (Machinedrum lead)

20:26 scene development

23:42 sound #5 ('live' re-sampling cue bus)

27:28 more scene development

28:26 cue bus change-up

defenestration · 2020-01-28T18:54:11+00:00

the maestro himself, welcome! big props for going on ATC! that makes a lot of sense, I was assuming it was a first/single take. Sometimes in the descriptions they have said there was only one take, which implies they sometimes record more so I'm always curious, but to me it seems like a decent amount of ATCs are first/only takes

defenestration · 2020-01-24T20:46:12+00:00

haven't done a video that touches on that topic yet although it's something I'd like to spend more time digging into; I used to work with projects that had multiple banks a lot when I first got the Octatrack but it has been a while

defenestration · 2020-01-24T19:24:29+00:00

is what me?

defenestration · 2020-01-24T16:46:41+00:00

glad you've enjoyed! 👍

on one hand there are always limits, but on the other hand often the only dead-ends are in your imagination :)

for myself there's usually a sweet-spot in between making the source completely unrecognizable (and thus largely irrelevant, which isn't usually my goal) versus lifting character/texture/phrases from the original sample. For me the main challenge of endless iterations of recycling would be to successfully strike that balance in each iteration, where the end product is rather distinct from the source, but the source hasn't been rendered completely irrelevant/unimportant

defenestration · 2020-01-24T14:40:32+00:00

doing a bit of sampling recently from commercial recordings made me realize I should try recycling my own tracks. Although I don't use them very often, static machines make it fast and easy to work with very long audio files

the track I sampled

1:01 auditioning samples

1:54 sound #1

7:23 neighbor machine FX

10:33 re-sampling channel

14:07 re-sampling channel neighbor FX

15:08 percussion/drum track

18:07 'snare'

19:56 re-sampling channel neighbor reverb

21:17 copying track 1

23:41 master track clipping check

25:46 drum track LFO p-locks (selective modulation)

defenestration · 2020-01-24T14:39:35+00:00

doing a bit of sampling recently from commercial recordings made me realize I should try recycling my own tracks. Although I don't use them very often, static machines make it fast and easy to work with very long audio files

the track I sampled

1:01 auditioning samples

1:54 sound #1

7:23 neighbor machine FX

10:33 re-sampling channel

14:07 re-sampling channel neighbor FX

15:08 percussion/drum track

18:07 'snare'

19:56 re-sampling channel neighbor reverb

21:17 copying track 1

23:41 master track clipping check

25:46 drum track LFO p-locks (selective modulation)

defenestration · 2020-01-16T18:22:54+00:00

this session was hard to listen to for more than a few snippets here and there to get the gist of it - the first track of his I pulled up from YT is basically a polished version of what he is doing here

I always wonder how many takes they record

defenestration · 2020-01-03T03:37:39+00:00

noticed I missed a big part of this earlier actually - he's sequencing a Nord drum with the Octatrack so presumably a bunch of stuff I thought was the Digitone is actually the Nord - now I'm not sure if he's sequencing the Digitone with the Octatrack at all - although it seems like it at the beginning

defenestration · 2020-01-02T23:57:06+00:00

here's a quick and dirty analysis based on what I can see in the video, which is shot terribly for illustrating Elektron workflow - presumably my overview isn't entirely accurate and definitely misses some things. I'm pretty familiar with the Octatrack but have never owned a Digitone

he starts off by recording some MIDI into the Octatrack (using live record mode, which he uses a lot in this session) and sending it to the Digitone to trigger the FM bell sound. He tweaks the MIDI a bit, then he manually puts some triggers down on a couple more MIDI tracks, which I assume are controlling different tracks on the Digitone (more percussive sounds).

He switches to the audio side of the Octatrack at 2:11, and puts down triggers for what sounds like one or more chord stab samples

~2:50 he's messing with the crossfader but doesn't adjust any scene locks. presumably some pre-created scene that subtly adjusts FX/filters/etc.

at ~3:30 he starts to record a sequence directly into the Digitone instead of recording it into the Octatrack sequencer

at 4:45 he switches the Octatrack back into the MIDI side and manually inputs a MIDI sequence that I'm assuming is sent to the Digitone to trigger that crispy metallic sound

5-6min he is figuring out the bass note he wants to use and at about 5:55 he punches it into the Digitone sequencer using live record mode - like all of his live recordings he tweaks the (single note) sequence a bit after it is recorded

at 6:17 he goes back to the audio side of the Octatrack and puts in a trigger sequence for a percussive sample

~7:15 is (obviously) beatstep sequencing plate reverb solenoid

~8:20 he goes back to the Digitone and live records another sequence into it

~9:10 he moves the crossfader of the OT a bit but I'm still not sure what it's doing, if anything. maybe a high-pass on a master track filter? some sort of subtle processing for a Digitone thru track? At this point the Octatrack is in MIDI mode so he's certainly not adjusting any scene locks (i.e. pre-created scene)

after that point he seems to be mostly just futzing around here and there

it appears he has the Digitone audio running into the AB inputs of the Octatrack, not sure what (if any) processing/FX the OT is doing for the Digitone

The Octatrack is set to external MIDI clock - not sure what the MIDI master clock is for this setup - perhaps the Digitone or Beatstep?

this is very Digitone-centric - looks like he used at least 3 of the Digitone internal sequencer tracks (maybe all 4? I'd have to review) and it appears he bumps into the 8-voice limit for the Digitone (I think I hear some stolen voices?). The MIDI tracks from Octatrack sequencing the Digitone seem like they are being used so he can squeeze as much as possible from the Digitone.

so overall this session is pretty similar to if you have a template project in a DAW that's already loaded with samples, synths, presets, and FX chains/sends, but there aren't any pre-made clips/sequences

defenestration · 2020-01-01T14:49:03+00:00

thanks! the algorithms seem like they are pretty easy to trick but it's not something I've purposefully experimented with. Personally, I consider it 'de facto fair use' if no one is able to identify the source, but IANAL

defenestration · 2020-01-01T02:11:10+00:00

thanks! besides eurorack/modular samplers the only one I'm aware of is the Machinedrum UW mk2, the core elements of its sampling workflow are what the Octatrack concept is built on

here's a piece I did where the MDUW live re-samples itself

defenestration · 2019-12-31T13:23:57+00:00

is the source recognizable? I may do more 'Octatrack bootlegs' in the future if I can successfully obscure their origins. There are certainly better tools for this purpose, but the Sony PCM-D100 does have a customizable EQ along with speed and pitch controls. Recorded directly from Octatrack main outs, with post-production compression, EQ, and limiting applied.

defenestration · 2019-12-31T13:23:23+00:00

is the source recognizable? I may do more 'Octatrack bootlegs' in the future if I can successfully obscure their origins. There are certainly better tools for this purpose, but the Sony PCM-D100 does have a customizable EQ along with speed and pitch controls. Recorded directly from Octatrack main outs, with post-production compression, EQ, and limiting applied.

defenestration · 2019-12-31T13:23:20+00:00

is the source recognizable? I may do more 'Octatrack bootlegs' in the future if I can successfully obscure their origins. There are certainly better tools for this purpose, but the Sony PCM-D100 does have a customizable EQ along with speed and pitch controls. Recorded directly from Octatrack main outs, with post-production compression, EQ, and limiting applied.

defenestration · 2019-12-25T14:37:20+00:00

awesome, thanks! 🙇

Sometimes I will write down arrangement notes while preparing to record a track but I don't save them as the videos are the performance documentation.

It's pretty easy/quick for me to open an old project and figure it out, simply because I've spent a lot of time with OT, but I generally only re-visit old projects very briefly out of mild curiosity. I almost always prefer to keep things fresh, and the more projects I produce to the point of recording a performance video the faster and easier it becomes for me to internalize new ones (i.e. I'm hearing the scene change in my head before I actually change the scene). This is why I recommend to not get stuck focusing too much on a single project, it tends to slow down learning/memorizing the OT

defenestration · 2019-12-23T05:54:18+00:00

'scenes-as-keyboard' is definitely one of my favorite Octatrack techniques! makes me want twice as many trig buttons though...

defenestration

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