Anyone trying to enter chords into an Octatrack from Virus Ti in MultiMode?

[midiotsavant]

Originally Posted by synthfiend

I am interested in getting an octatrack!
can you answer some questions ?

how well do audio tracks from the octatrack sync with MIDI parts triggered on the virus ?

can you record everything down to the octatrack or do you still use a DAW ?

do you use a mixer for octatrack + virus ?

is side chaining parts out of the question ?

cheers

From my relatively limited experience with the Octatrack, the audio tracks sync well with the MIDI parts triggered on the Virus. There is some latency. To my ears, it is really only noticeable if I sample, for example, a kick from the Virus. Then playback the kick sample from the Octatrack with an audio track trigger and also use an Octatrack MIDI track to trigger the Virus to play back the kick patch. But if you have different samples loaded in the audio tracks and are triggering different patches of the Virus from the Octatrack MIDI tracks, the latency does not bother me. I think it is pretty minimal.

I have not tried recording everything into Ableton from the Octatrack ... yet. I have been able to record 4 or 5 parts from the Virus played by Octatrack MIDI tracks into the sample side. It worked very well using recording triggers. For now I am seeing how far I can go without using the computer and DAW for anything. 100% Octatrack and hardware. I will post back once I have had more time to use the two together.

I do not use a mixer at this point. I control the volumes of each Virus Part by programming one of the Octatrack encoders on each Octatrack MIDI track to send out the patch volume CC for the Virus. So far it works pretty well.

I have not figured out if the internal Compressor effect of the Octatrack can be sidechained. For now I am working on sending the kick drum out through the Cue Out into the sidechain of my Overstayer VCA compressor to sidechain the rest of the track. I will post back if I find out it can be done 100% inside of the Octatrack. That is the one thing I wish the Octatrack had more of ... inputs and outputs. But sometimes being limited by the tools makes you more creative in the end.

[midiotsavant]

I think I have come up with a decent workflow if you want to play and step record notes/chords from the Virus's keys into the Octatrack MIDI tracks while the Virus is in Multi Mode.

1. Set up your Virus Multi Parts with the patches you want to hear on each Part. Leave the MIDI channel for each Part on the default settings. Part 1 receives Channel 1 MIDI, Part 2 receives Channel 2 MIDI etc.

2. On the Octatrack, setup each of the 8 MIDI tracks to send out MIDI on a channel matching each of the Parts in the Virus Multi. i.e. Octatrack MIDI track 1 set to MIDI channel 1 to trigger Part 1 of the Virus Multi, Octatrack MIDI track 2 set to MIDI channel 2 to trigger Part 2 of the Virus Multi and so on.

3. On the Octatrack set the "Auto Ch:" under Project, MIDI Channel settings to MIDI channel 16. This is important in order for the Octatrack to receive MIDI from the Virus's keyboard.

3. Turn Grid record on the Octatrack while on the MIDI tracks page.

4. On the Virus, switch to Part 16 (which by default transmits and receives MIDI on channel 16) and turn the Part off. This Part will not be used for sound, only to transmit MIDI to the selected Octatrack MIDI track for recording purposes.

5. On the Octatrack, select the MIDI Track that you want to step record in to. Press and hold a trigger and play a note or chords on the Virus keyboard. If setup correctly, it will record the note or notes into the selected MIDI Track at that step. You can do this while the Octatrack sequencer is running. You will not hear the note or chord as it is being recorded, but the next pass through the sequence it will trigger the corresponding Part of the Virus Multi. If you just play the Virus keys without holding down one of the Octatrack's triggers, you will hear the Virus patch as you play it. You can jam along with the rest of the MIDI triggered Parts before deciding what to step record.

6. To record the other Parts of the Virus Multi, just select a different MIDI Track on the Octatrack and repeat step 5 above. You don't have to manually change the Part on the Virus Multi each time. You just have to select the MIDI Track on the Octatrack i.e. MIDI Track 5 to record and trigger Virus Multi Part 5 and so on.

7. For more control of the individual Parts of the Virus Multi (without having to switch Parts on the Virus), it is very easy to setup the Octatrack's encoders to send out the CC messages you want to the Virus (i.e. Cutoff, Resonance, patch volume, ADSR etc.). This way you can tweak the Virus Part without having to leave the Octatrack, manually switch the Virus to the required Part etc.

I will revise this post as I learn more about playing the Virus and Octatrack together.

[synthfiend]

thanks for the info !

as a matter of interest, what style of music do you produce ?

would it be good for house / deep house ?