Re: Octatrack vs Ableton Live quick help

[philip <philip.ojc@gmail.com>]

Anders, I've listened to your 21st Century Schizoid Guitar track several times. I really like it. The rhythm track is magical and I love the arrangement.

Wow. I think I'm going back for another listen.

P

On Aug 24, 2012, at 4:31 AM, Anders Bergdahl wrote:

I absolutely LOVE the Octatrack.. it can mangle sound at make my guitar sound like a synth.. it is great to create cool beats... the looper is great for recording and doing great things with external audio, synts, guitars, turntables.. it can "loop" is several different ways.. use the looper or use the recoders. Lately i have used the looper more and also re-sampled that to a recorder so that i can trig the loop on the sequencer, slice it, play it on a keybord, record what I play either to a new audio loop or as locked triggs on the sequencer.. it is SOO Much fun :-)

However if you want kicks on one trecks, snares on one and so on the eight tracks might be limiting.. If i were more of a "beatmaker" i wold probably create some beats with kick on one tracl, snares on one and so on save the result by internal sampling and the use the loops in a composition..

Here's my latest work with the octatrack. three track are samples other than my guitar (one "drunish" track with kick and snare, a bass line and another basich line) i also to a lot of recodig guitar snippets i play fiddling with scenes via the fader... it ALL LIVE no overdubs, it's me guitar and octatrack, guitar through the octa (and a cheap amp sim pedal before the octa) and the direct into recorder.. so it's basically what you would hear through a PA in a live setting. 

I suspect that abelton and a few plugins will work as well, what abelton MIGHT not to as well as the octa is the instrument like quility that i feel the octa has. BAsicallay it can take my guitar and make it sound like B3, synth, horn.. it can make a keyboard sample into white noise in a live setting. 

Even though i play guitar i don't even use a midi foot controller I find that using the machine keep my hands AWAY from the guitar so that i don't overplay. Of course you can complemant the octa with MIDI controllers..

http://soundcloud.com/anders-bergdahl/21century-schizoid-guitar 

I will go to y small cottage over the weekend so I might not answer qustion directly but feel free to ask whatever.. 

---

From: simpliflying@gmail.com
To: loopers-delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: Octatrack vs Ableton Live quick help
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:46:45 +0000

Dear delighters,

waiting for your feedback on my first music experiments, I have a question to offer to you, for a quick help.

I will very probably buy a copy of Ableton Live Suite.

And I have found an Octatrack for a reasonable price, still quite higher than what I could and should actually spend now.

And I need to give an answer soon, especially for the Octa.

I wonder if with the Ableton Live and some launchpad and/or midi pedal/controller I can be more than ok for live performances, or if an hardware looper can be needed and so in that case if the Octa would be the right answer.

In these days I did more experiments with the Boomerang, alone and jamming with friends, and I am very sure that it does not fit my needs.

I do different things. In this moment I mostly tend to do techno beatbox, but I also do more funny stuff, and I like experimental/ambient things.

I need to be able to create and tweak loops very fast, do variations, breaks, etc. 

Can I with Ableton and some controller create a loop quickly, real time, and then overdub, undo, redo, create other loops, stop, restart, pause, restart, mute, time strech, pitch shift, effect, etc, with just ableton, quickly, on stage, no dead times?

And with Octa?

Is the Octa worthed if I will have Ableton?

Or could I eventually better complement the Ableton with a Echoplex for example?

Thanks a lot!