RE: Octatrack vs Ableton Live quick help

[Anders Bergdahl <anders_e_bergdahl@hotmail.com>]

And, i agreement with Per, my approach to the Octatrack is to use it for what it good at and what i like, and (perhaps unlike Per) let the limitations I encounter be inspiration rather than a problem as such. If that at all makes sense. 

So reading manuals can be a good thing, BUT the octatrack manual is not that great to get a feeling for the machine. It will answer quite a few questions with regards to what possible. You should also check out instructual videos but from Elektron and check out the elektron users forum where there are soem who dislike the octa becouse it does not fit into there workflow.. and I sometimes think that NOTHING will fit there dream workflow. That is why i prefer to be inspired and guided by gear and let limitations together with my intentions form what i do. 

Fo example i started out by having an idea that i would ONLY use live guitar and no pre-recorded samples. BUT then i found out that it was fun an inspirational to mix samples with guitar and it os also fun to take a piano sample and turn it to both a strange synth sound and a bass line with the octa. OR do the same thing with live guitar.. 

So whatever you choose it will be a leap... a would imagine that a software/laptop based solution could do almost anything if you but enough time into configuration and setup while the octatrack would probably be a first learning step, some frustration and then you might, as I did, get a almost instant gratification by the amount of fun you can have if you are a bit open.. sort of..

Got to run,

Anders

> Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:43:50 +0200
> Subject: Re: Octatrack vs Ableton Live quick help
> From: perboysen@gmail.com
> To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
>
> Sergio, you should really download the manuals for all these gear and
> compare them properly based on your musical ideas. No one here knows
> exactly what you want to do and by asking like this you will only
> receive answers based on what we use the gear for in our musical
> vision. I'll try to put in some answers anyway, but please remember
> that I'm basing my performances to a great deal on what I'm avoiding;
> meaning I have technically restricted my setup quite drastically in
> order to allow more musical actions, using fewer things but trying to
> learn them well and become fast within my limitations so the musical
> flow can prosper freely. That's just my choice. You may want to make
> other priorities.
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 12:46 PM, Sergio G <simpliflying@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> From: perboysen@gmail.com
> >
> >> in Ableton Live you will be able to time-stretch or
> >> pitch-shift a loop if you record it as an Audio Clip. You can't do it
> >> if you record it in the Looper plugin or into some third-party looper
> >> plugin.
> > While in OT you can, isn't it? That's what I know.
>
> Yes, I'm under the impression that time-stretching works pretty fine
> in OT. After having read the manual, watched a number of OT demo vidos
> on YoutTube and listened to Anders posted OT sessions.
>
> Myself I don't do time-stretching at all. But I do a lot of speed
> shifting to loops I record on the fly. Speed shifting is the way
> vintage samplers worked; if you transpose the pitch up the loop speeds
> up and if you transpose the pitch down the loop slows down. I think
> this can introduce interesting rhythms too, but it can be tricky with
> rhythmic loops.
>
> >> Myself I don't have an OT.
> > Ehm, and why do you think that for me it is better the OT than Ableton or
> > Moebius?
>
> Because you mentioned time-stretching among the things you want to do
> to a real-time live audio input.
>
>
>
> >> I have chosen to use only software in a laptop; the looperMobius to be
> >> specific.
> > Could you tell me some things in which Moebius is better than Ableton for
> > livelooping?
>
> That would take hours. One important feature is the scripting option;
> you can type down a sequence of commands on a text file, save it to
> disc and have it show up as a command in Mobius. That way you can
> trigger any kind of weird processing from just one pedal/button/knob
> controller. I like that. I do scripted stuff like playing one note (as
> audio, by singing or using an instrument) and kick a pedal to
> instantly create a four note chord from that single master note. I
> also have a foot pedal bank that can fade in or fade out any track in
> the background, thus allowing me to play or mix other stuff while that
> happens. Mobius is designed for doing processing like that to live
> audio while Live is designed for live remixing of recorded audio. But
> you can perfectly well run Mobius as a plugin in Live and have access
> to both concepts. Here's an intro to Mobius that can give more info
> http://www.circularlabs.com/doc/v2/starting.htm
>
>
> >> Mainstage is much more
> >> configurable; meaning I can do things like setting up any kind of
> >> "graphic conductor" for the musicians.
> > What do you mean for Graphic Conduttor? Said like that it makes me think of
> > something I have briefly read about MAX for Live. Or you mean just graphic
> > interface?
>
> I sure use Max for Live in my Live setups. What I mean exactly by
> "good graphic conductor" is:
>
> - A big moving waveform on the screen showing the next bars to come up
> of whatever pre recorded audio you are playing along to.
> - Text markers in that waveform to tell you the chords and other musical cues.
> - Text area telling you what part is playing right now.
> - Text area telling you what part is coming up next.
> - Counter counting down beats until the next part is being cued.
>
> This was simply not possible in Live but with Mainstage I could set it
> up like on this screenshot
> https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4963264/pboy_mobius_mainstage.png
>
>
> > Stupid question: if I want to use a software looper, may I safely assume
> > that I need a quite good and powerful laptop to avoid freezes etc?
>
> No. What you need is knowledge about how to set up and the computer in
> a stable way. Even a 1 GB single core CPU would allow multi track
> looping (but maybe not also effect processing and stuff).
>
>
> > And is it
> > generally needed a Mac? (this would be another reason more to buy the OT).
>
> It's pretty much the same processors in all pc's today no matter if
> they run Mac OS or Windows. Mobius and Live work on both systems, but
> for Mainstage you would need to use a Mac.
>
>
> >> I also like the idea of building and having instant access -
> >> both in the studio and on the stage - to my personal library of
> >> channel strips.
> > Ok, that is a bit too early for me, I mean that I have absolutely no idea
> > what you are talking about, and it is a feeling that I like, because makes
> > me feel I am learning and that I am collecting an info which will allow me
> > to learn faster in the future. Could you say something more about that?
>
> A channel strip is like a saved preset for a bunch of effects that you
> have set up in a specific order and tweaked to sound great. Think
> about it as a virtual "stomp box pedalboard". In Live you may save
> such effect chains as a "rack". But the concept of Logic and Mainstage
> sharing the same library is what I appreciate, since I like using both
> apps. I also tend to get better sound with those apps than with Live,
> but that may just be me. I've heard producer getting a great sound out
> of Live so it should be possible.
>
> All great questions, Sergio! :-)
>