Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
OctaTrack Alternatives:
As in master brain, MC of machine symphony and synth sound emporium.......
Yeah, audio out as well and any other similar goodies.
Well, what is there?
OP1?
Anyone know best deals for an OTrack these days?
Comments
As a former Octatrack owner, it reeeally depends on what you're trying to replicate from it, as a full standalone package I don't think there's anything like it. Deluge, OP-1/Z, Digitakt, MPC1000/Live are frequently thrown around as alternatives in the hardware world. In software, I've heard good things about Egoist but haven't used it, and it looks like Drambo could provide some good amount of overlap feature-wise, but there's no timeline for its release yet AFAIK.
I think OP1 and OctaTrack are completely different!
I would have a closer look on the Synthstrom Deluge.
So, if you look at my profile pic.
I am looking to put audio / midi in a more consolidated format for production and performance.
Too many buttons in too many places for many songs.......prone to causing technical or mental interruption......
So "a brain" and "midi master" and "central audio out w fx" is my short term desire.
I wouldn't' mind adding new instruments either.
I also am intersted in dropping Mac or ipAd for loop playing that is another thing.
I want a thing that plays loops in lieu of MAC
Do you need hardware outputs or MIDI ports?
If not or are ok with other peripherals, I feel the iPad is getting close to have also those functions now with all those neato AU, midi and audio, we have these days.
With all of those features, I'd take a look a the MPC Live and maybe the Deluge, though you may be put off by the relative lack of effects
mpc live+model samples makes a great mocktatrack
more accessible while retaining the core
love this
it's really a nice experience going back and forth between the mpc and the elektron ethos, each refreshes your mind for the other, keeps the mind stimulated and on the move
Nice play
A tip a friend of mine gave re: using the MPC Live as an OT replacement is that it works great with a small USB fader plugged right in , you can do some octatracky stuff with that and some clever midi larnin
I very much love my deluge and looking forward to the next update, which will add advanced audio/midi/cv looping. Every few months the updates bring so many unexpected surprises, and I anticipate it’ll continue at this pace for quite some time to. It’s a passion project for the developer, who’s constantly working on advancing an already amazing production machine.
Perhaps not as powerful as Octatrack at pure sampling power, but it’s an excellent all-rounder. Once I get the Pulsar 23 drum synth and an Empress Zoia, I suspect my HW setup will be nearly complete, with Deluge as the “brain”, and Neutron and DM12 synths as supplemental voices. Deluge’s synth is adequate - if a little on the light side, perhaps one of its few shortcomings.
Deluge's internal synth has always seemed to me to be "so you can use the device all by itself on the train" or "so you can cover bread and butter sounds while you dedicate your nice hardware to other, more important sounds" not ever as a "primary focus of the product". As such,
Looks like the OP's needs have been sorted, but in case anyone else is wondering, the Octatrack is it's own type of instrument. One can argue there are better sequencers like the Cirklon, and samplers that are a better fit for how some of you like to work. But there's nothing like an Octatrack except the MkII - the way the buttons, controls, etc. are laid out is conducive to getting certain sonic results, quickly - after some practice of course.
But I doubt it's for the OP anyway. Deluge, MPC-whatever, model:sample or that 1010 sampler/sequencer might indeed be a better fit.
My workflow is:
iPad, ICA4+, Octatrack
I use my iPad Air 2 to generate sound (tardigrain, Ruismaker suite... a lot of fx in AUM).
The sound travel via my iconnectivity Audio4+ which is going to my IN A/B Octatrack.
I resample live what I want from the iPad to the octatrack.
Then the main out from my Octatrack is going to AUM via ICA4+ then I can add Aux send and process my sound with compressor, transient shaper, limiter and rec the result in audio inside AUM.
I use a controller UC33e to controll AUM and my Octatrack (level, send FX, ARM track recorder...) the crossfader on Octatrack is midi CC responding. It really fun to controll parameter in AUM.
Im totally happy with this hybrid setup 🤘😋
The OP-Z will soon get sampling, which will make it into a pocket-sized Octatrack lite. Until then, OP-1 and OP-Z can be used together to sequence and mangle samples:
Op-Z and Deluge are maybe the only hardware that I want right now.
The sequencer on OP-Z brings a lot of new ideas and slowly a lot of people starts to think in this terms.
And Deluge....amazing workflow
do you have any idea what kind of sampling features it will have?
What about djs1000 or Force?
For me octa, mpclive, Force and djs1000 are the nearest things to Ableton in a box.
I've tried the Octatrack for a few days next to Ableton Live and IMHO the OT is a nightmare to use compared to Live. Maybe the elektron-style menu diving is just not my thing...
Don't get me wrong, feature-wise the Octatrack is fantastic and the reason why I had to try it. In fact it was the second time now with the mk2 because they added a few more dedicated buttons.
I guess that any machine or software asking me for more than a day or two to learn using it properly is not going to be my thing.
The machine has to support my workflow, not the other way around.
Yes, building templates will help speed up things to a certain degree but that's the case for every groove box or DAW.
And then I have a new idea waiting to be laid down and no template will fit.
I agree, OT2 and Live are too different to really compare.
If personal tastes weren't so different, we wouldn't have such a great choice of groove boxes on the market
It looks a lot like the OP-1 sampler. There'll be a drum sampler (12 secs) and a synth sampler (6 secs). Trimming can be done with the iPhone/iPad screen, or without. Lots more here:
https://op-forums.com/t/op-z-sampler/13945/80
I bought my Octatrack to use as a looper, after hearing several Soundcloud tracks posted by a guitarist who was using one. The sequencer was more of an annoyance to put up with than an essential part of my music-making. Needless to say, my motivations/inspiration was quite different from the OP's.
Well I see them similar as remixing tools with timestretch technology and so. I prefer the djs1000 layout and easy to looping than Force as example and Octatrack was out my radar due it’s menu based. It’s powerful but also not so fast without properly time investment and were expensive af too!
As time gone I look less into samplers as instruments and more in phrase loopers as backing track tools. So it depends on user needs I suppose...
sweet tip, have any recommendations?