Elektron Octatrack - Manual (Page 22)

OVERVIEW OF THE OCTATRACK STRUCTURE
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recorder buffers, 128 sample slots dedicated to Flex machines, 128 slots dedicated to
Static machines, various project specific settings and the BPM setting for all the patterns of
the project. A project can therefore be regarded as a collection of compositions.
The samples used to fill the Flex and Static sample slots are fetched from the audio pool of
the set. The samples used by a project can also be collected and saved in the project
folder. The command COLLECT SAMPLES are used for this and makes a project more or
less self contained. Please see section “PROJECTS” on page 25 for more information
about projects. For the sake of sample organization it is recommended to only store sam-
ples in the audio pool.
FLEX AND STATIC SAMPLE SLOT LISTS
For samples to be available to Flex and Static machines they first need to be loaded from
the audio pool to the Flex or Static sample slot lists. When samples are present in these
lists they can be assigned to, and thus processed by, Flex and Static machines assigned to
the audio tracks of a pattern. Read how to load audio pool samples to the sample slot lists
in the section “LOADING SAMPLES TO THE SAMPLE SLOTS” on page 26. Read how to
assign samples to a machine in the section “ASSIGNING FLEX AND STATIC SAMPLES
TO MACHINES” on page 66.
BANKS
Each project hosts 16 banks and each bank hosts 16 patterns and 4 parts. This makes a
bank suited for hosting a complete composition as the available patterns and parts allow a
large number of song variations. Switching between banks is seamless, meaning playback
won’t be halted or audio cut off. More information about banks is found on page 59.
PATTERNS
For each bank 16 patterns are available, meaning 256 patterns are always at hand. A pat-
tern consists of sequencer data like trigs, parameter locks, track lengths and time signa-
tures for the eight audio tracks and the eight MIDI tracks. See section “PATTERNS” on
page 76 for more information.
PARTS
4 parts are available to each bank. A part contains machine assignments and their associ-
ated samples, track parameter settings, FX assignments as well as 16 scenes. A pattern is
always linked to a part. Changing parts will let the new part be controlled by the active pat-
tern. Read more about parts on page 59.
SCENES
Scenes are assigned to the scene A and scene B slots. They decide which parameters the
crossfader will affect. The section “SCENES” on page 61 gives more in-depth information
about this functionality.
ARRANGEMENTS
Each project contains eight arrangements. They are used to structure the playback of pat-
terns. An arrangement is a great way to form a long sequence out of several patterns. More
information is found in the section “THE ARRANGER” on page 106.
TRACKS
An Octatrack pattern handles eight audio tracks and eight MIDI tracks. Each audio track
can host a machine. With the exception of Neighbor machines, any machine type can be
assigned to any of the eight audio tracks. More information about tracks are found in the
section “TRACKS” on page 64.