Beginnings of a Live Set? Maybe I Should Just Go Modular Already // Oxi One, Octatrack
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- Опубликовано: 12 июн 2024
- In this video I walk through my thought process and choices for creating a live electronic music setup with the @WeAreElektron Octratrack MK2, @oxiinstruments One, @audiothingies Micromonsta 2, Make Noise 0-Coast, @empresseffects Reverb, @HologramElectronics Microcosm, @MoogSynthesizers Subsequent 37.
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For someone who is a husband, and a father, and who already has a healthy gear obsession, I would recommend against getting into Eurorack. That is of course assuming you would like to remain a husband, and good father.
Man that hit home bro! I will definitely keep these words of caution at heart. Thanks for watching and see you soon!
As a eurorack survivor let me say this...
If you KNOW that you'll be able to get on and be inspired musically by it then great.
However... I found myself spending all my time trying to remember stuff, living with "do I need Maths" followed by constantly poring over the weirdest oscillators; running out of vca or modulations, space... And finding ways to fund. When I filled 7u... I took a breath.
I wasn't actually happy. I was forever creating nothing. Lost in the technical.
I'm not that musician. I realised I was at my happiest just switching on and jamming but for me felt like the prep of modular just got in the way.
Top it off with ADHD hyperfocus - obsession. A powerfully negative force.
I decided to quit. I'd rather have a nice stage piano to go with my Summit and subsequent 37... With my dirtywave m8 and digitone as grooveboxs and computer for more serious stuff.
Just my take. Eurorack made me unhappy with myself and my obsession / GAS
There’s always the organ exchange market… I mean you have to kidneys, right? Spouse in-house, gear acquired!
"that's what's at the end of the rainbow for me ...", man, I felt that and feel the same way ^^
Loved it as always. Can’t wait to talk livesets with you!!
Thanks brother! Can´t wait to pick your brain on live sets, octatrack scenes and oxi one tips! lots of love!
Aaahhhh shiet.. performance time?! Where’s my other AirPod haha. Need both for this :)
One suggestion to help the overall vibe in a club, a compressor before sound goes to house.
Also bump those drums up!
Yo Ricky!! 🤟🏻 Thanks for the tips brother, I need all the help I can get jajaja
You seem really stoked! My man. You've found the path,..to the end of your rainbow.. ;)
I'd like this one as just one track at a gig but not the whole gig. Nice and sparkly and airy but towards the end I was waiting for the drop into something a bit heavier or a bit more song-like. Definitely include one of your keyboards. Great job!
Thanks so much for the feedback and for watching! I absolutely agree with you, thisis just the first "song" I came up with on this rig, but I plan to do many more to fill in at least 40 minutes to an hour of live performance. The synths and pedals may also vary. I´m thinking of maybe adding the Deluge or Polyend Play as well. I´ll keep you posted, see you soon!
Hey brother, that was awesome. I could totally hear your vocals on top of this track. you sing beautifully and I think that would be a great addition.
Thanks brother! Always great to see you here! I was thinking about some vocals over an fx box like the roland vt-3 perhaps. What do you think?
Hey man ! Beautiful track, love learning how you built this.
Quick feedback from someone who STARTED with eurorack (and then move away from physical modules). It's the most wonderful musical experience and yet the most frustrating one. I've done 3 shows with full eurorack setups and it was suuuuper messy. Depending on what you're looking for, you could build a fun effect section in 3U X 84hp, or a couple of voices but tbh, you're better off running VCV rack with an audio and midi interface.
No, VCV rack is not as fun as physical modules bjt you never run out of utilities (trust me you en up needing a lot of mixers, attenuverters, offsets, clock sources... it's EXPENSIVE), you can recall patches with a click even if they're totally different, and you can transform a lot of your synths into semi-modular machines by sending modulation on specific CCs. Pair it with a faderfox EC4 for the physical touch and labeling, and you're good to go. Ah, and unless you want to use VCv in your daw, you can have all that in the free version.
A lot of the commenters are right, eurorack is expensive, it's a rabbithole, a lot of machines do tons more in more compact formats and for much, much cheaper (check out Cuckoo's live set in Brisbane with only a Deluge and a Zoia). Yet that wasn't my issue with it. My issue was that I ended up more time thinking about what geat to get for my setup to do what I wanted it to than actually playing, and that's not very cool.
Once again thank you for your content it's great stuff as usual, keep up the good jams. Definitely go on stage as a one-man electronic band it'll push your limits like crazy and teach you a lot and we're all eager to see what come out 😁
PS : loopop, as alway, has a great video about building a live set. Check it out ^^
Very beautiful ☺️
Thanks sis! Always appreciate you stopping by! See you soon!
Sounds great! Take the sub 25 with you.😊
Just getting into this whole synth thing. You and your gear sound awesome! Thanks for sharing.
The 0Coast really sounds good. Better than most I have heard before. I like how your setup is coming along.
OCoast and MM2 get along pretty well!! Nice way to introduce a bit of CV in your setup . The bass sounds damn good as well !!
Couldn’t have done the chord progression without the One🤟🏻 (like, literally I didn’t know some of those chords🤣)
excellent run down. i’m running a beatstep pro with 2 sirins, a nord 3p and stomp xl. that’s just enough knobs and switches for my small brain
Like the sound of that set-up!
Thanks so much for watching! Your setup sounds like a blast to play with! Happy tracks my friend!
thanks man
One way of thinking about it is what are you going to do with your hands if the performance will last, say, an hour. It can be fun if a filter sweep sounds good to do a filter sweep manually but you can’t do filter sweeps for an hour. I don’t know the OXI1 since I have the Hapax and the Deluge. On both of these sequencers I would split the solo instruments into 2 or 3 tracks that can be muted and unmuted separately for the fixed part, and then 1 track that is empty for a kind of improvisation. On the Deluge if I do melodic improvisation I use polyrhythms because the Deluge is so damn good at it and you cannot tweak easily other sequencer attributes in mass (although the new community firmware apparently has a “FILL” button). On the Hapax shape the improvisation by midi fx, making a certain midi fx smaller and bigger can produce solos of its own, and there is a global transpose track that can also come in handy. I am sure the OXI may have its own features for improvising.
Another thing you can do though, is just add a midi keyboard to the set and instead of improvising with the machines, improvise yourself! Will certainly keep your hands busy and midi keyboards are considerably cheaper than euroracks 😂.
Nice work brother! Sounds great!
Thanks bro! Appreciate you! See you soon!
Great video! Thank you for showing this setup and workflow. I like the idea you mentioned of giving each piece of gear a role as if it’s a band member. Definitely given me some food for thought. I’ve been looking to go dawless using an OT as the brain and as you’ve done with the oxi but using a Launchpad pro mk3. I’ve been eyeing up the OT a lot recently but the learning curve seems like it’s going to take a long time.
I went modular...then turned back. So much more connected with interfaces like Soma’s oddities...feels like I’m playing and drawing in ideas rather than digging for them with patch cables
Yeah I get what you mean. I had the matriarch for a while and even though it sounds amazing I never really vibed that much with doing crazy patching. Thanks for watching!
Yes exactly.
Yes me too. I only have so much time to devote to music making/experimentation. Right now I can’t devote that time to patching. Maybe when I’m retired!
Sub 37 is always worth packing around! Would love to see some improvised keys over the jam on the sub!
I love the video, and don't want you to think I ignored the great info you provided -- thanks! I also have a side-issue question... what is the make/model of keyboard rack you're using against the wall to your right? You seem to have great taste in gear and value-to-cost ratio, so I'd love to hear how you selected this.
Where do we buy tickets to the live show? Will it be in the magical reverb cave? This was fun! It's always interesting to understand the thoughts behind different setups.
Thanks so much my friend! If I ever to a live show I´ll be sure to let you know lol. See you in the magical synth cave!
I feel like the octatrack is a bit extra for this workflow. Also, would echo not getting into modular unless you want to play with cool filters or certain parameters as part of your performance. Of course, all of that can be handled in a daw or VCV rack if you are more of a set it and forget it kinda guy. The only real benefit to a rack would be that it inspires you to play with it opposed to simply playing it. The downside of a rack is that patching it can get in the way control so it becomes important to pick useful companion controllers (no personal experience but I'm going there myself since when I have it all patched up I get overwhelmed by my cables 😆). Even if you keep the system small, as I have, you start thinking of additions to add or change control. Of course you can use a daw, octatrack, or digitakt, etc to remove complexity in patching by recording loops down to one sample as needed. If it's not adding to the performative part of the performance, then it's probably extra weight, but also, a tool you already have is always better than one you don't.
Great video mate. As someone who is venturing out into the world of solo gigs after 25 years being in bands, this hit nicely. Sounds promising. P.S I maintain that I'm only a midlife crisis away from getting into modular. Fingers crossed I can hold out, it feels like a particularly pernicious addiction 😂
I go for the Octatrack - i got the MPC One, and while beat making is fine with it, the Q link aspect is to rudimentary , also mapping Q links externally isnt supported with official firmware. With the X it might be different - but i think the Octatrack excells at the "transition part" between sections /songs - and that is what is very important for a live set, otherwise you would have to use a DJ mixer, and extra boxes to play while you transition your parts. Maybe make a video about that aspect alone -i.e. what are your favourite methods ? There must be more than filter /reverb wash you could come up with.
Personally I would if you have them use the Elektron A Four, Rytm with the OctaT and possibly a Roland MC707 with Midi Keyb as main equipment.
Good to go 🙂 That's it 👍
As for euro rack, it's a very very expensive money pit for the trouble especially 🤷🏻
That´s a pretty powerful combo! I had the MC707 and even though it sounds great it didn´t do it for me. The holy elektron trinity would be lovely to have !
@@MidlifeSynthesist Love your channel btw, you have a great positive outlook and are very chilled and easy to listen to 👍
I can understand the MC707 not being everyone's flavour, the reason I suggested it is it plays nicely with the Elektrons.
I use around 5 Elektrons in my setup and sometimes I use the older legacy models. I find I can recreate any sound and tone just with them and using some DAW magic and sound processing I can get super duper creative 😉
I got into Modular a little while back. Since you already have an Octatrack you are already part of the way there. Be careful though it’s super addictive
That´s my main concern since I already have a very addictive personality lol!
Great work, very creative! I wonder if software synths, sequencer can even come close to doing this on iPad with AUM. That would be great experiment if you could try in the future!
Hi! Thank you so much for watching! I think software can do amazing things these days and I´ve heard people using the IPAD/AUM in mindblowing ways (it´s pretty common to use the IPAD with the OXi as a controller via bluetooth!). For me it comes down to the experience more than the end result. I love knobs faders and physical buttons. The most touch screen I can tolerate is my MPC is seems lol. See you soon!
I hope you found this video useful or at least insane
Just a perspective: If I went modular, it would be for the effects, the main sound would still come from dedicated synths and it would be sequenced from an oxi or a beat/keystep (or even an ipad)
That was an absolutely stellar performance, really liking the vibe of it! For compact setups you really can't go wrong with a Minitaur, I'd at least consider giving it a whirl. And this might just be my ignorance, but why not just sequence everything from the Octa? I'm not familiar with the Oxi, so there might be a ton of stuff that you really need from it, but apart from the CV LFO I can't find anything.
Thank you so much for your kind words my friend! I absolutely love the Minitaur! Had one way back in the day but replaced it with the Subsequent 37. Might have to buy another for space, good feedback! As for your question, I could have definitely done all the sequencing directly from the OTmk2, but the Oxi was chosen mainly because it has a few tools that make the process way easier (such as the chord mode and also harmonizer mode, where you can set a mono track to always adjust the notes in the sequence to the scale that the chords another track is using, so the groove stays the same but the notes adjust to always sound great, truly amazing stuff). Also I used the Oxi because I wasn´t not sure if the OTmk2 would make the final cut of the set, so I wanted to be able to switch pieces of gear around if I needed to. Obviously the OT is staying lol. Thanks so much for watching! See you soon!
Go eurorack. What now occupies all your desk will be in a box in 1/10 of the space
A Digitone Keys would provide Elektron polyphony, a good keyboard, and more programmable knobs.
Cool jam. Very workable setup. Would be interested in seeing how you transition to a second song. It looks like a lot of control surfaces to deal with in a live context. You are younger than me, so perhaps your brain plasticity is more pliant than mine. I remember experimenting with two SQ-64s at once. There is a lot to remember. Cheers!
thank you my friend! Yeah I´m wondering the same thing haha. It´s tricky but it´ll be interesting to find the segway into a new bit. As for the complexity, I think it seems more complicated than it actually is though. On the OT and Oxi I´m just switching patterns from left to right with button presses, on the Micromonsta 2 I´m just doing some filter sweeping and on the 0-Coast I touch about 3 knobs at most. I suppose now I just try to not get carried away adding more in there haha. Thanks for watching!
The Empress reverb pedal connected to just the 0 coast is fat to trim off. The octatrack's internal reverbs are good enough for live use; you should have a thru track available to do that. Odds are you're not going to touch that reverb enough to justify having its knobs available all the time, and I don't think the Empress can be sequenced with midi either. Its hard to justify in other uses, too, like as a send effect getting input from the octatrack cue outs, or an end of chain effect. Trim it! Use the octatrack's reverbs instead. They can be live manipulated with scenes also.
Setup for 6k USD. Nice :)
Don’t forget redundancy/PlanB. If your Octatrack goes down in the middle of the set, what will you do?
Oh don´t worry, if that ever happens I´ll just hide under a table and wait till everyone goes away. Can´t miss!
@@MidlifeSynthesistThat's what your synth wizard's cloak of invisibility is for.
Are you sure with your G.A.S. it would be a good idea going eurorack? If you do though, I would highly recommend a live eurorack setup that has a main patch that you don't need to unpatch and focus on. consider erica synth techno system or build something similar yourself. I believe I had a similar way with drum machines, synths, samplers, the fantom, sequencers, etc. and then I made mistakes with my first euroracks, but since I switched to a permanent live eurorack setup, I felt no need to purchase more. And I still have blind panels, that I use for spacers to have room for my fingers to patch or turn knobs more easy.
That's actually also possible as a father and you don't need to know all modules, if you e.g. decide to only use 2 or 3 brands for the bread and butter modules. And maybe focus on interesting effect modules later
Less is more
A man of culture! Well said my friend!
If you consider Eurorack - Don't do it. Very expensive, thousands of bucks for things you can do in one Elektron device, and much easier and faster.. I' ve done it and went back (to a Syntakt), beeing happy now
Comparing to all he got - not very expensive) But it is a great possibility for a new content on a channel
Yeah people keep telling me that! It´s just the excitement of the unkown I guess, but in general I seem to gel better with full synths/grooveboxes. I would LOVE to try out the Syntakt, seems like a beast. How are the synths on that thing? Been debating over it vs an analog 4. Would love to know!
Yes! Both for exploring new places of musical creativity and as uncharted territory for video content it seems interesting, but I guess time will tell!
@@MidlifeSynthesistThe Syntakt seems top be a 'best of', for me quite attractive as my first Elektron Gear and having limited space and time (also father and husband). I really like the Synths, both digital and analog, and have quite some fun 😊. But it has its limitations and shortcomings: Voices beeing mono only, missing a second assignable hardware output, no Sampling, no Arp, no Compressor. I'm compensating that with a MM2, Lemondrop (Midi supports 4 Voices) and maybe some sampling Device (1010 Blackbox or Digitakt) in the Future. Hoping for software updates though, Elektron has shown some potential in that. Thanks for your work, especially really liked your Micromonsta video..
The live jam was great, I would totally go to a show like that. Avoid modular at all costs.
Thank you so much for watching, happy you enjoyed it! I´m still tempted by modular, help! jaja
I have a friend who went modular a couple years ago...haven't really heard how it's going for him...for that matter, I don't think anyone has heard anything from him since. Hmm.
Im running my sub 37 w a MK1 OT, writing and sending midi notes is… interesting, to say the least lol definitely not intuitive at first.
Seems a little mechanical. Adding a lead synth actually playing it live would add a lot.
Too much leads, rhythm section needs more attention. Otherwise, very cheerful and fantasy music!
Thanks so much for the feedback my friend! Listening back I agree that the rhythm section needs more presence and variation. I also want to revisit the Bass section. Do you think live playing electric bass might add something here or synthbass does the job?
@@MidlifeSynthesistagreed with this comment but more about the drums missing from the mix or having any dynamics. How about some build ups, drum fills and filters? The sequenced bass line is cool, more octave jumps and bleeps and bloops perhaps. MPC has added probability and ratchet. Could be useful here.
I got into eurorack a couple months ago, had a budget in mind and to get something i was wanting to do with it cost me $5,500.00 and spent another $500 recently and no sight in end. Lets just say if you dont want to go broke quick dont get into it. Obsession is much worse than fx pedals and standard synths/grooveboxes. Im screwed