Octatrack MIDI implementation & control

Bome Products
1

I’m currently working on a project that maps a MidiFighter 64 to an Octatrack MKII.
The difficulty with the Octatrack is that it has different mapping modes which can even be set per channel.

If a MIDI channel is assigned to an audio track, muting that track sends feedback on the assigned channel.
As long as a MIDI channel is assigned to an audio track, all controls in the ctrl change mapping(manual page 139/140/141) with an X in the TRN column send feedback.
The selected note mapping has no effect on this.

There is one issue though, quick mute mode does not send feedback, ever.
Using quick mute in combination with a MIDI controller quickly gets the LED’s out of sync.
Best is to use the mixer page, same layout but with MIDI feedback.

Note that if you assigned a variable to ,for instance, a mute state, that variable needs to be updated when you press a button because the Octatrack doesn’t send feedback when receiving MIDI.
Only when using controls on the OT itself, feedback is sent.

To receive feedback of all the audio track parameters that the Octatrack can send(with it’s current settings), send CC# 61 with value 0 to any of the audio track channels.

For MIDI tracks mute/solo, only one of the audio tracks needs MIDI enabled.
The controls can be sent to any of the audio track channels, but feedback is only sent to the first available channel. The same goes for scene A/B select and the crossfader.
MIDI track mutes are also available for control on a MIDI track channel, but no feedback will be sent.

Also, for every audio track that doesn’t have it’s mapping set to standard you’ll lose control over a couple audio track specific functions that are in the standard note mapping(manual page 137/138).

Hope this helps.

2

Hi, I moved this to a new thread since it is using different controllers, but your note are well taken. There is a link that will take the original user to the new thread if he is interested.

The issue you see with a button not sending anything is not unique. I ran into this with the layer buttons on the X-Touch MINI. They send no MIDI and can indeed confuse things. However since Layer B and Layer A send different MIDI, I can quickly ascertain after a layer switch that I must have changed layers. Instead of sending information directly to the controller, I typical capture everything in global variables on both layers and then as I recognize the layer switch, I start a repeating timer to update the LEDs on the controller with the value of the global variables.
This, of course, only works if the MIDI messages are unique on both layers.

Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care

Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
3

Don’t know if that was necessary, there is nothing about my controller in my post.
The answer was specifically tailored to the OP.
All settings and mappings I talk about are Octatrack only and meant to clarify how the Octatrack handles MIDI.

4

Thats fine, at least he has the follow-on thread. I split it off before I read the entire post.

Thanks!

Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care

Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
1 Like
5

edit: Fixed with a link…

6

Great minds think alike. I also added a link. Thanks again!

7

Thanks Steve,
I see how my post could be confusing though, so I’ll try to clarify a bit more.

The Octatrack has a standard internal mapping for CC control, but 6 different internal MIDI mappings for the notes you send to it.
Each of those note mappings also has it’s own layout on the Octatrack.

The confusing part is that those mappings/layouts can be set global, or per channel.
Then there is also a setting for the MIDI input, which toggles whether the MIDI input mapping follows the selected layout, or follows the standard MIDI note mapping.

So every audio track in the Octatrack has a separate MIDI channel, and optionally a separate layout and/or note mapping.

The audio track mutes are in the standard CC mapping which doesn’t change, except the channel.
The MIDI track mutes however are not in the CC mapping, but in the selectable note mapping in the same mapping, but all on a single channel.

That’s where the double-confusing part comes in.

The notes CC’s for MIDI track mute can be sent to any of the MIDI enabled tracks, including MIDI tracks.
But if it’s a MIDI track, CC direct connect needs to be disabled.
And the feedback for those doesn’t come from the MIDI track channels, only from one of the audio channels, and only if one of those audio channels has it’s note mapping set to standard.

On top of all this confusion, every MIDI track also has 10 assignable MIDI CC controls.
And the control of those is, again, dependent on a setting.

To summarize:

  • The audio track mutes only need a MIDI channel assigned to each audio track you want to control and have feedback from.
  • The MIDI track mutes only need one MIDI channel assigned to any track to control them.
    But to have feedback for those, at least one audio track needs an assigned channel and have it’s note mapping set to standard.

As you can see, the Octatrack’s MIDI implementation is just as crazy as the device itself.
But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more complete implementation without the use of sysex.

8

Wow, very confusing!

9

The Octatrack is such a confusing device that almost every bug report topic on the Elektronauts forum ends with it being user error.

So confusing in fact, that I had to make a couple corrections in my last post.

The MIDI track mutes are not in the note mapping, but in the CC mapping.
MIDI track play is in the note mapping.

First post is still correct.

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