Octatrack MKII guide:
Parts, sampling and saving.

A set is the card-level container and owns an audio pool plus projects. A project owns its sample-slot lists, recorder buffers, 16 banks and eight arrangements. Each bank holds 16 patterns and four Parts. Patterns hold sequencer events and point to a Part; the Part supplies machine, sample, effect, track and scene state.

1. When diagnosing a change, ask whether it was sequencer data, a Part setting or an audio file.

Treating a pattern as a complete preset hides the fact that several patterns may share one Part.

Every pattern links to one of four Parts in its bank. Changing a track's machine, default sample, effects or base parameters edits the active Part. Another pattern linked to that Part therefore inherits the change. Its trigs and locks remain its own pattern data.

1. Check both patterns with [PART]; if their setups must differ, link one to another Part and press [YES].

Copying a pattern copies trigs and locks, but its Part link is not copied across banks.

Part reload restores a Part to its separately saved state, so it needs a saved reference first. Use the Part edit menu to save the selected Part or all Parts. During performance, [FUNC] + [CUE] reloads the active saved Part, restoring its machine, assignments, effects, track settings and scenes together.

1. Save the selected Part from Part edit before improvising; use [FUNC] + [CUE] to restore it.

An unsaved Part has no Part-level reload point, even if the project has been cached automatically.

Each Part owns 16 scenes. A scene stores locked parameter values, while the A and B slots choose which two scenes the crossfader spans. The fader interpolates between those scene values and, when moved, scene locks take priority over sequencer parameter locks. Two empty assigned scenes produce no change.

1. Assign A and B with [SCENE A/B] + [TRIG]; hold a scene key and turn an encoder to lock its parameter.

Changing the Part can change the available scene contents because scenes belong to the Part. Matching scene assignments and locked values across Parts can keep the same crossfader response; different Parts do not have to produce different values.

Project edits are cached to the card as you work. PROJECT SAVE creates a named state that PROJECT RELOAD can return to; [FUNC] + [PROJ] is the quick-save shortcut. That checkpoint does not turn volatile recorder-buffer audio into an audio file. Captured audio must be saved separately before power-off or replacement.

1. Save wanted recorder audio separately, use PROJECT SAVE for a reload point, and SYNC TO CARD before ejecting the card.

A project can reload perfectly while the unsaved recording that inspired it is gone.

Flex: loads the sample into RAM. Choose Flex for recorder buffers and rapid start-position (STRT) modulation; available RAM limits the total sample length. Static: streams the sample from Compact Flash, so it suits very long files. Static supports accurate parameter-locked start points and slices, but its LFO cannot modulate STRT and fast crossfader STRT movement can lag. Those STRT restrictions belong to Static. Both machine types support slicing, timestretch and pitch changes.

1. Prefer Static for long files and fixed slice starts; prefer Flex for buffers and dense or rapid STRT modulation.

Static does not mean uneditable; the limitation is about streaming and certain rapid STRT modulation paths.

Flex and Static play samples. Thru passes selected external inputs through a track and must be triggered before audio flows. Neighbor listens to the preceding track so another pair of effects can process it; it cannot occupy tracks 1 or 5. Pickup is a dedicated looper tied to its own recorder and buffer.

1. Choose the job, assign its machine by double-pressing the track key or using [FUNC] + [SRC], and trigger a Thru track.

Assigning a machine changes Part state and can affect every pattern sharing that Part.

The set's audio pool contains files. A project's Flex and Static lists reference selected files in numbered slots, and a track's machine points to a default slot. All compatible machines in the project can use those lists. Loading a file into a slot and assigning that slot to a track are separate actions.

1. Load the file from the set's audio pool into a slot, then select that slot with [YES] as the track's default.

Replacing the contents of a shared slot can change every place that refers to that slot.

Each audio track has an always-available recorder that writes to its dedicated recorder buffer. That does not automatically make the audio track play the buffer. To sequence the result, assign that buffer from the Flex list to a Flex machine. Any buffer can be assigned to any track, and one buffer can feed multiple Flex tracks.

1. After capture, assign the buffer to a Flex track and place or manually fire a playback trig.

Matching recorder and playback track numbers is a useful convention, not a technical coupling; Pickup machines are the exception.

Select the track whose recorder you want. [TRACK] + [REC1] captures the source chosen by INAB, [TRACK] + [REC2] uses INCD, and [TRACK] + [REC3] uses the internal SRC3 choice. The setup pages define the real source, length and behavior; the three shortcuts only start capture from those configured paths.

1. Select the track, verify sources in [FUNC] + [REC1], then capture with [TRACK] plus [REC1], [REC2] or [REC3].

Choosing REC1 does not guarantee input A/B is armed; INAB can be set to no source.

While a Recording Setup page is open, grid mode displays recorder trigs rather than playback trigs. A normal recorder trig records each time its condition is met. A one-shot recorder trig records once and then disarms, making it safer for live resampling in a looping pattern. Its armed state can be controlled per track.

1. In a Recording Setup page and grid mode, place [TRIG] or one-shot [FUNC] + [TRIG]; re-arm with [TRACK] + [YES].

The same step can hold a playback trig and a recorder trig because the setup view switches which layer you are editing.

Recorder buffers are working memory: another capture can overwrite them, and their audio is not retained after shutdown. Open Recording Edit with [FUNC] + [REC3] and save the current or all recordings, or open a buffer in the audio editor and save a copy. Saving creates the card file that survives.

1. Before another capture, press [FUNC] + [REC3] to open RECORDING EDIT, select SAVE THIS RECORDING (or SAVE ALL RECORDINGS), then name and assign the saved file.

PROJECT SAVE preserves project state but does not replace this separate audio-file save.

A Pickup machine is hard-linked to the recorder and buffer on its own track, so recording flows directly into looper playback. It supports record, overdub, replace and master/slave length relationships, but it cannot be sequenced or parameter-locked like Flex playback. The first Pickup to record becomes the tempo-defining master loop.

1. Configure sources first, record the master before its slaves, and save valued loop audio from the buffer separately.

Changing active Pickup tracks changes which track the REC keys control.

A sample trig starts the track's sample and can carry locks. A trigless trig fires track modulation and effects envelopes without starting the sample. A lock trig stores parameter values but does not start the sample, LFO or effects envelopes. A sample lock is different again: it selects another sample slot for one sample trig.

1. Choose the trig type first; hold it and turn an encoder for a parameter lock, or choose a slot for a sample lock.

A lock trig can change values silently without creating the attack expected from a sample trig.

A slice marks a region inside one sample; a sample lock selects a different slot. After defining slices in the audio editor, enable slice selection for the machine so STRT addresses slice numbers. Slices mode can then perform or live-record them, writing the chosen slice as locked STRT values on the resulting trigs.

1. Create slices in the audio editor, enable SLIC, then choose SLICES mode with [FUNC] + [UP]/[DOWN].

Slice markers are sample-slot settings until saved with the sample settings; replacing that slot can discard unsaved edit metadata.

Track LEVEL is post-effects and changes the main path in normal routing. [CUE] + LEVEL separately sets the post-effects cue path. AMP VOL sits before the track effects and affects both destinations, so it also changes how effects are driven. Input GAIN, DIR monitoring and master output level solve different stages of the path.

1. Trace input or sample through AMP VOL and effects to Main or Cue; also check whether Studio mode changes the route.

Boosting pre-effects VOL can alter the sound of nonlinear effects, not only its loudness.

Mixer DIR sends an input pair toward the output without consuming an audio track, which is useful for simple monitoring. A Thru machine uses a track, must be triggered, and routes the input through that track's effects, LFO and mute behavior. Avoid monitoring both paths unintentionally unless a doubled signal is deliberate.

1. For processing, lower DIR, assign a Thru machine to the input, trigger it, then use the track's effects and mute.

A configured Thru machine passes nothing until it has been triggered.

The cue outputs can feed an external processor while its outputs return to an input pair. Cueing a track determines what enters that send, and the return can be monitored or processed again. Because this creates a potential loop, build the route with conservative levels and ensure the returning input is not accidentally sent back to itself.

1. Connect Cue to the processor and its return to an input, route that return to Main, then raise one send slowly.

Cueing the return track can create a feedback loop whose gain is difficult to control.

A pattern chain is a fast queue of patterns within one bank, but it cannot contain the same pattern twice. The Arranger stores a deliberate form: rows can choose patterns, repeats, offsets, lengths, scenes, tempo and mutes, with loop and jump commands. Use it when the structure itself must be recallable.

1. Audition an order with a chain; move it to Arranger rows and save the arrangement when the form must be recallable.

An asterisk beside an arrangement means its edits have not been saved to that arrangement slot.

Static machines stream large files from Compact Flash, making them the natural starting point for song-length material. Playback can still use timestretch, pitch and fixed start locks. For manual launches, the sample attribute QUANTIZED TRIG can delay playback to a musical boundary; sequencer-triggered playback is not affected by that setting.

1. Assign the file to Static, set its tempo and QUANTIZED TRIG attributes, then test the whole file from the performance card.

QUANTIZED TRIG governs manual triggering; it does not quantize a sample trig already placed on the sequencer.

Normal scale gives all tracks one pattern length and multiplier. Per-track scale gives each track its own length and speed, while MASTER LENGTH decides when the combined pattern restarts and when a chain may advance. With MASTER LENGTH set to INF, a separate chain-after rule is needed or the current pattern can continue indefinitely.

1. Use [FUNC] + [PAGE] to set track lengths and MASTER LENGTH; if it is INF, define how a chain should advance.

A musically correct polymeter can still block the next pattern if its master transition length is undefined.

A trig condition decides whether an existing trig becomes active on a given evaluation. Conditions include first-cycle behavior, ratios such as 2:4, probability, Fill, previous-condition and neighbor-track relationships. They apply to sample, note, lock, trigless and one-shot trigs, so the result depends on the underlying trig type as well as its condition.

1. In grid mode, hold the trig, press [LEFT] or [RIGHT], choose its condition with LEVEL, and test a full condition cycle.

A probability condition can appear broken in a short test because each evaluation may legitimately fail.

MIDI mode provides eight dedicated tracks alongside the eight audio tracks. A MIDI track can send notes, pitch bend, aftertouch and ten assignable CC values, with locks, LFOs, micro timing and per-track scale behavior. MIDI track parameters cannot be assigned to scenes. Channel collisions can also block expected send or receive paths.

1. Assign the MIDI track channel in NOTE Setup, check audio-track channel collisions, then verify notes and CCs at the destination.

If an audio and MIDI track share a channel, the MIDI track blocks the audio track from sending while the audio track blocks the MIDI track from receiving.

Elektron's support table lists the Octatrack MKII main and cue outputs as balanced mono TRS pairs, inputs A–D as balanced mono TRS, and the headphone connector as unbalanced stereo TRS. The article classifies the physical audio inputs and outputs as line level, so instrument or microphone sources may need suitable gain staging outside the unit.

1. Use line-level sources or suitable preamplification, cable each TRS socket for its actual role, and watch the input LEDs.

The headphone socket uses TRS for stereo, while the main, cue and input TRS sockets represent balanced mono connections.