Studio Diary: June 18, 2025
Feedback, noise, and resonance with iPad and Octatrack
Today’s studio diary examines a recent sketch I recorded with iPad and Octatrack. The main focus of the performance was deliberate use of the Octatrack’s filters, distortion, and delay to accentuate feedback, noise, and resonance in the samples.
You can watch the video here:
Generally speaking, there are many similarities between the sources and processes in this song and the last one I shared in the June 12 diary entry. This time, I’ve swapped out Loopy Pro with the Octatrack - I wanted to reacquaint myself with its live processing capabilities after a long time away from using it. I reverted to one of my favorite OT use cases: setting up effects chains of distortion, filters, and delays on Thru and Neighbor tracks and using the scene-switching crossfader to gradually adjust their parameters.
This post is organized as such:
The samples used
Routing and Octatrack setup
Finishing touches and extra bits of info
The samples used
Samples were again pulled from a recently re-discovered library of longform drone pieces for piano, strings, and synthesizer originally recorded in 2023. As mentioned in my last post, even though the original idea for them failed, they’ve proven to be a great source of inspiration recently. These samples are excerpts from the September 15, 2023 session I recorded:
“Resonant Drone” - Omnisphere pad
Landforms - violin and cello
Noire - piano
Once in Samplr, I placed multiple copies of these sounds on all 6 available slots:
1 instance of the drone sample, pitched down an octave and shaped by the in-app low pass filter.
2 instances of the piano, both reversed and pitched up an octave. One has a substantial amount of delay applied; you can hear me fade this in around the 6:30 mark of the video. The other is used for high-end texture by looping 3 very short segments of decaying notes.
3 instances of the strings - unaffected, pitched down 1 octave, and pitched up 1 octave. The lowest pitched version adds some extra weight and grittiness to the bass sound of the Omnisphere pad, while the upper octave version is sent through the in-app high pass filter to focus only on the airy, noisy content of the strings (you can hear this fade in around 1:30 or so, when I send it through the Octatrack for even more noisy processing).
Here’s a quick run-through of each one in relative isolation:
Octatrack setup
One of the most interesting and exciting ways I like to use the Octatrack MKII in a live performance is as an effects processor - less like a sampler and more like a pedalboard. I find it to be a really effective and hands-on tool to shape sound and accentuate certain characteristics of a sample. In this instance, I was working with samples that had a lot of inherent resonant quality to them, and it made me want to push that envelope as far as I could and build up dense drones with high-end emphasis and noisy feedback that teetered on the edge of chaos.
Feedback and live sound-shaping: tracks 1 & 2
I typically set up a THRU machine on Track 1, which accepts incoming audio (like a synth drone, field recording loop, or processed signal from another device), and immediately route that into a NEIGHBOR machine on Track 2, allowing me to stack additional effects on the same signal path. This basic chain - input plus two stages of processing - is where I begin. To emphasize the high-end content and maximize the tension, I often use the DJ EQ, Filter, and LOFI in the effects slots, cutting lows and pushing midrange resonance into “howling” territory. Dark Reverb also helps with this - it can get very howly and chaotic at high mix levels at long decay lengths. The LOFI bit crushing effects can also add brittle, digital-sounding clipping or smearing, and when dialed in carefully, this creates those biting, metallic edges that feel aggressive yet still tethered to the original tone.
Additional intensity comes from Delay with feedback cranked near or past 110. The awesome thing about OT’s delay effect is that it never self-oscillates, so you can quickly ramp up the feedback knob to near maximum levels to catch any audio you want in an endlessly repeating wall of sound. With delay time mapped to the scene crossfade switch, as was done here, you can sweep the feedback higher any time and cause momentary feedback surges. It becomes like live sculpting of a feedback circuit.
I mapped the crossfader to increase 1) the mix of Reverb and 2) raise the track volume to maximum, so as I nudge it to the right at the beginning of the piece, the live-processed audio fades in a little more gradually and naturally. I am also increasing the feedback of the delay effect, so you can hear it start to repeat and build in intensity in some moments. It sounds like this in isolation:
Resampling and looping: tracks 3 & 4
From there, I’ll also assign FLEX machines to Tracks 3 and 4, both set to record buffers that sample from Input AB or Track 2 (the NEIGHBOR track), effectively capturing slices of the already-processed signal. These can then be mangled further, in this case with filter, delay, and pitch-shifting. You can see me sample an additional piece of audio from the iPad to Track 3 starting at 3:15 or so, and then fade in the pitched-up version of that around 3:55.
Finishing touches and extra info
A couple additional notes worth calling out:
On the output of Samplr, I used a few go-to effects for basic tone shaping: the AUM built-in HP/LP filter and Pro-Q3 EQ from FabFilter. Because of the nature of the samples and processing I was doing on Octatrack, I added a few dramatic/severe notches to remove harshness and resonance in advance of the OT’s processing. I also had an instance of Audio Damage Eos delay set for long, dense trails - the mix was subtle, around 20-25% to avoid crowding the soundstage too much.
I have a hardware send set up pre-fader following these 2 plugins. This lets me send as much audio as I want to sample and process on Octatrack without hearing the raw sound from Samplr, so when I fade it in later you can notice the full low-end strength of the Omnisphere pad and landforms samples without any high pass or distortion applied on OT. I like to give myself parallel processing options like this so I can work with multiple iterations of a sound and impart some variety to the drones.
For a quieter moment of melodic/tonal sound near the end of the video, as things are calming down, I played a few notes on Apesoft’s Electric app. This is a standout electric piano instrument in my book, one I’ve been using for ages now. I love the ability to adjust attack/decay times to very long settings, and the “slicer” mode is an excellent way to turn a Rhodes sound into an ambient pad. I have an instance of Velvet Machine by Phonolyth on there, too, to add some subtle ambience as well.
Not shown in the video is my Ableton Live session, which is recording audio from both the iPad and Octatrack in real time via my iConnectivity Audio 4c interface. The effects were simple, just compression and EQ for the most part (screenshots of each track below). I have a track for the OT and one for the iPad. On OT’s channel I’m applying mutliband compression to clamp down on midrange buildup, as well as Trackspacer to prevent excessive frequency clashes and tonal overlap with the iPad audio. On iPad I have a compressor to thicken the bass a bit and some EQ to smooth things out. On the master, I have a gentle bit of Soothe 2 to calm harshness and Ozone for volume leveling.
Conclusion
As I’ve revisited the Octatrack in recent weeks, I’ve found myself drawn again to its capacity for transformation. Its ability to take delicate, tonal material and push it to the brink of collapse through layers of filtering, distortion, and delay is something special. This session was about exploring that tension: how much resonance and noise can be introduced before something beautiful breaks apart? And how can feedback, often thought of as a chaotic or undesirable element, be shaped and sculpted into something expressive?
Much of what I enjoy about working this way lies in the contrast between control and improvisation to reach unexpected outcomes. Carefully shaped samples from Samplr are routed into unpredictable chains in the Octatrack, where they take on new lives through performance gestures, scene morphing, and looping. The process becomes more like playing an instrument than arranging a track: reactive, tactile, and fluid. And in pairing old recordings with this live reprocessing, I’m reminded that no idea is ever wasted. Even sounds from failed sessions or unfinished pieces can be revitalized when passed through a new lens.
In the end, this approach is less about technical perfection and more about energy, tone, and texture. It’s about discovering new ways to breathe life into familiar material, and trusting that a little chaos, when harnessed with care, can yield something surprisingly alive.
Thanks as always for reading and listening. Talk soon!
AT