handbaked
Offline
London, UK

Hi everyone

I have just recently got myself an all singing, all dancing A600 and octamed v3, v4 and v5. I have not used the program before but understand the principles behind tracking software....

i have a newb question and this is how do i adjust the panning of the 4 tracks? i am currently using octamed v5 as i guessed the lastest of the 3 i have would be the best. track 1 is panned hard left and track 2 hard right. is there any way of adjusting this within the software? having my kick drum just in my left ear is a bit annoying :-)

hope one of you kind folk can help me, i really wanna get some techno out of this thing!

cheers, tom

Saskrotch
Offline
Chicago IL

that's just how the sound chip is. most people record their tracks in mono because of it.

chunter
Offline
Brunswick, GA USA

If you want panning, you play identical things on adjacent tracks but at different volumes. Some artists did this to good effect, but the loss of tracks is a definite tradeoff.

SketchMan3
Offline
NC in the US of America

One thing I've been wanting to try with my Gameboy stuff is mixing the stereo recording with a mono mixed version of it to get a lighter panning effect while keeping it "centered". I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know how well it'd work. I'm imagining balance and leveling issues could come into play.

Unless you're going the hardcore-no-post-production route, maybe you could try something like that?

I suppose it wouldn't work properly in a live setting, though.

Last edited by SketchMan3 (Oct 10, 2012 11:18 pm)

iLKke
Offline
Psydney, Australia

There is actually a method to make stereo modules using all 4 channels.
You might want to make a regular 'mono' song first as it will somewhat obfuscate the data.

What you do is, you pair one left with one right channel and then swap the notes between them whenever you can.
Let's say you pair the beat track with the bassline. Beat track would then play say a kick then second note from the bass then a hat then 4th bass note then a snare etc. The bass track would play 1st bass note then a hat then 3rd bass note, etc etc. Of course usually not all note triggers are spaced evenly but you just swap whenever you can.

The effect works quite well and is not too hard to do.
I've only heard one musician use it, Stéphane Picq who made music for Cryo games like KGB or Dune. You should be able to find some youtube videos to hear it in action.

handbaked
Offline
London, UK

thanks everyone for the quick responses. i have realised it is not too much of a problem for me. I have just come out of the amiga into 2 mono channels on my mixer and centered the panning there. early stages of octamed tracking (first time tonight!) but will soon have it running in sync with my c64 and mssiah, circuit bent guitar fx etc so it's not going to matter too much. now i have the amiga straight down the centre im happy.

thanks again!

TSC
Offline
Milwaukee, WI
handbaked wrote:

but will soon have it running in sync

have fun with that

Saskrotch
Offline
Chicago IL

hee hee

YERZMYEY
Offline
The Rubber Man
handbaked wrote:

I have just come out of the amiga into 2 mono channels on my mixer and centred the panning there.

Yupp, that's what I do. I mean I don't do mono, but leave the stereo closer to the centre, or changing it on CoolEDIT like 60-40/40-60 in the "channel mixer" section. It does the trick very well.

PS: Btw, if You'd switching into more than 4ch (up to 8 channels) the prog will ask ya "halve samples?" - at least the v.4 will do. They You have to press "Y" because it can't software-mix the music without it and makes total nooooooooooise. I dunno if there are any *.med files on da Net, to use as a guide - if not, then let me know; I'd send You something. OctaMED wasn't popular but still it was the best program for A500/A600.