I take your points gents, my idea of no resampling was not to be mean, but to try to encourage a controlled environment to get some cool shit happening with an extreme limitation - like one source sample.
However resampling is a very interesting area, but not necessarily a very limited one, as it turns out I don't think a single sample of white noise is as limiting as any of us first thought either, having a listen to the tracks so far is a good demonstration of this.
The point of a science lab is to have these imposed limitations, and whilst undoubtedly it would be wonderful fun to use all the available facilities the OT has to offer I'm not so sure that it would teach us anything that we did not already know.
Personally I think there have been some good ideas thrown into the hat so far, the idea of no fx and resampling could potentially be very interesting especially with say a live source that is constantly changing such as a radio connected to the inputs or something.
Of course I'm by no means in charge of science labs, I just put my ideas for one up before as no-one else came up with anything concrete, so I'm more than happy for anyone else to suggest something for the next lab. I'm also happy to organise them for a while if needs be.
The thing to remember is there needs to be a specific limitation, a set of rules, preferably a time limit, a deadline for completion and perhaps some kind of brief.
Then there are a number of possible things, from focussing on specific areas of the machine to source sample(s), to techniques that must or must not be applied, anything outside of this then becomes not a science lab but just a bunch of users posting tracks and we already have an area for that, so I'd see little point if it was too open ended.
Here are a few things that might be worth considering for future labs (IMHO!)
Neighbor machines with 2 samples (1 for tr1 1 for tr5)
No input
No fx
a single single cycle
a drum loop only
remix a loop using just the loop
make a track from just the word spoken 'Octatrack'
just use a specific effect eg chorus
DJ static - 2 statics of considerable difference, make a mix/mashup
Micro music - a track with a duration of just a few seconds
I like Neil Baldwins idea of sharing the files, aside from ensuring no cheating (you'd only be cheating yourself remember!) it is a very nice way to see how they did that.
Keep the conversation going, I'm very interested in these labs and how they will develop, and it is a community thing so keep those ideas and suggestions coming in. I'd encourage everyone to take part whenever possible as it is fun, a good way to get out of a rut, and a way to make sure you are doing something with these wonderful machines, get it recorded, get it uploaded happy days
Oh yeah the current lab closes on the 31st so still time to get something done!
EDIT - Personally I think it is best to have only 1 lab at a time to avoid confusion and keep it organised.