Hello.
How I can increase it , what is the best practice? Because now it looks like I need always make tracks on my A4 quieter.
On my Soundcraft mixer for each line I have Gain encoder and Volume fader. What should I use to get AR louder?
Many thanks!
The makeup gain on the compressor might be what you are looking for. It adds a bit of fuzz, but it isn’t too noticeable.
I will not use internal compressor, because waiting for my rnc1773 on master (A4, AR, Minilouge)
turn the Engine Level up, turn the Volume of the Amp up and turn the Track Level up. Its not best practice to max out the Levels, but on the AR MK1 i had the same issues with the Main Out being too quiet. dont use the compressor! it adds a lot of Noise to the output (at least it did on the MK1).
The makeup gain should work even if the compressor is not engaged (mix is set to 0).
Also, it is as nice of a transient shaper as it is a “master compressor.” It is a very useful tool even if you have something better on the master bus.
Other than that, the best way to get things louder is to design them to be so. Set filter resonance higher, use overdrive, and increase the note hold. I have found huge variance in the volume across my kits for this reason and the compressor has helped smooth it out.
It’s the makeup gain function that is adding the fuzz. It is quite clean if you don’t use extreme settings and keep the make up gain down,.
Edit: I should clarify - the make up gain noise is minimal if you aren’t using the compressor. If you do use it with the compressor engaged, try not to turn it up too much.
Its not on the MK1 
At least it wasnt on my unit. I had noise with that Compressor - no matter what. Since im mixing with headphones i hear every Noise - no matter how quiet it is And even just a little bit of Noise is already too much since you record the stuff and you “master” it later to reach proper loudness. Its completely impracticable to add Noise in the process of making it louder.
Driving the Circuits to the max is the better way. This adds less noise and gives you a better Recording for the Mastering Stage. Overdrive and Compressor are noisy like hell on the Analog Rytm (MK1 !). They are useless.
unless you like that noise.
yeah, sorry. unless you like it of course
Im curious, do you only listen with headphones?
IME headphone listening overemphasizes things like bg noise. A noise level that sounds significant on headphones can still sound quite acceptable over speakers.
I don’t know how you can get the rytm to sound noisy. I have a mk I and the noise has never been a problem IRL. Unless I had messed up my settings 
I suggest turning up the gain trim on your souncraft mixer while keeping the fader at unity (0dB mark) until you hit your preferred target peak level. Should be just fine, as long as you don’t need to crank the gain trim (ie. a range of max 75% of available range)
I am curious what is not on the MKi? The makeup gain is definitely on the MKi.
Edit: I see what you mean - it isn’t a good sound.
I humbly beg to differ. I work in headphones as well and came from working in Ableton which has virtually no noisefloor. I have owned my MKi for close to two years and have only recently got around to really exploring the compressor. I shared the sentiment coming from most people in this thread until recently.
It is by no means a mastering compressor. It is meant for parallel compression and transient shaping - it is meant to add character, not limit a signal with precision. It does this very well.
Trust me, the Noisefloor on the Rytm MK1 is very prominent. At least it was on my unit. Check out my Rytm only Videos and you will hear what i mean! Its not acceptable to be honest. I can plug my Headphones into the Korg ARP Odyssey and the Minibrute 2s and i hear almost no BG Noise at all. Being analog doesnt mean that it has to have noise! A totally untrue assumption from a lot of people!
[edit] in regard to my soundcraft mixer: Yes, the input gain helps for sure and it solves this problem. Because that Mixer has so much headroom and its Preamps are of superior quality - you just cant do it wrong 
but one doesnt always want to use a mixer, or doesnt have one around. And i can totally understand the OPs worries about the Output Level because it was the same on my Rytm MK1 Doesnt matter if you record with OB or with the regular Main Outs btw. The output Level is too quiet and if you gain it up with the Makeup-Trick while the compressor is not working or with the Overdrive you add so much Noise that its just not practicable for reaching the Loudness necessary in contemporary electronic Music! The only way to fight this is to max the actual “circuits” inside the Rytm. Cranking up the Engine to max, cranking up the Amp to Max and the Track level itself. This lead to roughly a -15 db Signal inside the DAW which is the “base” Level an audio Signal should be at - if you want a proper Recording that you can still boost further without adding too much Noise in that process.
I dont have these issues with the Analog Four btw. Obviously i also dont have these Problems with the Digitakt or the Octatrack. They are litereally noise free as well because they are (mostly) digital. I think that Elektron messed things up with the Rytms Output Level. Its very interesting to hear that this also applies to the MK2
I almost always use the compressor on full mix, depending on the other settings I can get the noise floor to not even register on Logic X’s meters, or be super extreme in a pleasing way if desired, very dependent on all other settings… I always use makeupgain to level out the kit levels, and always reference with Logic X…
Max output on AR MK1 and 2 is +15dBu, A4 MK1 and 2 +19dBu…
This will read differently according to the audio interfaces max input level and the reference setting used…
Max input level for audio interface will read 0DBFS, different for all interfaces and reference setting used(+4/-10).
Oh man. It sounds like you had a defective unit. Our experience differs greatly.
When I got mine I immediately noticed a prominent noise floor and tracked it down to the makeup gain on the compressor. When I turned that down, the noise went away entirely and I haven’t noticed it since. This put me off the compressor for quite awhile, but I’ve come around to it again and have got decent results by applying the settings more carefully.
On the thread topic though, a little bit of distortion with proper symmetry will give some gain and sounds quite pleasing. I am trying to avoid the “turn everything up” solution, because it is quite frustrating to be nearly done designing a kit, have something you want to turn up and can’t because it is already maxed out.
We had a talk about that matter quite some time ago already. I then linked a couple of my Rytm Videos and people said: No, sounds fine for me. Or: Where is that Noise? I cant hear it … and stuff like that. And i was like: Yeez, guys - this Noise cant be overlooked, its amazingly present! But maybe my ears are quite sensitive in the higher frequency area and others dont have that “luck”? 
Either way: I can compare it to the rest of my units and none of them have this amazing Noisefloor. So … it was the Rytm on my side, for sure
My default kit has all of the tracks with the Overdrive set to 3. Nice warm, clean boost that helps a lot. I didn’t notice the comp on the MKII being especially noisy, but i use it mainly at 50% for NY style compression?
After some research I found that the proper way is adjust Gain(Trim, Sensitive Input etc) on my mixer to get proper level.
Same for me. + 12 dBU on my Motu 8A interface’s analog inputs for both the A4 and the AR.
Now while I agree that the Rytm has noise, you can’t really compare a mono synth that has one channel to the Rytm, that mixes eight channels + two external channels + four channels of effect returns. Also, closing the amp envelope helps reducing noise that is a source before it since on the Rytm the amp/VCA is open by default. Usually on synths like the ones above or the A4 it’s closed by default.
Noise adds character.