Ok, I managed to get the levels nice with the AK sending into the AR, where I generally needed to turn the AR track levels down, to match the AK signal, and then using the compressor for a little bit of glue. It works nice! There is a tad of noise added by the compressor, as opposed to using the AK without a compressor, but hey… the moment you put a mic into the mix there’s gonna be noise anyways. All good. This is recorded that way. The Keys through the Rytm. Mics for vocals and piano. Ok, there’s some mastering going on as well… maybe it’s pointless to post it 
https://soundcloud.com/flightofthecuckoo/good-bye-live-elektron-version
tsv: though I’m not sure it will help my setup much anyway as it appears AR only has a single (TRS) input
currently my A4 and drum machine both go into OT and OT out to monitors…the AR would end up using my other 2 inputs on the OT if I wanted to sample from it
(back to my old request of wanting more inputs on the OT)
From my limited experience, I’d say this compressor is rather “dirty” and best used as a creative effect. It certainly doesn’t seem like the most sensible thing if you add a little bit of glue to your final mix; I’d get an FMR RNC for that.
What a shame there is no routing/input control/sidechain. This would have been such a great feature. I suppose they put the power where they need it , but I wish I hadn’t heard dataline say sidechain!! 
Hi guys. Just got the A4 as well, plugged it to the AR inputs using insert cable(one big stereo jack and two mono for left and right on the other side, that’s the right one,huh?) but the level from A4 is way too low…
Of course i can mare AR level lower as well, but it just doesn’t feel right, isn’t it supposed to be able to handle external signal without muffling it so much??
I see that some people write that it works fine for them, wonder what’s the difference…
that’s probably what I will end up doing as I get more and more OTB
Sure it’s not a dedicated outboard compressor but it is useful as a stereo buss type compressor stand alone. An hey it’s in there!
Slow attack and fast to medium release with a low ratio and some parallel mix. Not at all dirty.
Yeah that’s the right cable.
I just tried the AK stereo outs and they come through well. If you have voices cranked on the AR then they need to come down some to get a good balance but I would expect that as part of proper gain staging.
c’mon boys
Yeah that’s the right cable.
I just tried the AK stereo outs and they come through well. If you have voices cranked on the AR then they need to come down some to get a good balance but I would expect that as part of proper gain staging.[/quote]
the thing is that if i plug it other way around, AR into A4, everything sounds fine, no need to put anything down…and my levels on AR is not up that much, in fact i’m trying it with both machines on the default levels…
Ok nothing like a little science :).
Taking a sine wave from the modular at +13db
If I input it to the AK left in level full up and panned left I get +17.8 at the AK left out. So it’s amplifying the signal almost 5dB.
If I do the same on the AR Left in Compressor in bypass I get +10dB on the output so losing 3dB!
That would support what you are hearing. An 8dB difference which is a substantial amount.
You could use the compressor to your advantage by setting the threshold completely clockwise and ratio at the lowest bring the mix to about 10 and using the makeup gain to get you up to an extra 6dB but not without introducing noise.
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NICE ONE CUCKOO! 
I thought the levels from the AK were to low too, probably the same as the A4. But I realized most of my levels on the AR were quite high. So after ballancing it all it sounds good. But I really miss a straight gain function.
One thing on the Rytm that I feel I constantly need to be aware of is the options for setting the levels at a lot of places.
Synth/ sample engine levels
track level
amp level
overdrive level
fx track level? Is this like input level for all incoming sound?
compressor makeup gain
compressor mix
etc…
I think after getting used to the Rytm, it probably becomes pretty important to have a feel for the overall volume of things, so that different kits and projects all share the same perception of volume.
Use Your Ears!
Is that some kind of advice or? Whatever you use, ears, legs, buttocks, you’ll still have to reduce the levels of ALL the 12 tracks on the AR because that’s the only way to make it match the levels of the external signal for now, and that is strange in my opinion…and it has nothing to do with one’s ability to hear things, just a design fault. Sorry for reacting like this, but if people instead of bringing company’s attention to the flaws of their instruments will give each other this kind of preaching we won’t get it improved in near future…
Is that some kind of advice or? [/quote]
It’s the only real way to get the overall perception of volume the same across kits and projects as @cuckoomusic asked for.
I haven’t really used the external input yet, so can’t really comment on whether or not it should have had an additional gain for the external signal.
Regardless, reducing the levels of all the tracks is probably not the best approach since it brings you closer to the noise floor.
Just played around with running the A4 through the external input of the AR. Didn’t run into any level issues, but only as long as I didn’t use the distortion on the AR at all.
I completely agree that the level difference quickly gets out of hand when you add even a little hint of distortion on the AR.
Looks like I use completely different settings on my rytm than Ive seen people suggesting but I REALLY like the way it sounds. With other synths> a4>octa> RYTM i really dig the quickest attack and longest release settings. mix about 50, thresh about 50 ratio usually at 1:2 with the LPF. Creates a nice sidechain to the kick IMO. Cant get a really extreme sidechain duck/pump like a lot of artists use no matter what I set it at, but for my taste I dig it. Minimal pumping and a really clean kick. I also keep the makeup gain at 0 because i hear some distortion when I turn it up, and the thing is loud enough as is. Actually did some recording with no other processing just to see how it looked. didn’t even adjust volume from where I had been playing it and it sat at 0db perfect. So I turned the master down a tad and recorded. The waveform looked exactly how I like it to. Reference checked it against some artists I like and usually use: Bonobo and Blockhead, and believe it or not matched levels quite nicely. Actually think my mix right otb was a little cleaner and actually revealed the volume boosters I heard in the other professionally mastered tracks. Pretty happy about this.
I feel I constantly need to be aware of is the options for setting the levels at a lot of places.
Synth/ sample engine levels
track level
amp level
overdrive level
fx track level? Is this like input level for all incoming sound?
compressor makeup gain
compressor mix
etc…
I think after getting used to the Rytm, it probably becomes pretty important to have a feel for the overall volume of things, so that different kits and projects all share the same perception of volume.
@cuckoo you make a good point! I just realized this the other day - in the AK the OSC have their own level control, the AMP has a volume control, the filter has overdrive, each track has its own level control and there is a master volume knob on top of all this 
you gotta be aware!
What I was wondering, is how much make up gain are you dialling in with the AR’s compressor? You can get a fairly good idea of how much gain reduction is happening by listening and using the skinny little level indicator on the compressor page, but I’d like to know how much make up gain is being added with that MUP pot….
It’s easy enough to get it to sound good, but when I’m making mix decisions later on, it helps to know exactly what the compressor was doing when I recorded… ya know?
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as per the title; did anyone master the sidechain possibilty? Could you explain how it was done?