This is my first time connecting two boxes and I feel very stuck.
I connected the output L/R from the Digitone to the input L/R on the Digitakt.
But the sound from the Digitone is much lower compared to the Digitakt .
To check, I reversed the connections, sending the output from the Digitakt to the input on the Digitone. This time, the audio from the Digitakt was very low. I made sure to turn the volume of IN L/R all the way up in the mixer page.
I’m using TRS cable and headphones.
Is it normal for the incoming audio volume to be lower than internal audio?
you should be able to turn the volume on the source audio (digitone) up to a point where when you adjust the mixer page on the receiving device you can get a reasonable balance. I’m just guessing but you probably don’t have the digitone audio up loud enough, so rather than turning the digitakt l/r inputs to full volume, you should turn them back to zero and after turning the digitone volume up closer to line level then use the digitakt input levels to bring what you hear up to where it’s even with the internal audio.
if the digitone volume is already maxed out, try different audio cables and if nothing changes all I can say is turn down your internal levels in the digitakt audio tracks to try and compensate, however, the line level audio coming out of the digitone at full volume should be plenty loud enough to mix with the digitakt’s internal audio.
Thanks so much!
I expected both devices to have similar volume when I placed the master volume knobs at similar position.
And I thought it’s strange that output from one gets reduced when it’s routed into other box. Hmm…
and you’re right. When I turn up the volume of source device it gets loud enough to match the other device.
(So for example, if digitakt volume is at 10%, I have to turn digitone volume up to around 60% to match the digitakt.)
Just wondering why it gets reduced… when they’re on their own they both have same level of loudness.
I guess it’s just normal when they’re routed into other device?
yeah man, no worries. I think that the analog volume knob is essentially an attenuator which is bringing the level down to a point where you can listen to it comfortably, but when used as an audio source then full volume played out of the L/R outs is actually “line level”. I mean I’ve never verified with a meter that the elektron audio output is actual “line level” when dimed, but this is what I was told a long time ago so it’s what I’ve stuck with and specifically when gain staging elektron devices it pretty much always works for me.
with older gear that creates additional line noise on it’s own when you turn the volume up too far, it becomes more of a tap dance, and you have to do some fine tuning to get a good level with the minimum of line noise but with modern gear you’re usually better off adding volume at the sound source first.
I also have to assume that being a volume pot, it has a logarithmic (audio) taper as opposed to a linear taper and that’s the reason for 60% on the volume knob not actually representing 60% of max volume. 60% on a linear pot would be 60% of max but on a logarithmic tapered pot most of the action happens at the top of the dial unless it’s reverse logarithmic in which case it happens at the bottom.
this is just hypothetical though, if it happened to use a linear pot for volume (which would be weird) then it would behave as you described where a 6 out of 10 max would represent 60% of max volume regardless of which device it’s on. Still though, line level is what you want to shoot for at the source and then bring that from zero up to a listenable/balanced level on the mixing device.
I have a similar setup with Digitone going into Analog Four Mk2. I just set the Digitone volume control to maximum, that way it’s easy to remember when setting things up for a show etc. Then I adjust the volume on the A4 input mixer so that the two boxes are the same volume.